Historical Snippets

These 'snippets' have kindly been provided by former sailors and individuals involved with the class. They have been listed "as is", without verification. If you would like to make a contribution - please send an email to "manly.junior@gmail.com". 

This page is not intended as a discussion page on differing points of view of our history. Please submit text that can be simply pasted and is complete in its own right.

Helen Ebeling

"I’m currently putting together the history of Manly Yacht Club, to publish next year, our 60th birthday. We count from the inception of our antecedent, the 14’ Sailing Club, i.e. 1950. Naturally the Manly Junior is a big part of our early history, so I have just been reading with great interest the snippets of history in the Sailing News website.   My own involvement is that with my family I joined Manly Yacht Club about 1970 – my husband and I sailed a Manly Graduate and the three children started in Manly Juniors.   Since then, we have kept sailling in various boats, culminating for me with my 33’ Carter which I still fun race with MYC. In the MJ’s, my daughter Suzy was the first girl skipper to place, coming a close third to Matthew Middleton, whose memories of those races I have just read.   She went on to do very well in MG’s and Cherubs.

At the moment MJ sailing at MYC is at a minimum. We have a few boats which can be used by club members on a contract basis per season, which we hope will be used again next summer. Our MJ rep. Nik Trevellyn-Jones (who crews for me) is currently planning a celebration jointly with the 16’s next door in November, using both premises. Also, my son-in-law is restoring a very early Mark 1 (around No.280) which we intend to use for display purposes – maybe even give it a little sail around Manly Cove.

My daughter Lee and her husband Rob Luttrell (who sail with me), are trying to find the name and original owner of No.285, which Rob is restoring for the celebration.   I’m scratching around among MYC members old and new for any memories of it.

We bought MJ 1846 from Peter Heath, whose son Ian was moving up.   All my children, Lee, Greig and Suzy, sailed “Sacha”.   When we arrived at MYC in 1970, there were about 42 MJ’s, sailed in two divisions, but since the 1974 storm which severely damaged the old timber clubhouse, our numbers have gone down dramatically.   Over the last three decades we have had several small fleets supported by groups of interested parents, all teaching their kids to sail in the best little training boat of all, in a somewhat relaxed way.

I was talking to Ian Perdriau recently, who was the “kid” Ralph Tobias picked up off the beach to sail in No.1.

The volunteers who belong to Manly Yacht Club have had a long hard battle to restore the heritage Baths building, which was also left in a terrible mess by the 1974 storm, and we have done so without the assistance of poker machines or restaurant facilities.   We have a small fleet of PJ’s which we have been “lent” by a group of people in Pittwater, but we would very much like to get the MJ’s going again, especially as we now have a new rigging deck."

Matthew Middleton - MJ Sailing 1973 to 1979

1973-74

"I first recall sailing MJs from Hunters Hill the year Peter and Adrian Nash won the nationals and states. I believe this was the last of the big fleet years. Greenwich had 30 or more MJs, Hunters Hill was medium with 10-15 or so (with the best placed boat Kinetic sailed by the Newmans about mid teens at the nationals – giving me the impression it was a very long way to the top) and I think there were other big fleets at places like Manly, Avalon, Middle Harbour, Concord Ryde, Connell’s Point and Cronulla. Some other clubs racing that I recall: Oak Flats (Lake Illawarra); Mosman; Balmoral; Hornsby Police Boys (boat ride from Brooklyn!).

I got my first close up of Razzle Dazzle at an “association” race at Greenwich as they lapped us up a work in a light breeze. I recall them sailing through us to leeward at about 20 metres with Peter yelling at Adrian. They had a big lead. As I noticed then, in light airs the Razzle Dazzle crew kept their heads down. Similarly unlike just about everyone else when stowed the spinnaker pole was put completely in the cockpit below gunwale height. With the old kites the tack of the spinnaker was attached to the pole tip with a G clip throughout the race and most people would have the pole shoved back through a hole in the bulkhead/crossbeam at the back of the centreboard case with the front of the pole jutting out under the trimmed in jib (when it was on the leeward side). I think I tried it the Nash way once but couldn’t stand the pole flopping around under foot...so it was a windage vs comfort thing.

