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Club History 1945-1955
| 1945-1955 | 1956-1965 | 1966-1984 | 1985-1988 |
| 1989-1995 | 1995-1999 | 1999-2005 | 2005-2010 |
CONCORD & RYDE SAILING CLUB INC.
Tracing the Club’s history from the beginning.
1945 to 1955.
Towards the end of World War II some dozen or so residents of Concord and Rhodes got together with the aim of forming a sailing club for their youngsters as well as for others in the area. So during the winter of 1945 these people organised a meeting which was attended by around 35 enthusiastic men, women and children with the aim of forming this Club on the upper reaches of the Parramatta River. As a result the “Concord and Rhodes Open Sailing Club” was born at this time and the first group of officials was elected. These dedicated people worked at weekends and late into many evenings to draft a constitution under which the Club could operate and sail races.
This constitution also included details of Club Colours, pennants and rules of behaviour by which the members had to abide. The Club’s colours were defined to be red, light blue and dark blue and the Club Pennant was described as being triangular in shape with a dark blue background with a light blue cross and with the letters of the Club to be in white. The letter ‘C’ was placed in the top left dark blue quarter, with ‘R’ in the top right and the letter ‘O’ was to be placed in the intersection of the light blue cross. In the bottom quarters ‘S’ was on the left and ‘C’ on the right side. The Club Badge was described as “the Club Pennant associated with a red mast” however the badges have always had the letters depicted in gold not white.
Original Club Badge. Original Club Logo.
After all of these preliminaries the officials realised they also had to learn how to conduct races once they had a fleet of boats to race. In addition to this task they also promoted the new Club around the district to attract members and many parents were quite enthusiastic going out to buy sailboats or investigate ways of building boats. This diversified group of boats sailed in one fleet. After two or three seasons it was then broken into two divisions, “A” Division and “B” Division, the first was for boats up to 16’ in length and the other group was for boats to 12’ in length. This allowed for better handicapping and there were mainly V. S. boats sailing in the “A” Division and mainly V. Js in the “B” Division. The “A” Division still exists and this has been the group under which a variety of boats sail until there are 5 or more boats of the same type competing and from there a new class can be formed.
The Concord and Rhodes Open Sailing Club was to operate from the reserve on the southern side of Ryde Bridge. In the spring of 1945 the first race was planned and to quote Don Melrose, Foundation Member as well as Life Member, is the best way to describe the early days:-
“Soon a motley collection of several types of skiffs were ready to cross the starting line as the first racing fleet. What an interesting sight they were – all the boats were timber construction and mostly planked (strips of timber over frames then reinforced with ribs), cotton sails laced to wooden spars, brass or galvanised iron fittings, iron plate centreboards that required two strong boys to lift them. Crew numbers for the 16ft and 12ft skiffs were five or six young people and as the boats were open, the slightest mistake meant either frantic bailing with dishes or a capsize then drift into shore. The sail area had to be large to carry these craft at speed and as protective clothing was limited to a woollen jumper for a cold day, there was plenty of incentive to avoid a capsize and spend an hour in the water.
These boats were stored in various waterfront sheds and as the fleet grew this storage extended to places well removed from the reserve near Ryde Bridge. These boats were wheeled down and back each Saturday by hand carts; sometimes a mile round trip.
The officials worked hard too. For a couple of seasons the marker buoys were rowed out and back each race day to their present locations on the course and any rescue towing was done by rowboat. In addition to the individual protest hearing for rules infringement an umpire on the course was used to monitor race conduct. For example in those days bad language on the course could mean an umpire’s report and disqualification!
The increasing availability of plywood for amateur boat building allowed the popularity of two excellent designs, the V. S. and the V. J. A total of about 40 of these two classes raced each week by 1950.”
In these early days sailors had a lot to contend with when navigating the waters of the Parramatta River around the Club house area as there was a considerable amount of general river traffic and congestion behind the start line near the Ryde Road, as commercial traffic was a lot worse than today’s Rivercats.Travelling along the river to and from Silverwater there were large barges transporting oil, timber and even log rafts, the latter being up to 200 metres long when including the tug on a long cable attached to the timber.
These were all very slow moving and had to pass under Ryde Bridge in the channel. The Tug Boat Captain’s visibility was poor on the side opposite the tow making it difficult for him to see boats on the other side. If a skiff capsized near the start line things became quite tricky which can be seen when once an empty Shell Oil barge cleaned up a VJ. The skipper and his crew were very lucky to survive unhurt as no buoyancy vests or jackets were worn in those days.
The starting of races in these early years was quite different from today’s procedures. During the first few years of our existence the handicapper at that time, Charlie Keen, used to go to the end of an old wharf near the old Uhr’s Point Club House and ring a brass bell when there were 10 minutes to go to the start of the race and then again with 5 minutes to go. Charlie’s and the bell’s work were then over as the starter on the start boat took charge in the last 60 seconds with a series of flags. However after a few seasons it was decided to dispense with the bell as it could not be heard by the sailors across the water in North Easterly breezes.
This bell was presented to the Club by Charlie Keen and after being pensioned off from the starting procedure it managed to get lost in a cupboard where it was discovered in 1986 when cleaning up before the old Club House was demolished. After the new Club House was built the brass bell was refurbished and now hangs in the Club House as a reminder of days past.
A photo of the bell as installed in the Club House follows:-
The Club Committee realising that there was a problem with storage of boats around the district decided to take the plunge and being very enthusiastic arranged a building programme for a Club House on the south side reserve which would also allow storage of boats within the Club House. Approval was given by the Concord Council and it also provided a building loan, so construction went ahead with Club volunteers providing the working parties and the work was completed in 1952. Around this time with the fleet having grown to around 70 boats a small motor boat was purchased to act as a start/rescue boat.
Unfortunately all of our Club records from these early years were lost in a fire and the names of some of the early office bearers are not all known as well as details of what took place in Committee meetings.
The Club sailors also had many social events during each season with events like weekly tennis nights, theatre parties and car drives. However the main event being held was the Annual Ball and Presentation Night when everyone dressed in their best clothes for a great night out.
From the early days Club Members were very interested in sailing in other waters but unlike today there were quite some logistical nightmares in getting boats to these new waters. When the sailors were sailing at other clubs along the Parramatta River their boats were towed down the river behind the motor boats or when the events were further afield, as in places such as Taree or Lake Cargelligo, the boats were loaded into the back of a truck for transport. Our sailors became better sailors for these experiences in these different waters against different sailors.
Boats being loaded onto a truck for transport to
another club amongst some high jinks by young sailors.
Early VJ Fleet.
This photo shows a VJ Fleet in 1950 near Fishers Mark with Don Melrose on the left in his ‘Star II’, with a 7 pointed star on the sail, next is R. Hill in ‘Mischief’ and the boat on the right is ‘Diamond’ skippered by Bruce Moxham. The VeeJay, ‘Miss Jantzen’, in the centre was a milestone for CROSC as it was under the control of the first girl sailor in the Club, Joyce McRae, and sailed with the emblem on the sail of a diving girl in a swimming costume, which was the Janzten swimming costume’s logo of a Red Diving Girl.
Ron Burwood
CRSC Archivist – August, 2010.
