Third Time Lucky

Last February at Inverloch the first race of the weekend gave us a surprise result, with Bentley on 874 Lucy leading for most of the race before being passed by Jim French right at the end. In the second race though, Bentley was well back in the field, and when we came ashore it became clear that 874 had taken in quite a bit of water.

Talking to Bentley later about his good showing in Race 1 on a very old hull he was of the opinion that it might not actually be the original hull. After the weekend he checked with the original owner who confirmed this thought, saying that the original hull had come off their car and been destroyed so they had built this hull as a replacement.

Bentley decided to take 874 to Ralph Ballard for some repair work in order to fix the leak problem, BUT while loading the hull his hand went right through the ply bottom. Inspection revealed that large parts of the hull were rotten so the decision was made that it would be simpler for Ralph to build a new hull.

There is a lot to learn by seeing how an accomplished boat builder goes about a new build and you can see the steps for the build here:

Lucy Gets a New Hull

Current Header Image

The very first Australian Sailfish National Titles held at Elwood Sailing Club over the 1968/69 Christmas New Year period.

We have Oliver Parnaby on 169, Chloe in the centre of the picture (white sail with the red foot) with Peter Chapman in the yellow spray jacket holding the side stay of 1440 Argone just to the left. After consultation with Brian we think it might be Harold Twentyman or Murray Allan just in front and to the right of Oliver.

1412 on the right being carried in was skippered by Jim Birch, a name well known to us of a certain age who learned to sail at Narrabeen.

From all reports it was a pretty windy series that could have been won by a few skippers, before Leigh Marriott took the title on 1375 Mrs Vicious.

Photo from the Champion family album, Elwood, December January 1968/69.

But wait, there’s more!

As well as the very detailed record of the 1974/75 Bendigo National Titles that we posted about last week, the Cooper family were also able to supply four really good photographs of Australian Sailfish in action in the early 1970s. The two that were taken at Edwardes Park Lake we know for certain were taken by Lindsay Phillips, but the other two were taken by photographer or photographers unknown.

For those who aren’t familiar with it Edwards’s Park Lake is in the northern suburbs of Melbourne and is a VERY small body of water indeed.

What I learnt was that the Register will need to be updated, a few of the boats featured in the photos are not on there. So that will be where I am off to next.

Click the link to check out our latest:

Victorian Gallery

Bendigo Nationals 1974/75

Well there’s a bit of good luck.

With thanks to Ray Cooper for keeping this safe and to Brian and Rowan Cooper for thinking of the website when they found this following Ray’s death in March 2024. We have acquired a really thorough and complete detailed record of the National Titles held on Lake Eppalock in 1974/75 made up of photos, race reports and newspaper articles.

Brian Carroll is pretty sure that it is Lindsay Phillips writing and Chris Cleary reckons he recognises Lindsay’s writing style so we are pretty sure it was put together by Lindsay but it is not known how it ended up with Ray. But we are very glad it did.

Whether you were there or are just interested in some of the class history you can see it all here:

1974/75 National Titles

Header Photo Update

Some good detective work by Chris Cleary has picked up on the fact that the person on the Sailfish on this month’s header photo looks very much like the person sailing Australian Sailfish 171 on the flyer featured here:

A ‘New’ Old Flyer

While we can’t say for sure that it is the same Sailfish in both photos we do know that the plan for 171 was sold to V Dyble around 1964. That might be him, and it might even be the same Sailfish.

If you know more drop us a line.

30 March 2024 – Update Update. Brian Carroll is sure that is not Vin Dyble as he had a heavier build and didn’t wear glasses. Warren has had a close look at the two photos, header and flyer, and is sure it is the same boat, based on the bolts through the mast at the gooseneck.

The Queensland Association

From Chris Cleary, some background on the Queensland Association of the 1960s and early ’70s.

The Queensland Association was very strong back in the day, primarily due to the work of Colin Guy, and the support of Jack Carroll. Jack would travel from Melbourne with his family (and his Sailfish of course) to support the Queensland Association.

You can read all about it here:

The Queensland Australian Sailfish Association

Keep an eye out for future updates.

March 2024 Header Image

This one is a bit of a mystery, so if you can help identify the who and the what and the when then get in touch.

The venue is Lake Eppalock at the Bendigo Yacht Club Regatta, the boat name is Odetta, but we don’t know which year, the sail number or the Skipper’s name. Was it you?

Just check out that classic bow shape, and those ‘Joe Cool’ sunglasses! For an extra fright you might want to flinch when looking at the flex in the boom!

It’s been a busy day!

First news of the days is that Alvacor has been sold to a happy new owner in Melbourne. For those of us old enough to remember Alex Cordukes and his boat, this is great news, a good boat, built by a good man, now with a new home and looking to be back out on the water soon.

Next news is that Bentley has finished the extensive restoration of Australian Sailfish 874, and I have to say it looks, if anything, better than new. As usual, click on any of the following images to have a closer look.

Hard work by Bentley, mast and rudder by Ralph Ballard and new sail by Brian Carroll of Unique Sails.

Bentley and 874 Lucy will be joining us at Inverloch, I hope you will be as well.

Some new old photos!

With thanks to Warren Jones for finding these and scanning them in for us.

First up are a couple of the presentation photos from the National Titles hosted by Toronto Amateur Sailing Club on Lake Macquarie in December 1980/January 1981, those are here:

NSW Photo Gallery

And then there are three photos of the racing at the National Titles hosted by Ballarat Yacht Club on Lake Wendouree in December1979/January 1980, those are here:

Victoria Photo Gallery

Enjoy!

December 2023 Header Image

April 2017, just a few months after the website was launched and we had had our first large turnout of the Australian Sailfish at the 2017 Inverloch Classic Wooden Dinghy Regatta. This time it was a get together at Jamieson Park Narrabeen to celebrate 50 years since the formation of the NSW Australian Sailfish Class Owner’s Association.

The weather was good, the wind was just right and it was a fantastic chance to catch up with people that some of us hadn’t seen for years (decades even!). There were Clearys, Miltons, Bowles, Watts, Nortons, Kellys and more there to celebrate. Ken O’Brien brought Cobra up from Melbourne and Brian Carroll came up from Paynesville to represent his father Jack, one of the class co-designers. And to add to that, one of the driving forces behind the formation of the NSW Association, Ben Castle was there as well.

You can see 2188 Gooney Bird, 1981 (unnamed), 1808 Cobra and 1918 Janus in the photo, with the Narrabeen Lakes Sailing Club clubhouse in the background to the right. And you can read all about the day here:

NSW ASCOA 50th Anniversary Report

Photo by Greg Barwick, Jamieson Park, April 2017.