How the Australian 18 Footers League began
by Frank Quealey 13 Aug 07:42 BST
As the Australian 18 Footers League (originally known as NSW 18 Footers Sailing League) prepares for the upcoming 2025-26 season, beginning with Race 1 of the Spring Championship on October 12, it's good to remember how the 'League' began in 1935 and how the original club administrators generated the enormous public support and progress that has endured for 90 continuous years on Sydney Harbour.
Queensland were anxious to introduce new rules to the 18s during the early 1930s as most of the Brisbane fleet was old and their numbers began to dwindle. Owners were also reluctant to replace their boats, due to rising costs during The Great Depression, together with the difficulty of maintaining big crews, and were looking to introduce less expensive boats with smaller crews..
Frederick Hart claimed that Queenslanders could build a new style 18 footer that would beat the Sydney boats and when this brought about an immediate challenge, he went back to Brisbane to build his 'miracle boat', which he named Aberdare.
Aberdare appeared for the first time during the 1932-33 Brisbane season and easily won the Queensland selection trials for the 1932-33 Australian Championship. All interstate championships at that time were decided by a single race and the light southerly wind that year didn't suit the smaller sail area of Aberdare, which finished only third behind two Sydney boats. Despite the result, Aberdare showed enough potential to impress several Sydney sailors enough to want to build a similar type of boat.
One Sydney owner, Bob Cuneo, had a similar boat The Mistake) built, and applied to have it registered at the Sydney Flying Squadron (SFS). The registration had to be granted as there was no rule preventing the new style of boat. Once the registration was granted, there were more applications for other similar new boats, but the Sydney Flying Squadron voted to have them debarred, and closed its register.
A split had also appeared within the Brisbane ranks who reacted to the Brisbane 18 Footers Sailing Club's acceptance of the new style boats. Tension was also extremely high between the Brisbane club and the SFS, which had already shown its non-support of the Aberdare-type boat.
Late in 1934, the SFS decided to terminate its agreement with the Brisbane 18 Footers Sailing Club and announced its withdrawal from the 1934-1935 Australian Championship. It became a decision which changed the face of 18 footers racing in NSW forever.
An increasing number of Sydney enthusiasts wanted the new style boats and were unhappy about the SFS's decision. Led by the former SFS President, James J. Giltinan, a meeting of the unhappy enthusiasts was held at the NSW Rugby League's Club to ensure the future of interstate championships. Following the meeting, the resulting new club NSW 18 Footers Sailing League announced that it had made an agreement with Brisbane 18 Footers SC to stage the Australian 18 Footer Championship as its first event on Sydney Harbour.
The SFS was livid and immediately took action to expel the so-called 'traitors' from the club, and the new League club's first race was Race 1 of the 1934-35 Australian Championship on February 3. Races 2 and 3 followed on 9 and 10 February 1935.
Aberdare easily retained her title, with victories in the first and third races of the championship, which was an unqualified success and gave the new organisation the confidence to move forward at a fast pace to secure the future.
The club decided to stage its races each Sunday, leaving the SFS to continue to hold their races on Saturday. This was a 'master stroke' as all other sporting events at the time were being staged on a Saturday. Sydney sports enthusiasts, who had previously had nothing to support on Sundays, quickly accepted the new event and spectator ferries carried large crowds each Sunday.
Attendances were unprecedented and up to seven ferries were hired each Sunday to accommodate the crowds. The club held its first championship on 10 March 1935 with HC Press IV winning from The Mistake and Scot.
The entrepreneurial skills of the League's first President, James J. Giltinan, were evident from the beginning of the 1936-37 season when he had each boat carry a jockey in a race. The move attracted non-sailing punters out onto the water and it was reported that "more than 4000 people had watched the race."
The club recorded a total attendance of 58,469 people for its fifteen races that season.
Smart marketing plus the novelty of being able to follow an exciting sport on a Sunday was obviously a winning formula but it also brought along an added bonus of attracting the horse racing fraternity who wanted to have a bet on a day which had previously been unavailable to them. Sunday racing also attracted new skippers and crew from the 12ft skiff and 16ft skiff classes, who were now able to sail their own boats on Saturday and get into the 18s on Sunday.
Among the recruits were top skippers such as Peter Cowie Jr, Bert Swinbourne, 'Billo' Hayward, Sam Monkhouse, Alf Beashel, Eric Parsons, Ray Rawlings and Cliff Boulton, who have become legendary in League 18 footer history.
Six new 7ft beam skiffs were built for the first fulll season in 1935-36: Minnawatta, All British, Alruth, Dee Why, H.C. Press V and Lois. Another five were built for the 1936-37 season: Jean, Collaroy, Burrawang, Lightning and Australia II.
From its beginning in December 1934, the grew to a fleet of mostly new 7ft beam skiffs in 1937 to twenty one starters every Sunday by early 1938. The League was a huge success.
