of the fleet with Yendys, a replica of the snub-nosed skiff
built by Charlie Hayes for Norm Blackman in 1925.
Cudmore, a retired professional sailor with a CV
including the America’s Cup and Admiral’s Cup
international offshore championship, has raced in the
replicas while holdidaying in Sydney with his wife Lauren
and two daughters over eight summers.
Yendys finished second to Aberdare, over the line and
on ARS, in races one and three but dropped out of
contention with a capsize in race two when the tiller
broke. Her builder Colin Chapman fashioned a teak
replacement overnight for Yendys to again finish second
to Aberdare in race three. Race one was sailed in a light
east-north-east breeze, race two in a fresh 20 knot nor-
easter; race three in a moderate nor-easter.
Winning believes Yendys was slightly quicker upwind
than Aberdare which was faster downwind, probably
because a more efficient pole angle made Aberdare’s
spinnakers more stable. The main factor, however, was the
settled nature of her crew and their familiarity with the
extremely complex rig combinations of the historical skiffs.“I am very lucky with Bobby Chapman, a terrific
forward hand and the rest of them are good sailors,”
Winning said. “We’re a good team. We sail every
week and so we have a big advantage over the guys
who just jump in.”
Aberdare’s crew was, from bow to stern: Bob Chapman,
Bruce Swaine, Ric Priestly, Ian Graves, Gaetano Russo,
Steve Kavanagh and Winning.
Cudmore conceded that Aberdare’s settled crew-work
had probably made the difference. “Yendys is perfectly
capable of beating Aberdare but on the day she was
better sailed.”
He enjoys the challenge and camaraderie of the
historicals. “I describe the scene as ‘old Australia’;
raucous, funny, rough and the boats are very difficult
to sail properly.”
Second was consistently-sailed The Mistake (Jeremy
Sharp), a replica of the 1933 original owned by
Queenslander Bob Cuneo, with 4-4-3 authenticity
rating places for 10 points and third Britannia (Ian
Smith), 5-2-4, 11 points.ABOVE: Aberdare’s
‘way-out’ Sicilian
crew member
Gaetano Russo.
TOP RIGHT: New
Zealand’s 1974 JJ
Giltinan winning
crew from left
Terry McDell, Peter
Brook, Kim McDell,
led an Anzac crew
on Australia IV.
BOTTOM RIGHT:
Pakhtun Shah
enjoyed helming
Australia.70
AUSTRALIAN SAILING (^) + YACHTING
APRIL-MAY 2015 MYSAILING.COM.AU