FROM THE ARCHIVES - #59.

I am still bringing you details from the August 1995 issue of Up The River where our
Commodore, Chris Lowe, also wrote about our forthcoming 50 th anniversary regatta. He
suggested on that day a sail past or start would take place in front of our Club Bouse making
it spectacular for our “special guests and visitors”. He asked that members make it a priority
for everyone to attend “and to be part of our Club’s history”.
A busy season was also planned with Association events planned for Tasars, Herons, Moths
and NS14s. Our Sail for Cancer was planned for February to be sailed in conjunction with
our Marathon Race which back then was around Cockatoo Island and back. After that our
Ryde Games Day was to be held on in conjunction with Parramatta River Sailing Club but
due to organisation difficulties would be held only on our home course.
He also advised that the above PRSC had disbanded its NS14 fleet and it was hoped that
some of them would join our fleet.
In this issue my President’s Annual Report as presented to the 1995 AGM was printed as
back then we did not have the separate Annual Reports booklet we now have. I will quote one
of my early sentences from it. “ this report will not be a short as originally thought but as it
cannot cover all facets of our activities, I will comment on those I think are the most
important.” That report ended up as 4 ½ pages in a small size font so there was a lot to cover.
There were a number interesting items mentioned covering activities of that season and of
those to come. Many of those items have been covered in earlier articles.
One thing I will include here was covering was our statistics of the 1994-1945 season and for
that season we had 90 boats registered which was a lot when compared with the 73 we had
last season. Membership numbers were very similar with 212 back then with the 204 of last
year.
The report of the NS14 Class Captain mentioned that we had 5 new members in the class but
it does not say they were from PRSC as mentioned above.
The Heron Class Captain, Wearren Hodgkins, mentioned in his August report that the State
Association was promoting Junior Heron sailors and that he would be interested in opinions
and suggestions as “to whether our Club couple run a series for our little mates’. So I looked
up the next issues to see if there was something else mentioned about this and found in the
UTR October issue the Junior Heron races had started at 12.30 pm on the last Saturday of the
month with trophies donated by the State Heron Association. The December UTR said that
the Juniors were progressing well with the February, April and May UTRs advising that now
up to 8 juniors were involved!
The Spiral Class report showed that it now had two sharing as Class Captains, Chris Loring was back
with Kerrin Deakin. Back then it was reports that many of Spiral skippers would be attending a pre-
season dinner at El Rancho as one of 3 social events planned for that season not including Club
events. - a very social lot!!!
The Moth Captain reported that there was a prospect of the Scow Moth being developed
further as an Association member had an interest in promoting this. It was hoped that this
would bring second hand Moths into the market and increase our Class membership.

Our Editor of UTR, still Bob Lindsay, opened the October, 1995 issue with another
interesting article this time strangely about road traffic rules and problems arising from
drivers doing the wrong thing and getting pinged. It made one wonder why road rules
however Bob in his usual expertise managed to relate those misdemeanours with our sailing
and I think it worthwhile reporting that part of his article here.
“Everyone yells out, honks their horn, points their finger and gesticulates in many an unkind
fashion that it seems you have committed the crime of the century.
Sometimes it seems that the only difference between sailing and motoring is the water
because don’t we see this similar lackadaisical manner on the River? Except maybe
sometimes in Championship events.
When you consider it, self-regulation in sailing is something which quickens your knowledge.
Paying the penalty for hitting a mark, doing a 720 when caught on the wrong tack all help to
sharpen your awareness for the rules and your sailing mates, regardless of which Class they
sail. It doesn’t hurt anyone (except their pride) to protest when you see someone not paying
the penalty for a misdemeanour.
Chances are, if it is you or someone else who gets caught, the same mistake will not be made
again – and that makes it better for us all, our Club and the sport of sailing.”
Still all very wise words from 30 years ago so thanks once more to Bob.
My President’s report started off with “After a record 47 days without rain and with August
temperatures at record high levels, Mother Nature chose to send the wanted drought -
breaking rains on our first sailing day for the 1995-96 season This together with a low
temperature of 15 degrees dulled the enthusiasm of many skippers to bring their boats out of
mothballs for an initial sail. However, 31 boats took to the water and thus we started our 50 th
season.”
Strangely for this current season 2024/25 our first race for the year had 31 boats start – what a
coincidence! But there was no rain.
In that report I also wrote that for the first four weeks we did not have the usual stormy
weather we get at the beginning of the season. One of these races was sailed in the rain with
virtually non-existent wind that the outgoing tide was stronger with some boats taking an
hour to reach the starting line and the race then comprised of 2/3rds of a lap. What we sailors
do to get a race!!!!
On that first sailing some heavy beams for the extension arrived early morning and some
willing helpers had some down to manoeuvre them into the Club House and as this task
finished early, they then set about cleaning up the beach. So when others arrive at noon
everything had been done.
I also mentioned problems that were being had with members’ car parking habits. Back then
many skippers would leave their vehicles down on the park after removing their boats after
being advised many times that they should be parked around the perimeter of the park.
Eventually this requirement got through and we have not had a problem with this for many
years. So please keep up this good habit!

