Commonwealth II

After reading the History section on the 10footer site link nswtens.weebly.com/commowealth-ii,i thought some comment should be made.
Timber: In addition to the site story is that the cedar for the tuck and rudder were recycled from very old building timber donated. The mast or masts as i forget what rig or if 2 were started. The AHSSA had a good relationship with the ANMM, along with the then separate volunteer Sydney Maritime Museum, that had recently moved from Birkenhead Point to Balmain, where our AHSSA meetings were held, in a board room. Downstairs had many treasures on show including the rebuilt Yendys. The ANMM held a festival that included working with timber (sparmaking) soo lucky visitors were able to see Angry (Bob) in full swing using an adze to shape the hollow spar. The first day in the late afternoon some traditional folks were confused by seeing bits of wood being epoxy glued together into a rough hollow oblong that blocked off almost 30 feet of museum forecourt, with a motley collection of clamps! First step was that the sections had been shamfered to create the hollow, prior to assembly.

Lofting/ Bow: Early AHSSA days were "fun" with many re-living fueds from days past and original reasons unknown. I had seen some amazing pics of 10s & 6footers back in the early 1980s at Conways boatshead, when we got our plastic 28 foot yacht repaired by George Jnr. In the boatshed all the Balmain Dingy Club skiff sail emblems were carved/burnt & or painted along the joists! Sadly when some dubious folks bought this place and onsold to the next door ferry mob all was lost. ( ICAC would have had a field day with that one but as fate had it, being part of the transfer process and a vendor who did not want grief, the culprits got away with their flim flam scam) Another great pic was shown at a meeting by the late Jack Boyd, a black & white pic with a few tens rigged at waters edge.This pic was shown to rub in arguments about full length batterns on sails at that time, so the bow issue was apparently not noted among the shin ding and many beers later, the most striking bit of this pic was the importance of hollow fine bows of these 10s. Sadly Angry & Fergie would not listen to my crys that she had a flared bow not a bluff snub style stem. as the Commomwealth lines plan just had the top view stations & side view stations with a gap from stem to station1,as this basic one page plan would have been considered to be used along with the half model, Fergie naturally was guided by Angry so this replica was built as seen.

The Launch: When we got to Brisbane we were taken to the Wright Bros shed, things were a bit frosty, (that i ignored as most things "histerical" always seemed tired and emotional back then). Mr Wright produced the half model and handed it over to Fergs & Angry them walked off muttering words like abommination (LoLz but not at the time) sure enough a very fine bow with water throwing V sections majestically curving to the gunwhale! Things calmed down the next day and the launch ceremony took place, prior to the State Of Origin series, that was a stand alone event being held in May and supposedly rotated between Sydney & Brissy but unfortunatly the QLD tribe could never afford the time off to do two series in a season (buzzkill peasants!!!!) I was amazed no one was taking any pics, so made a mad dash under the old B18`SSC change room to grab my camera. Being almost the baby of the group (only thirtyish years old) and not knowing many apart from Angry & Fergy,i did not want to impose so took that candid snap just before the glass was poured on the bow, i wish i got closer and also had someone take a pic of Norm Wright Jnr steering a replica of a skiff he had sailed on when he was 8 or so years old as a bailer boy for his Dad many years before.
The lesson is (1) Put your name on any pics given away for due credit) (2) Most importantly take pics, write down stories told by those old or young at events because we are all making history every time we meet or sail! Hard to believe how long ago all this was.

Many thanks for the extra info. I'd love to be able to edit this (leaving out some perhaps contentious pieces) and put it into the Commonwealth II story. Perhaps I can send you a copy for your approval before publishing. Apologies for the time delay.

Pete

No worries Pete i will pm you an email address.

Further memories of the Commonwealth II launch go back to the Metcalf Bonded Store and the last layer of king billy being laid for & aft, and finally an end in sight to bleeding knuckles from staple removal! When splining the heel section Angry started chuckling and muttering, he came up with some short planks. He went on to explain that back in the day it was all about bending those planks via steam and short ones were a sign of failure. So naturally he featured a few shorties in this cold moulded hull on the tricky area.
When the Wright Bros collection of past builders came out of the woodwork to the Bullimba 18s to grab a look at what the crazy Mexicans were up to, one instantly started bagging Angry and his failure to steam the planks properly, "I built four or five of this design and never had a short plank!!" a few beers later he was gutted to find out she was a cold molded hull. Much chortling and those that could and did explained why, to anyone wanting to hear.