The story of the Sharpie as it is known in Australia is probably the most remarkable success stories in the history of sailing in its time.

The class took its International name from the sail area which was 12 square Metres (approximately 130 square feet)

From its small beginning in Germany, the class spread to Holland within a few months and again achieved immediate popularity.

The class was founded on the winning design in a competition organised by the German Yachting Association the Deutcher Segler Verband in 1931, and it was submitted by Herr Kroger (A German designer Mr Walter Brauer was also involved and in later years was made a life member of the Australian Lightweight Sharpie Association)

The class was immediately adopted by Germany, Holland and England. Italy, Belgium France and Portugal.    International competition then followed and continues today (2006) with host clubs organising the events in rotation. This International fleet of 12 Square metre Sharpies are still kept in the original condition and big fleets are kept immaculate. The owners are so keen that the Dutch Association bought a huge log of Gaboon timber from South Africa and cut it up into Sharpie sized planks for repairs to yachts that may be damaged in collisions.

The same year, 1931, the yacht was introduced to England by the Royal Corinthian Yacht Club, which sponsored a fleet of nine boats. Other clubs followed and the class spread throughout England with amazing rapidity and within a few years it was the strongest in the country.

The Sharpie class began in South Australia in 1933 when Mr M. C. Lotz brought the plans from England after having considerable experience with the class in both Holland and England. He was so impressed with the yacht's qualities that he picked the Sharpie as being the best suited for Australian conditions, but in July that year when he submitted the plans to several leading yachtsmen in Perth Western Australia, they very quickly declared that the Swan River was far too rough for such a craft and refused to even consider the idea.

At the beginning of 1934, the plans were scrutinised by the committee of the Royal South Australian Yacht Squadron, and they resolved to sponsor the class.

In August 1934, Mr C Haselgrove of the RSAYS launched the first Sharpie to be built in Australia "Firefly", and in November of that year performed the epic feat of racing around the Wonga Shoal Light (4 to 5 K offshore from Semaphore) on a day when five keel yachts out of ten refused to brave the conditions.

That same year 1934, George Ross boat builder of Woodville South Australia built the second Sharpie named "Comet" for Mr O.J.O`Grady, who took the yacht to Melbourne for the centennial regatta where she out sailed the fleet and attracted much favourable attention which resulted in the class being established in Victoria.

The name of O`Grady`s new Sharpie was chosen at the time of great excitement in Australia because on October 20, 1934--- the same year the Sharpie was introduced to Australia, --- a centenary air race from London to Melbourne was won by a DH88 "Comet", one of three new design aircraft named DH88 "Comets" entered for the race. These bright red monoplane aircraft with low-slung cleanly cowled 225 hp twin engines mounted on low cantilever wings, had a cruising speed of 195.3 knots.

The three "Comets" entered the race, and the first to be built won the event, travelling from London to Melbourne's finishing line the Flemington racecourse, a distance of 18,080 km in 71 hours 18 seconds proving the value of long distance air travel.

The South Australian International 12 Square metre Association was formed in July 1935 to control and foster the class in South Australia. The association was then officially recognised by the British 12 Square Metre association as a National Authority. The members of the Australian Association were President M.L. Mitchell, Vice president M. C. Lotz, Secretary A Hand, Committee N. Ford and O.J.O`Grady

The first National and S.A. State Championships were held in South Australia in 1935, and Len Wigan sailing "Alawa" representing the RSAYS won both.

Also in 1935, Mr Mel Peacock returned to Western Australia from an Australian Dinghy Championship highly elated with a trial run he had in a 12 Square Metre which had been taken to Melbourne for demonstration purposes. This enthusiasm was shared with Mr "Bushie" Broomhall and Mr Wally Metham, and these two were responsible for launching the first Sharpies "Alert" and "Keen Edge", and later "Adieu" on the Swan, proving the previous "experts" wrong. The Royal Perth Yacht Club became interested, and with the support of as group of its members, the class became established in Western Australia.

By 1936, the Royal Perth Yacht Club had six Sharpies, and the Royal Hobart yacht Club had 20. At that time, the National class had grown to around seventy boats, and by the 1960`s the growth was to, around 500.

The following clubs adopted the 12 Square metre Sharpie in South Australia.  Royal South Australian Yacht Squadron, Grange (where the class began) Brighton, Somerton, Glenelg, Largs Bay, and Port Adelaide. Another private club, the Beachcroft Sailing Club (Doctor Moody) adopted the design but these were made of plywood and not true Sharpies. Country clubs included Barmera, Port Lincoln and Port Augusta. The 1935/36 season saw the Grange (S,A.) sailing club with 12 boats and the teams races with the Royal S.A. Yacht Squadron Sharpies were one of the features of that season and were the first to be seen in Australia.

