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Aeolus

Vessel numberHV000613

Sail NumberAUS 109

Builder Bill Barnett (1915-2018)

Designer Johan Anker

Date1964

DimensionsVessel Dimensions: 8.9 m x 5.66 m x 1.95 m x 1.2 m, 27.7 m² (29.2 ft x 18.57 ft x 6.4 ft x 3.94 ft, 298.19 ft²)

DescriptionAELOUS was built for championship winning skipper Syd Corser from Perth WA and originally named DARKIE, as were all of Corser's many sailing craft. Dragons are wooden carvel construction, with tolerances and specifications to a very high standard. A small number of locally built craft had been made since 1951, and the first two craft built in Australia did not meet the requirements when first measured. The best craft were considered to be the Borresen built Dragons from Scandinavia, and the top skippers in the class were sailing these imported craft. However early in the 1960s Bill Barnett from NSW, who was highly respected as a boat builder and skipper, built a Dragon on commission as well as his own Dragon CYNTHIA. The craft were admired by the other Dragon owners and brought a number of orders from Australian owners who recognised the quality of their construction. One partially built hull was bought by Ernie Tomlinson and when finished taken to WA. The story goes it was being built on commission but Tomlinson was so keen to have that hull when he saw it in the shed that it was sold to him and on completion a new hull was started for the other owner. AEOLUS is planked in mahogany and fastened to oak frames to comply with the Dragon class scantling rules. The floors and king plank in the deck along with some other trim are likely to be silver ash.

After being launched from Barnett's boatshed in McMahon's Point, North Sydney it was shipped across to Perth. Corser was one of WA's top sailors in a number of classes over almost three decades, beginning with the 14 foot Skiffs. He raced DARKIE with their small but strong fleet of Dragons on the Swan River.

It was subsequently owned for many years by Bun Lynn and his family, and under the new name AEOLUS Lynn won two Prince Phillip Cups, the premier trophy for the Dragon class in Australia. It has always been well maintained, a practice continued by the current owners who for the last decade have towed the yacht 360 km to their boatyard yard at Dongara north of Perth every couple of years to re-finish the varnished topsides, cabin and trim and carry out a through maintenance programme.

In 2014 it will have been sailing and racing continuously in Western Australia for 50 years, and will be ready to sail in the Prince Phillip Cup series in early 2014 on the Swan River.

SignificanceAEOLUS is a Dragon class yacht built by Bill Barnett in Sydney, 1964. It is an early Australian built example of these International and Olympic class yachts which were built in timber to a rigorous set of one design rules. Bill Barnett was one of Australia's finest wooden yacht builders and Barnett's Dragons were considered to be equal to the best made elsewhere internationally.