was about 23 miles from thc sUll ' lcr ' s boat and nngship of the Royal Navy HMS Orlando ' s buoy , around a boat moored to the eastward of Coogee . thence around the club ' s buoy nt Manly and back to the finish between a flagboat and the southern end of Fon Denison .
It was an exiting race , each yacht taking a tum at holding the lead and indulging in quite a few luffing matches . Unfonunately . after leaving Manly . Voluntur ' s bacl < stay got foul of her crossuecs and before ii could be cleared and set up . the topmast weni overboard . Io bercrippled condition she was no mntch for Era . who won the mcc by I min 46 sec . Volunteer sailed for Auckland the following Thursday .
Old club records indicate that the y0 < 1rs from 1878 to 1882 wcro r ~ ther dQldrum years and an nucmpt in
1878 10 purchase some land for a harbourside clu ~ house near Quaker ' s Rat Bay , Middle Harllour . came to nothing as the club had no ready finance available .
It is generally known that the famous Australian politician GcorgeH . Reid , who was Premier of New South Wales . was a member of the club until 1880 . Some fifteen years later Mr Reid was distributing prizes at the club ' s meeting und was asked why he was not a yachrsman . to which he replied :
Well I used to go in for that son of thing once . but I wo . s very clumsy in a boot , and ofter nearly drowning a number of my affectionate friends l thou . ght 1 had better give it up . I also noticed that
I invariably got in the way of the biggest piece of timber onboard .
- ll1c Honourable J . H . Want .
Commodore 1877-82 .
From 1877 until 1880 Flag Oflice111 were Commodore J . H . Want and Vice-Commodore J . Newton , and after the Annual General Meeting of 1880 general meetings were discontinued . through lack of intefCSI presumably , and the business of the club was uansacted entirely by the Comminee . although the Honorary Sccre . tary bad power 10 call o meeting when he thought it necessary .
In April 1883 Commodore Mi lford stated that having received a copy of a program of the Victorian Yacht Club Regatta about to be held in Melbourne he hod decidc : d to send Doris 10 llobson ' s Bay to compete with the Victorian yacht $. lie had always been delighted to sail a race but was rnthertired at the eonelusionofthescason to soeonstanOy sail around the buoy at Manly and bade to the red buoy oCf Fon M3C < Junrie . He longed to try his luck in foreign waters , and having full confidence in the strength and buoyancy of bis 5-tonoer . Doris , he was determined to send her to Melbourne . Some difficulty
arose in securing a crew ! Otake her there , but eventually lhis was accomplished and , accompanied by several yachts of the club , she started her voyage .
Doris was victorious in the regatta . Dr Milford also noted Iha ! there wereafewdiffercnccs in the way the
Dr F . Milford , Commodore 1882-88 .
W . M McLardy , Commodore 1888-91 .
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