The Mistake

Built 1933 in Brisbane at the yard of A.J. Whereat, by Lance Watts, for owner Bob Cuneo, funded by the W. Arnott Biscuit Factory where Cuneo worked. The Mistake is probably the most significant 18-footer of the 1930s period.

Previous histories point to Aberdare, the first of the heel-less 18s, as the boat that changed the face of 18-footer racing. While it is true that Aberdare was the prototype of the heel-less 7-foot beamers, she was nonetheless a Queensland boat, and as long as she stayed up there she was no threat to the powerful Sydney Flying Squadron, who favoured the big-beam “troopships”. The Mistake changed all that. She was the cuckoo in the Sydney nest that polarised the SFS members and was directly responsible for the acrimonious split that late in 1934 led to the formation of the NSW 18-footers Sailing League. 18-footer sailing in NSW was never the same again.

The Mistake was commissioned in strict secrecy during the winter of 1933, at the height of the arguments over the legality of Aberdare. Although they had reluctantly accepted her registration, a week later the Sydney Flying Squadron closed its register to prevent any similar boats being built. Her name, and insignia 2+2=5, was a jibe at her detractors, who considered the boat, among many other less generous terms, to be “a mistake”. The skiff's name is also said to have derived from the fact that the two sides of the original were built by different boat carpenters to slightly different shapes.

The Mistake had her first race on 9 December 1933 and was unimpressive for much of that season. Legend has it that she was forced to sail with ten crew, and this may well be true, but it has yet to be confirmed. In September 1934 a breakaway club was formed in Brisbane, and after the SFS withdrew from the 1935 Interstate, a new 18-footer yacht club was announced during the Christmas New Year break of 1934, calling itself the NSW 18-footers Sailing League, dedicated to the promotion of the “modern” 18-footer. Secretary of the new club was James J. Giltinan, and the three credited with forming it were Jim Kendall, part owner of The Mistake, Gus Black, owner of Scot, and Harry Hamill. At the time the League had only five boats on its register, The Mistake, Arawatta, H.C. Press IV, Scot and Australia, joined a few weeks later by Shamrock. The League's first race, on 3 February 1935, was the Interstate championship, won by Aberdare from Sid Barnett in Scot.

The Mistake was a consistent performer in those early years of the League. By 1937 Bob Cuneo had sold his interest in the boat and Jim Kendall took on H. Michel as a partner. They brought Sam Monkhouse in as skipper around 1938. In 1941 Michel donated The Mistake to the Art Union fund to be raffled for the Lord Mayors patriotic fund. The boat was won by J.C. White, who then got Sam Monkhouse to sail her, which he did until 1945. In 1946 Billy Dodds bought The Mistake, raced her for a season or so and then retired her. The following season he launched a new boat built by Lester Woodforth, which sent a message to all those who had campaigned against his old charge: he called her “No Mistake” and her insignia was 2+2=4.

These past differences were reconciled when, in October 2005, the Commodores of the two clubs organised a race, with The Mistake winning the Club Championship, showing that it was no mistake. The replica is dedicated to Bob Cuneo, the original skipper, whose model was used for the replica, and to his forehand Stan Higgins, Sam Monkhouse and his son Cliff. Anne Higgins, wife of Stan, and Grace Monkhouse, wife of Cliff, christened the boat in 2005.