Yachting and the Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club 1988 | Page 68

Admiral of the Fleet . Viscount the Lord Jcllicoe , GCB , OM , GCVM .
P . Ross . Commodore 1921-23 .
The gathering . which was attended by the Govcmor-Gcncral , was probably one of the most brilliant yachting functions in the history of Port Jackson .
Two races were sailed later in January . The first , a handicap under the auspices of the Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club and the Royal Sydney Yacht
Squadron , was open to all yachlS on the Harliour . It was known as the Victory Race and was won by Magic ( W . L Dendy ) with Eun-no-Mora OJ ( A . Wilson ) second . and Y ~ ulba ( E . S . Heath ) third .
The second race was organised by the Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club and sailed on 5 March 1919 for all yachlS in Port Jackson . This race was won by Sayonara ( P . Ross ), with Bona ( Bradley and Towscl ) second , and Aomo third .
It took a while , however , for racing 10 get on its feet again , and although regular races were held in 1920 . it was sti ll several ' years before boats were all in commission and the fleets any way back to their pre-war numbers .
In August 1919 theclubwas honoured by the visit of Lord Jcllicoe who was visiting Sydney in his nagship HMS New Zealand . Lord Jellicoe , who had been raised to the peerage in recognition of his Services to the Empire as Admiral of the Fleet during World War T , was entertained at dinner by the club . Chronicler L . C . Waterman noted :
A dinner given to Lord Jellicoe by the members was really a notable function . His Lordship made a memorable speech . emphasising the need foe inculcating in the Australian youth a love of the sea . It was obvious that he enjoyed himself ; between 9 and 9.30 pm his aide- < le-camp reminded him twice about having to leave for another engagement . One of the members who accompanied him to the elevator declared that His Lordship ' s protests against ' being dragged away from an enjoyable gathering to attend a concert ' were quite genuine . How human be was !
Amongst the club ' s treasured Jl05Sessions is a large photograph of the flagship HMSNtw ' Ualand which Lord Jcllicoe signed on the night of the dinner .
As the year 1920 drew to a close and the turmoil wrought by the war drifted a liltle further back , intereit in yachting started 10 revive . The club ' s Jubilee wa . s celebrated in 1920 , a little late owing to the war , by a dioner at the opening of new clubrooms at 51 Castlereagh Street . Things were slowly getting back to normal after the big upheaval . On29 November 1920 , ataspecialcommitteemeeting to deal with the forthcoming opening fUDClion , a minute appeared ' that the guest list be as listed with the exception of ... on account of his disloyal utterances '.
Prior to the war , there had been instances of rivalry between the Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron and the Royal Prinoc Alfred Yacht Club , but this was certainly not the case in the 19 ~ 21 season when it was decided that tl1e two clubs would collaborate on a racing program to avoid overlapping . The adoption of this policy was the forerunner of the co-operative policy under which the four Sydney yacht clubs and now the Royal Australian Naval Salling Association have worked together harmoniously ever since to the great benefit of yacht racing . Mr Waterman quoted from Thos Moore :
Like chords in unison they move And thrill with like vibration .
In 1921 Commodore Walter Marks retired from the position be had held for seven years . Not only was Mr Marks an outstanding personality in Sydney ' s yachting for more than 25 years , but he did a great deal iowards the founding of the Sydney Yacht Racing Association as wcU as the club ilSClf . He was renowned for caJTYing a jacltyard topsail half as big as the mainsail on his 10-tonner , lsta , early in the century .
Paul Ross succeeded Mr Mlllts as Commodore of the club . His 20-tonner , Sayonara , w : is a beautiful Ftfe- < lesigned vessel which he bought in Scotland and sailed to Sydney in 1911 . Hehacl been a member of the Committee for 19 years .
The 1921 yachting season was a splendid one , bringing yacht racing back into the picture after the doldrums of the war years . The club had opened the season with a rendevous and races for the racing yachts , cruisers . restricted class , Sydney Amateur Sailing Club boalS , skiffs , dinghies and naval trainee boats . Record prize money of £ 322 was offered co competitors in a racing program caUed the Deferred Jubilee Program . The previous highest amount of prize money was £ 250 in 1901 .
The well-known and loved Plttwaccr identity ,
Mary Ann Morris . affectionntely known as ' Peggy ' or ' Sally ', died in 1920 aged 80 years . In 1922 the Committee of the club took up a subscription for funds to erect a monument at the Basin in memory of
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