Two renowned NSW yachtsmen and Sydney Hobart Yacht Race winning skippers in the 1950s and 1960s, Graham Newland and Alby Burgin, have set sail for the final time.
Newland, renowned for his contribution to Australian and international yachting, died last Saturday, aged 85. He skippered the Lion class yacht Siandra to two Sydney Hobart handicap wins, in 1958 and 1960.
Burgin, who skippered his yacht Alstar in the 1999 Rolex Sydney Hobart at the age of 84, also died over the weekend, aged 92. He and co-owner Geoff Rundle won the Sydney Hobart with Rival in 1961.
In addition to winning the Sydney Hobart twice, Newland played a significant role in Australia’s major international wins in the 1967 Admiral’s Cup in England and the 1971 One Ton Cup in New Zealand.
He sailed as a watch captain on Gordon Ingate’s Caprice of Huon in Australia’s first challenge for the Admiral’s Cup in Cowes in 1965.
In 1967, he had the same role with the boat chartered by Gordon Reynolds. The Australian team of Caprice of Huon, Balandra and Mercedes III scored a major upset by winning the Admiral’s Cup that year.
For the 1971 One Ton Cup in Auckland, the then prestigious level rule, Newland persuaded Sydney yachtsman Syd Fischer to charter the Sparkman & Stephens-designed Stormy Petrel.
Newland, an engineer and ‘yacht doctor’, suggested that her ballast and rig be increased, with new sails designed by Hugh Treharne for New Zealand conditions. The result was a great victory for Australia over the Kiwis, and against entrants from Germany, Hong Kong, Britain, Sweden, Switzerland and Canada.
In 1977, Newland joined his 1965 Admiral’s Cup challenge skipper Gordon Ingate in campaigning Gretel II for her second tilt at the America’s Cup at Newport , Rhode Island. His wife Lurl also played a significant role, as the ‘House Mother’ for the RSYS crew at Newport.
Newland was tactician and starting helmsman in the “Dad’s Army” campaign that went down fighting for the right to challenge the Americans.
Burgin sailed in 32 Sydney Hobarts, his first aboard Defiance in 1955, his last in 1999 skippering his own yacht Alstar, the yacht in which he had circumnavigated Australia and sailed to Noumea double-handed.
He also took line honours with Boomerang of Belmont in the 1976 Sydney Suva Race, having survived Cyclone Emily during the 1972 Brisbane Gladstone Race.
During the 307 nautical mile race, Rival, an 11.6m sloop was rolled right over by a tremendous beam sea and dismasted.
Burgin, who was on the helm, found himself in the water well clear of the yacht when she righted herself, mastless.
He was still wearing his safety harness, but the cleat to which his lifeline was attached had broken. Burgin swam back to the wallowing yacht, and as he was struggling aboard, the crew comedian yelled out to him, “What kept you?”
A funeral service for Graham Newland will be held at St Stephen’s Anglican Church, cnr Mowbray Road and Sydney Street, Willoughby, at 1pm on Thursday, 27 November. Following the service, family and friends will gather at 2.30 at the Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron, where Graham had been a member for 47 years.
Alby Burgin had been a long time member of the Lake Macquarie Yacht Club and the club will advise members and friends of the funeral arrangements in the next day or two. – Peter Campbell
