Classic Yacht Show comes to Sydney

The Classic Yacht Association of Australia's inaugural Concours D'Elegance was staged at Sydney's Superyacht Marina at Rozelle in June.

The event heralds a new push into the Harbour City by the CYAA whose activities have to date centred on Melbourne's Port Phillip Bay.

Conducted on a wintry Sunday, the concours was organised by Rob Evans (owner of Celeste). It was attended by 47 boats, most of which had arrived at the marina on Saturday afternoon and docked overnight.

The event received little general publicity but attracted dedicated boaties in large numbers - just the way the boat-owners said they liked it. All in all, the environment made for a party atmosphere, enjoyed by quite a who's who of the local marine scene.

About 20 vintage and veteran sportscars were also on display along the adjacent boardwalk, and the classic boat and car owners reportedly discovered they had a lot in common.

Liquidity, the stylish restaurant adjacent to the marina, was also a hub of activity during the event and accommodated more than 170 classic yacht-owners, crews and friends for dinner on the Saturday night.

Judging of the boats was by Ken Beashel and Geoff Tyers, both well-known and respected identities in the Sydney boating community. They examined each boat for originality, finish and general condition, with Best Yacht at Show being awarded to Antara, Ian Kortlang's restored 1951 Seven-Metre.

Prizes were provided by clothing company Logan, the CYAA's major sponsor.

The awards were as follows:

Best Yacht at Show

Most Original Yacht

Best Class Yacht at Show

THE STARS OF THE SHOW
Cherub is a Ranger class raised-decker, one of several from the late 1920s onwards (including Bill Gale's Ranger) and was on display at the CYAA concours. A familiar part of the Sydney Harbour scene, like each of the yachts on hand it had its own story to tell. There were, of course, other standouts on display.

Carina, a major restoration in progress project-managed by Dara Johnston for owner Michael Maxwell, was one of the most impressive sights of the show. The Fife Eight-Metre design was built in Sydney in 1924-25 for the original owner, AC Saxton, a timber merchant who owned a series of yachts named Aranui. It has been re-rigged with a hollow oregon timber mast and a carbon fibre boom (painted convincingly to look like wood!) and beautifully varnished brightwork, while the interior at this stage is completely bare, awaiting decisions about its refit.

Nearby was Ida, a Bailey 5 rater built in 1895 in New Zealand, and according to co-owner Jerry Brookman, with an 1895 silver crown tucked under the mast for luck.

Brookman and his partner bought Ida about two and a half years ago from an ad in Trade-A-Boat and are carrying out a "gradual restoration" of the NZ kauri hull, which measures 60ft overall and 45ft over the deck.

Brookman says historic photos show the yacht originally had a clipper bow, "but someone must have sliced it off to get a better handicap", he surmises. Other changes to the original lines over Ida's long history include the addition of the doghouse and raised cockpit.

The more recent, Australian-built Struen Marie was one of a number on display, including several Tasman Seabirds, which have had a hardworking life as an ocean racer. Struen Marie went on to become a liveaboard family cruiser before proud current owner Ken Pryor bought it.

Built by Les and Barry Steel of Lake Macquarie of full-length huon pine (which had been curing for 15 years) to a design modelled on the lines of a Robert Clark 38-footer published in a yachting magazine of the day, (but with the stern cut down to fit the 35-footer rules then in force for club racing on Sydney Harbour) the yacht was launched by first owner Tom Williamson in 1950 and rewarded Williamson with corrected time victory in the 1951 Sydney to Hobart Race.

Williamson sold the yacht in 1960, but it went on to sail in the 1963 and 1964 Sydney-Hobarts, and was brought out of 'retirement' for the 1991 race, in which it was recorded as the only yacht with a wooden mast.

Pryor discovered the yacht in the Whitsundays, and embarked on a fateful delivery passage southwards to Sydney, during which he smashed one knee while working on the bow in heavy seas.

During his long recuperation from the accident, Pryor has been able to attend to many of the painstaking tasks involved in Struen Marie's restoration.

Another yacht of similar vintage on display, was Eudoria, a piece of the Sturrock family's history.

Built in 1948 as a racer for Norman Way, Eudoria was bought by Doug Sturrock Snr, who sailed it with his three sons John, David and Doug.

John, his wife Jennifer and daughters Catherine and Kirsty were onboard all weekend displaying the yacht, and were joined for some time by Doug Snr who came by with son David.

Moored next door, at the smaller end of the spectrum were the three Dragon class racing yachts on display, including Jennifer, owned by well-known Sydney sailor, Carl Ryves. He says Jennifer was built in Queensland in 1968-69 from one log of mahogany (so all the planks match) by "some Yugoslav guy working for Clem Masters' yard". The price was just $1700 when Ryves found the boat, and he was pleasantly surprised to find, "It was better than I thought when I got under all the crud."

Ryves says the older Dragons are able to remain competitive because the class has retained the same hull shape as that drawn by Johan Anker in Norway in 1929. Controlled development has allowed the introduction of GRP hulls, but Jennifer has returned to full competitiveness in its new owner's hands and won "everything" last summer season.

"She's 20kg overweight, if we longboarded it we could get the weight out," Ryves said. "What a bargain - we've had so much fun for nothing. Although if you charged out all the work we did, you'd probably be up for $10,000."