My favourite Allegro picture - taken during an Australia Day Race, my wife Maureen at the helm, Allegro charging along with sheets eased and a small rooster tail shooting from the stern. 

Update - We had 11 fantastic years with Allegro but due to a serious back problem I was forced to stop sailing and sell Allegro on 23^rd of June 2002.

I thought there would be many years to come but now it's someone else's turn to enjoy this brilliant yacht.

Congratulations to the new owner and continued good fortune in racing and cruising.

Here's a Photo of Allegro racing at Airlie Beach with the new owner and crew -

2010 - I can't bear to pull this website down and now Allegro has another new owner, who has sailed her to Thailand.

He sent me this video, taken on the delivery trip, somewhere between Cairns & Cooktown.

It starts with a yahoo from the helmsman- Allegro flying along much faster than you'd expect a 10 metre yacht to go, a very familiar sight and feeling for me; one that I experienced many times.

The owner, also called Rob, says "The day we took that footage we covered 124 nautical miles in less than 12 hours. People think I'm exaggerating until I show them that. They can't believe a 10 meter yacht could go that fast without (or with) a spinnaker. "

Here are a few stories and pictures about Allegro, the yacht that was my obsession, passion and joy -

The Adams Ten looks good with its tall mast, sleek hull and huge 4 metre long cockpit. An ideal yacht in so many ways, Allegro is the cruising version of the famous Adams Ten and has a long keel with swing centerboard.  

Allegro out of the water showing swing rudder.

The retractable swing centerboard and rudder is an ideal combination for Barrier Reef waters. We sneak into the shallow part of Green Island and anchor in less than 2 metres of water.

The fixed keel contains approximately 3 tonnes of lead, which gives the Adams Ten good stability. The keel is part of the hull so there are no keel bolts to leak or to worry about. The centerboard is very light and swings up automatically if it touches the bottom.

The draft with the centerboard up is only 1 metre and the windward performance is good; the draft with the center board down is 2.16 metres and the windward performance is then excellent.

There is a huge awning that stretches from the mast to the stern in the shape of a tent, quickly erected with a few ties its provides good shelter from the weather with plenty of room for friends.

Our previous yacht, 'Legato', was a 24ft trailer-sailer. After sailing her for 5 years we began dreaming of having a larger yacht that would allow us to sail further and in more comfort.

I admired a local Adams Ten, 'Welsh Dragon'. The owner, 'Taffy', was always out sailing and I noticed how easily he could sail alone as well as with a boatload of friends.

We found Allegro in the June edition of 'Trade a Boat', first launched in 1986 and owned by Warwick Johnston of Bundaberg.

My wife and I drove to Bundaberg on the last weekend in July 1991 and after a short inspection became the proud owners of 'Allegro' on 25th July 1991.

We continued racing as well as weekend cruising to the nearby Fitzroy, Green and Frankland Islands. We also started a tradition of an annual cruise, ranging anywhere from Dunk Island to the Whitsundays.

During the first haulout at Christmas 1991, I added a 10cm planing board extension to the transom and began enhancing the factory fitout using red silky oak for fiddles and trim. I fitted an ice box with 100mmm thick foam all around. This worked even better than expected and ice lasts longer than a week even at the hottest times with 39 degree temperatures.

I made some adjustments to make it easy to sail single-handed and re-cut the mainsail to a better shape. I replaced the original 'dagger' style lifting rudder with a longer and better-shaped rudder, which I re-balanced until it was light enough for even a child to handle. I also designed a stainless steel box that allowed the rudder to swing completely out of the water.

 It took about 6 months before I began to get the best out of Allegro in races and at least a further 12 months before I really knew the best settings and target speeds. During that time I also had to recruit extra crew and get used to working with a team of 4 others.

I quickly realised that Allegro was nimble enough to be raced, 'dinghy style', working the sheets for every puff of wind. Conversely, when cruising, we could sail in a very relaxed, 'yacht style' way.

From the delivery trip I saw that Allegro was very easy to sail short or singlehanded, would cruise along easily upwind between 5 & 6 knots, pointing high. Sailing off the wind is very comfortable - we've had many easy trips, flying along downwind with a poled out headsail, doing 10 -12 knots.

The original Mercury 10Hp two-stroke engine was inadequate, providing only 3 to 4 knots boatspeed with very high fuel consumption. I replaced it with a four stroke Yamaha that uses only 2 litres of fuel per hour cruising at around 6 knots. I designed a special bracket that lifts the engine clear of the water and partially inboard for protection. 

I enjoy sailing single-handed and often used to sail off for a few days R 'n R when my wife was unable to get time off work. The furthest I've sailed alone was from Cairns to Cardwell, about 110 nautical miles, which took a week because I stopped at Dunk island for five days. Allegro is easy to handle alone and has an autopilot which takes over the helm while I raise or lower the sails and is also handy when I'm cooking or just relaxing and enjoying the sail.

