By Bill Humel.
A few of my Memories Articles appeared in the Compass Rose in 2019 and in years before, so I will try to be brief on what has appeared previously. My first nautical experience was paddling an old mattress with a paling on North Curl Curl Lagoon just after World War 2.
My father bought a “Sheens Car Boat”, just after WW2. It was war surplus and the top of a fuel wing tank of a Bomber Aircraft. Built out of pressed sheet metal, (tin or steel) 2.2 metres long. He discarded it after a few fishing trips on North Curl Curl Lagoon. “That boat is no good. You get a wet Arse and no fish.” Some gems you never forget. I asked him if he was not going to use the boat could I use it. Yes! At 9 years old I had a boat. Boat number 1.
I soon tired of rowing up wind and down, in winter westerlies. So, I “borrowed” a blanket from home, rowed up wind, turned down wind and by standing on the 2 bottom corners and arms stretched up holding the other corners, it really went down wind. Upwind attempts with a crude mast and yard failed. My father heard of my attempts to catch waves in the sea when the lake was open to the sea. I was banned for a period.
Then I sailed with a friend in his dingy, which was planked and heavy as hell. A multi-purpose sailing boat was what I wanted. So, I left school at 14 and got a job as office boy in an Architect’s office. This office boy drew the plans of a masthead rig 2.4 m sailing dingy and then built it with a mate. Boat number 2. I was unaware of the important centres of Buoyancy, Lateral Resistance of the underwater plane and the Centre of Effort of the sails. It was the most difficult boat I have ever had the misfortune to sail. (It was odified to a fractional rig.) Then followed a few races as crew on my mates VJ. (Vaucluse Junior).
The sailing dingy was sold and I bought my next boat, for 50 pounds in 1954 at Narrabeen Lakes. Boat number 3. It was a 2nd hand, planked 12-foot Gaff rigged skiff. Two young local boys became my crew. Over the Christmas break we went sailing every day in strong north easterlies. We capsized each day for the first 9 days in a row and finally remained upright on the 10th day. What stoic young lads my crew were to keep trying. Maybe they just loved swimming!
Because the previous owner was in the RAAF during WW2 and was sent to the UK where he stayed, when I bought the boat, no demonstration was given. We continued to sail for 3 months. Rigging the boat up one day a middle-aged man watched us intently. He then asked if we would like a little advice. He had raced 12s for many years in NSW and Australian Championships.
“Firstly, you have got the mast in back to front!” How deflating.
He showed us how to adjust the jib inboard for pointing high and out for off the breeze. Different halyard tensioning for different wind strengths and a boom vang. Some very important advice was, be aware of lift puffs and back puffs. A back puff (or knock) is a lift on the other tack. The 12s tack quickly. His advice was great. Racing against other 12s, we won our first race by 10 minutes.
By 1956, we had joined North Harbour Sailing Club to race on the Harbour. We competed against a very good sailor, Mike Polkinghorne in his 12 ft skiff. It was a mixed fleet. We raced against a young lad called Hew Trehearne on his VJ. Opportunities came, sailing as crew in 14 and 16 skiffs. In the 14s Aussie Titles, we broke the mast. Too much sail and not enough preparation. I wanted to go faster.
The planked 12 was sold and replaced in 1957 with a brand-new light moulded plywood 2 man 12 foot skiff hull, sailed with one crew on a trapeze. I finished building the boat, rudder and centreboard, a boom and hollow timber mast, with an internal groove for the mast bolt rope. We started off without a restraining strap on the Trapeze or foot straps on the gunnel. Heading out to Flagstaff, as we rose to the first big swell, my crew Ken, pushed forward with his feet, but over the top and going down the back of the swell he swung forward like a circus clown, out around the forestay and disappeared behind the jib. Not smart in a good breeze to have crew hanging out on the trapeze to leeward. It was a very short time before we were able to inspect our keel.
In 1955 I had changed jobs. My new boss was finishing building a 22-foot Bluebird Class yacht called “Tempo”. When launched, Peter Hinton from my first 12-footer crew and I were crew. Our first 8 races yielded 3 thirds, 2 seconds and 3 firsts – Peter later raced his Joubert 30 in a number of Hobarts. Our skipper was over keen and crossed a little too close to the Sow and Pigs Reef. A bump was followed by a crash stop. There was a mild swell. We were able to use the spinnaker pole to push our bow around on the swells and bump our way back off. Fortunately, there was no apparent damage. The skipper checked the bilge and there was no water. We withdrew from the race.
