The restored YENDYS sailing again on Sydney Harbour in the 1980s.

Images(10)

YENDYS under full sail, from Australian Motor Boat and Yachting Monthly.

YENDYS running before the wind in a light breeze with all sails set. The dark colour of the rin…

The restored 18-foot skiff YENDYS with its transom bow and an original set of sails, is on disp…

George McGooghan stands proudly beside the restored YENDYS at Cockatoo Dockyard.

A portrait of skipper Norman Blackman, the business man from the 1930s.

A portrait of Sgt Norman Blackburn from World War II.

YENDYS racing on Sydney Harbour in the 1930s.

Yendys

Vessel numberHV000068

Owner Sydney Heritage Fleet

Builder J Hayes & Sons

Designer Charlie Hayes

Vessel class 18-Foot Skiff Class (1890 - 2011)

Date1925

DimensionsVessel Dimensions: 5.49 m x 5.49 m x 2.36 m x 0.69 m (18 ft x 18ft x 7.75 ft x 2.25 ft)

DescriptionYENDYS is a rare example of one of the wide beamed 18-foot skiffs from the 1920s and was one of only three skiffs in the 18-foot skiff class built with a snub bow. YENDYS was built by Charlie Hayes, one of the famous boatbuilding family James Hayes & Sons whose work spanned many generations.

The red anchor sail insignia of YENDYS was a familiar sight on Sydney Harbour during the 1920s and 30s. The name was Sydney spelt backwards and it became a famous name over that period, skippered by its owner Norman Blackman. The well known builder Charlie Hayes built YENDYS at his Careening Cove premises in 1924, using the typical batten seam method favoured by the skiffs. The snub or transom bow design on YENDYS was quite different to the other skiffs with their sharp entries. The idea was to create the effect of a longer boat but with the bow overhang cut off so that the hull was only 18 feet (5.486 m) long. The design is credited to Charlie Hayes, but it should be noted that Charlie Peel was working at Hayes yard during this period and Peel had been very successful using a snub bow on his own 14-foot skiff designs. In a report on its first race, late in September of 1925, the correspondant notes its similarity to the snub nosed 14 ft Skiff JOHN NIMMO designed by Peel in 1907. Even then the snub bow concept was not a new idea. There were other previous examples, a notable one being the Logan Bros SOUTHERLY BUSTER in 1904 which was a 24 foot long snub bowed enclosed skiff for Mark Foy.

YENDYS raced with the Sydney Flying Squadron, and won the first race it sailed in convincing fashion. Over almost two decades it went on to win a string of championships. When war broke out in 1939 Blackman joined the war effort and YENDYS was retired from racing. Eventually it was put back in the water but became a launch with a petrol engine and small coach house. At the end of the 1970s the boat sank at its moorings, but was refloated by a relative of the owner who had been an 18-foot skiff sailor and recognised its importance.

George McGoogan, another 18- foot skiff sailor from the period before the war, was invited to look at the hull and used his connections with the Sydney Heritage Fleet and Vickers Cockatoo Island Dockyard for them to both agree that the YENDYS should be restored by the dockyard. This was done over a four year period and in the early 1980s YENDYS was once again sailing on Sydney Harbour. The restoration project found it necessary to replicate much of the structure, but the work was done in an authentic manner to rebuild the boat to its original specifications. An existing set of original cotton sails was located, made by Harry West of Balmain, and they were restored by Dennis McGoogan, Harry's last apprentice. Also overseeing the restoration process was 'Wee Georgie' Robinson, the famous designer, builder and skipper of BRITANNIA, one of YENDYS' racing opponents.

In 2006 YENDYS has been placed on display with the Sydney Heritage Fleet's collection of small craft at Wharf 7 Darling Harbour. A replica has been built in 2007 by the Australian Open Skiff Trust and races regulary with the Sydney Flying Squadron's fleet of replica vintage skiffs.
SignificanceYENDYS is an 18-foot skiff class open boat built in Sydney in 1925. YENDYS is the only surviving snub-nosed 18-foot skiff still extant and is an important vessel from the builder and designer Charlie Hayes. It had a long and succesful career in the class and is one of the few skiffs from that era still extant.

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