Tangalooma

Tangalooma was Australian Champion 1931-32, held on the Brisbane River. Tangles moved to Sydney in 1932 and won the Australian Title again in 1936. It also won the State Title in 1934, 1935 and 1936. During that period it was sailed by William “Trappy” Duncan and Billy Dunn. The remains of the boat are in the Brisbane Maritime Museum.

A brief history of Tangalooma was told by former part-owner and crew member George Jeffrey, an original member of the syndicate of eight, all former crew members of other racing 18-footers, who each put in ten pounds to have their own boat built. It was 1930 and the depression was biting. For most of them, ten pounds was their nest-egg savings, and some actually borrowed to make up their contributions.

The syndicate decided that a replica of Vision, a boat designed by Colin Clark and with which he had won two Australian Championships before retiring from active racing, would be ideal. They asked him for Vision's moulds, and when these couldn't be found he gave them the original drawings, suggesting as an improvement that three inches of freeboard be added from the chainplates to the stem. The boat was built by Ben Cribb under his brother's house; two house blocks had to be removed to make room. The planks were full-length cedar and the knees were donated by a friend. George Jeffrey bought the maple tuck for eight shillings and cut the breast-hook from a suitable tree he saw by the side of the road leading to Redcliffe. When the boat was finished, probably due to Ben Cribb's enthusiasm and generosity, it had cost exactly eighty pounds.

The gear was all handmade. George made the two masts and booms, one set from Maryborough pine and the other from Canadian spruce. He made the gaffs hollow, the first he had ever seen. The spar measurements were amazing. The crew numbered anything from twelve to sixteen depending on wind conditions, a very mobile ballast of about one and a half tons.

The replica was built from the original plan by Reg Barrington and Len Heffernan in the former's lounge room. To get it out, Reg had to knock out not only a wall but also ultimately some of the lintel, the bricks above the eaves, plus a few roof tiles. The replica was launched at the Australia Day Regatta; the club's own pages disagree on whether this was 1993 or 1994. The original crew of the replica, photographed at Milson Park in 1994, were Keith Tutt, Ern Holder and Steve Omm on the port side, Garry Holder and John Notley seated, and Ron Johnston, Len Heffernan (skipper) and Reg Barrington (builder) on the starboard side.

During the off season of 2019 the club undertook a major restoration project on Tangalooma, recorded in week by week reports with pictures of the work.