The first International series for 12 Square Metre Sharpies were also held in 1936 during the States Centennial Anniversary, and attracted contestants from South Africa and England, the event was won by Allan O`Grady.

Apart from private owner builders, Alec and George Ross were the major professional builders of 12 Square Metre Sharpies, with George taking over later. He was kept working flat out, even building two at a time. He used plywood patterns for all the parts complete with the bevels needed. Everything was cut out in the one operation with the relevant bevels before setting up the boat. Frame shapes were permanently marked out on a large assembly bench, complete with metal plates in the chine corners as dollies for nailing. 

When I visited George Ross in 1952, he told me that he would set up the boats on a Monday, and at 4 pm on the Friday he would be taking them off the jig. Other professional builders were J.P.Clausen and Sons Port Adelaide, and Jim Allen in the Adelaide suburb of Brompton. All are now deceased.

Many yachtsmen built their own Sharpies, and to build one's own boat was a thrilling experience. Prior to and (with the exception of the war years 1939-45) up to the 1960`s were the days of beautiful knot- free timber in large lengths and widths, available in the timber yards. Beautiful fine- grain quarter sawn Oregon, Aircraft quality fine grain Spruce, Australian Oak, clear grain Jarrah hardwood from Western Australia in large lengths for keels, and Western Red Cedar (from Canada).

Building and setting up the frames and manually cutting out the hardwood Jarrah keel together with the stem, and fitting the chines, seam battens and deck stringers, is where the boat's shape really excited the builder. 

After dressing down the bevels and rebates, fitting the planks, two each on the topsides and four on each side of the bottom vee was the next experience, with copper nails and roves fastening them to the keel and side battens

Working with the beautiful timber was a pleasure, and finally turning over the new hull to begin the decking was a special occasion to be celebrated. Caulking the hull was another skill learned until it was discovered that Western Red Cedar planks could be successfully edge glued.

In a 1956 conversation with George Ross about a bent mast made for me by J. P. Clausens of Port Adelaide, George explained to me the correct method to build a Sharpie mast was to avoid using different pieces of timber in the construction as these tended to produce a bend later as the grains moved. He said that a single piece of selected fine grain Spruce (or Oregan) should be used.  The single piece should be cut down the centre, one-piece end- for- ended and the outside faces rolled over and placed together. The hollows for the centre of the mast are then planed out of the former outside faces using templates then both are glued and clamped together on a flat straight surface, using a string line down the joint for accuracy. The mast is then marked off for the lower full thickness and the top taper in segments each side of the squares and carefully planed down keeping the thickness symmetrical.

 Such was the information gained by yachtsmen in those days.  Another well-known yachtsman made his masts by simply shaping the tapers and gluing timber up in a box style, producing a hollow centre without the need to hollow out the mast. 

It has been said that a man should build at least one wooden boat in his lifetime, and many Sharpie enthusiasts have taken it to heart and built several. 

George Ross built "Phantom" for O.J.O`Grady in 1937, and he won the National Series in Adelaide in 1937. Second was "Triona" B. Oldfield, and South Australian Harry Perry (sen.) was third. Mr H.C.Brooke who had bought "Comet" from O.J.O`Grady and renamed her "Ragamuffin", won the next series in Hobart in 1938. The next championship in 1939 saw Tasmania, South Australia and Victoria as the winner and place getters, and the series were then put into recess until 1947 after the end of the war.

Racing by the 1950`s became extremely competitive with well-known yachting names around Australia becoming involved.

By the mid 50`s the Olympics in Melbourne Australia were looming and the 12 Square Metre was selected as a two man class. The race was on to build boats to conform with the International standard which included a crew of two, short leech battens, no spinnakers, no bulkheads and smaller jibs. New 12 Square metre Sharpies conforming to the original design were built in Australia, and Jim Hardy  (later Sir James Hardy) built one, "Tintara " in his garage at Seacliff (S.A.), but missed selection for the honour of representing Australia in the selection trials.

Western Australian Rolly Tasker won the right to race in the 1956 Olympics and during the series he was facing an International fleet of thirteen Sharpies and looked certain to win Australia's first gold medal at Melbourne.

 Going into the last race, Tasker sailing "Falcon 4" was level after discards and points with the New Zealand yacht "Jest" sailed by Peter Mander. Should "Jest" finish third, Tasker would have won, but if "Jest" got a second, Tasker would need to be first to win Gold. Tasker`s tactics were to pin "Jest" back during the final race, but with little between the two, a French skipper on the Sharpie "Kannibaltje" called Starboard on Tasker who was on the Port Tack. Upwind also on the Port Tack but astern was a Canadian Sharpie "Beaver".

Tasker called, requesting the Canadian to tack and give him room but the Canadian held his course. Tasker had to pull away to run around the French yacht, but clipped the other yacht as he passed.

Up went the protest flag and Tasker lost the Gold to the New Zealander but got the Silver.