I even won a sailing rally singlehanded while all the other yachts had crew ! I had arranged for a couple of friends to sail with me but at the last minute they couldn't make it. Being addicted to sailing there was just no way I was going to miss the event !

I enjoy day-sailing to the reef or islands with a few friends. We often let complete novices take the helm and they soon discover how easily Allegro handles.

For most years since 1991 we've set off on an annual cruise, usually to Dunk Island, the Family Islands and Hinchinbrook Island, which we've circumnavigated four or five times.

Zoe bay on the offshore side of Hinchinbrook Island is one of the very special places we've anchored. Hinchinbrook Island is National park, so there is no human habitation allowed except for a limited number of bushwalkers who have strict guidelines about what they can do. The mountains are spectacular, although they block all radio and telephone transmissions and make it very isolated.

Zoe bay is unfortunately open to most of the prevailing winds and it's only safe to anchor there when the wind is from the North to Southwest. A sharp watch has to be kept for wind changes and yachts have to be prepared to leave the moment the wind shifts to the East or Southeast, even at 3 o-clock in the morning !

Our best stay at Zoe bay was for two weeks. It was brilliant. We began our cruise from Cairns with an early start at 4.38am on a Sunday and arrived at Dunk Island, 80nm, at 4.15pm that afternoon. We stayed at Dunk for a few days then sailed down to the Brook Islands where we anchored for the night, in a dying Easterly breeze.

The expected land breeze began at 11 pm but came in a bit stronger than normal, our anchor and chain has proved very trustworthy and I'm unwilling to move at night when there's coral everywhere so we stayed put until dawn. Allegro rides very comfortably at anchor and even when there is a beam swell she is one of the first yachts to stop rolling, probably because there is less pendulum effect from the keel and the centreboard acts as a foil to dampen the roll.

At dawn we pulled up the anchor and motored away, hoisted sails and set off downwind along the Eastern shore of Hinchinbrook. The Northwesterly breeze looked set to hang around for a few days so it was then an ideal time to head for Zoe Bay where we arrived at lunchtime. Looking out to sea we could see the whitecaps racing past the entrance to the bay, but we were anchored snug in the Northern corner, in calm water and that's where we stayed for a week.

The tall mountains around Zoe Bay are spectacular.

At the end of the week we were running out of food and ice so we sailed around to Lucinda and picked up enormous 25 kilo blocks of 'Trawler' ice. The little store had limited food supplies, mainly sausages, eggs, bacon and bread. The northerly was blowing fiercely as we hurriedly up anchored, the 4 man inflatable with outboard attached almost took off like a kite in one gust of wind so we decided to anchor in the calm waters of the Hinchinbrook Channel and wait until the next day, then we sailed back to Zoe bay for another week of solitude, fishing, swimming, walking along the kilometre long flat beach, exploring the rock pool and waterfall at the southern end, etc etc etc.

In 1995 my good mates, Mike, Readie and I sailed Allegro down to the Whitsundays. We set off on Saturday afternoon the 9^th September in good sailing conditions and decided to press on overnight towards Dunk Island while the weather was good. Readie had made a vegetarian curry which was delicious but Mike and I, being meat eaters just couldn't seem to fill up, we went back for seconds, thirds and fourths !

We had a full moon the first night, it was a lovely evening, very special. We decided to keep three singlehanded watches of two hours each, with instructions not to go forward alone but to call the next man up if needed.

We made excellent time over the first 200 nautical miles and arrived at Magnetic Island the next evening, to discover that while Readie and I had been busy sailing, the chef, Mike had made a big dent in the bottle of rum. He still managed to serve up a great meal of T Bone steak and we had a 'boat party' which was much fun.

It blew up to a strong wind warning on days 3 and 4, we were bashing to windward against a 34 knot Southeasterly, and an hour each on the helm was more than enough. South of Townsville is a very deserted coastline but our spirits were high and we made reasonable progress, arriving at Arlie Beach after five days.

We spent a day drying the boat out and tidying up. My wife Maureen drove down to meet us the next day, about an 8 hour trip. She was stunned by our 'rolling around on the ground' laughter at her first words, as she stepped out of the car,
" Gee, it's a long way" !

The boys drove back to Cairns and Maureen and I sailed Allegro for a fabulous three weeks all around the Whitsundays - from Blue Pearl Bay on Hayman Island in the North to the Goldsmith Islands in the South.

One day I tried to stretch all the maps out to show how far it was back to Cairns. It was about 6 metres of map! We spent a week coming home, enjoying days off at Magnetic Island, Dunk Island and Fitzroy Island.

