I'll open the yarn with a few paragraphs and a drawing from my book The Open Boat: The Origin, Evolution and Construction of the Australian 18-Footer (available on the Books Page)
“Prior to the 1870’s, if you were a young fellow who wanted to race sailing boats, you had to join the crew of one of the classes. This was not a problem for many young blokes as there were strong communities in most waterfront suburbs and if you were fit and keen you would be able to get a spot somewhere and asked to come back if you showed any promise. But there were no classes of smaller boats racing where teenagers and young adults could afford to have a boat built. Even the 16-footers after 1875 were not cheap to build and race. But the Anniversary Regatta of 1881 held a race for boys in canvas dinghies 12-14 feet. These boats must have been around for a little while as thirteen boats entered.
They could be simply and cheaply built by teenagers, by bending 25-30 ribs over some formwork, fitting 6-8 planks of cheap pine timber each side with about an inch between each plank so there was limited skill needed in fitting, and covering the whole lot in canvas which was then stretched and waterproofed by painting, most often with wood colours so that at a distance they were difficult to detect as canvas-covered boats. Two or three stringers stiffened the inside, with three thwarts. Their beam was about 5’, tuck about 4’3”, depth amidships 20”, depth aft 24”. By 1884 a fashion had developed for wide gun’ls, up to 5” a side including the moulding. They also got beamier as the years went by, up to 6’8” at least”.
“Prior to the 1870’s, if you were a young fellow who wanted to race sailing boats, you had to join the crew of one of the classes. This was not a problem for many young blokes as there were strong communities in most waterfront suburbs and if you were fit and keen you would be able to get a spot somewhere and asked to come back if you showed any promise. But there were no classes of smaller boats racing where teenagers and young adults could afford to have a boat built. Even the 16-footers after 1875 were not cheap to build and race. But the Anniversary Regatta of 1881 held a race for boys in canvas dinghies 12-14 feet. These boats must have been around for a little while as thirteen boats entered.
They could be simply and cheaply built by teenagers, by bending 25-30 ribs over some formwork, fitting 6-8 planks of cheap pine timber each side with about an inch between each plank so there was limited skill needed in fitting, and covering the whole lot in canvas which was then stretched and waterproofed by painting, most often with wood colours so that at a distance they were difficult to detect as canvas-covered boats. Two or three stringers stiffened the inside, with three thwarts. Their beam was about 5’, tuck about 4’3”, depth amidships 20”, depth aft 24”. By 1884 a fashion had developed for wide gun’ls, up to 5” a side including the moulding. They also got beamier as the years went by, up to 6’8” at least”.
The canvas fourteens became quite a large class. The Sydney Amateur Canvas Dinghy Club was formed in 1883 and raced up to 8 races a season, and the fourteens also raced in the numerous annual regattas like the Anniversary Regatta, the Balmain Regatta, the Double Bay regatta and even for a few years the Leichhardt Regatta. They gradually began to be replaced by wooden 14-footers (see the 14-Footers Page).
More from The Open Boat:
“The 8-Footers and 10-Footers
In 1886 the Balmain Regatta held a race for eight foot canvas dinghies, for youths under 18 (this just about coincided with the fourteens dropping their age qualification). There must have been a few of them about already because there were thirteen entries, as had happened with the 14’s. And there must have been a few larger ones as well because the very next year the Balmain Regatta race was for youths in canvas dinghies ten foot and under, and in a field of twenty-one there were seven 10-footers and fourteen 8- footers! At least some of the early entrants had no half-decks and were sprit-rigged.
The following year they were also in a combined race, and of twenty entries twelve were new! After that the fleets separated. The age limit seems to disappear about 1892, and the racing became handicapped. Decks came in and gaff rigs became dominant and sail areas grew. The stipulation that they be canvas boats disappeared sometime in the 1890’s”.
Above: 3.12 10’ Violet (left) and 8’ Rob Roy were 2 of the earliest racing 8 and 10’ canvas dinghies in the late 1880’s. Notice sprits’ls and lack of decks. COWIE FAMILY ARCHIVES
The Canvas 10-Footer NEVA
“The 8-Footers and 10-Footers
In 1886 the Balmain Regatta held a race for eight foot canvas dinghies, for youths under 18 (this just about coincided with the fourteens dropping their age qualification). There must have been a few of them about already because there were thirteen entries, as had happened with the 14’s. And there must have been a few larger ones as well because the very next year the Balmain Regatta race was for youths in canvas dinghies ten foot and under, and in a field of twenty-one there were seven 10-footers and fourteen 8- footers! At least some of the early entrants had no half-decks and were sprit-rigged.
