The Syndicate

The Syndicate (a trust not a cartel!)

The then youthful syndicate of four physicists was formed under the urging of the lead sailor Michael Ryan. Its junior members were Don Melley, Andy Bakich and Tony Parkinson. The syndicate purchased an old wooden QuickCat catamaran and a trailer in beautiful Gosford. It only had a mainsail, but we managed to jury rig a very poor piece of canvas for a jib. Considering the later adventure on Sydney Harbour it is fortunate we didn't try for a spinnaker!

I'm depending on memory of the late 1960s - early 1970s here and I'm sure the other members will do the fills and corrections, but I'm not too confident as Michael sent a recent email which indicated he recalled less than me! I'm sure I have some photos on 35mm slides of our adventures and *the* disaster, but patience, as after the last two moves some of my archives are still stored in cardboard boxes. Here goes.

I think our first sail on SydHarb was when Michael took us out on a big yacht (30 footer??) owned by St John's College. That was fun. I know we jibed the mainsail and we had to duck under the boom. We had a jib up, but did we hoist the spinnaker???  Michael tried to explain how to use the bits of string blowing in the wind - vector mechanics - I never really figured it out (blame Murray's lectures). I seem to recall the College gave Michael a slap over the wrist??? I think it was after that that we formed the syndicate and proceeded as above. Maybe Michael can fill in the details.

We took the catamaran all around Sydney waters. Michael mentioned Minnamurra - I've been away from Sydney too long and looked it up - it's in the Illawarra. Oh, was that the one where Derek came to teach us about fishing or was that the Port Hacking (Gunnamatta Bay) trip? I do recall Botany Bay where they used to hold catamaran races, and I recall we took it out on Lake George near Canberra - weaving around the fence posts.

Above all I recall our outing on Sydney Harbour. It was going peacefully until suddenly one of the wooden hulls was ripped open. We had that hull underwater with the mainsail on the surface, and how the hell could we get the wreck to shore. I guess we shouted to the bemused onlookers enjoying their own boats on the Harbour. Fortunately a really nice couple in a speedboat (!really!) came to help. The chap towed us very slowly by giving very short bursts on his racing machine, being careful to not damage his boat. We were very grateful to these people. I'm pretty sure it was Rose Bay (not Double Bay) so that we came ashore on a narrow beach at Point Piper of all places, and they were definitely not happy little campers!! I recall being very polite and explaining our predicament. Anyway, Don brought his car and the trailer around to Point Piper and we unbolted the hulls and mast and carried it all out to the street through the property we landed on. Hence home to Don's place, where the syndicate actually managed to repair the broken hull. Don, with his tech expertise, was definitely the lead boat repairer. It's amazing what epoxy, varnish and paint can do.

That's about the limit of my recall. I'm sure we sailed the catamaran after the SydHarb disaster, but I don't recall the sequence of the outings. I recall we chipped in when Don renewed the trailer licence, but the syndicate lapsed and Don inherited the boat and trailer. I hope it went to a good home, and thanks to the syndicate for fun times.

--TonyP