In 1937, Mr. Giltinan sent invitations to interested parties in England, USA, Hong Kong and New Zealand, to compete in a series of races on Sydney Harbour to celebrate the 150th Anniversary of New South Wales in 1938. Due to the unstable WW2 situation at the time, only New Zealand finally accepted the invitation and sent a team of four boats to compete against four Queenslanders and twelve from the NSW League fleet.
The three-race championship was raced in a variety of moderate wind conditions, although Race 2 was interrupted when "a series of terrifying claps of thunder and sheets of lightning preceded the 60-mile gale that swept the harbour into a mass of tumbling white-crested waves" which took out all but nine of the competitors.
The original championship regatta in 1938 was a huge success, which The Sydney Morning Herald newspaper described on the day following the first race, "The grip that 18 footer sailing has on the Sydney community was clearly demonstrated yesterday when a record crowd watched Taree win the first heat of the world championship on the harbour."
"The crowd at Circular Quay was so large that extra steamer accommodation had to be provided at the last moment, while craft of almost every conceivable description were in attendance. The foreshores, particularly Bradley's Head and Steel Point, were thronged with spectators."
The amazing success of the League and the championship is best summed up by League President Ivor Horwitz's statement at the beginning of the 1938-39 season. "There can be no doubt that the modern type 18-footer appeals to the sporting instincts of every Australian as is evidenced by the fact that our patrons increase in numbers as each season progresses."
"Two seasons ago we felt proud of being able to record 150,000 patrons for the season. Last season (1937-1938) we were just under the 200,000 mark."
It wasn't all just about sailing races to the club's early administrators and, by 1936, they had inaugurated a competition to raise funds for the Royal Alexandra Hospital for Children, Camperdown. To achieve their goal, they made a decision early in 1937 to stage a 'Queen of the Waves' competition each year.
The aim was to use the proceeds from the competition "to build a school at the hospital to have crippled children transported from their homes to the hospital, receive treatment and education, and then taken back home each day."
Co-operation of both individuals and businesses enabled the scheme to get off to a successful start. Candidates for the honour of being named the 'Queen' were nominated, more than $6,000 raised, and plans were made to build the school on the Booth Street frontage of the hospital. Due to the world unrest at the time, activities were curtailed and the $6,000 was handed to the hospital as a trust fund.
Hospital authorities then decided to build the school with other funds they had then suggested that a wing of the school be named after the club.
The League weren't happy about that arrangement as the donations by members were made specifically for the purpose of building the school. An agreement was finally reached for the club to use its funds to take over a ward at the hospital, have it renovated, and use it for in-patients on nearly the same lines as the club had originally intended.
The first event was held in 1938. Business houses nominated a young lady from their staff as their representative and each lady then tried to secure as much 'support' as possible. The candidate who collected thee greatest support was presented with an English Ford De Luxe Sedan motor car valued around 300 pounds. Each of the top candidates were included in a crew on race day and the young lady on the winning boat was awarded a prize of 50 pounds and crowned 'Queen of the Waves'.
The incredible success of the competition in those early days of the League was later published in the club's 1972-1973 Annual Report:
"The total amount donated to the hospital from 1937 to the present (1972) has reached $58,434. Add to this the amount the sum of $6,560 raised from the Ladies' Committee by competitions on the Official Ferry and other ferries, and donated to the hospital, making the grand total of $64,994."
Aside from the renovations to the ward, the club also donated a virus laboratory (how appropriate considering the present situation), microscope and microsurgical instruments, tissue processing apparatus as well as other instruments and sundry items.
In the early 1940s, WW2 restrictions on sporting and pleasure boat sailing on the main harbour forced both the League and SFS to hold their races on the reaches of the upper harbour.
During the 1930s and 1940s, one of the biggest stars at the League was William J. 'Billo' Hayward, who was not only one of the great champion 18 footer skippers at the League during that time, he was also one of the greatest 16 footer sailors at St George Sailing Club (StGSC) for more than thirty years.
'Billo' was already an established 16 footer champion at StGSC when he first sailed an 18, named All British, at the League in January 1936.
During a 12-year career at the League, 'Billo' won the 1948 World Championship, the 1937-38 Australian Championship and five NSW championships - 1936-37, 1938-39, 1941-42, 1943-44 and 1945-46, as well as another nine lesser championships. He was not only rated as one of the best skippers in the 18s at the time, he was considered to be second only to the immortal Chris Webb.
Following the enormous success of the 1938 World Championship, won by Bert Swinbourne's Taree, there were some 'rocky' paths after Swinbourne refused to hand over the trophy after losing (on protest) to a NZ boat at Auckland in 1939, and the next scheduled contest in 1947 being postponed due to shipping difficulties.
James Giltinan passed away on 6 September 1950 but his dream of international competition received a boost in the 1950s when Fiji entered the worlds competition at Auckland then conducted the 1952 championship at Suva. During the same period, New Zealand designers began to show their talent with several innovative ideas which netted three titles between 1950 and 19554.
