CLUB HISTORY 1921-1996
Compiled by the late Irene Hawke, and presented to the club by David Hawke on November 6, 2024
This Club was established in 1921 to enable a challenge to be lodged for Canterbury to compete in the Sanders Memorial Cup.
Meetings were held in the Lyttelton Oddfellows' Hall. In 1923 a clubhouse building and deck was built over the seashore near the dock on the inner harbour. Races were started from the Harbour mole at the end of Gladstone Pier. Later they started in the outer harbour from "the bend in the breakwater" where the Signal Tower now stands.
Adjacent to the clubhouse a Lyttelton Harbour Board "brick shed" was leased until 1952 for the storage of boats. A slipway with two trolleys on rails led steeply to the water on the west end of the clubhouse. When out of the water the boats had to be carried across the NZR railway lines and stored clear of the tracks.
In 1937 the shipwright's shed of G Whitford Ltd was acquired being a large building next to the then J Millers Ltd shipwright's sheds. This gave provision for keeler and motorboat slipways, further small boat storage and also lockers on two-floor levels.
In 1949 an area of land was leased from the Lyttelton Harbour Board on the reclaimed area and south of the petrol tanks. Working bees established a concrete slipway in 1952, and erected a fence and some temporary sheds. A lock-up starters' box was constructed, and races were then started from there.
In 1956 the area at Erskine Point where the Club now stands was leased from the Lyttelton Borough Council. A large rocky point was levelled, and from September 1957, the clubhouse shell was built at a contract cost of £1896/10/-. This was followed by the slipway being constructed into Magazine Bay.
In the same year, the properties in the inner harbour were disposed of, and the leased land on the reclaimed area was abandoned because of high rents, etc.
That year also the Club purchased its own rescue launch, the "Chancet".
In 1960 the wharf was built for the Club by the Lyttelton Harbour Board at a cost of £400.
The original leased area was increased on two occasions to enable the boat storage sheds to be constructed.
In 1962 a Lyttelton Harbour Board "coal bunker" yard, close to the east end of the clubhouse was demolished, and the slipway on this side was constructed. This was doubled in width in 1964.
In 1964 the extensions to the Club along the South side gave additional storage and change rooms below as well as the balcony area above, costing £850. In this year the "Chancet" was replaced with the new boat "Retriever".
From 1968 races had been scheduled in the club programme for "Trailer Sailors", but a major step in the Club's history took place in 1974 when the Canterbury Trailer Yacht Squadron joined the Club.
1974 also saw the Clubhouse being extended again, this time on the eastern end of the club, where a kitchen was built on, with storage area beneath.
The clubs fleet was growing and in 1975 Roy Grenfell designed and built a new Rescue boat for the Club. It was much larger than "Retriever 1" and had a large working cockpit area and was powered by a diesel motor. It was to be named "Retriever 11."
The trailer yachts took up more jetty space than the dinghies and in 1975 the jetty alongside the eastern slipway was built by Club members with assistance from the Lyttelton Harbour Board. It was named "Psyche Jetty" after the line of "Psyche" yachts which had been sailed by two club stalwarts Dave Smith and Chubby Dann for over 40 years.
The slipway was the next to receive attention and work was done on that about the same time.
Debentures and Paid Up Life Memberships were floated to finance the 1980 extensions to the club which had shower and toilet block underneath a large concrete sun deck.
In 1981 a new Entrance way and staircase were added at the Eastern end and a new Bar constructed in place of the former band stand.
To cater for the increasing junior fleet "Minder" was added to the rescue boat fleet in 1983. It was obtained at a very good price as it was a trailer yacht hull with an outboard motor.
It was a sad day in 1985 when the original "Retriever" which had done sterling service since 1964 was replaced with a new boat, built to the original design and named "Toomey" after Bill Toomey, one of the Foundation Members.
