Yendys, sailed with Iain Murray on the last
five of his record six consecutive Giltinan
championship wins between 1977 and 1982.
The McDells in the past two years,
inspired by the resurgence of quality New
Zealand entries headed by Alex Vallings
from the Auckland fleet, have watched the
Giltinan Championship, renewed some old
acquaintances and so did not need much
talking to become involved in the Galloping
Ghost Trophy series. “It’s been such a great
catch-up with so many people we have met
in the past,” said Terry.
Bowler retired from the 18s in 1978 to
concentrate on his career as a structural
engineer to yacht designer. He joined Farr
on a full time basis in 1980 when they
moved the business to Annapolis, USA and
formed Farr Yacht Design. He and Farr
both retired from the business at the end of
2012 but still act as consultants.
While Farr, another major designer in
the 18s through the 1970s was unable to
accept an invitation to participate in this
year’s historical skiffs championship, Bowler
jumped at the chance.
“I thought that it would be a great way to get
on the best harbour in the world; I absolutely
love sailing on this harbour,” he said. “The
other alternative was to stay home and shovel
snow off the driveway so it was a pretty easy
choice to make.”
Australia IV began the series with a fourth
then lack of familiarity with the open boats set
in when she swamped in race two and had to
retire. She was eighth in race three for an eighth
place overall finish.
Pakhtun Shah first came to Australia, with
his brother Naim with Travelodge USA to
contest the 1978 Giltinan Championship on
Waterloo Bay, Brisbane. “My brother sold
his Flying Dutchman and got a design from
Bruce Farr for 300 bucks. I think we still owe
him a hundred dollars.”
With sponsorship from Travelodge
International they shipped the boat to Brisbane
to finish an encouraging ninth or tenth.
They returned to sail in Sydney in the 1979
Australian nationals and JJ Giltinan with Iain
Murray’s Color 7 of the previous year, renamed
Kentucky Fried Chicken.
After sailing the 1980 Open World
Championship in San Francisco with Coors
Beer, a Murray design composite boat that
never left the USA. They returned to Sydney
later that year to sail club races with the
Sydney Flying Squadron and Australian 18
Footers Sailing League, state and national
championships with Lysaght Colorbond, a
new Murray design built in Sydney, went
on to Brisbane for the JJ Giltinan, then
Newport, Rhode Island for the North
American Championship and San Francisco
for the Open World Championship.
They came back once more in 1983 to sail Peter
Sorensen’s previous Tia Maria in the JJ Giltinan.
They became aware of the historical
skiff movement in Australia and studied
pictures of the original boats in old black
and white photos. Pakhtun returned to
Sydney last year to skipper Australia in
the championship. “When I finally got to
see them I had no idea how beautiful the
woodwork was; the logos, the shirts the guys
wear in colour” he said.
He skippered Australia again this year
to finish ninth, a place ahead of last year’s
result and still enjoying sailing on Sydney
Harbour. “It’s the most beautiful venue in
the world,” he said. “It’s also the hardest; it’s
gusty, it’s shifty. I always come here and go
home a better sailor.” ✵73
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