We didn’t qualify for the nationals at Greenwich that season. Most of the regatta week I think was blusterly southerlies and Razzle Dazzle won the 1st 3 heats and probably the invitation race to be all but home in the 5 race regatta. They went dsq or dnf in the 4th heat and needed to finish something like top 10 if Robert Douglass in Dubbel (defending champion) won. I went to watch this race and saw this little confident kid at the clubhouse before the race who I figured had to be Adrian and who I therefore asked “do you think you’ll win” and was told “of course we...will”. I think they were winning at the top mark but they had a problem with the spinnaker and it went back down to not reappear for the rest of the race. What sort of spinnaker problem keeps a spinnaker down for an entire race I never did find out – I think it was probably a tangle. Dubbel won and Razzle Dazzle would slip back to about 10th downwind and move up to about 7th upwind and finishing about there won the title. They also took the states at Balmoral in probably a clean sweep though I think brother John in Oracle managed to win the zones at Concord Ryde.

The season format was 2 separate days with 2 races each, on different weekends, making up the 4 “association” national’s qualifying races for NSW boats, then 5 race plus invitation race nationals then in the 2nd half of the season there would be 1 weekend at a particular club for  the 4 race “zone” state championship qualifiers (perhaps 4 zones altogether) and then the same format for the states pretty close to the end of the season."

1974-75

"The next season I skippered for the first time but didn’t qualify for the nationals or states and ended up crewing in the nationals and not attending the states. Adrian, who had by now won 1 nationals and at least 2 states (I think he crewed for only Mark’s 2nd states win at about 5 years old) now crewed with John in Oracle (1950) with Razzle Dazzle (1949 - sister boats) left in storage (though someone’s boat got demolished by a powerboat in the invitation race at the RPAYC nationals and Razzle Dazzle was loaned them for the remainder – I think they won the first heat in it – and I think the destroyed boat was called Impact!).

There was an association race I think at Cronulla in which at the finish line, on a reach, I didn’t allow a windward competitor inside the finishing mark and got dsq. This was very upsetting and afterwards I found out that I needed to go above the line and past the mark with the other boat (or let them in) and then circle back. There were a lot of rules to learn. I also recall seeing the same situation in an Americas cup race (photo sequence in a book) about that time though it may have been a trial race with Courageous against Intrepid but that would be a stretch to say for sure.

Craig Ferris in Dip In Too was dominant this season and it was a big surprise to me when they didn’t win the states (Adrian told me John (or was it the old man) didn’t tie the spinnaker halyard on properly and that’s why Oracle didn’t win). Scott O’Connor in Willie Win II was 2nd at the nationals and 1st at the states. I recall Dip In Too lapping me at an association race at Avalon. We were going along on starboard tack and they appeared to leeward, tacked to port then tacked to starboard then tacked to port all the time getting closer and closer to leeward and I was impressed with how much tacking they did. I thought they looked pretty clever tactically though I didn’t understand why until the next season my new but experienced crew Frankie Newman described to me what lifts and knocks were. While seeing precious little of the leaders that nationals I was told (and later saw a photo) of Dip In Too setting their orange spinnaker on their final port tack to the finish in the reasonably fresh sou’easter on Pittwater to win the title. Another story from those nationals was a collision between Oracle and Dip In Too that saw Dip In Too dsq. I was told that Adrian as a witness said the 2 boats were coming together like so “and I said ‘hit him John, hit him’ and then we hit him”. You didn’t have to avoid a collision in those days and instead of a 720 you only had the ability to raise a yellow flag with a blue dot which everyone kept on their stay next to the protest flag and which was called an eye flag. If you finished with your eye flag flying (think you may have needed to put it up pretty promptly after the incident) there was no protest and you took something like a 17% penalty on your placing. I don’t think the 720 came in until I’d left MJs."