With the Rescue Fleet numbering three boats a purpose built shed was constructed in 1985 to house the boats and the tractor. The catamaran squadron built a shed alongside to house their boats and storage for dinghies was also incorporated. A compound for boat storage made use of the corner behind the shed and the concrete pad outside served as a wash down area.
It was about this time that the Lyttelton Harbour Board constructed the Floating tire Marina outside the Clubhouse which necessitated a change in the Starting procedures as races could no longer be started from the Clubhouse. We were provided first with a little box on the edge of the bank halfway between the Club and the Moles, but when the Coastguard building was constructed, provision was made for a start box for the club in the end of the building.
Membership:
In 1921: 41
In 1970: 210
In 1996 - 700
MEMORIES OF MY SAILING DAYS
I commenced my yachting career at the age of about 12 years in 1923 sailing our 8ft clinker built dinghy, "Raffles", racing in the Inner Harbour at Lyttelton. Raffles was built by Alex Miller of J D Miller Ltd for $20.
Dad had promised Brother Jim and myself a dinghy when we could swim. The boat was a prize in a raffle which was won by Jack Voyce, an engineer on the "Tees" on the Chatham Island run, and he sold it to my father for $10. This was how she got the name of "Raffles." We rowed her enthusiastically all over the harbour, but it was not long before Magnus Smith was asked to put in a centreboard and rig her with a small lug-sail so that we could start sailing.
The Canterbury Yacht Club was in it's infancy with very few members and only a few yachts and launches.
Some of those I remember are:
Magnus Smith with Tom Tit?
Sam Sinclair with Linnet?
Old Bill Toomey - our Starter
John Collins and Reg Archer with "Kia-ora"
Fred Dobby and Frank Collins with "Usher"
Arthur Lambert with "Shadow"
The Sinclair Family with "Pakeha"
Alex Miller with "Pastime"
Professor Scott with "Boo Jum" and "Yvonne"
Morris Scott with "Water Beetle"
Geo Whitford with "Phylis"
Tuck Parker with "Kiwi"
John Waddle with "Anriis"
Curly Barnes with "Bettina"?
Bert Norris with "Magpie"
Bill Tissiman with "Snark"
Trevor Harkness with "Waimana"
Hayden Farr with "Cherub" -
Jack Smith with "Para"
Hughie Coppin with "Seagoer"
Cyril Allen with "Reverie"
Launches were:
Fred Friedman with "Roamer"
Henry Grennel with "Granule"
Ernie Coombs with "Eclipse"
Bill Toomey with "Omarama"
Harry Tressider with "Dorothy"
Ron Kennett with "Islay"
Sir Bruce Stewart with "Thetis"
Ernie Brown with "Sunbeam"
Tod Curtis with "Pacific"
Curly Barnes with "Potare"
Friday Hill with "Sea Mew"
Charlie Woodward with "Minerva"
Cyril Gladstone with "Romance"
Wally Brown with "Lorelei"
The 1st and 2nd Class yachts started through the moles and the dinghies sailed around the inner harbour. There were usually about 3 or 4 starters in the 1st division and 5 or 6 in the 2nd, with up to eight dinghies racing inside the Harbour, some of these had centreboards and some lee boards.
Our Club Captain at that time was Magnus Smith with old Bill Toomey as Starter and Timekeeper. Banny (Banfield) of the Lyttelton Times was usually on the Pier to report on our races.
The dinghies I remember were my own "Raffles", Elliot Sinclair with "Tiki" (I think
that was where he got his nickname), and Steve Sinclair with his 10 ft "Kowhai".
Steve Sinclair with his 10 footer, and all the Sinclair expertise behind him was giving me up to 8 minutes on handicap. We put in 2/6d (half-a-crown) entrance fee and the winner and second place collected. At that time subscriptions for senior members were a pound and Junior members 10/-.