The following year they were also in a combined race, and of twenty entries twelve were new! After that the fleets separated. The age limit seems to disappear about 1892, and the racing became handicapped. Decks came in and gaff rigs became dominant and sail areas grew. The stipulation that they be canvas boats disappeared sometime in the 1890’s”.
Above: 3.12 10’ Violet (left) and 8’ Rob Roy were 2 of the earliest racing 8 and 10’ canvas dinghies in the late 1880’s. Notice sprits’ls and lack of decks. COWIE FAMILY ARCHIVES
The Canvas 10-Footer NEVA
NEVA, a canvas 10-foot dinghy first heard of in 1887 in the Balmain Regatta and last heard of in 1895. Notice she is painted white and has no decks or lee cloths. The frd hand is preparing to set the squares’l. Photo by King from the Tyrell Collection at the Powerhouse Museum, brought to my attention by Mori Flapan.
NEVA is first mentioned racing in the 1887 Balmain Regatta, in which she came 5th. Peter Cowie in the 8’ ROB ROY (earlier picture) was 2nd.
NEVA continues to be mentioned in regattas and races held by the Sydney Amateur Canvas Dinghy Club until 1895, with a good race record, including winning her race at the Balmain Regatta in 1889 and 1890, and places in other regattas, and wins and places in club events, and was generally one of the scratch boats in the fleet under RJ Cameron, but appears to have been sold (or at least changed skipper) around 1893. W Holmes of the well-known boatbuilding and sailing family is recorded at the helm in a Johnstone’s Bay Sailing Club race in 1893, and DF McClure and A Simpson appear at the helm from 1893 to 1895. The boat was less successful, creeping out marginally in handicap to 2 minutes. She may have been getting tired, a career of 8 or 9 seasons was considered a long time for a canvas dinghy as they were built light but with considerable strain from the unrestricted sail area.
NEVA is first mentioned racing in the 1887 Balmain Regatta, in which she came 5th. Peter Cowie in the 8’ ROB ROY (earlier picture) was 2nd.
NEVA continues to be mentioned in regattas and races held by the Sydney Amateur Canvas Dinghy Club until 1895, with a good race record, including winning her race at the Balmain Regatta in 1889 and 1890, and places in other regattas, and wins and places in club events, and was generally one of the scratch boats in the fleet under RJ Cameron, but appears to have been sold (or at least changed skipper) around 1893. W Holmes of the well-known boatbuilding and sailing family is recorded at the helm in a Johnstone’s Bay Sailing Club race in 1893, and DF McClure and A Simpson appear at the helm from 1893 to 1895. The boat was less successful, creeping out marginally in handicap to 2 minutes. She may have been getting tired, a career of 8 or 9 seasons was considered a long time for a canvas dinghy as they were built light but with considerable strain from the unrestricted sail area.
Canvas 10-footer TAM O’SHANTER was a regular competitor with NEVA from 1891 at the start of her career, but closer to the end of NEVA’s career. “TAM O’SHANTER off GOAT Island 1890” is the caption on this framed photo in the Cowie Family Archives.The first newspaper mention I can find of the boat is in 1891 in the Double Bay Regatta on 31 October in which she was unplaced under Peter Cowie. NEVA came 4th in the race under RJ Cameron.
The canvas dinghies were gradually replaced by wood dinghies which began to appear in the early 1890s, built with batten seam carvel construction like the larger open boat classes. There appear to be no canvas dinghies by 1905 at the latest. The wooden 10-footers were raced from the early 20th century in Sydney, Newcastle, Brisbane and Perth, with annual Australian Championships from the 1901-02 season until the 1913-14 season, and again in 1922 (see the 10-Footers Page).
They stopped racing early in the First World War, but had a revival from the early 1920s in Sydney and Perth. Brisbane 10-footers did not resume after the First World War. A boatshed fire destroyed much of the Perth fleet in 1920, and another fire destroyed the rest of the fleet, many of which had been purchased from Sydney recently in February 1922 not long after the Australian Championship. This was the fire that also destroyed the recent Australian 18-footer Champion MELE BILO. Sydney 10-footers continued racing until the 1940-41 season.
Another shot of TAM O’SHANTER, this time at the Balmain Regatta, early 1890s. Cowie Family Archives.
They stopped racing early in the First World War, but had a revival from the early 1920s in Sydney and Perth. Brisbane 10-footers did not resume after the First World War. A boatshed fire destroyed much of the Perth fleet in 1920, and another fire destroyed the rest of the fleet, many of which had been purchased from Sydney recently in February 1922 not long after the Australian Championship. This was the fire that also destroyed the recent Australian 18-footer Champion MELE BILO. Sydney 10-footers continued racing until the 1940-41 season.
Another shot of TAM O’SHANTER, this time at the Balmain Regatta, early 1890s. Cowie Family Archives.