After the Olympics all the Sharpies built for selection were converted to the Australian concept and eventually sold. A South African Sharpie "Impala" which was varnished and a work of art had full width topside planks, was sold to a South Australian. (This boat was later sold to a new owner in Ballarat Victoria and was on display and for sale at the Ballarat yacht club in the summer of 1999).

Before the Olympics, the greatest winning streak in the 12 Square Metre Championships began in 1952 when Rolly Tasker sailing "Falcon" won four years in a row, missing the Olympic year in 1956 and then won the next National Sharpie series the following year 1957, with "Daring" sailed by Queenslander John Cuneo taking second place.

This was the introduction of John Cuneo to the Nationals, and for three years, 1958, 59, and 60, Jim Hardy sailing "Tintara", and Cuneo "Daring", dominated the Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide series, taking first and second places in turn each year. This resulted in "Daring" winning in 1958, Tintara winning in 1959, and "Daring" in 1960

In the late 1950's a major argument erupted about reverse frames in 12 Square Metres.

There were many theories about the argument, which were vigorously debated, but George Ross explained to me years later that it was all to do with the placement of the frames in the boat. He claimed that the original designer marked the frame stations in the plan, but when the frames were drawn in, the usual practice was to reverse the frames at mid-ships. This was because the bottom of each frame was simply fastened outside the side frames. From mid-ships forward, the side frames faced aft, and from mid-ships aft, they face forward.

When the bevels on the frames were planed off, the station points were in the centre of the bottom and side frames. This meant that if all the side frames faced forward, the bottom frame edges could not be planed off--there was nothing there! and the side frames would be nearly 20 mm from where they should be.

This argument went on for years and became more convoluted as it went on. George Ross finally put a stop to it by building a reverse frame boat. It did not make a difference to the speed of the boat, in fact it was considered a failure.

Towards the end of the 1950`s many innovations were brought into the fleet and many tricky things were done to get more speed or weight out of the boats. Ossie O`Grady always painted his boats black, and his reply was "Black paint is the lightest, it attracts heat and keeps the boat light".

The boat's minimum weight was supposed to be 506 pounds when stripped to the bare hull, and one or two owners installed painted Jarrah floorboards in the cockpit to bring up the weight where it was an advantage. Lead bases in pumps next to the centreboard case right where the weight helped was also used to bring the weight up to the minimum.

Although the boat's weight sounds excessive to the modern sailors, a crew of three could turn it over for mid - season painting and refits. To do this, the boat was lifted sideways on the trailer, working it well to one side, twisting it onto a gunwale and balance. The third man then faced the inside of the boat to steady it as it was lowered upside down and shifted across the trailer onto wooden beams.

Although most of the 12 Square Metre Sharpie crews were really tough men, brains not muscle was the option, it was never necessary to lift the 12 Square Metre.  Australian trailers were set up with easy running large rollers, one at the forward vee, one in the middle and the other at the end which could be dropped into a lower slot on the trailer to prevent the boat from moving when being trailed. The boat was launched by simply raising the front of the trailer and she slid off to float fully rigged without any need to hold her from capsizing. Similarly, the boat was easily floated onto the trailer. For those wanting to keep their trailer out of deep water, keel planks were then introduced. The carpet-covered planks were fastened under the boat and secured at the boat's bow and the rudder pintles. The boat could then be dragged across sand without damage before or after a race.

Other developments were securing rudder assemblies with a one-inch wide strip of stainless steel screwed to the transom and bent to snap over the bottom pintle. Once this was done, no more rudder assemblies fell off in a bad capsize.

X shaped pumps near the mast were earlier used and they could be operated each side from the hiking out position, but were later taken out and box pumps installed next to the centre case.

The Australian 12 Square Metre did not have bulkheads until 1958, and until then the spinnaker was carried under the forward deck. Once the bulkheads were introduced, the 10-foot spinnaker pole, which was formerly bent over the seat and secured under the side decks, was accommodated by placing small tubes in the forward bulkhead.

Spinnakers (two) were a balloon and a Shy kite, which was set when just off the wind, and produced a thrilling ride. Jibing with the Shy up at a mark was an art, which allowed the crew to keep the speed up right to the mark. The balloon was set after the gibe and the Shy, which was then covered, was dropped to leeward.

Balloon kites those days were sheeted to the windward side of the mainsail, Kites in spite of being cotton and wet and heavy were mostly set and drawing in 15 seconds - or less in rough seas. Some Sharpie skippers cut the hoist time of the spinnakers by attaching the halliard tail at standing height on the mast. The forward hand simply stood up and with a quick pull the kite was almost up. He then handed the halliard to the mainsheet hand to cleat on the centre case top while the pole was pushed out and secured. This gave a 9-foot hauling advantage over those who secured their halliard to the case top. The disadvantage was that the halliard had to be cleated forward later down the course if a jibe was imminent. 