My father promised me a 10 footer to compete with the faster dinghies. After a discussion with Magnus Smith and Alex Miller, contact was made with the Auckland Yachting Association and cardboard plans were sent down of the 12 foot Takapuna Class yacht, which was sailing on Auckland Harbour for the new "Cornwall Cup." Alex Miller decided to build three boats to start the class south of Auckland in 1926. My father bought "Wet-U" for Brother Jim and myself. Mr Taylor (of Taylor and Kay, the plumbers) bought the "Wee May" for his son Bob (Knobby). Mr Norris, the butcher, bought the "Sea Pearl" for his son Hubie.
I was 14 years old and sailing "Wet-U", Steve Sinclair sailed "Wee May' for Bob Taylor with 3 stone Una Tyro to make the weight up to the minimum of 17 stone, and Elliot Sinclair was sailing "Sea Pearl" for Hubie Norris - our yachting careers had really begun.
When Auckland heard that we had three Takapunas, they sent out a challenge to other Ports of New Zealand and offered to send 8 boats to Dunedin to start the first National Youth Contest. As we had only been sailing our boats for a very short time CYC decided to select a skipper and crew to send to Dunedin. This was the year of the great controversy over the measurements of Geo Andrews "Betty", when Magnus Smith, the other measurer tried to have her thrown out. However, Geo Andrews did take "Betty" to Dunedin, where, although she wasn't measured or core-drilled, she sailed against all the other so-called experts and made them look like mugs.
As there was no time to hold trials for our Takapunas, the committee decided to send myself as skipper and Elliot Sinclair as my crew. Unfortunately, Elliot had not
We sailed the first race in light wind without any ballast and were nearly disqualified. The Auckland boys (or young men) were at the limit age of 18 and were 11 stone each. The competitors from other Ports has no boats of their own, and they were very inexperienced, so the race was between Auckland and us. Boats and their sails and gear were changed for each race, and the winner of the first three races was to win the Cornwall Memorial Cup. The boats were rigged with a sliding gunter gaff and it was hard to rig the gaff close in to the mast. As the luff of the sail was cut straight it was a disaster if the gaff fell away from the mast. On the second day this happened to us, plus we were sailing a slow waterlogged boat and we came last and were disqualified for turning a buoy the wrong way. Thanks to Mr Nees of Dunedin, we had ballast in by this time, and in light weather, Mackay of Auckland was no match for Hubie and I. We had two wins each and the other boys were out.
In the deciding race we had a substantial lead in the light weather, when we capsized during a sudden Southerly squall. The Auckland boys sailed past us when we were in the water, they were sailing downwind with the spinnaker up and they waved us goodbye. However, our yacht laid on her side with the coaming just clear of the water and we managed to pull her back and get the sail down without taking in any water. We were two very scared little boys, and thought the race was well and truly lost, so we sailed the rest of the run down wind under bare poles. The Southerly squall died down and we pulled the sail up before rounding the bottom mark. Although the Auckland boys were half way to the finishing line, much to everyone's surprise, we beat them to the line and won the Cornwall Cup for Lyttelton in the first National Youth Contest in 1926.
Headlines in the Otago Daily paper next day were "Canterbury Schoolboys beat Auckland's crack yachtsmen." Other news of the day was. that the Dunedin Exhibition was also being held at that time.
Looking back it is hard to realize how primitive our yachting was. We had no resin bonded plywood or stainless steel. Our yachts were built out of solid kauri and fittings were mostly hand made. Sails were made out of cotton material and usually had the flow in the leech instead of the luff.
There were no International Contests. The "Sanders Cup" was the Blue Ribbon Contest for New Zealand, and people flocked from all parts of New Zealand to view the Contest.
Our Club had very little money at that time, and a collection was held in the Port of Lyttelton to send a representative away. Mrs Priddy, Mrs Smith and Mrs Tibbles were great stalwarts in collecting from the public to enable a crew to be sent away.
