Satanita is a sister to the famous Firebrand, design #1780. She was built by Keith Atkinson of Auckland and launched in 1965. Looking at the plan list it appears the only change was the reverse transom, whereas later boats built to this design benefited from a separate rudder. The above image is a newspaper clipping, and is the only image we have of her.
It is interesting that later sisters of this design benefited form a separate skeg and rudder. The former owner of Satanita sent us the image shown below which looks to me like someone added a separate skeg and rudder, removed the old rudder, while maintaining the original keel profile. Thanks for sending this image.
According to that owner: When I bought Satanita there had been a crude,(in terms of design) modification whereby the rudder had been removed but the full keel profile left. A small rudder on a skeg had been fitted only a short distance from the keel. This appeared to have increased the wetted surface and the boat was totally unmanageable in reverse.
Heres a shot of the original keel and rudder configuration on Firebrand.
By following the link to the posting regarding Firebrand one can see the S&S revised keel profile, skeg and rudder at the bottom of the article (general arrangement and inboard profile for C4).
While we are on the subject of Firebrand, heres a letter we unearthed from her original owner to her then new owner describing her sailing characteristics. Its an interesting read. Please simply double click for zoom.
