RAFFLES - BOAT HISTORY

With the demise of the IOR rule in favour of the IMS rule, Mike Welsh elected to purchase a different style boat that was less focused on the rating rules and more on boat speed and fun and purchased this Sayer 36 from RMYS and re-named it from Koala to Raffles. The name stemmed from design of the interior which reminded Mike of the famous Raffles Hotel in Singapore.

With some corporate sponsorship, Raffles was temporarily renamed Logical Solutions and competed in the 1991 Melbourne-Hobart under that name. The race was a typically tough Westcoaster - with initial light wind down the West Coats before a strong southerly front hit the fleet around Maatsuyker Is with 40-50kn. Logical Solutions handled the conditions well under two reefs and #4 (pic in the Gallery) and went on to place 3rd on IMS.

Raffles competed in the 50th Sydney - Hobart, the Pittwater - Coffs Harbour race and another Melbourne - Hobart before being sold to Paul Roberts in RMYS when Mike decided to move back into measurement rating system racing with the Lidgard 36 Alien.

Raffles was sold to a Queensland owner who then sold it to current owner Jen Fiztzgibbon who renamed the boat to Soothsayer and has enjoyed campaigning the boat boat in multiple events fully crewed, double-handed and even single handed. The boat was modified in 2009-10 to suit single-handed sailing, and Jen participated in the 2010 Single-handed Trans-Tasman race from NZ to Mooloolaba, placing 3rd. Soothsayer has also done substantial cruising including New Caledonia, Lord Howe Is, New Zealand and the Whitsunday Islands. At the time of writing, Soothsayer was undergoing a substantial makeover with the deck, keel and rudder all removed and re-worked. Whilst not fully restored, at the time of writing (Oct 2020), Soothstayer was for sale in Queensland and we hope the new owner will enjoy the boat as much as her previous owners have.