The 12 Square Metres were fast. Tom Naismith an old Sharpie crew from the Port Adelaide Sailing Club said a car once paced his Sharpie, which was flying a spinnaker along the river on flat water on a windy day, and the boat was logged at 25 mph (40Kph)

The Port Sailing Club had a large fleet of Sharpies raced by prominent top yachtsmen, and it was said that if one could win in the Port River with its fluky offshore winds, one could win anywhere.

Forward hands on the boats were also required to put stops on kites on the wind, pump out the water and keep the boat flat. They developed many brilliant ideas, one of which was to carry a number of rubber bands with thin twists of wire attached, on each wrist. By grasping the bundled up kite it was easy to slip off a rubber band off the wrist and around the kite and twist the thin wire in the band again, stopping up the kite with five stops. When this idea first surfaced there was a cry of foul!! ,  Accusing the clever crews of illegally using a number of pre- stopped kites. The rubber band idea caught on right away.

Around 1955, the bulky rope halliard purchases outside the mast for the peak, throat and jib were eliminated and replaced with wire and taken down through the mast to be cleated inside the boat. Next to go was the jib halliard itself, with the Jib head shackled directly to the masthead, and tension bounced up by the jib luff wire alone, using the kite halliard or the fore stay.  The fore stay was later eliminated. By the 1960's a sliding tack fitting was used for the boom, and the throat halliard wire end simply slipped over a hook inside the tabernacle, and the boom bounced down for the luff tension-- (The tabernacle had also been cut down from its excessive height and the mast swivel bolt disposed of. (The mast was then stepped on the bottom remains of the tabernacle just above the deck) The last changes before the end of the 12 Square Metre and the introduction of the Lightweight was a sail track on the mast instead of the lacing up the mainsail luff, but the gaff jaws were retained. A small wooden wedge allowed the jaws to rider over the upper end of the sail track.  The last was a gaff halliard ratchet or winch on the floor beam near the aft bulkhead, which allowed the gaff to be adjusted while under way.

Controls used on the Australian 12 Square metre Sharpies consisted of a triple mainsheet system, a triple purchase boom vang, a highly efficient wooden cleat each side for the jib sheets, and fore and aft and mid ships adjustable dead eyes for the jib sheets. To wrap the larger Australia jib on, a turn was made around the wooden cleat to windward, and the bight of the sheet pulled. This had the effect of a double purchase, and the tail of the sheet was then tucked under the set line on the deck and returned to lay across the legs of the forward hand. To tack, he simply pulled out the tail of the sheet, wrapping the other side on as he went

Venturies arrived to help the crew with the pumps, and Sir James Hardy related a story when racing neck and neck with John Cuneo down wind on a rough day when Cuneo was yelling at his crew and striking one with the main sheet and yelling "Sucker" Sucker."

Jim thought it to be a strange thing to do, but Cuneo was urging the crew to open the venturi.

Stirrups came out in the 1960`s where a step in a rope was attached to the side stays and thrown overboard. The forward hand put one leg overboard and all his weight went onto the step

Next, trapezes came in and forever trying to do better, one crew used 30-pound lead belts, which were immediately forbidden for obvious reasons. Next was water filled belts and again forbidden (discharging and taking on ballast)

The 12 Square Metre Sharpies (heavyweights) started to decline in the late 50`s, and two Western Australian brothers the Addison's, experimented with a light plywood Sharpie and found it to be extremely fast when pitted against the traditional Sharpie.

In the summer of 1958, the 12 Square Metre Sharpies held their annual National series in Perth Western Australia, and during a lay day, skippers were invited to sail a Lightweight Sharpie. The team members were impressed, and South Australian boat builder and Sharpie enthusiast Chippy Barclay built one in three weeks after arriving home. He rushed the new boat into the water before the end of the season and had a series of impressive wins. During one race, he had rudder trouble and was among the tail -enders at the windward mark. He picked up six minutes in the race and as a result, the owners of Heavyweights rushed to replace their old hulls with a new lightweight one. Just switching hulls and using the entire original rig was a great attraction, and for just 20 pounds ($40) they were again up with the fleet.

I had just completed my new varnished Western Red Cedar 12 Square Metre Sharpie and in its first appearance, won the first race with her and it was now out of date. The only consolation was that I had actually built my second and the last 12 Square metre to be built in Australia.

Despite the rig switch from the Heavyweight Sharpie to the Lightweight, within a short time there was a call to update the rig to Marconi just after many owners had purchased new gaff rigged mainsails. This came at a bad time, because Flying Dutchman and 505 class yachts had made their appearance. When the new rig was approved, some of the top skippers left the class in disgust, sold their boats with an eye on the Olympics and boosted the new classes. A three-year no-alteration rule was then introduced to the Sharpie class.