1975-76

"I didn’t go to Perth for the nationals of 75-76 and it sounded like a really exciting series with Willie Win II doing a great solo job of preventing one of multiple West Aussie boats getting their first title in the Fremantle Doctor. I don’t recall much about the first half of that season but I recall the states held out of Avalon. Murray Hammond won in Low Dog. I think Scott O’Connor sailed the Mirror state titles instead. Low Dog had a Flower & Adams spinnaker with an outline of a sausage dog on it and the sail number 2111 and I thought his boat looked pretty slick. (Later I would buy a Flower & Adams jib and spinnaker probably mainly due this impression and I was happy to have a boat with the number 2112 also. Scott O’Connor also used Flower & Adams I think. I think both those boats mainsails had a short upright section on the bottom of the leech, perhaps 1 foot, at the top of which was a full length batten (so a full length batten at the bottom of the sail!), and the remainder of the leech headed to the top with a few short leech battens and very little roach (the area having been moved from the head to the foot). Zattik at this stage had Freshwater (Hewish) sails and the main I think had 3 battens with the middle one a full length one a bit above halfway and the top one also full length.  Dip In Too had used the sailmaker with the A with streaks coming off it – I forget who they were and they weren’t seen much after that I don’t think – I don’t think the A was for Adams. I think their battens and profile were pretty much what seems to be unanimous these days and also I believe this was the configuration I always saw on the Nash boats Freshwater sails – ie: 2 leach battens below 2 full length top battens. The Freshwater spinnakers were pretty cool too with GT stripes and the sailmaker mark of an arrow made by an H with arrowed uprights). The Flower & Adams spinnaker had a bolt rope I think down the luff and I remember noticing and wondering on my new spinnaker why the luff would curl so much - it would actually point back behind the angle of attack. They were quite different to the Hewish spinnakers it seemed. Nashs were with Hewish until they used Cock-Wadham (I’m sure that was the name) the last season (78-9) with Adrian when Michael Coxon finished his apprenticeship with Hewish. Word was the Nashs got their sails for free which seemed to make sense back in the big fleet days. The big thing for me that happened at those titles was seeing Stuart Gilbert getting 3rd in Hot Stuff. We had been having a close season with them at Hunters Hill and it was a real eye opener to see how close to the top of the fleet we may be able to get. I also recall a huge 20 or so boat stack at a gybe mark in light wind and I think Hot Stuff may have streaked away from that mark to win the race. About the same time Cool Stuff sailed by Lachlan Gilbert with my brother crewing was winning the Flying Eleven states. Suddenly success in sailing didn’t seem so impossible. The Gilberts later competed at the top of the windsurfers with Scott O’Connor."

1976-77

"The next season as Scott O’Connor has mentioned he came back with a fibreglass boat and conjured up a win with loads of weight and experience. The nationals were at Kogarah Bay with plenty of jelly blubbers and breeze (we sailed the first few races starting near the club and around the corner to the Captain Cook Bridge – so must have been sou’easters). Adrian Nash had skippered Razzle Dazzle with a huge crew the season before and turned up this season with Andrew O’Reilly who was even smaller than himself. They blitzed the first heat or was it the invitation race to send a bit of a shock through the fleet but in the next heat, I think, got into trouble when Adrian fell out and Andrew did what he’d been told to do if the skipper ever fell out which was to steer straight. It was quite amusing seeing the boat and Adrian making the same speed for quite some time while Adrian whirred his arms as fast as they would go trying to catch up. I also recall the spinnaker was very difficult to deal with in those windy races and deciding not to set it quite a bit. With a crew bigger than the skipper the bow would bury itself in the big waves trying to set, gybe and take it down. My crew was Craig Ramsden that year who I managed to persuade out of sabots for one season. I’m sure it was only his loyalty to Lane Cove sailing club that took him back to Sabots again. I know, it doesn’t make sense. I also met Adrian’s brother Michael who told me he wouldn’t even go out sailing with a centreboard and rudder like mine and pointed out to me the aerofoil shape and how my battens were just a standard curve. Next season we had a second, big race set of foils kept in very thick covers and a new main. I think we finished 6th and Razzle Dazzle 5th at Kogarah Bay. Other boats around were PT73 (Thompson) – maybe he got 4th (great boat name) - I think Red Baron finished outside the top 6 (who got trophies) due us protesting them for a port and starboard and that would leave Low Dog 3rd. The Shimeld’s also first showed up and were just a few places behind. They weren’t any bigger than the Razzle Dazzle crew that’s for sure.

