Frustration- Australian Sailfish Class
Vessel numberHV000696
Sail Number300
Previous owner
Sandgate Yacht Club
Date1960
DimensionsVessel Dimensions: 3.51 m × 3.51 m × 0.9 m × 0.84 m (11.5 ft × 11.5 ft × 2.95 ft × 2.75 ft)
DescriptionFRUSTRATION is 3.45m (11 ft 6 in) long scow, built in plywood and fibreglass to the Australian version of the class, where the principal difference was in the rig plan. The Sailfish from the USA where the class began carried a distinct lateen sail and un-stayed mast, however the Australian Sailfish Class adopted a Bermuda rig with stays. FRUSTRATION is sail number 300 on the Australian Sailfish register and was built and sailed by Colin Guy. Colin was a Life Member of the Sandgate Yacht Club and instrumental in establishing the Australian Sailfish Association (Qld Division). It is understood to be the first Sailfish built in Queensland.
The original Sailfish design was conceived in the USA in 1945 by Alex Byran and Cortland Heyniger trading as Alcort. It was an 11’7” (3.5m) small hollow body sailing dinghy. A ‘Super’ model was soon available at 4.2m length and in 1959 a fibreglass version became the Super Mk-II. The 1950s variations for the Australian Sailfish class are attributed to John Carroll and friends, originally of Mordialloc or Parkdale on Port Phillip Bay.
The Sailfish were a popular sailboat worldwide for ease of construction, low-cost and ease of transportation. The object of the Australian Sailfish Class was to build an inexpensive one design boat suitable for class racing at the lowest possible cost. It was primarily designed for single-handed sailing however could carry a crew of two. They were especially good as a safe boat for novices and children in suitable conditions to learn to sail.
The Australian Sailfish was strongest in Victoria, but it was also raced in NSW and Queensland. An association was formed in 1956 and wound up in about 1990. The Victorian and Australian Championship Shields are still hung in the Bendigo Yacht Club. In Queensland a small fleet of up to 12 boats sailed regularly from Sandgate on Bramble Bay throughout the 1960s. Numbers gradually declined as the mainly youthful skippers of the Sailfish moved onto larger craft and the emerging popularity of fibreglass boats.
The Sailfish provided close and exciting racing sailing a shorter course on Bramble Bay compared with the other dinghy classes such as the Cherub, Graduate and OK. On a windy day on Bramble Bay a Sailfish was a challenge to sail in the short, steep chop. Upwind was a real test of stamina while downwind the craft would plane with the skipper attempting to avoid burying the bow in a wave ahead and capsizing
Documentation accompanying the donation of FRUSTRATION to QMM includes construction plans and instructions, Sandgate Sailing Club programs, the 1964 Constitution and Rules of the Association and correspondence. One document is a covering letter from Col Guy dated October 1964 to a prospective Sailfish builder outlining certain design alterations found suitable and incorporated in the boats built in Queensland.
SignificanceFRUSTRATION is an Australian Sailfish sailing dinghy built in Queensland in the early 1960s. It was the first of this popular international class to be constructed in Queensland and represents the construction and configuration for the Australian version of this class. FRUSTRATION’s owner/builder Colin Guy played a significant role in the introduction of the Australian Sailfish to Queensland and in the operation of the class association in Queensland. It is a rare surviving example in Queensland and is in very good condition in the collection of the Queensland Maritime Museum.