The 1959/ 60 season saw a great change in the running of the National Championships.

Under the enthusiasm of George Tilly (also know as Mr Yachtsman and a fierce campaigner for the Sharpie, and Ross Tuohy both of the old Glenelg Sailing Club, the running of the Nationals was upgraded in a really professional manner. The lasting effects are, the program book and requirements to include past series results, the photo of the last seasons winner on the cover, the history of the class, the format of social activities, the selection of officials for each State Nationals series and their responsibilities, and the general conduct of proceedings.

The years 1960 to 62 saw dual National Championships and unofficial Lightweight series in Adelaide for the Lightweights and the remaining Heavyweights, the first where Chippy Barclay won in his new Lightweight Kestrel 1V, with Margaret 11 A Shanks second in their event, and Daring and Tintara in the 12 Square Metre class. The next in Hobart Tasmania saw the second Lightweight and 12 square metre series, where Daring John Cuneo and Wayward J Crooke both Queenslanders won the lightweight section, and the last combined series in 1962 for the 12 Square Metre Sharpies and Lightweights in Melbourne, where I competed and sold my Heavyweight.

Within a year since inception, the Lightweight fleet had really grown for the Melbourne (Black Rock) dual- Nationals, and the fleets consisted of 26 lightweights and 12 Heavyweights as they were now called. The lightweights filled the maximum number of selected boats from each State except Tasmania, which entered only two boats. This inaugural fleet of Lightweights included most of Australia's top champion Sharpie skippers which included Victoria-- C Newman, K Frost, G White, R (Sport) McCrindle, P Laugier, and B Bennet. West Australia-- J O`Grady, T Muhling (jun), M Scott, E Thomas, L Gerring, C Pitthouse, Queensland-- J Cuneo, B Russell, J Crooke, C Baddily, M Anderson, Cliiper, P Inglis,  Tasmania-- V Button, K Livingston, South Australia--R Deacon, R Radclffe, R Appleby, A Barclay, K Chaplin, N Carr.   

The next year 1963 saw the end of the 12 Square Metre Sharpie with the final unofficial series held at Glenelg Adelaide. That year was a split, and the Lightweights raced their series in Brisbane Queensland. From 1964, rotation championships between States of Australia were then continued for Lightweights only.

At this point, Lightweight Sharpies were developed from the 3/16 inch thick hulls which were not durable but still cheap enough to replace, to many variations with 1/ 4 inch bottoms with stiffening battens, then double thickness plywood pads and finally, Chippy Barclay negotiated the construction of 7 ply, 5/16 inch ultra- light and strong Queensland cedar plywood with strong Silver Ash paper- thin faces.  A centre runner each side inside on the bottom, with hoop shaped laminated silver ash beams supporting the centre case and topsides, and the same type of plywood but 3/16 thick for the topsides and decks, was the ultimate in strength and lightness. The weight of the new lightweight had been raised from 180 pounds to 190 pounds to put more strength in the hull, and the new plywood which was earlier designed to keep the weight down to 180 pounds certainly improved the boat and gave a bit to spare.

History repeated itself after the first 12 Square Metre in Australia was built by Mr Colin Haselgrove in 1934, when Robin (Macka) Haselgrove produced the first fibreglass Lightweight in 1975. This was a real coup for the builder, as all the "experts" in fibreglass in several States said it could not be done because of the flat panels.

Robin Haselgrove solved the problem by simply using fore and aft wooden runners in the lay-up, and using a plywood deck. A glass deck was later developed with modern stiffening plastics, and edge grain balsa in both the hull and deck. The first glass boat built by Robin Haselgrove, "Marxian" was sailed in the open series section of the Nationals in Melbourne in 1975. It won the Shields Series, and was the overall handicap winner

In the 1977- 78 series in South Australia, 61 Lightweights which had previously raced in a number of elimination heats for selection in the teams from all States and an equal number of Open Series boats competed for the Shields Cup attended the event at Largs Bay

At this time I produced a "How to build a Lightweight Sharpie" book for the National Lightweight Sharpie Association and it is now in the South Australian Public Library. The book contained up to the minute methods far advanced from regular boat building, and how to rig and where to place fittings. Unfortunately the book came too late, as all the Sharpies are now of fibreglass.

Tightening up the measuring procedures saw many long nights at meetings and because mainly the builders of the wooden Lightweights found escape points to make a boat faster, the points were closed. One rule brought in earlier was that a string line along the deck allowed only a 3 mm tolerance for the deck, which was supposed to be straight from bow to stern. This was to stop builders from altering the spring of the keel to flatten the run (making the deck higher, because the bulkhead heights from the inside keel to the deck were measuring points)

Unfortunately the profile height of the transom was not measured. Builders trying to dodge the rules found that if they raised the size of the transom, the string line would then measure. This was done before the deck beams were put in, and a saw cut was made in each bulkhead top to allow the string line to pass through in a straight line within the tolerance allowed by the measurer. The deck beams were then inserted to touch the line making the measuring point exact. ---So much for theory at meetings!!!!  We builders attended the meetings and closed up all the loopholes---including the exact size of the transom. Unfortunately, after a few years the original members had left the committee and the new members in their wisdom said that the rules were too involved and threw them out to simplify things. Ah foolish youth!!

