An early Pinwa1er Regnu . a .
Commodores or ! he Piuwater RegatlJl . had been dte need to proviclc and cover large drains which were necessary to convey storm water from 1he adjacent hills lo Crystal Bay .
The Piuwa1cr Regatta had been held continuously withtheexceptionofthe World War I years . The fir . it regaua was in 1900 but this was not the first recorded yacht race on die Pinwaier . That honour goes to a raceconduclCdinNovcmber 1906 . J . & E . Crouch of Brisbane , who had won considerable fame and bad beaten all comers up to thnl time , were challenged by two Piltwater ' locals ', John Roche and N . D . M . ( Don ) Taylor , to race I . hem in two locally built l6- foo1 racing skiffs . The challenge was accepted . The
~ tan was preny much off Green Point . around Uon Island and return . It was a good race , neck and neck 10 Uon Island but under 1he lee of the Island , as so often happens , the Crouch brothers found Ute ' cat ' s paws ', rounding first 10 win the race .
The race generated n wave of enthusiasm . A public meeting was called and ii was decided to hold a reganaon 16 March 1907 . The prognunconsiMcd of five sailing events , six rowing events in heavy skiffs , and a race formo1or launches . II was successful and the rega ! IJl was held continuously until 1979 . Tite Pinwa1er Regan " Committee sat in 1980 and decided not co conduct a reguua in that year .
II seems a pity that with such a distinguished history the regatta should disappear . The Pittwater Regatta had traditionaUy been held during the Cbrisunas holiday period wilh ' ofhhe bea <; b ' boau coming 10 compete and with good local fleets . But times were changing and , with the preponderance of racing . I . he keen club racing men had enough races
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i
The flagship of an early Pinwater RegatlJI .
K . B . Smith . Commodore 1981-84 .
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