26 December 2022

Brief summary of Little Dragon's history

My love affair with my Farr 5000 began in January 2008 when I bought her in Central Coast NSW. She was already named Little Dragon and already painted red.  The hull was sound but I had to do substantial maintenance to get her sailing again but I never made any major changes. The previous owner just used her as a tinny to go fishing.

I towed her up the Pacific Highway to her new home in my backyard at Byron Bay behind my 0ld 2-litre Subaru Forrester. We diverted to go over the weighbridge at the Ballina tip, boat and trailer together were 920 kg, and the weight on the ball was 60 kg.

Little Dragon was built by Sea Nymph in New Zealand 1n 1986. I can't find a photo of the plate which may have further details - sorry.

I registered my ownership with the Farr Trailer Yacht Association New Zealand which now seems to be defunct or at least dormant. 

https://sailboatdata.com/sailboat/farr-5000 has all the specs.

LOA 5.09 m, DWL 4.62 m, Beam 2.25 m, Draft (board up) 0.3 m, Draft (board down) 1.24 m, weight 4;83 kgs, ballast 170 kgs.

I was told that her previous name in Australia was "Twilight" and there was a label near her bow YANAUC 2ZK379 which I think may have some significance. I gather that Twilight used to sail in ACT and back then had yellow topsides - but I can't confirm that.

Little Dragon came with what was probably the original main and jib, not surprisingly they had lost their structural integrity and I replaced them with new sails made to the original Farr design. The important point is that there was no sail number on the old sails. In order to race I had to have a sail number, so I just chose 98. 

The mast snapped in an unfortunate incident, the new mast was made exactly the Farr specs.

I know that Farr 5000s are now almost a collector's item so I want to assist any future owner with what I know - which isn't much.

She was my pride and joy for 13 years until I very sadly sold her in February 2021 to a new life in North Lakes, Brisbane. Unfortunately, the new owner's wife didn't like the way she heeled! So he sold her. Now I have no idea where she is. Please help me locate her.