The Gillett’s in Cutty Two (I think – they’d had Cutty Sark before) demolished the fleet in the strong stuff and came very close to cleaning up. It made me think how good must the racing have been the previous season with the other good WA boats (Oracle (Gailbraiths) and Doubles Double (Johnsons)) not yet retired. There were however some lighter wind races and they didn’t like these conditions. The last race was a light race and they finished way back and Willie Again needed  to finish in about 3rd or better given that, to win. Controversially The Red Baron (or Red Baron II) apparently let Willie Again through to the spot they needed, close to the finishing line. I was told the person writing about the series in the bulletin that year said he thought that was an OK thing to do but he didn’t mention it in his report all the same. With their light weight and good sailing Razzle Dazzle won the states at Lake Illawarra for 1977. Again there was controversy. Razzle Dazzle had a bad last race and Red Baron needed to win to win. As it was told to me, Willie Again was reaching back and forth near the finish line waiting for Red Baron to come up and overtake them to win. This did not happen as, so the story goes, the finisher finished Willie Again who may not have crossed the line. There was a long protest hearing afterwards holding the presentation up etc and the placings remained as was."

1977-78

"The fleets had thinned out quite a bit now and I don’t think anyone would miss qualifying for the major events anymore and Razzle Dazzle and Zattik moved up to the top of the fleet in the usual retirement based progression.

I think it was this season an association race at Avalon was abandoned when a southerly buster hit just before the start. We and other boats successfully struggled back in to the club house but a good deal of the fleet were rounded up over the course of the next few hours with someone being got from Palm Beach. Some adults discussed events for a few more hours back at the clubhouse with one hot topic being that the kids these days couldn’t handle it like the ones from the old days. I don’t recall hearing them also discussing whether or not they, themselves, could have handled a boat in those conditions.

Unfortunately the powers that be decided to not wait the what we thought was a mandatory 2 seasons before returning to Perth and it was with little confidence what we approached Perth to take on the Gilletts. The notice of race also revealed all races were to start in the afternoon! Adrian’s brothers said they may as well give Adrian a few hundred dollars and save the remaining cost of the trip. I was told also Razzle Dazzle got its sails trimmed.

Things did not get any better when the day before the series started we stood on the jetty at the front of the Perth Flying Squadron(?) to be told by a local, upon asking whether the breeze was strong today, that it was reasonable I suppose – the lee shore was being pounded by white caps and it was a good steady 25 knots. Next news was in fact someone else never heard of, from the tiny WA fleet, was now beating the Gillett’s. It was hard to know how to take this news. Apparently the Reeves father was a good sailor and the kids on XQSMe were not big but they had a fancy set up including 2 G clips on the spinnaker pole so the tack could be placed back from the end for the heavy weather. Razzle Dazzle gave a good account, Cutty Too and Zattik didn’t and for the first time WA got the title with a solid win to XQSMe. Of course it was all the fault of the NSW committee for sending us there out of schedule! The titles were unfortunately marred by some pretty immature behaviour which saw much yelling on the water and overly torrid dunkings of the winning crew. I know I didn’t yell at crews again after that season. Also the Fremantle Doctor disappeared for the entire series reappearing the day after!

We won the states at Woollahra that year where we really enjoyed the lighter weather. Beating to windward in heavy weather was one of the harder parts of sailing I found to master. At the end of the 2nd race in this series, a southerly hit before the last gybe mark and Razzle Dazzle capsized but they overtook us from some distance back on the beat to the finish. The lesson to be learnt was that with more crew weight than Razzle Dazzle we (Tim Ellison my crew that season) leant our guts out, kept the main on as much as possible, and jerked back and forth in the very gusty Rose Bay – as compared to Razzle Dazzle who I watched motor past us with the main flogging and sitting pretty comfortable on a perfectly upright boat. I think perhaps I still had the image in my mind from the bulletin when Razzle Dazzle previously won the nationals at Greenwich. This was a shot from in front of the boat powering out from the Greenwich shore on port in a strong sou’easter with the main on and the boat leant over. It took me some years to really appreciate that playing the mainsheet and not over exerting yourself so you can keep the boat in the groove is most important."

1978-79

"For my last season I needed a new crew again and when I turned up at Hunters Hill for the first day of the season looking for someone I wanted to take a boy a bit smaller than me but my father got me to take his little brother Warren (Wozza) Miller. I recall he weighed 3 stone not much and certainly removed any concern about having too much weight. To my amazement, in his first sail, in a nor’easter, he handled the spinnaker no problems and I was really pleased to have him.