The larger yachts and launches lay at anchor moorings in the Inner Harbour, where the piles were driven in later years. Collins Steps were built and named after John Collins, and a small dinghy slip was established adjacent. Other small craft and dinghies were moored to the shore towards the Rowing Club Shed, which is the Site of the "Banks Peninsula Cruising Club" today, and a pontoon hinged to the shore was built for launching dinghies. This pontoon was used for swimming also, which was very popular at that time. A springboard was even installed on the pontoon, even though all the rubbish from overseas liners and stormwater from the Port, ran down into the Inner Harbour. There was usually a scum of oil and coal dust from the coal-burning liners floating on the surface which left a dirty strip around the waterline of the boats.
Another swimming place was the Graving Dock where Annual Swimming sports were held. The Harbour Board's hand crane was our diving platform and my father and many locals enjoyed their swimming in and out of the Dock in their spare time. I remember Sam Sinclair throwing a life belt in the water at low tide and diving through it off the dock caisson. He was a big man and could only squeeze through the belt when on shore. The only other person game to try this was little skinny Geordy Illingworth.
The first CYC shed was built adjacent to the Rowing Club shed and a steep slipway was used for haulout of centreboard yachts. The Harbour Board had their works area on this foreshore, where bags of hardwood from Australia were brought and stored for preparation for the building of the wharves. The railway ran along this foreshore and the Harbour Board Clydesdale horse usually hauled the truckloads of piles. After hauling our yachts up the small steep slipway, the yachts had to be carried across the railway track and stored outside.
In later years we were given the use of the Harbour Board's brick shed by the Dock, where we could store our Sanders Cup boats under cover and work on them with our crews in the winter. However we made the most of what facilities we had and enjoyed our yachting life to the full. Our sails were hung up to dry in the Club Shed and a small locker was used by members.
My wife, Olive, and Mrs Bert Norris with a few good friends formed a Social Club, and a cup of tea and a biscuit was supplied for 3d, for the boys after each race. This proved so popular that they put on saveloys and bread and butter, also soft drinks. My spaniel dog, Skipper, waited at the door, and ate all the saveloy skins thrown to him.
Some of the older members were against bringing women into our Club Shed, because of the lack of facilities, but the boys changed between the hanging sails and there was no problem.
A dance was held in the Excelsior Hall on Saturday nights in the season, and this helped to build up funds for the Club. Many people from Christchurch attended the dances, travelling to the Port on the old steam train, which ran hourly, and then caught the last 12pm train home, or sometimes walked through the sooty old tunnel.
Although most of us oldies have passed on, It is good to know that many of them worked for the Club as long as they were able. The children of these keen yachties have carried on their good work.
We had no pick up boat in those days and as my trawler "Tawera" was usually in Port on Saturdays she became our pick up boat, much to the relief of Alf Arneson of the Diamond Harbour Ferry and the Lyttelton Harbour Board. My old cobber and spinnaker hand, Bert Norris, and his family took over from "Tawera" with their restored launch as Rescue Boat and they did a wonderful voluntary job for many years.
It is good to see so many women carrying on the good work and taking part in yachting, and that the training of youths is well established.
I have been at sea most of my life and this has interfered with my yachting career.
We moved from our first shed to the boat builder’s shed across on the main commercial slipway, which had been the property of Geo Whitford in 1948-50. About this time I took over as Commodore of the Club from Ernie Coombes and we made the first move to where our Club house is today. We had no slipway, parts of the dredge's skeleton wharf were still there, and we had ideas of doing something with that. Two small boatsheds were buuilt for storage of our 14 footers, with timber donated by Ernie Coombes, to get things underway. We could not then visualize the splendid facilities that we have today. It is good to see how the club had progressed.
During the 1950 Canterbury Anniversary, our Club hosted the Cornwall Cup boys from all parts of New Zealand and the Social Club put on meals for them in the Club premises. Olive also put on a lunch for Peter Mander and his crew at our home. I was away in Wellington with the disastrous Centennial Yacht Race, and missed all the involvement of our Club with the Canterbury Anniversary.
Olive and I have enjoyed our association with the Club over the years and we wish the Club all the very best for the future.
George Brasell
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