In 1956, Tom Flower’s “Eos” was launched. It was a Britany Class 10 metre 5-ton masthead sloop. It had been built by Dave Linton in the same yard as the Bluebird at Sydney Road Balgowlah. Helping to finish the Bluebird off I had met Tom. Tom invited me on his first sail on “Eos”. On a Saturday in September, MHYC organised a short offshore race from MHYC to the RPAYC at Newport. I crewed on the Bluebird in a nor-easter. Sunday morning a westerly gale was blowing. Our skipper had decided not to sail back but had organised a sail back for me on “Eos” if I wished. It was my first sail in a real gale. We sailed along Pittwater with a triple reefed main and storm jib and were hit by bullets coming off the western hills.
Looking past West Head the sea surface of Broken Bay was white, with patches of spray lifting off. We headed north east on a broad reach, with the gunnel buried at times.
Our quarter wave was breaking and sheets of spray were ripping across the cockpit. We did a granny round and headed south east then south. Tom asked me if I would like to steer. On the helm seeing the gusts coming of the land and the yacht just heeling more, then recovering was marvelous. My 12-foot skiff would have been flattened. I was hooked. I wanted this type of boat.
As soon as my part-time Uni course was finished, I began searching for my first yacht. The second-hand yachts I looked at, that I could afford, were awful. During the past years, I had also built a batch of three, 2.75 metre plywood canoes to sell at Xmas, (and made a profit) a 3.2 long deep “v” bottom fishing dingy, followed by one for my father and one for a fishing/sailing mate and a lightweight VJ. We rowed my fishing dingy from Fairy Bower to Harbord Diggers Point to catch fish! (only in nor-easter’s) I sailed the VJ solo on the hiking plank with a spinnaker. My smartest prank was to troll and catch a Tailer at the same time, too much to handle and not repeated.
A factory in Parramatta building boats was seriously affected by the Recession in 1962. They had produced a batch of 6 parts and bulkheads for 39-foot Allan Payne-designed sloops. They had built and sold only 2. A deal was agreed upon. They would build the third hull deck and cabin and I would fit it out and finish it off in their factory.
My 18 months programme took 20. Early April 1964, as “Whim” was rolled out of the factory, the owner of the business knew what I had in mind and said to me, “Remember there are no Service Stations out there Bill.”
“Whim” was loaded onto a huge Low Loader and taken to the Rose Bay Flying Boat Ramp and launched, with only me on board. A long bow rope had 5 of my boatie mates holding the end on shore. It was raining and blowing very hard. The motor would not start. The wind blew so hard the lads on shore nearly got pulled over the edge of the sea wall. But they just won the tug of war. Flushed with the success they pulled hard. “Whim” accelerated towards the shore. I yelled out to them I have no brakes. Alas, “Whim” ran aground within minutes of launching. We got towed to Mosman Marina. Not a propitious start for my first offshore yacht, Boat number 4. Now I had an offshore yacht at 26 years of age. It was the first of 6 yachts I have owned over the years. I made a hollow timber mast with a main bolt rope groove and a similar boom as a roller furling boom. I made the mast 6 feet longer than designed for a bigger rig for light winds. I still had not learned to follow the designer. A No.2 headsail and mainsail were delivered to the boat for the masthead rig, but the rigger had not come and finish the bottom ends of the stays.
“U” bolt clamps were used instead and the turnbuckles used to tension the rig. Off we went for our first sail. A sail to Broken Bay over Easter followed. Eventually the rigging was finished, but the yacht was far from fully equipped. I started practicing Solo sailing offshore up the coast in preparation for long distance cruising.
Asked at the time why I like sailing so much, I had replied “To go sailing in a good nor-easter, then at sunset to go into a sheltered bay, then ashore and meet up with some sailing friends, light a fire, cook some meat, have a few drinks, sing a few songs and row back out to my boat.” On one memorable evening, the moon rose like a golden ball. I may have been describing cruising!
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