After Tony Russell's 1949 World Championship win with Marjorie Too in 1949, it was another fourteen years before a League boat won the prestigious title when Ken Beashel lifted the trophy with Schemer, at Auckland, in 1963.
Beashel's victory may have been a long wait for the League but it began a decade of success where League boats won eight consecutive titles between 1964 and 1971, inclusive. The 1950s and 1960s also produced some of the 18 footers greatest talent with skippers such as Don Barnett, Cliff Monkhouse, Ken Beashel, Bob Holmes and Hugh Treharne, and designer Hugh Cooke.
The 1960s also introduced sponsorship into the class at the highest level when the TraveLodge hotel ghroup sponsored Bob Holmes during the 1964-65 season. The man behind the sponsorship was an incredibly skilful businessman named Alan Greenway, who was the Chairman and Managing Director of Travelodge, and the involvement with the 18s remains possibly the most successful sponsorship ever.
During a 17-year period, the Travelodge organisation (including several seasons under hotel brand names Pacific Harbour Fiji and Park Royal) sponsored brand new skiffs in Sydney, New Zealand, USA and Queensland, winning six world championships with Australian and New Zealand boats, four Australian championships and five League Club championships, as well as other international and local championships.
After being 'homeless' since its formation in 1935, the committee of the League, in the late-1950s, saw an opportunity to purchase the Ireland Boat Shed, which was located on the site of the present clubhouse, but soon realised that the club didn't have enough money to secure the purchase.
The opportunity appeared to be lost, before one of the skippers in the club's fleet, Mr. Alf Beashel, made a wonderful gesture which changed the situation and secured the future of the Australian 18 Footers League clubhouse that exists today.
Alf Beashel, who was a draftsman at the Sydney County Council, decided that he would retire prematurely and put his superannuation money into securing the purchase on behalf of the League. Without his action, the clubhouse would not have the magnificent location it enjoys today.
With the site secured and the clubhouse operational from 1961, Mr. Beashel became the Secretary and was extremely active in promoting the class to England and USA, where small fleets were established in the 1970s. Both had the latest designed Bruce Farr boats before the introduction of costly high-technology in hull construction became too expensive for the 'young' fleets to compete.
The 1970s was a 'golden era' for the 18 footers. It produced some of the greatest sailors (skippers and crew) in the sport's long history, new designs and the breakthrough of the 3-handed boats, and finished with one of the greatest World Championship regattas on Sydney Harbour in 1979.
In the lead up to the regatta, championship sponsor Channel 7 TV network aired regular promotional clips, which generated intense public interest. Huge crowds followed the racing, with packed vantage points around the harbour foreshores, while hundreds of boats full of spectators followed every minute of the action. There were so many spectators at Bradleys Head that park rangers were forced to close the approach road and it was estimated that 10,000 people followed the weekend races.
The 50th anniversary of the League in 1985 called for something special and the club responded with an event called 'The State Bank Gold Cup', which was conducted over the weekends of January 5 & 6, and 12 & 13, and carried total prizemoney of $7,500 as well as a gold cup to the winner.
There were seven races in the event. The first six races were sailed over specially designed courses on Sydney Harbour. The final race, The Ocean Challenge, was a unique event, undoubtedly the highlight of the series, and one of the most spectacular 18ft Skiff races in the sport's history. Prizemoney for the top six placegetters in the harbour races was $5,500. With $2,000 prizemoney up-for-grabs, 19 boats lined up for the Le Mans-style start of the Ocean Challenge on the Pittwater side of Palm Beach.
Incredibly, after 1hr43m15s and 26 miles of top speed ocean racing down the coast, then spinnaker match racing in Sydney Harbour, Chesty Bond's crew grabbed the honours by just 1s. from Tia Maria's team east of the Sydney Opera House..
By the late 1980s, when the clubhouse was beginning to show its age, the Board of Directors, under the presidency of Mr. Anthony Reynolds, prepared a rebuild program, which became a reality in 1991 and produced the premises that stands alongside Double Bay Public Wharf today.
Then, in the early 1990s, the club's sailing program was under pressure from rising costs associated with most highly competitive sports, but once again club directors took the initiative and introduced a set of rules which revolutionised and expanded the iconic 18s to the world.
Prior to the rule changes in 1993, only seven New Zealand teams had been successful at the previous 42 world championship regattas and there had been no winners from any of the other 6 or 7 nations that had competed in the championship.
Over the 32 years since, there have been two winners of the JJ Giltinan world Championship from UK, two from the USA and three from New Zealand and at least 21 countries have been represented, and, in 2013 two all-female teams, one representing Australia and one the USA, also became the first to contest the prestigious championship.
The most recent introduction by the club, in the early 2000s, has become the professional live stream coverage to the world, by SailMedia, with expert commentary from the race track, of all 18ft Skiff racing on Sydney Harbour.
And another high speed, action-packed racing season all begins on Sunday October 12.