The association races leading up to the nationals were evenly contested between Razzle Dazzle and Zattik but come the nationals at Woollahra they had stepped up a gear with serious pre-regatta training and put on a very good display in strong nor’easters where they would hold off Mark(?) Wilson (who was big) way up the front, by simply sailing very well and putting in a huge effort. I recall Mark describing how Andrew would be all over the place on the beat into the big chop off Shark Island bailing to leeward and leaning to windward. There’s no doubt Andrew was a great crew. In one race we got capsized on the start line by a port tacker and starting last tacked long on port and came up on starboard under the shelter of the island to get to about 6th at the top mark. Stupidly on every work after that we didn’t seek the smoother water of the island and stayed in 6th. There was also a race where Zattik, Razzle Dazzle and a couple of others (including Richard Arthur and crew Butch (or Boof) and probably also Bana Split(?) with Matt Kuhn from Coffs) were sailing away from the nor-east starting line on starboard in a very light fickle wind with the remainder of the fleet making much less progress. A couple of port tacks were tried but starboard seemed to be the go and eventually we’d opened up a very big gap (off the rhumb line however) but then the breeze stopped and started lightly from the south and in an instant we went from 1st to last place and the titles were definitely gone.

Suzy Ebeling came third (we came a long second) in those nationals which was the best a girl skipper had ever done – there were probably not even 5 out of 50 boats skippered by girls. Either her local paper or it may have been a big Sydney paper did an article with photo on her during the series and this was my first example of how when you know the details the media report is always revealed as largely fiction. I think this story said Suzy made the boat, with some help from her dad!

XSQSme turned up but the Greeves boy had long hair and things seemed to have changed. I think they did well, perhaps 2nd or 3rd in one of  the fresh races but that was about it. Adrian let me know later that they were who he was really worried about before the series.

The other thing I recall from the Nationals was Razzle Dazzle being sailed with its foot fairly loose. They also had installed leads on the main traveller so that in light weather the mainsheet could be sheeted to windward – which was probably gamesmanship – we had a different contraption not involving a track which couldn’t be pulled to windward. But the loose foot stood out to me and I notice now it seems the norm. I had been adjusting Zattik’s foot out for light wind and in for heavy whereas previously Razzle Dazzle kept it simple with the foot tied off taut. Razzle Dazzle actually kept things very simple including also no tell tales(!!) and the jib sheeting position not readily adjustable – and only in and out not forward and back. Adrian was also instructed that the main is what makes you point (whereas everyone else thought it was the jib) and in a strong wind at least to just cleat the jib on tight on the reach and forget about it. They also often seemed to pull their spinnaker pole around to windward more than other boats and subsequently pulled the sheet on tight. This also seemed contrary to common theory which was to ease sheets for a full sail downwind. Later I reasoned that pulling the pole back meant that in combination with the main the wind was being bent around a tighter curve. Whatever, the Nash boats were renowned for speed and the term Nash Dash was used several times in MJ bulletins.

We won the states at Double Bay but Adrian said this was because he didn’t sail leading up to them. I pointed out we only went out for the crews skipper race but that still counted as a sail. We also had a big patch of tape on the top of the bow from where we’d run into Beacon (a channel marker used as a mark by HHSC (along with a couple of huge ships boys “Compass” and “Ships”)) during that race – I was taking the kite down and blocking Wazza’s view. This may have hurt our resale value after the series as Razzle Dazzle was snapped up for the huge sum of about $900 but we ended up selling on to the Millers for some more reasonable number – I think Wazza may have got a 3rd or so in a nationals at Perth though that may have been in his next boat Kittaz (I recall someone pointing out to me that was Zattik spelt backwards). We won the states via winning the first 3 races and I remember being peeved when it was stated in the next season’s huge states report in that year’s bulletin (somehow for my 2 states victories there was no report!!), when the same thing happened, that surely this was the first time anyone had managed to do that etc.

In the first race of the states we were ahead on the 2nd reach (I think we might have led around every mark of the first 3 heats, Adrian won the final race in the freshest of the 4 nor-easter races – after he’d warmed up in the first three) and cleared further out by riding the lead boat’s wave (a speed boat going slowly!). I only recall once where we made a mistake up the front of a race with regards to mark roundings and it was either Adrian or I at an association race rounding a yacht mooring instead of the mark. Perhaps in earlier years they didn’t always use lead boats for the first triangle because I recall reading several reports where the leading MJ would head off in the wrong direction with a number of others following them. Before I got old enough to compete in the major races I used to really like reading the race reports and particularly the ones that listed the sail number order of the boats at mark roundings as this enabled my imagination.

