The files of the AHSSA contain this group of photos of 10-footers sailing on Newcastle Harbour (a coal port 90 nautical miles North of Sydney Harbour) in the early years of the 20th Century, and an extract from the Belmont 16ft Skiff Sailing Club Skiffy News of December 1987:
“Competitive sailing on Newcastle Harbour and, for a time, at Toronto in the late 1890’s and early 1900’s was confined to the remarkable 10-footers......
The 10’s were a greatly popular class and their races on Newcastle Harbour drew big crowds - and considerable betting. Fleets of the 10’s from Sydney and Brisbane made a visit to the annual Newcastle Regatta a ‘must’.
The small craft were amazing sail carriers and were often rigged with gear used by 18-footers. As the photograph(s) show the mast, boom, gaff and bumpkin were each much longer than the boat. The boom was 23 ft in length, the gaff 13’6”, the hoist 14’6” and the bumpkin 14’2”.
Many of the great names in Northern open boat sailing cut their teeth on a 10-footer’s boom. One of the best known was George Campbell, father of Messrs Wally and Gordon Campbell who did so much towards the establishment and progress of the Lake Macquarie Yacht Club. Mr Campbell owned several boats including the champion 10-footer, Olga.
Another highly successful skipper in the class was the greatly popular Mr W.(‘Tot’) Walters who later was a top-line 16ft skipper and whose name is prominent on the ‘Skiffy’ Club’s Honour Board.
Mr Sam Arnott of the biscuit-making family, was one of the early presidents of the Port Hunter Sailing Club which controlled the 10-footers’ racing. His son, Wally, sailed Britannia in the fleet with marked success.
Cec Hollinshed, who was president of the Tononto 16ft Sailing Club for a long term, Tom Blackall, who became Newcastle’s Mayor, George Cuthbertson, the Devereux family, Bill York, the Moncrieffs and Thoroughgoods were other well-known sailing personalities who were prominent in 10-footer sailing”.
“Competitive sailing on Newcastle Harbour and, for a time, at Toronto in the late 1890’s and early 1900’s was confined to the remarkable 10-footers......
The 10’s were a greatly popular class and their races on Newcastle Harbour drew big crowds - and considerable betting. Fleets of the 10’s from Sydney and Brisbane made a visit to the annual Newcastle Regatta a ‘must’.
The small craft were amazing sail carriers and were often rigged with gear used by 18-footers. As the photograph(s) show the mast, boom, gaff and bumpkin were each much longer than the boat. The boom was 23 ft in length, the gaff 13’6”, the hoist 14’6” and the bumpkin 14’2”.
Many of the great names in Northern open boat sailing cut their teeth on a 10-footer’s boom. One of the best known was George Campbell, father of Messrs Wally and Gordon Campbell who did so much towards the establishment and progress of the Lake Macquarie Yacht Club. Mr Campbell owned several boats including the champion 10-footer, Olga.
Another highly successful skipper in the class was the greatly popular Mr W.(‘Tot’) Walters who later was a top-line 16ft skipper and whose name is prominent on the ‘Skiffy’ Club’s Honour Board.
Mr Sam Arnott of the biscuit-making family, was one of the early presidents of the Port Hunter Sailing Club which controlled the 10-footers’ racing. His son, Wally, sailed Britannia in the fleet with marked success.
Cec Hollinshed, who was president of the Tononto 16ft Sailing Club for a long term, Tom Blackall, who became Newcastle’s Mayor, George Cuthbertson, the Devereux family, Bill York, the Moncrieffs and Thoroughgoods were other well-known sailing personalities who were prominent in 10-footer sailing”.
Digging into the Newcastle Morning Herald and Miners’ Advocate archives on TROVE has filled in a few more details. Unfortunately the boats in the photographs remain unidentified at the moment as I can find no record of their sail insignias. They would all be from this list of names of the regular competitors: Ensign, Myra, Bamboo (re-named Columbia), Karuah, Britannia, Freada, Elma, Australian, Isabella, and Haidee. Perhaps some regatta or race programmes will be found which might identify them. All of these boats appear to have been built locally, some by George Towns and some by Captain York. In 1900 George Campbell mentioned above sold Karuah (to Tot Walters, also mentioned) and bought Olga (built by Joe Donnelly in 1897) from Sydney, and tended to dominate the fleet after that. Two seasons later Eric Brown bought Planet, another well-known Sydney boat (see Planet’s story on the 10-FOOTERS Page) and engaged Alf Holmes to sail it and became a close rival to Olga.
The writer of the 1987 article is right in saying that the Newcastle 10’s visited Sydney often, and Brisbane occasionally. They also regularly visited the Gosford Regatta, usually at Easter. Sydney 10’s often came up to Newcastle for the Regatta on New Year’s Day and other occasions. Olga and Planet competed in Brisbane in December 1901 for the Australian Championships as the sole representatives from NSW, Planet got two 2nds in the series, and in the next season when the Brisbane boats proposed a return match in Sydney, the owners of Planet and Olga announced they would not attend as the return match should be raced in Newcastle. Apparently some compromise was worked out, as although the title was held in Sydney, the Queensland boats visited Toronto Regatta on Boxing Day 1902, and Newcastle on 7 January 1903 where two Queensland boats Iduna (see listing on 10-FOOTERS Page) and Butterfly forced Olga into 3rd place. But the writer of the 1987 article is not correct in suggesting that racing was confined to the 10-footers for a period...the Port Hunter Sailing Club ran regular general handicaps for yachts and other classes, and several 18-footers were based in Newcastle including Federal and Ariel, and there were also some on the Lake, including Vera (see 18-FOOTERS Page).
The Port Hunter Sailing Club continued to run races for 10-footers at least until the 1903-04 season, but after that they either stopped or the Newcastle Morning Herald stopped reporting on them. Regatta notices are found for a few more seasons listing events for 10-footers, but they were not reported on. Perhaps the emerging 16-ft skiff class replaced them. The Port Hunter Sailing Club appears to have morphed into the Port Hunter Skiff Club as the new 16-footers began to get popular, building up to their historic position as the dominant class in Newcastle and Lake Macquarie in the 20th Century.
Anyone with any information that helps identify the boats please get in touch at info@sydneywoodenboatschool.com.au
Anyone with any information that helps identify the boats please get in touch at info@sydneywoodenboatschool.com.au