Maureen on the Beach at Zoe Bay

Allegro's excellent racing record in Cairns is a tribute to the many good teams we've had, the brilliant design of Joe Adams and, I hope, my sailing skill.

In the 1990's Allegro often featured in the Cairns Post and twice on TV. This cutting from 1994 was part of an outstanding year for us.

In 1994 FIRST PLACES in -
The Half Moon Bay Yacht Club's Yamaha Regatta
The Cairns Yacht Club's Winter Series
The Yorkey's Knob to Fitzroy race
and the Cairns Cruising Yacht Club's Admiralty Is. race, (for the third year in succession !)

SECOND PLACES in -
CYC Fitzroy 2000
Cairns to Yorkeys Classic
HMBYC Europa Friendship Race
18 various Buoy, Triangle & Inlet races

THIRD PLACE in - CYC Fitzroy 10,000, from a fleet of 23 division one yachts.

Of special note -We were three times winner of the hotly contested Half Moon Bay Yacht Club's, Yamaha Regatta, (1993,1994 & 1996); the prize each time being a Yamaha outboard motor.

We contested the first Yamaha regatta in 1992, the prizes of outboard motors attracted a large fleet of approximately 40 yachts. We nearly got one !, finishing second overall.

1992 - The First Race
I'd just bought a huge masthead spinnaker designed for a much larger yacht, but had no time to trial it with the crew ! We hoisted it for the downwind leg of the first race and I heard a strangled cry from Ian-O as he looked up and breathed, "Argh, The Big Banana".

By coincidence, he had sailed on the yacht that had previously owned this gigantic spinnaker. Somewhere out to sea, between Mooloolaba and Gladstone, at night, he was left alone on the helm with the spinnaker flying and the breeze building. He eventually lost control resulting in a spectacular broach, a very scary experience, - something we were to experience on Allegro many times in the coming months, thanks to - The Big Banana !

This picture was taken at that time of the very first hoist - at extreme telephoto range. 

The two sides run parallel very high, opening a large surface area in the top third and generating enormous power high up - great when the wind was light and we needed more power.

After 2 years of wild rides, and much uncontrolled behaviour, I decided that the kite had a death wish and it was 'IT' or ME !!!!

I replaced it with a more manageable spinnaker, only slightly smaller but not so wide at the top.

I arranged the halyards so that we could move the hoist position between masthead and hounds, while it was flying - this has saved time in many races when the wind has freshened or decreased and we can easily choose how much power we can control.

These Yamaha Regatta races are hotly contested and usually coincide with a period of winter storms; we've had some interesting moments -

I remember a downwind leg in one race, flying the spinnaker and doing about 10 - 12 knots. I looked behind. We had already pulled out nearly a mile on our closest rival. I looked again. Behind our rival was a huge black storm cloud, covering the sky. I decided that it could cause a lot of trouble for us and prepared the crew to lower the spinnaker. We always talk tactics freely on Allegro (and then I make a decision) and a couple of crew members thought we were being too cautious.

While this discussion continued, I looked behind again, just in time to see our rival get hit by a tremendous squall in front of the black cloud. As that yacht disappeared into the rain I saw it lurch violently on it's side and spin almost 180 degrees. We got the spinnaker down with 7 seconds to spare (you don't forget times like that) and as the wind hit us, we started surfing easily at 14 to 16 knots, in complete control with just the mainsail up!

Allegro 'Storms Away'

Another downwind leg - Another year -

As we turned the windward mark to run downwind the breeze was building to 25 -30 knots. We had lost the halyard for the small spinnaker, which was the only spinnaker to use in these conditions - but - we were racing, so, knowing I had very good crew on board, I decided to fly the big masthead spinnaker.

I will never forget the next 7 minutes - from the moment it was hoisted and filled with air, we took off like an 18 foot skiff. I've never, ever felt that much power, it was incredible. With so much excessive power, so high up the mast, any slight deviation from dead square downwind would have pulled us over in a massive broach so I had no choice about which way to go - and we FLEW ! We were catching up the three larger yachts in front of us at an incredible rate.

It felt as if we were on a 10 metre long jetski as the spray screamed from the bows. I was just starting to think that we would live to see the end of this incredible ride when -BANG ! The backstay broke under the pressure. We should have lost the mast right there but thanks to the incredible strength of the Adams Ten and very smart crew work, the spinnaker was kept de-powered and then quickly dropped. A temporary backstay was rigged and we continued the race - and won !

Allegro flying normal spinnaker

Just two of many memories I have of the Yamaha Regatta's, it's not suprising that during these regatta's two yachts have sunk and 3 or more were dismasted ! Each year I put in a week or two of boat maintenance and preparation, checking that nothing will break or cause problems, re-tune the mast and rigging and of course, cleaning the hull.

