In September, a couple dropped in unannounced and had an interest in RMYS. I showed them through the clubhouse, including a close look at Venom hanging from the wet bar ceiling. Phil and Veronica spent about an hour at the Squadron, and I will admit to being captured by his stories and experiences.

On the 15th of October, I received an email from Phil. The letter reflects his great affection for RMYS and his wonderful attitude. I encourage you to find ten minutes and enjoy the read, we have added some photos of the era at the bottom of the letter.

Matt Solly

Hi Matt,

Hopefully, you will recall our visit to the club on the 16^th or 17^th of September.

Whilst the question was never really asked, the reason for us being there was twofold;

First, for Veronica to gain information regarding her yacht Benecia, a 42 ft Huon pine John Alden designed Sloop, which she and her late husband had found as an almost hulk in the Brisbane River during the 1980s and restored to its former glory. It was originally built as a Schooner, and although converted, they could never find evidence of where the after mast had been stepped.

Veronica was able to trace that at some time, Benicia was listed as being on the Register of the RMYS before being sailed single handed to points North, from which time all trace was lost until they found her in a state of extreme disrepair in Brisbane. After the restoration, they joined RQYS and remained active members until her husband’s untimely death 11 years ago. Prior to this and for 10 years, they had owned and sailed a 60 ft sloop as members of the Royal Jamaica Yacht Club. Thus, it seemed natural that they would continue their interest in yachting after migrating to Australia.

Veronica, although having sold Benecia, is still a member of the RQYS.

My reason for being there was quite simple, that being to see the Club which had been such an important part of my life from 1946 to 1958. In 1958 I worked for one of the Unilever group of companies and was asked to accept a 2 year transfer to Head Office in Sydney. This I did, and 64 years later, I am still there!

With a wife, young family, new job and new home, there was never enough time to take up yachting again, plus of course, my responsibilities had changed to family first and everything else fitting in where possible. When it was discovered that I had some knowledge and experience of boats, I was a sought after commodity, but as mentioned, my responsibilities lay elsewhere.

I must thank you and Jan Hurst in Membership for the manner in which you gave up some of your valuable time for us and to say how much we appreciated the sincerity of your welcome. Your gift of the 140 years book has brought back a flood of memories, and whilst I cannot seem to find proper words to express my thanks, I notice that little of the 1950s is given to club activities other than the Olympics, and as my experiences with the club spanned from 1946 through 1958, thought that my memories of these years may be of interest to you. If not, there is always the round wastepaper basket filing cabinet!

It must be said that I am now 87 years of age, with my memory banks filled with a huge amount of other things. The 140 year book is in Sydney, and I am currently in Brisbane without being able to refer to some of the finer points.

I noted from the 50 year members list there is a William Toy who joined in 1946. Assuming that it is the same person, I met Bill Toy at Elwood Central School in that same year, a friendship which continued through Melbourne High School until he joined one of the passenger/cargo ships that plied around the Australian coast. From memory, he went on to become Purser on the Manunda or Manoora. If it is the same person, he would be 89 or 90 years of age, as most of the kids were about 2 years older than me. (I had come from the Tasmanian education system, which was considered to be about 18 months in advance of the Victorian. Thus I was always considerably younger than my peer group)

Being new to Melbourne and living in St Kilda, Bill suggested that I come to the yacht club where he was a member. Thus began my life as a yachtsman. I’m not sure where a 10 year old without any experience would have fitted in— other than getting in the way, but there must have been a system in place where people like myself were farmed out to the various boats from which I was able to sail on Joe White’s Acrospire, then Eun-a-mara and a variety of lesser craft until I became a permanent member of the crew of Tosla a 30 ft sloop owned by Jack Sims. Tosla was moored at the outer edge of the moorings and, during a storm, broke free and was wrecked on the rocks near what was to become the cadet dinghy kiosk.