An interstate builder of fibreglass Sharpies (not Haselgrove) then produced a glass Sharpie that was nothing like the others. This boat arrived at Brighton (S.A.) for the National Championships as part of an Interstate team. The externally rounded bow / bottom entry of this controversial boat resembled a Flying Dutchman, eliminating the original hollow bow / chine entry, resulting in a rounded bottom and had added, side tanks inside.

Adding to the consternation of the official S.A. measurers, the treasured National measuring 25 mm thick plywood triangles profiles which are placed at points over an inverted Sharpie flat-veed bottom panels noting the 5 mm tolerance for both the keel and chines, had been scalloped out to bridge the rounded bottom of the new boat, but the vital measuring points fitted when the mutilated triangles were placed in position. This boat was banned from the Nationals in Adelaide, and the owner appealed to the (then) South Australian Yacht Racing Association, which ruled in the owner's favour demanding that the boat be re-admitted to the series. The National Sharpie association stood it's ground and told the SAYRA to mind it's own business and that the Sharpie Association was the ruling authority. The boat's owner still raced with only average places in the fleet, but the times were not recorded. So much for all the trouble the former rules committee members went to prevent such an event.

The three-year no-change rule brought some lasting improvements, some not so good.

I am always amused by the thought that the original designer produced a perfect boat. The Lightweight Sharpie and its foils today are still the same profile as the original. The rudder is a good example. A movement was made to improve the rudder and resulted in a new elliptical design, which was approved at an Annual conference in Sydney. Before it was passed, I raised an objection, pointing out the large number of Sharpies being rigged nearby, and asked is it a good idea to force all those boat owners to buy a new rudder on the whim of the Committee?  The motion was passed, and all bought the new type rudder, the rudder proved to be a failure and cavitated badly at the most awkward moment, usually when running fast with the spinnaker up. The recovery trick was to steer with the sails, hold the rudder still and wait for it to bite and correct the course. This rudder design lasted only a year and the original design was returned.

In spite of pressure to change from wooden masts to aluminium, the rule of wood only persisted, and I once saw a whole fleet of Sharpies with a new style of broken wooden masts in a squall, and laughed at a wily (Airline Captain, Arnie Deed) who baited the committee when he painted his wooden mast silver at the height of the controversy and won the race, and the row that faced him when he came ashore.

When the Association was considering the introduction of metal masts, a stainless steel mast built by Charlie Wyatt was eventually approved  for evaluation on the grounds that it could be easily straightened if damaged, but when DeHavilland produced aluminium masts they were allowed in and that opened the gate   

This same (airline captain) skipper first stripped his champion 12 Square Metre Sharpie down to nearly the same weight of a Lightweight Sharpie and began winning. The Association eventually banned his boat because it was not built of plywood in spite of his argument about the composition of plywood. It seems that when he built the boat, he laminated two thickness of Western red cedar to make the regulation thickness of the wooden planks. He finally retired the boat, built an extra light plywood hull called "Z" (the end) and won the State Championship. He always made his own fittings, rigging, spars and sails.

He eventually used the Heavyweight, over which to staple sheets of plywood. He fibre glassed the joints and lifted the new boat off, and it measured the same outside dimensions as the heavyweight, (3/ 4 of an inch further forward) While he was at it I was invited to built one for myself.  Impossible? It was all in the projection of the angles. The first lift- off boat then went on to win the S.A. State championship, the next two years in a row, the only boat to do so. The end of his Heavyweight " Wingin " came when he used it as a plug to build a mould to build a fibreglass Lightweight Sharpie. The mould stuck to the plug and the old Sharpie had to be prized off in bits to save the mould.

Such were the endeavours of the original Sharpie sailors. These men won major events with boats built by them down to the last detail, and in some cases with sails made by themselves.  Yacht owners these days simply go to a boat builder and buy a boat.

A larger and flatter kite was introduced in 1975, and the courses were changed to allow it to be used on all off the wind work. This brought the demise of that beautiful little Shy Kite, which had survived into the Lightweight Sharpies and was similar to a big overlapping Genoa but fuller, and difficult to use. When correctly set up the Shy kite gave a thrilling burst of speed when used just off the wind. I was sorry to see it go, especially because all boats then had to buy the new larger spinnaker. We had discovered the perfect rig for the Shy kite.   Using a wire outer with a rope tail for handling, and the wire fitted with three splicing slugs at the right and optional trim positions and a stainless steel jamming lock on the deck each side, a plastic covered wire halyard (using gloves and bending the halyard as it is handled), with another stainless steel lock on the centre case top, and an effective third stay to take the mast compression, we were always first away with the others fighting stretching outers, a compression bending mast and a slipping halyard. Because of the thrilling ride, the crew were reluctant to lose places by dropping the Shy as they approached the wing mark. It was found that the shy could be used right to the mark and jibed over without lowering, before setting the big kite.

