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Australia has a rich history in model
yachting and ARYA has acknowledged this by the creation, a number of
years ago, of the position of Archivist/Historian. The current
Historian, Steve Crewes, has done much work in seeking out our model
heritage and has contributed a number of articles for ARYA’s magazine,
Radio Waves. Steve is always on the look out for things historic and
can be found via the contacts page. The first of our feature stories
however is one from my pen which takes us back to times before
Federation and the story of Hobart’s unique 50 inchers. These little
craft were often raced from their home at Hobart’s Battery Point to
round the Iron Pot Light at the entrance to the Derwent Estuary and
return, a distance of some 15 nautical miles. The story originally
appeared in Radio Waves in August 2000.
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MODEL YACHTING IN TASMANIA - THE EARLY YEARS
An island State, Tasmania
has a long maritime history and in the early days of the colony,
sailing ships provided the link between the townships scattered around
the coast line. It was a natural progression to competitive sailing
which early records show started around the 1820’s, and from there to
the racing of models in the off season months.
The
history of organised model racing started with the formation in 1898 of
a model yacht club by members of the Derwent Sailing Club who sailed
their models during the winter months. This club known as the Derwent
Model Yacht Club had as its flag officers many of the well known
yachtsmen of the day. The clubhouse was a hulk moored alongside a jetty
at Battery Point.
The rules provided for a maximum length of 50 inches on deck and the
craft were gaff rigged and carried topsails and spinnakers .
These rules also provided that “No bad language to be used by any member
while the Club’s flag is flying”. The craft were tended from a
chase dinghy, typically 8-10 feet in length, and only members were
allowed to row the dinghy and sail the model. The member
rowing was the only person allowed to trim the sails and control the
craft.
Many of Tasmania’s
champion yachtsmen gained their start in these little craft including W.P.“Skipper” Batt later to gain prominence as the designer and helmsman
of the famous 21 foot Restricted Class “Tassies”. As a child he and
his brother Harry haunted the Battery Point waterfront sailing their
models and William began to design and build the type of model yacht
used by yachtsmen during the winter months. His “King Billy” (see
photo) was the champion yacht of the club for the years 1899, 1900 and
1901. This style of model continued through to the 1920’s when craft
became bermudan rigged.
In his book “Maritime Reflections” another famous Tasmanian
designer, boat builder and yachtsman, the late E.J. “Jock” Muir,
describes his introduction to both yacht designing and sailing “through
these famous little craft”. The boats of his day had a beam of 20
inches, a mast of up to nine feet in height and carried 50 pounds of
lead on the keel. He said “we used to be constantly changing a little
bit here and a little bit there and achieving near perfection in the
end. The big thing was they had to be able to sail themselves. We had
none of the electronic aids of today’s model racers”.
The Second World War saw the demise of competition for
these craft although a few still exist, at least one in the hands of
the original owner.
Ken Dobbie
Acknowledgements:
◙
George Fish for his contacts with the Batt family for
early history and photographs.
◙
June Batt for photographs and for providing excerpts
from her manuscript “Life on the Derwent Waterfront”
A History of the Batt family in the sport of yachting.
◙
“Maritime Reflections” by E.J. Muir (Published 1991)
Photo from the Batt Family Collection
“King
Billy”owned by William Percival (Skipper) Batt.. “King
Billy” was the Champion of the Derwent Model Yacht Club for the years
1899, 1900 and 1901. Included among her trophies was the dinghy
“Narra” used as a model chaser for many years by the Batt
brothers, Percy and Harry.
Model Yachting in the
Early Years in Tasmania.
An Update.
Like all history, a
constant search goes on to find all we can about our past in
model yachting. The story done by Ken Dobbie on the “Early years
in Tasmania” is no exception. Since he first did it, the class
of boat, which is shown in the photo has grown enormously in
known survivors of that period. One might have thought that the
models was so old that they would have rotted away years ago,
not so.
At the recent Wooden Boat
Show in Constitution dock in Hobart, this class came out in its
full glory again. Admittedly it was in the guize of three
different eras within the one Derwent 50” class. For the boats
of this era, that are in reasonable condition, number around 20.
A register of this class
has now been established in Hobart and the information this
Register carries is the era of each boat, who owns it, the
builder and where it was sailed originally.
One of the fascinating
things with this class is that most of them are in excellent
condition, with perhaps the sails or rigging needing replacing.
I originally saw some of
these boats in the Hobart Maritime Museum during my first trip
in that part of Australia in 2003. Well, since then the people
interested in them, including one, Stuart Harris, has become the
Quasi class leader of it all. Stuart has recently completed a
really top class model of the old ‘Tassie 11’ out of Huon Pine,
under the tutorledge of the famous Carver at the Royal Yacht
Club of Tasmania, Jack Hansen. This Tassie 11 was also shown
along with these old models at the recent Wooden Boat Show (Feb
05).
On the subject of the
model in the original photo with the rowing boat. This was shown
with the model, it appears much older that the winning boat, I
viewed it in the flesh, restored, which leads to my thinking it
may not have been a prize after all, that that fact may have
come down to us in folk law from legends of “Skipper” Batt.
I might add that Stuart
Harris’s grand father sailed with the legendary ‘Skipper’ Batt
as crew on the original “Tassie 11”.
I have collected some
photos of these old models on my many trips down there recently
and I want to thank Ken Dobbie in helping with research and his
vast local knowledge and indeed sailing knowledge in general,
was very helpful in this quest.
Stephen Crewes. National
Historian ARYA 2005.
The legendary Skipper Batts Derwent 50 model
A pair of Derwent 50s
Stuart Harris with his Tassie
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