However, my first and lasting impression of the club is that it was a repository for old dis-masted boats sitting in cradles in the yard, probably having been laid up since the early years of WW2. These were mainly similar in size to Acrospire and Eun-a mara. One of these was called Independence and was later shipped to Queensland. They all would have been Gaff Rigged with a lot of their rigging stored and untouched for years under the top side of the building near where the Cadet change rooms were to be. My memory is still of cane hoops and large wooden blocks.

Without a berth, I approached Barry Dean, who then skippered David B, asking whether he needed a bailer boy. When Barry moved on, Paul Fontaine became the skipper with some success and represented Victoria in the Stonehaven Cup.

I never sailed with Paul but learned my craft in dinghies like Marlene, EB, Blue Lake and finally David B, where in 1953, I won the coveted V 1 and represented RStKYC for Victoria in the Stonehaven Cup.

That year the cup was being held in Port Phillip, and as it was home territory, I was rated very highly for the event —- but fate was to play another hand! During the year I was conscripted into the Navy for my National Service Training, and as the Cup races were to be held in Melbourne during that time, it was thought that it would be a simple matter to get leave and contest.

Obviously, whoever thought that had never been a recruit in the Navy, for when I approached my Petty officer to gain an appointment with the Divisional Commander, he laughed and said NO! Well, perhaps as a sailor, some more expressive words in keeping with his position! I don’t know how it was achieved, but I was able to get to see the Divisional Commander who listened and asked which club I sailed for. When hearing that it was St Kilda, his attitude changed, and he became a human being, telling me that he always enjoyed the regular visits our members made to HMAS Cerberus etc. “Well, son, I think I can grant you special leave”

This was only the day before the first trial and by the time I caught the Friday night train back to Melbourne, it was the morning of the race and I remember David B sitting fully rigged on the beach – with no crew! My crew were the reason for our success. We had sailed together for a couple of seasons and trained and worked together as a team. I cannot remember their names, but they were 2 Legacy wards, their fathers having been killed in WW2. My father had served in the RAN and, after coming home with PTSD, took his own life, thus we were kindred spirits in a way!

Without the regulars, we threw together a scratch crew, but without the skills and experiences of my normal crew, we did not achieve the required success. I have no memory of the races, but years later in Western Australia, when attending the send-off for the 12 metre challenger Southern Cross at RPYC (the Alan Bond Americas Cup Challenge) a fellow came over to me asking, are you Phil Dadd? I sailed against you in 1953” In 2006, I was attending Lodge in Sydney when another fellow asked if I had sailed in Cadets, explaining that he had crewed for Jim Hardy. Jim, at that time, was the Assistant Grand Master of the United Grand Lodge of NSW and although we had frequent contact, Freemasonry was our interest and sailing was never discussed.

Somewhere in a box at home, I have a collection of silver cups with the Club Burgee engraved according to the various successes over the years. Being in a box somewhere indicates my level of interest in them, but strangely, on a wall, there is a barometer engraved “The K D Young Trophy. Winner Philip Dadd 1953-54”, this being the prize awarded for the club’s Cadet dinghy championship for those years and suggesting that the story I gave when we met may have had some truth to it.

From the dinghies, I crewed with Les Nangle, his ex-navy buddy Jack and Keith Cummings on the Tumlaren, Tarna. Being small in stature, I was for’ard hand. We stayed together until October 1958, when I was moved to Sydney. The whole crew attended my wedding in March of that year. In later years, Keith donated one of the new fibreglass dinghies to the club and I assume this is the one listed as Mavis C, named after his wife, Mavis. Tarna was a typical Tumlaren, a bit wet in heavy weather but an absolute delight to sail and sail in. Because of my background in dinghies, I was allowed on occasions to skipper the boat, but never in a race. That being said, I doubt that a change in skipper would have overcome the brilliance of our nemesis, Yvonne, with her skipper and crew.