Cross trees over the years were another problem, and the ideas thrown around were to put them up high, pull this in, push that out and distort the mast this way and that and so on.  Australian champion Edgar Rowe of New South Wales sailing "Ostara" had the answer and further developed the low height cross trees, which were successful for the New South Wales boats. He used a wrap- around -the-mast stainless cross tree fitting, with a stainless steel tube welded on the front at right angles to the boat's centreline. Each end of the tube was then bent aft in line with the side stays. At a point in line with the diamond fittings on the mast, holes were drilled at each bend of the tube to take the diamond stays where they were not deflected from their line down the mast. The ends of the tube were then split and bolted to the ends of each aluminium cross tree arm The side stays ran without distortion from the mast to the deck--a very strong and stable arrangement. This allowed the mast to bend in a natural curve to suit the mainsail. Edgar simply pulled the diamonds on tight and did not distract his concentration by fiddling. He allowed me to measure his boat while it was on its side on the lawns at Sandgate Queensland during the Nationals. He was using a Speed -Spar, a relatively strong mast with nibs along each front side and bent beautifully. His cross trees were 2 metres off the deck; the diamonds at the cross trees 420 mm (wire to wire across the boat), Side stay pin 5.085 from the deck. The diamonds were also fastened to this point. His sail maker was Jack Hamilton who later joined later "Hood Sails"

This rig was the culmination of an attempt by the New South Wales group to increase that State's performance. Unlike the other States, the skippers of which tended to do their own thing and not passing on secrets to the others tended to limit success. This "secrets" thing had persisted in all States from the beginnings for Australian Sharpies, and no one would divulge how their boat performed so well

The N.S.W. group which included a strong force from The University Of New South Wales worked out the best rig including a De Havilland mast, setting the cross trees lower than usual, and making the mast bend a lot further. Competition races at night after work, and evaluating each other's rig and performance brought big results. About this time, the National Universities took an interest and adopted, and bought boats for both male and female University championships (Using the same boats, the female event in the mornings and the male events in the afternoon). An outstanding result was a boat called "Su-Su"  (Sydney University Sailing Union). The N.S.W. boat's new style of rig surprised the rest of the National fleet, and the other States took no time to catch up. One amusing escapade of the University students was a successful hitchhike with a Sharpie from Sydney to Brisbane. Their old Volkswagen broke down on the way, and a friendly farmer towed the boat right to the Royal Queensland Yacht Club yard at Manly in Brisbane.

After this new rigging and team building revelation, the South Australian Grange fleet, which was strong at the time, formed a similar group, and rigging and sailing ideas and criticisms were circulated. This lifted the S.A. fleet with immediate successes in the Nationals.

Comparing the performance of the 12 Square Metre Sharpie and the Lightweight, the late Mark Peelgrane of New South Wales came close to Rolly Tasker`s winning streak when Mark won three Nationals in a row, 1971, 72, and 73 in his Lightweight Sharpie "Eleanor Rigby". Without distracting from Mark's magnificent wins, there were arguments about the boat, as the boat's bow did not fit the official bow pattern. However, the problem was obviously not too important, as subsequent measurers cleared the boat. An interesting thing about "Eleanor Rigby" was the claim that it was built from a beam of Queensland Cedar salvaged from a demolished building in Sydney...or so the story goes.

The Sharpie record of winners contains the names of many yachting heroes of many other classes of yachts, including offshore and inshore sailing, including John Bertrand who in 1968 won nearly every heat of the Lightweight Sharpie Nationals at Chelsea a suburb of Melbourne by 5 minutes, capsized in the last heat and won that by only three minutes!

The previous year 1967, Bertrand sailing as a junior, gained second place being narrowly beaten in the Tasmanian series by R Thompson from New South Wales, but lost the National title again in the first out of Australia series at Port Moresby (New Guinea) in 1969.

 In an impressive display of attention to detail, at the Tasmanian series, John Bertrand had a van fully equipped with fittings, splicing gear, sails and complete sets of rigging--- a virtual workshop on wheels. Before racing, his crew and he always minutely inspected all the rigging for faults. As I watched, one of his crew bent a thimble on a side stay to open the lay, and a broken strand flicked out. Bertrand took one look and told the crew to replace both side stays. He subsequently took the Americas Cup off the Americans for the first time in History.

