SYDNEY HARBOUR 18 FOOTERS

The Sydney 18s were among the most radical racing dinghies in the world in their heyday. These days, they still are

-  NIGEL SHARP

The Sydney Harbour 18-Footers and their development are probably well known throughout most of the sailing world: always seemingly over-canvassed, developing from relatively heavy 19th-century, centreboard boats with lots of crew (some of which, supposedly, had to jump overboard and swim for it at the beginning of a last downwind leg or when the wind went light) to lightning fast skiffs with just three trapezing crew, in the latter part of the 20th century. But what is much less known is that there is still a fleet of traditional 18-Footers actively racing from the wonderfully-named Sydney Flying Squadron on the north shores of Sydney Harbour.

Sailing races were first held on Sydney Harbour at the very beginning of the 1800s and by the middle of the century boats from 6ft (1.8m) to 26ft (8m) were actively raced in large numbers. Mark Foy was a keen sailor and a wealthy businessman who had founded Australia’s first department stores. He wanted to make sailing races more interesting for spectators, in two ways in particular: coloured insignia on sails for easier identifi cation, and staggered handicapped starts to provide exciting finishes. But the established Sydney clubs would have none of it so, in 1891, he and a group of like-minded people formed a new club, the Sydney Flying Squadron. Not only did this allow Foy to further his ideas, but it also provided a base where working-class people could feel much more at home than at other clubs. Many of the SFS’s sailors played rugby league in the winters which is how the tradition of sailing in hooped rugby shirts began. Initially boats of various sizes raced at the new club but it wasn’t long before the 18-Footers emerged as the predominant class.