The next seasons the Shimelds and Dave Ellis got their turn at the top. Since the Kogarah Bay nationals the Shimelds only showed up sporadically (perhaps every state title) as they divided their time between MJs and perhaps Flying Ants. I think they got 3rd in the Double Bay states behind me and Adrian – and perhaps also the year before.

At the time of leaving the class the fibreglass boats had turned out to be a flop but of course it would only be so long before they took over with foam sandwich construction appearing right about then. That last season the Kuhn’s (who started the class in Coffs Harbour I think – the last couple of seasons we visited there for an early season regatta – going away for regattas was great fun) installed flaps in the stern of their boat and caused quite a stir. They had to tape them closed at the regattas and the committee decided not to change the rules to allow them. Out of the blue as far as we were concerned the class for the following season I think introduced bigger standard symmetrical spinnakers. I guess it had been a while since 1400 Transition and this was just one of a number of changes over the years to make things easier and in this case certainly to appeal so as to maintain numbers...but it’s a bit of a shame to have got rid of the assymetrical kite."

Gram Walliker

"My name is the first found on all the original Manly Junior Trophies. My boat was called “Butch” MJ 9.

I was the first junior to sail a Manly Junior, MJ 1 of course. My father and I built my MJ 9 with spotted gum chines in the lounge room of our North Balgowlah home.

With my forward hand Bobby Latter, we won the first Manly Junior Race, the first Club Championship, the first Club Point Score and the first State Championship in 1960 ( held on Lake Wallygoot near Bega) beating “Kay” sailed by Kevin Mitchell and “Miss Julie” sailed by John and Robert Wackett.

Your N.S.W. Teams trophy looks to me, to be the Paul Leahy Trophy. I was chosen by Paul Leahy and Len Dessaix to skipper the first boats tested to become the Manly Graduate Class you know to day. The first model of the Manly Graduate was an MJ with a bowsprit, lee cloths, 100sqft of working sail and a trapeze.

I was the first graduate of the Manly Junior class to sail in the Sydney to Hobart Yacht race. I was forward hand on Lorita Maria in 1964 when she was placed third overall behind Astor and Freyer and also placed second overall on handicap. I was chosen to sail in Australia’s first Admirals Cup team in 1965, but missed the trip because I was too young at 18years old.

I sailed and built boats much of my life and currently I’m the General Manager of Performance Sailcraft Pty Ltd at Ourimbah, the Laser builders in this part of the World. Currently I sit on the International Laser Class World Council and represent our company at the International Laser Class Builder meetings.

Apart from seeing the Manly Junior class still going strongly, one of life great pleasures for me involves catching up with many members of  Manly Junior “First Fleeters”, 47 years down the track."

Gram Walliker, General Manager Performance Sailcraft P/L

Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club

"The Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club was one of the early clubs to adopt the Manly Junior as a training dinghy and established a fairly strong fleet of these boats.

The first state championship for the class was won by an Alfred's sailor John King and the following year's championship was won by Robbie Pritchett.  Today John King is a naval architect working mainly in the Nowra area and Robbie Pritchett works for Jarkan Boatworks also at Nowra.

One of the problems with the early MJs was that the mainsail was laced to the mast and could not be lowered as a safety measure but the rule was changed and a track was attached to the mast and slides added to the mainsail solved this problem.

One of our Past Commodores Jack Pritchett was responsible for the introduction of the class to the club and a Past Commodore built the first two juniors,  one for John King and the other for Rob Pritchett.

The clubs junior sailing section and our sail training programme is one of the forerunners of any club.  Our trump card from this programme no doubtedly is James Spithill who is in the world rankings in the match racing stats."

Jack Gale
Life Member, and Former General Manager, RPAYC

Kingsley Forbes-Smith

"I have fond memories of learning to sail an MJ at Manly in the late 60's. Up to 40 boats in 2 divisions set out from the beach on a Saturday morning. The "lucky" ones stored at Manly Yacht Club were paddled (kicked) over by one person sitting on the bow of the hull while the crew carried around the mast and boom, learning how to not wipe out people walking along the path as you came out the door. I was sad to hear that the original MYC clubhouse was later destroyed in a Southerly blow."