Six-footers
An unidentified 6-footer off Fort Denison, most likely in the first decade of the 20th Century, and probably during a Regatta with a regatta number on the sail and flags on Fort Denison. There are several images of this boat below but the insignia is not mentioned in the few insignia guides I have found. Flag expert John Vaughan believes the flag is red. Hall Collection, ANMM.
An unidentified 6-footer is sailing on the edge in this William Hall shot from the early 20th Century. Just staying upright was a constant struggle! Hall Collection ANMM.
The six-footers first appeared as a class at the Balmain Regatta in November 1899 where there were 8 starters. They were a young man's boat, built in batten-seam carvel construction generally by shipwright apprentices for themselves. They were miniature versions of the larger open boats of the day with relatively enormous sail areas. They were around 5'6" to 6' beam and were sailed by a crew of two or three very friendly lads. They raced for a few seasons with numbers fluctuating as the lads moved on to the larger classes, and were declared defunct by 1909, but they revived that same year with the formation of the North Sydney Dingy Sailing Club in August with Mark Foy as patron. Balmain Dingy Sailing Club mostly catered for ten-footers but also held races for the six footers as did the Lane Cove Club. Another brief setback was when more than half the fleet was bought up by Watty Ford in 1910 and sold to the Islands, but some new boats were built. The tens stopped with the outbreak of WWI, but the six-footers kept going. They stopped again in 1919, but a new club was set up at Concord up the Parramatta River for the 1920-21 season and they raced for a few seasons up there. The last race of the Concord club I have seen mentioned was in 1925. The Concord club morphed into the Abbotsford club which held races for 6-footers until the 1927-28 season. Most of the remaining crews apparently went into the ten footers which had revived with the re-establishment of the Balmain Dingy Sailing Club in January 1924.
Boatbuilder Robert Tearne built a replica six-footer he named Wee Georgie about 1989 which led Robert to establish the Australian Historical Sailing Skiff Association in 1990. It still exists in storage. The only other six-footer replica built was the Balmain Bug built by Ian Smith in 1994, which now belongs to the Balmain Sailing Club as a sort of mascot and is sailed every year in the Balmain Regatta. Sailing a six-footer is like riding a bucking bronco. They are as unstable fore and aft as they are from side to side.
Six-footers are difficult to identify as very few records of their sail insignias have survived, so many of the following photos are unidentified.
Boatbuilder Robert Tearne built a replica six-footer he named Wee Georgie about 1989 which led Robert to establish the Australian Historical Sailing Skiff Association in 1990. It still exists in storage. The only other six-footer replica built was the Balmain Bug built by Ian Smith in 1994, which now belongs to the Balmain Sailing Club as a sort of mascot and is sailed every year in the Balmain Regatta. Sailing a six-footer is like riding a bucking bronco. They are as unstable fore and aft as they are from side to side.
Six-footers are difficult to identify as very few records of their sail insignias have survived, so many of the following photos are unidentified.
The boat above with the light-coloured crescent symbol is unidentified but is a typical shot of a six-footer working to windward, in this case in a light Nor'Easter in Berry's Bay from the Alf Appleton collection.
Six-footer Kangaroo looks likely to give the crew a bath in this Hall (ANMM) photo from about 1919. They may have survived. Scanty records show Kangaroo winning a Balmain Dingy Sailing Club race in March 1919 and racing at Concord in the 1923-24 and 1924-25 seasons under skippers W., J. and S.Johnson (probably brothers?). This appears to be the North side of Goat Island, so probably a Balmain race.
This is probably the same boat as in the top photo but remains unidentified.
Most of these images are from a collection donated to the AHSSA by the late Alf Appleton (Jnr) whose father sailed in the six-footers in the early 1900's.
The sixes sailed on the main part of the harbour before WWI, from around Balmain and down Harbour. After the war they sailed up the River at Concord.
The boat on the right is probably Wee Georgie Robinson's 6-footer Britannia that he built in 1915 and was the Balmain Dingy Club's Champion in 1917, 1918 and 1919. Wee Georgie built the 18-footer Britannia in 1919, and the 6-footer was sailed by R.Cochran at Concord in the 1924-25 season.
This photo is from the Hall Collection ANMM and was reproduced in Bruce Stannard's excellent book Bluewater Bushmen which is still available from second-hand dealers, and a newer edition is available directly from Bruce at www.maritimeheritagepress.com
Chook Fraser was a leading Rugby League footballer playing for Balmain Tigers and Australia. He was listed in the 100 greatest Australian footballers of all time in the centenary year of 2008. His son, a wonderful bloke named Jim Fraser (also a footballer and sailor) lived long enough to see his father announced on that list. Chook later crewed on and steered several 18 footers in the 1920's and 1930's. His crew here, Latchem Robinson, another Balmain footballer, was apparently no relation of Wee Georgie Robinson but was generally in the crew of the 18 footer Britannia in the 1920's and '30's.
Chook Fraser was a leading Rugby League footballer playing for Balmain Tigers and Australia. He was listed in the 100 greatest Australian footballers of all time in the centenary year of 2008. His son, a wonderful bloke named Jim Fraser (also a footballer and sailor) lived long enough to see his father announced on that list. Chook later crewed on and steered several 18 footers in the 1920's and 1930's. His crew here, Latchem Robinson, another Balmain footballer, was apparently no relation of Wee Georgie Robinson but was generally in the crew of the 18 footer Britannia in the 1920's and '30's.