Following the New Guinea series in 1969, the Port Moresby Sailing Club hosted a World Lightweight Sharpie Championship, but drew only three boats from Australia, Two from Victoria and one from Queensland. Eight New Guinea boats were listed, two from Rabaul and six from Port Moresby. No record of the result of this series is available, and nothing more has been heard since.

I became extremely annoyed with Sharpie association in 1982 when I discovered that they had deleted all the 12 Metre Sharpie championships, to list the championship (lightweight) series from number one starting from the first Lightweight series in 1960, deleting the history of all who sailed in the former great events, which built the class to what it is today. I wrote an appeal to the National Conference, which was sitting at the Ceduna series in 1989, and the Association reversed the decision, re-numbering each series from then on, including all events from the first National Championship in 1937, thus preserving the entire history.

Names of all the past champions can be found in the Annual programs, which are available at the location of each National series held by each State in rotation over the Christmas and the New Year period each year.

Hydraulics for side stays for lightweight Sharpies came later, but we have seen it all before. An old Sharpie skipper summed it up "rigging always goes around in a full circle. Pull this in, push that out, tighten the rig, sail with a loose rig, full sails loose rig, flat sails tight rig. It has been seen before, but maybe, just maybe an improvement-- or is it all in the helmsman and everyone just follows whether it works or not?" In recent years, meeting the aged original top skippers, their joke was that tensions were let off rigging and fittings positions altered when coming ashore to counter the cunning measuring while the owners were absent.

In the year of 2000, after I had ceased sailing Sharpies, (I turned 74 years, and my old crew mate Robin Murrin who sailed with me and helped build all the boats since 1960, died that year), I recently visited the Sharpie enthusiasts in my club, and found a new group of enthusiasts. Most of these were in their early 20`s, I realised that they were not born when I was at my sailing peak.

Using this as a bench mark where 100 boats raced in the State Team events and other boats which did not make the team raced in an open series at the same time, a total of nearly 600 persons including sailors friends, wives and families attending annual championships in earlier days adding thousands of dollars to each host club funds I realised that given 20 years spacing since the Sharpie was introduced in Australia in 1934, nearly four generations of thousands of Sharpie sailors have raced in Sharpies in Australia

Meanwhile in England and Europe they are still sailing Sharpies that were built in the 1930`s, kept in as good condition as a vintage motor vehicle and loved as much. There is no need to build new boats as is done in Australia. 12 Square Metre Sharpies last for many years and are lovingly restored each winter at low cost. They are jealously guarded. One or two of the fleet are the original Sharpies built in 1931. The description found in the original rulebook of the International 12 Square Metre Sharpie says it all. "The boats are strongly built with Mahogany and Oak frames. The design has been worked out to produce a strong and lasting boat which is inexpensive to build and stand hard use for a long time"

An attempt to have the Lightweight Sharpie accepted overseas and attain International status in the early 1970`s began, when a Lightweight Sharpie owned by a S.A. Sharpie Association Life member Ross Catchpole was bought by the German Yachting magazine "Die Yacht". The Sharpie was shipped to Germany, and the magazine had the deck removed, photographed all the details and published a big feature about the class. This resulted in a flood of letters, sets of plans were sent to all, and an Austrian built a boat, but no more was heard from the writers. A letter from South Africa raised an interest, as they had developed 300-pound "Lightweight" years previously and were keen to replace them with the Australian version. One Lightweight was built there and named "Matilda" and launched by the Australian High Commissioner at Welcome South Africa.

A Championship film of the Nationals at Glenelg was sent to the President of the South African Sharpie Association, and all looked promising, but he died suddenly, and his home office was locked up with all the contents including the film. No more was heard from the Association, and years later the film was discovered and returned. This film was later given to the Wells-Next-The-Sea Sailing Club in Norfolk England when I visited there in 1977, and it was later returned to the New South Wales Division. Nothing more was heard of the film.

Three Lightweights were built at the Wells-Next-The-Sea sailing Club in Norfolk U.K.

The old 12 Square Metre Sharpie still exists in Australia. There is a smattering of collectors items in other States, and a new one was recently built by a former Sharpie Club President, 12 Square Metre and Lightweight enthusiast in Queensland, but planked with the regulation thickness with plywood. This boat is raced with the wooden old Gaffers annual event at Sandgate Queensland.

Three are at Goolwa South Australia and consist of the original "Comet", the beautifully restored  "Sea Rover", and State Title winner "Aero", Falcon, a former W.A. 12 Square Metre is also under restoration by a Glenelg S.A. enthusiast. Others exist in Victoria and a movement was made in the 1990`s to revive the 12 Square Metre, but interest has since faded away.

Doug Hogg May 2003

Life member Australian Lightweight Sharpie Association,

Life Member South Australian Lightweight Sharpie Association

(Builder and rigger of two 12 Square Metre Sharpies, seven Lightweights plus others for friends and repairs after their collisions)

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