On a wet and windy winter’s evening Wednesday 11 June, the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia officially launched its much anticipated book on the history of the club ‘From Ratbags to Respectability’. Over 130 guests enjoyed some of the ‘ratbags’ tales from the early years of the Club’s foundation to the iconic story of Freya who won 3 consecutive Sydney Hobart Yacht Races (on handicapp) from 1963-1965.
The evening was emceed by Gordon Bray, a former member of the CYCA, Channel 7 Sports presenter and Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race Broadcast Host. In order to evoke interest in the book and allow some of the tales to come to light, Gordon conducted an interview style presentation with the author David Colfelt, Trygve Halvorsen, Don Mickleborough and Tony Cable. Each of the panel shared some of their infamous stories of their involvement with the club.
Having been a labour of love for so many years, for the author David Colfelt, this was a night of celebration. “After years of painstaking research, countless interviews and just a few manuscripts, it gives me immense pride to see the book come to fruition in such a high quality publication.”
Trygve Halvorsen enthralled the audience with his wit and his memories of some of the famous yachts he and his family have produced over the years including Saga, Peer Gynt, Solveig, Anitra V, Norla and the most triumphant Freya. When asked how he was managed a hat-trick of three ‘Hobarts’, Trygve responded “A great crew and boat, favourable weather conditions and healthy rations supplied by my lovely wife Noreen. We also had a rule that each crew member, whilst sailing at night, was only allowed one hour up on deck and two hours down below – otherwise their muscles were too week to carry on and they took longer to sleep and recover – thereby reducing the strength of other crew members.”
Upon being invited to the stage Don Mickleborough or ‘Don Two’ as he is nicknamed (because Don Juan is dead!) proclaimed himself to be one of the original ‘Respectable Ratbags’. Don regaled the audience in the stories of ‘Delphine’- the girlfriend – the crew of Ilina found for George ‘Raw meat’ Pearce, the ‘Ondine’ party and other shenanigans of early Hobart years.
Tony Cable, founder of the Quiet Little Drink and member of the archives committee, commented on the question that everyone wanted answered – Why the title of the book? As Tony put it to the audience “We had begun work on the book and it was timely to give it a working title. Over an editorial meeting where a version of the manuscript had been reviewed I suggested the title. As the book took shape the title fitted with how the book is written (and as we’ve seen here tonight) reflective of the culture of the CYCA – So the title stuck!”
Commodore Matt Allen said “This is an important milestone in the club’s history. I encourage all members to purchase a copy of ‘From Ratbags to Respectability’ to share the passion and founding ethos of the Club and continue to contribute to the ever changing history of our Club.
At the close of the evening guests were invited to purchase copies of ‘From Ratbags to Respectability’ and have them signed by the author.
The CYCA would like to thank Gordon Bray for donating his time for the evening and McWilliams for supplying the wines for the evening.
CYCA members can now purchase small quantities of the book from CYCA reception for $49.95 . For members wanting to purchase 3 or more copies orders can be made online through the publisher – Click Here
