Historic Eun-na-mara at Hamilton Island

by Corrie Gardner on 22 Aug 2005 Well-known Brighton sailor, Nick Chapman, has come up to Hamilton Island to get away from the Melbourne winter and compete in the Hamilton Island Hahn Premium Race regatta IRC Class in his majestic old yacht, Eun-na-mara.

Nick and his wife Fiona bought the yacht in Western Australia and trucked it back to Melbourne in 1997. Originally launched in 1907 in the British Isles, it has a wonderful history of racing and was the first NSW Challenger to beat Sayonara in 1910 in the Inter Colonial Challenge.

It came to Melbourne in 1913 and sailed out of Royal Brighton Yacht Club with the sail number B1 until mid 1920s. It then went to Royal Melbourne Yacht Squadron and was a premier yacht in the Bay until it moved to Geelong in the early 1950s. When Nick found her she had fallen into disrepair and he lovingly restored the yacht re-rigging, re-fitting and strengthening it. There is a model of the yacht in the Pollywoodside Maritime Museum in Melbourne and she is mentioned in most Australian maritime history books. Today she again sails under the B1 number at Brighton Yacht Club.

Despite her age and competition from far younger and more sophisticated yachts, Eun-na-mara won the Australian Championship at Hamilton Island in 2001. Trucked up from Brighton this year to compete for the second time, Eun-na-mara is sponsored by Lend Lease, the developers of the Victoria Harbour at Docklands and Chapman says he is 'pleased to have his beautiful old yacht associated with such a new prestigious development'.

Chapman is confident that with the handicap system they have a great chance of winning again. With a couple of windward races coming up in the next few days they are expecting some good results. Nick says, “she is a hard boat to sail, very heavy and loaded up but we have an extremely competent crew and have won about 15 Australian Championships between us”.

The relatively young crew of 8 all sail out of Royal Brighton Yacht Club and some even go back as far as school days at Brighton Grammar. 'We have a wonderful time at this regatta as it is so professionally organized and we have a great time on and off the boat. The quality of the boats and the opposition and the range of attractions means it is a great package deal for everyone – all very enjoyable'.

Brighton Yacht Club has a wonderful history and it is fantastic that another generation of Brighton sailors are restoring and racing these historic yachts in some of the great racing regattas in Australia.