Our Commodore in his report in discussing the 50 th Anniversary Regatta advised that as the
starting line would be in front of our Club House and as a big fleet was expected he asked
that skippers allow plenty of time to rig and launch their boats. He suggested this as if we
were to have a start in the easterly direction late launching would cause these boats to get in
the way of those which would be starting. He also advised that an early briefing at 1.30 pm
would be held to advise the course and to allow photographs to be taken of this historic
event! Special medallions and been purchased to present to the handicap winners for each
Class. He also indicated that a couple of former members who had previously contribute a lot
to our Club would make these presentations. So plenty of thought was being given to our big
day.
Someone had submitted an article about “How many tides are there?” – whoever wrote it did
not attach a name! I get the feeling it was probably Bob Lindsay, our Editor. .However to start
the obvious was pointed that most of us think there are only two – a high tide and a low tide,
which appear twice a day. Part of the article was as follows:-
“In fact there are six listed in The Australian National Tide Tables. The tides vary throughout
the year depending on the moon and other factors. The important ones are the Spring tides
and the largest natural tides are called Astronomical tides and these are all given in the
tables.
If you have a boat and you don’t want to run aground you use charts which relate to Indian
Spring Low Water (or in the trade – “Chart Datum”). This has been used for many years as
the basic reference for levels of structures around the water’s edge.
If you build a Club House and don’t want it to get wet you should build it above the Spring
High water.”
There is a lot more detail but I will leave with just the above details. It is amazing what one
can find when reading through our old magazines.
So if any of you find something of interest then write about it and give it to Nicole to put into
Up The River and then some years down the track it will come to the surface again!!!
Throughout this issue there were quite a few mentions of the celebrations coming up to mark
our then 50 years of existence. The main celebration was to be a dinner held at the Ryde
Bowling Club on 10 th November with tickets being available at $30 each. This was to be
followed up on the next day with our Anniversary Regatta and also “a slap up afternoon tea”.
Also that day there was to be a display of old and new Skates and VJs.
In my report to get members to attend the dinner I pushed the night with the words “This will
be a great night with good food mixed with a number of speakers from our current and
former members who will share with us reminisces of days past. Also on display will be quite
a lot of memorabilia from our Club’s history so come along for an enjoyable evening and
learn something from about our Club’s past.”
Our sub-committee for these celebrations had a special t-shirt designed for our 50 years as
well as a book covering the first 50 years of our Club’s existence.

As this big celebration was and is an important part of our Club’s history it should be fully
covered. However, I will not go into details here as there is a lot to say about it so I will fully
cover the celebrations in my next article.
Now back to our various class reports for that season to date. Most Class Captains started off
their reports with comments about the weather for the September races which was very
unseasonable. I think it appropriate to quote the Tasar Class report by James McMaster which
seems to sum this all up;-
“Unfortunately the wind has still been in winter hibernation but, in spite of the light winds, at
least half the fleet has been there each week challenging the elements.
A good example of this was the first handicap start event of the season. This showed just what
spirit and enthusiasm the Concord-Ryde sailors have. When our starter announced that all
crews would be permitted to paddle to the starting line (I cannot remember this happening
before in all the times I have been a member), the whole fleet gave a cheer and proceeded to
launch. Ted made a further great executive decision and cancelled the handicap start while
“Hughie” turned on a real treat – 1 knot of wind, periods of calm, and some rain.
Concentration was fierce and it was fascinating to see the whole fleet sailing backwards on
more than one occasion. The Tasars had a tortoise and hare race with the long-handicapper
Helianthus overtaking the scratch boat Bucentaur – only to surrender the lead as soon as a
sniff of breeze came in (now you know why they say sailing is character building).”
The race referred to was the first heat of the Spring Point Score on the 3 rd Saturday of the
season.
Our Editor closed off this issue with a little bit of humour so I will repeat it here to do the
same with my article as I am sure you will also get a laugh from it. He wrote:- The first day
of school and the teacher told her kindergarten class : “If anyone needs to go to the toilet,
they should hold up their right hand.” After a moment of quiet thought, one little boy asked:
“How will that help?”

Good Sailing!!!!
Ron Burwood - Archivist