We won the Yamaha Regatta in 1993 and 1994, and won our first and second Yamaha outboard motors. The successful ingredients were - boat preparation, crew work, knowing how to set the boat up for maximum performance at any wind angle and strength, knowing the course, the tidal currents and wind strengths over the whole area and tactics - in other words, all the usual things that win races !

In 1996 we won the Yamaha Regatta for the third time in 4 years ! The club gave us a big handicap because of our previous performance, but this year we had the best ever crew on board, mostly 16ft skiff sailors. These guys worked really hard, for the entire set of races, hours on end, squeezing extra boatspeed by constantly trimming and re-trimming the sails.

In one windy race, offshore from Double Island, we were seen surfing down a wave with the entire front half of the boat out of the water - what a photo that would have made ! I remember it was so windy that it took two crew to pump the spinnaker sheets in, each time we accelerated down a wave !

The Original Delivery Trip - Bundaberg to Cairns, Winter 1991 -

Having bought Allegro in Bundaberg we decided to sail up to Cairns, so three friends, Allan, Mike, 'Reidy' and I endured a 24 hour coach ride from Cairns to Bundaberg intending to sail Allegro the 800 nautical miles North.

We set sail from Port Bundaberg at 4pm and headed North with a smooth 12 knot southeasterly breeze behind us. The wind slowly increased during the night and we began surfing down waves at 12 to 14 knots. It was pitch black and mid winter, so chilly as well. While off watch I was woken up many times by the helmsman hooting as he took Allegro down a big wave, everyone competing for the fastest speed (as usual).

I took over the helm at 4am, it was a bit bleak, very cold and the wind had increased to a blustery 30 knots South Easterly. Just on daybreak we surfed down a monster wave and the log reached the incredible speed of 18 knots. It was very exciting. The boat felt totally under control with double reefed mainsail and poled out No 3 headsail. Alan looked behind into the wind and said, with his customary dry humour, "It must be windy"!

My music students often ask me if I go on the scary rides at the Cairns show each year.

Hey, once you've sailed at night and on a yacht doing over twelve knots, you don't need fake excitement !

Allegro had very little equipment at this stage, the compass was faulty, the navigation lights intermittent, depth sounder not working and of course this was before the days of GPS. Luckily all four of us could navigate properly, were good sailors and we discovered, more importantly, that Alan was a great cook !

As anyone that has voyaged beyond day sailing knows, food is the most important thing, sleeping arrangements second and things like weather and boat condition are usually lesser concerns.

We had a Maxi 2 Burner metho stove, which worked very well; there was no refrigeration so we used three eskies on rotation. One esky, called the 'day esky' lived in the cockpit with milk, drinks and the day's food. Another esky was wrapped in a blanket, 'not to be touched' and the third esky supplied the 'day esky' each day - that way we kept the loss of ice to a minimum.

Apart from the first night, we had great weather for the rest of the voyage. Here's the four of us, each taking a two-hour turn at the helm -

how can one man have so much fun ?

By the end of that seven-day trip in 1991 I had learnt a lot about Allegro. The Adams Ten had exceeded all my expectations and in the next few months, and years, would prove to be an ideal yacht.

A few weeks after delivering Allegro to Cairns, I set off with another two mates on a weeks 'Winter cruise' to Dunk and the Family Islands. We had perfect weather and eventually circumnavigated Hinchinbrook Island. Greg Kerns and Arthur were great fun and good sailors so we enjoyed every minute of the trip.

On the way down to Dunk Island we caught a fair sized Spanish Mackerel. Kernsy quickly sliced off three fillets and within 20 minutes we were eating fresh Mackerel - delicious. After about three days of eating Mackerel for breakfast, lunch and tea, we lost the joy of it and when Arthur suggested we have sausages for lunch the vote was unanimous !

Maureen won two ladies races in Legato and then again in Allegro -

Allegro won the ladies race four times, with three different ladies at the helm.

 The previous owner had kept Allegro out of the water on a trolley so the hull was in 'as new' condition.

The gel coat was white, as in this picture. To safeguard the hull we applied 2 layers of epoxy resin to the underwater areas followed by a barrier coat of chlorinated rubber and painted the above water areas my favourite shade of blue.

During the next few years I replaced all the electrics including fitting double nav lights, one set at deck level for harbour workand a masthead tri-colour which uses less power when out to sea.

I built a small light sensing circuit for the anchor light which is really handy, if we're ashore somewhere, our anchor light comes on at the right time, annoying any other sailing friends with us who have to row back to their yachts and find them in the dark to turn on the light - more cunning than this is that being on holiday- whether for a weekend or longer, we like to sleep in and having your anchor light still on at 10 in the morning is a dead give-away about how slack you are !