GYMEA in its original rig racing in South Australia, date unknown

Images(5)

GYMEA ahead of NERANA , possibly in the early 1950s.

Opening Day in 1952 for the Royal South Australian Yacht Squadron.

Gymea

Vessel numberHV000375

Sail NumberC 7

Sail NumberSA 2

Sail NumberSA 29

Builder J Hayes & Sons

Designer Charlie Peel

Vessel class 21 Foot Restricted Class (1907 - 2007)

Date1922

DimensionsVessel Dimensions: 7.62 m x 6.4 m x 2.33 m (25 ft x 21 ft x 7.66 ft)

DescriptionGYMEA was commissioned by Reginald Carter, soon after the first Forster Cup series was held on Sydney Harbour in early 1922. CORELLA, EOJ and BOOMERANG, the three sisterships designed earlier by Peel had performed well in the Cup races. They werer also built at J Hayes & Sons yard, and had a relatively short bow overhang. GYMEA's shape followed designs of other builders competing for the Cup in 1922 - INEZ, LAKATOI, CHERRY TOO and the winner GUMLEAF - which all had longer bow overhangs.

A detailed description of GYMEA's scantlings has survived in a copy of its measurement certificate which shows it planked in New Zealand kauri and Australian cedar on mountain ash frames, with a blue gum keel.

GYMEA was launched later in 1922 and Reg Carter raced it until 1925 when he sold it to well known Sydney yachtsman AC Saxton. Saxton died in a yachting accident in 1926 and GYMEA was sold to WH Powell of Largs Bay in South Australia, helping to boost numbers in the fleet in that state.

Powell raced it until 1945, winning the Queen of the River at Port Adelaide in 1927. After 1945 it changed hands twice before Stan Medwell is recorded as the owner in 1948. He continued racing GYMEA at the Port Adelaide Club and the South Australian Yacht Squadron until the late 1970s. During its time in SA it won the Queen of the River on 19 occasions. Racing records show that GYMEA sailed in the Forster Cup for South Australia in 1927, 1933, 1947 and 1949. It was one of five 21s in the South Australian fleet.

New owner and grandson of Medwell, Olympic sailor Chris Pratt, took GYMEA from storage in SA to Perth, Western Australia in the late 1990s where he had it rebuilt to sailing condition. It is one of only two or three of the class still sailing with a traditional rig. Pratt and GYMEA returned to SA in 2001 and joined the fleet of old 21s racing at Goolwa. It was twice the fastest 21 in the Milang to Goolwa Race. In 2009 new owners moved GYMEA to Sydney Harbour.

SignificanceGYMEA is a wooden 21 Foot Restricted Class yacht from 1922 designed by Victorian Charlie Peel working with builder Charlie Hayes at his yard in Careening Cove, Sydney, New South Wales. It is one of the earliest of this legendary racing class which provided fierce interstate competition from the 1920s to the mid 1950s. GYMEA features Peel's spoon-bowed design which shows the rapid evolution of the design early in the class history to the typical longer bow overhang. GYMEA also in turn influenced Hayes who also designed 21s and other craft, including the 1924 snub-nosed 18 foot skiff YENDYS.

Vessel Highlights