209 Melbourne to Port Fairy Race and Julius Sumner Miller

by John Curnow on 9 Apr 2009 'Why is it so? – I’ll tell you.' If you’re old enough to remember the late physics Professor’s ads for Cadbury Dairy Milk (and his TV show ‘The Lab’), then you’re old enough to have been around when ‘Quasimodo’ set the M2PF race record of 14hours, 26minutes and 20seconds. This equates to a 9.35knot average by the way.

However, it must have been some sight at the finish in 1984. Here you had a 60 footer parked on the bar at the entrance for so long that the boats she had just demolished during the race, went around her on both sides as they entered the Moyne River, while she sat there waiting for a full high tide!

‘Quasimodo’ was campaigned heavily up and down the Eastern Seaboard by her Owner/skipper Gary Graham with Sailing Master John Garner, during that time. She actually held three records back then, with this one the only one still standing… Actually, Gary was so disappointed with the mast during the 1983 S2H that she had a brand new, taller stick fitted just prior to the 1984 M2PF race - sound familiar to any owners out there? Both men are still on the water. Gary has a 52foot cruiser out of Geelong and John had ‘The Bookmaker’ until recently.

So just why is it so then? It certainly was a long time ago and the technology has definitely changed – just look at the kite. She was an IOR boat after all, designed by Terry Inges from WA - LOA 60’, LWL a typically much shorter 49’6', Beam 15’, Draught a fairly shallow 9’2' and a truly amazing VYC Handicap of just 880!!! Interestingly, her waterline is only a few feet longer than this year’s two Line Honours contenders, Paul Buchholz’s DK46 ‘Extasea’ and ‘Ninety Seven’, the Farr47.

Angle and amount of breeze are the answers. According to Gary, they had the breeze off the port quarter for most of the trip and even though she was an IOR period hull, she was lighter than her nearest competitors and simply skipped away. It must have been a fun time indeed. John recalls that there was a strong Norwesterly as well, so there must have been a bit of two-sail reaching in there too.

Going out on a limb here, it would seem that the record is likely to be safe this year, as the forecast doesn’t seem to bode well for an attempt at this sort of prolonged pace.

Sadly, we learn that ‘Quasimodo’ is now up in Gladstone with no mast, no keel and apparently under conversion to a cruiser. In the end though, we have to thank Gary and John for getting this information together and providing us with images etc.

Only recently they had been thinking it was 25 years since these events and it was time to get the crew together. Hope this article helps with that reunion and it is great to see that the mates you make at sea are the strong and important ones!