Having been at the club since I was a small boy, the club members became my family, and I became known as Young Phil, from which many of the members, knowing of my circumstances, took me under their wing, and it was as though I had many fathers. Certainly, such was the case with the crew of Tarna. I am particularly indebted to John Crosbie, who offered great counsel and helped me through a fairly rocky time. It is wrong of me to choose one person, but John was the first and, from that, seen as the most compassionate. So too were Frank Bennell (the Ketch Oi-mara), George Venables, the Secretary Manager, Barney Snider and Mr Mac, who, with his disability, was not an active yachtsman – perhaps he was the timekeeper for the races? and who was a guiding light for all the cadets? In about 1949, it was decided that the cadets should have a uniform consisting of a navy blazer with club burgee of the top left pocket, grey slacks, and a white shirt with a club tie – navy blue with a crown (or Crown and Star). We were a pretty smart looking lot. Within a year, it was decided that the blazer should have a white ¼” band around the cuff. Mr Mac had come to the party and introduced us to a Jewish tailor somewhere in the CBD. The price was right, the quality and fitting good, and he became my tailor for suits until I moved interstate.

The dress code within club events was important, and I well remember at the start of each race, the starter and his entourage would (dressed in club blazer, tie and cap) proceed along the pier to the starting point for the day’s racing. Likewise, for all formal events within the clubhouse, we were expected to dress in a dinner suit and black tie.

I think it was about 1955 when the club opened the dining room, and we, with my bride to be, were regular attendees. Soon after, these became extremely popular dinner dances.

The club still had some areas which were considered off limits to cadet members. I recall heavy leather arm chairs and sofas, dark panelled walls and the obligatory ships in glass cases. As mentioned to you, these rooms had two permanent residents, the cats Bosun and Skipper, whom I believed thought that they owned the premises. I have no idea who fed them, but they were huge!

The club had its usual range of characters, and the names, Jack Greig (who was known as King of the kids as he looked after the cadets), Alan Pain, Otto Tuck and Norm the yard man are some that come immediately to mind. Due to our ages, all these men were referred to as Mister and remained that way up to the time I became a full member.

Keith Young was in a class of his own. He had served in the American Army during WW2 and was seen as the ultimate ladies’ man. Always with a beautiful young woman and in the latest sports car. Keith was in addition the this, the ultimate gentleman and I treasured his friendship (as well as the K D Young trophy). I must apologise to those whose names I have forgotten now and not listed here.

I could go on and tell you that the cadet dinghies Marlene and EB were so heavy that it took 6 grown men to lift and carry them, suggesting that they were a tiny bit too heavy to expect anything better than coming last in the various races! But the dinghies taught me my craft and the importance of working together as a crew with the reliance one places on another person, something that has held me in good stead throughout the years. As individuals, the cadets came from all backgrounds. Some were the sons of senior members, some like myself, introduced by another member, some went to school together and occasionally, a boy who would watch as we rigged the boats, ask a question from which he would be invited for a sail. In the main, most stayed as members of the club and graduated to bigger boats, whilst a few joined nearby clubs where the thrill of speed and open boat sailing appealed to them.

At that time, the step up was into Tums, 21 Footers, Jubilee’s or Dragons, but always the need was for something that did not have a motor, as there was a universal dislike for any form of “stink” boat.

My office in Sydney was in Unilever House, the building nearest the Opera House — the view was magnificent, but this came to an end when I was moved to the factory at Balmain, then an industrial suburb to the west of the CBD. My task was to set up and establish a Research and Development Department for our product range. Balmain was geographically difficult from my home, so I bought an MG TC sports car, restored it to use as my daily transport and have owned one of these since 1960.

In the years since leaving Melbourne, I was able to re-establish the game of Lacrosse (which I played at MHS) in NSW. I played Squash, and some golf, drove my 1938 MG from Sydney to Perth, WA and been active in Freemasonry. Sadly, sailing was never on my agenda. We now have a 1955 Alvis DHC, an open topped car which we have driven over 10,000 km this year. It still allows wind in the hair, but not quite the same as being in a 12 ft Cadet Dinghy.

But enough is enough,

Thank you once again for the courtesy shown to Veronica and myself.

Kindest regards,

Phil Dadd

15 October 2022