LINDA story by Ken Ricketts

I first saw LINDA in 1946, when Roy Swales owned her. She is a another beautiful example of Colin Wild’s work, built in 1927 for E.J. Kelly, with huge grace & beauty. Linda had a 50/90 Loew Victor sleeve-valve (Knight’s patents) engine, sitting in the middle of the engine room, which was a large cabin, devoted solely to the engine, with only the toilet, as an extra, making the engine look very tiny.

The Loew Victor was replaced with a GM Detriot 6-71, in about 1947/48, & when I took the pic Christmas 1948, she had the GM, — note the large side exhaust pipe needed for the GM, (about 5 or 6 inches I recall). She later had a Volvo for a period, & presently has a 6 cyl Gardiner Diesel.

She had a cast bronze plate, screwed to the centre of the rear cockpit wall, just below the top of the tuck, with the words “Colin Wild Builder, 1928”, which I beleive is still there today.

The Swales lived in Fernleigh Ave Epsom & they owned the NZ Lead Works Ltd in Morrow St Newmarket.
She suffered a massive fire whilst unatended on her moorings at Waikeke in the mid 1980s, & I later saw what was left of her, bundled on to a barge, up in the mangroves at Beachaven North Shore, one day when we were going for a run up to Herald Island, on my own boat, TIARRI, so as the tide was in, went over to have a look, & I would never have beleived that anyone could ever have faithfully & beautfully rebuilt her to her original glory, but Robert & Russell Brooks & their family have done an amazing job, — well done.