Scotia , Magic . Bona ond
Sunbeam competing in the very successful and exciting 30-ft raring class early in the iwentieth century .
With the festivities over . the club concenlr8lcd on racing . The 3 (). footers referred 10 earlier had certainly enlivened the racing fleet and when these craft were added to others racing , the club . by 1901 . had
25 yachts racing . This presented a problem of identi · fication . So much so , that in September 1901 it was requested t1101 all yachl ~ racing with tl1e club should carry a sail number on each side of the pe * of the mainsail . Then on 10 October a minute read : • All yachts competing in club races be compelled to carry a number on each side of the mainsail .' At that time the Honorary Secretary reponed that he had practi · cally arranged all details with the Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron for the yachts of both clubs to carry identical numbers . Apparently prior to this there had been some confusion with duplications . On 4 No · vember 190 I the Honorary Secretary reponed that a combined list of sail numbers had been arranged and on 14 November it was carried ' that all yachts competing in club races , shaU c : irry a number on each side of the peak of the mainsail , such number shall be obtained from 1be Secretary of tbe club '. Those arc the origins of die sail numbers of today . Later the Sydney Yacht Racing Association . instead of the clubs . dealt with the problem of sail numbers .
There was an imponont improvement in yacht racing on Sydney HJl1bouT in the 1901--02 season when the Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron and the Prince Alfred Yacht Club fonned the Sydney Yacht Racing Association . This body was modelled on the Yacht Racing Association of Great Britain , whose rules the Australian body adopted . This move gener · ally put the control of yacht racing in New South Wales in the hands of onerepresenuuive body . Other States followed .
The Sydney Yacht Racing Association ( now the Yachting Association of New South Wales ) was the supreme authority on protest and other arguments . When 1becommi11eeofaclubhod failed to satisfy the conteStantsand they still disagreed with the decision . they took their case to the Sydney Yacht Racing Association ( just as today with lhc Yachting Associnrion of NSW ). The original meetings of the Sydney Yacht Racing Association were held in the clubrooms of the Prince Alfred Yacht Oub and de . legates from 1be club 10 auend the first meeting of the Sydney Yacht Racing Association were Vioe · Commodore W . M . Marks . S . M . Dempster and P . W . Donovan . The date of appointment was I October 1902 .
Problems associated with whaJfage charges had been experienced by the club . but in November 1901
the HArl > our Trust agieed to forgo any wharf ~ e incurred by vessels flying the club burgee .
There was still a problem when sailing up and down the coast and in December 1902 the Naviga · lion Department agreed to recognise the signals adopted by theclub to distinguish the yachts passing out of Barrenjoey ( Broken Bay ) and South Head .
The first three letters of the yacht • s name were to be flown under the club burgee .
During the 1902--03 season an ilcm of interest was that the yacht Petrel had got ashore at Bradleys Hcnd when mcing in a nor ' easter on Saturday 20 Deccm · bcr 1902 . The Commodore of the Day . in charge of the club su : amer . had not gone 10 her assistance and was criticised . The Commodore of the Day said . ' The club steamer did not have a boa !, or lines . on board and the captain or Bronuwing would not go any closer fearing the risk of damage 10 his own vessel .' Considering that the club steamer would have been crowded with a large number of women nnd children , the safety requirements of the day must have been very slack . After this the club steamer
carried a boat and lines .
The club had been accepting m0tor boats as ' yachts ' but it was not until 23 February 1903 that motor · launch racing was fintllly approved . the first rnce laking place on 28 Mnrch 1903 . The require · ment was that the motor launch be registered with some recognised yacht or sailing club . The yachting correspondent of the A11111ralian Field . ' Tom Tug ·. seems 10 have approved of the awtiliary motors from what he wrote on 20 May 1903 :
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