Kathleen Farr took up sailing at the Vaucluse 12’ Skiff Club in the 1934-35 season aged 17 steering a skiff named Lightning, becoming the first woman to regularly steer a 12’ skiff. She soon took over another club skiff Aussie and began to feature in finishes. She won the first test race to represent the State in the Australian Championship and was chosen as one of three boats to represent NSW in Brisbane. Born in Melbourne the daughter of Colonel WP Farr, the Assistant Secretary of the AJC, she moved to Sydney to study Veterinary Science at Sydney University, and being an active young woman (skiing, ice-skating, horse-riding, motoring) she gravitated to sailing while living in Vaucluse.
The first race in Brisbane was an invitation for the J Clark Memorial race at Sandgate on Moreton Bay, which Kathleen and Aussie and her crew of boys which included 13-year old John Winning (father of our SFS and 18-footers League President John Winning) won in a stiff Nor’Easter which saw only 5 boats finish in the fleet of 16. This naturally attracted a lot of newspaper attention as she had shown she could succeed in tough conditions in what was seen as a “manly” sport. In three heats for the Australian Championship on the Brisbane River in lighter conditions Kathleen was 7th overall. A few days later a special lady skippers Championship was held and Kathleen won convincingly from a fleet of lady skippers with considerably less experience than her. On her return to Sydney a motion was put forward that would stop women from competing in open events but it was defeated.
Kathleen continued to sail Aussie in Vaucluse Club events until late 1939 with some success, including placings in several Championship races, including possibly being the runner-up in two State Championship races. She received invitations to steer other vessels including winning a handicap race for the Balmoral Cup in the 16-footer Say When in1936. She also steered Stan King’s 10-footer Wallaby in a Balmain Dingy Sailing Club race in May 1938, and the yacht Cooroyba in a lady skippers race at the RSYS in 1939 (which was won by Shiela Patrick in Moonbeam).
Having graduated as a Vet, she moved to Victoria for work in late 1939, working in Shepparton and Geelong, including being the first woman to act as official Vet for a race meeting, in Geelong in May 1940. She then worked for the NSW Agriculture Department before becoming chief Vet at the Animal Welfare League Hospital in Melbourne in 1942. I have no further information on her career after that, but in the early 1990’s she was living in rural NSW when she heard about the Australian Historical Sailing Skiff Association and joined us. I posted AHSSA Newsletters to her until her death around 2000. I’m sure she would be pleased to see how many women are currently involved in Historical Skiff sailing, but perhaps disappointed that there are no women skippers. Anyone?
The first race in Brisbane was an invitation for the J Clark Memorial race at Sandgate on Moreton Bay, which Kathleen and Aussie and her crew of boys which included 13-year old John Winning (father of our SFS and 18-footers League President John Winning) won in a stiff Nor’Easter which saw only 5 boats finish in the fleet of 16. This naturally attracted a lot of newspaper attention as she had shown she could succeed in tough conditions in what was seen as a “manly” sport. In three heats for the Australian Championship on the Brisbane River in lighter conditions Kathleen was 7th overall. A few days later a special lady skippers Championship was held and Kathleen won convincingly from a fleet of lady skippers with considerably less experience than her. On her return to Sydney a motion was put forward that would stop women from competing in open events but it was defeated.
Kathleen continued to sail Aussie in Vaucluse Club events until late 1939 with some success, including placings in several Championship races, including possibly being the runner-up in two State Championship races. She received invitations to steer other vessels including winning a handicap race for the Balmoral Cup in the 16-footer Say When in1936. She also steered Stan King’s 10-footer Wallaby in a Balmain Dingy Sailing Club race in May 1938, and the yacht Cooroyba in a lady skippers race at the RSYS in 1939 (which was won by Shiela Patrick in Moonbeam).
Having graduated as a Vet, she moved to Victoria for work in late 1939, working in Shepparton and Geelong, including being the first woman to act as official Vet for a race meeting, in Geelong in May 1940. She then worked for the NSW Agriculture Department before becoming chief Vet at the Animal Welfare League Hospital in Melbourne in 1942. I have no further information on her career after that, but in the early 1990’s she was living in rural NSW when she heard about the Australian Historical Sailing Skiff Association and joined us. I posted AHSSA Newsletters to her until her death around 2000. I’m sure she would be pleased to see how many women are currently involved in Historical Skiff sailing, but perhaps disappointed that there are no women skippers. Anyone?
