Sabot Australian Championships - Shipway sailing in grandfather’s wake

by Peter Campbell on 14 Dec 2010 Grace Shipway, the grand daughter of the ‘Father of Sabots’, Lionel Shipway, will be among a huge fleet of young sailors competing in the Sabot Australian Championships and Sabot Week at Wynyard, on Tasmania’s north-west coast from 30 December to 4 January.

Grace, like her grandfather Lionel and father Peter Shipway, the wellknown international ocean racing yachtsman, is a member of the Vaucluse Amateur Sailing Club. 'Very modestly,' says her father, 'her boat is called Amazing Grace.'

Wynyard Yacht Club will host the Sabot championship with racing in the Inglis River and on the open waters of Bass Strait with competitors representing most eastern states.

The Sabot is a cat rigged, hard chine pram dinghy (i.e. two blunt ends) 8 ft in length, 3ft 9 in beam & 1 ft 4 in depth amidships, carrying a mainsail of 36 sq ft. It is a very stiff boat, but like all cat rigged craft it is easily put into 'irons' when going about. It is raced two-up by junior sailors and one-up by seniors.

Vaucluse Amateur 12 ft Sailing Club introduced the Sabot dinghy into New South Wales in 1958 and there are now hundreds racing all over Australia.

Sabots had been built on a limited scale in Melbourne two or three years earlier, but Lionel Shipway’s inspiration came from New Zealand when Don Brooke, who came over with the first Interdominion team in 1956, told the club about the successful training boat used in Auckland, the American designed Sabot, and supplied the club with a set-of plans.

Club members made a mould and the first five sabots were built in the clubhouse under the guidance of Rob Stephenson, to the dismay of the fire insurers who were convinced that a fire would, start amongst the wood shavings.

On 5th November 1958 five Sabots: Imp (R. Stephenson), Trio (R. Stephenson Jnr.), Quarto (I. Sparrows), Noddy (P. Shipway) and Comet (R. Marr) sailed the first race, which was won by Noddy.

Noddy’s skipper was Grace’s father Peter Shipway who, like many other youngsters who began their sailing in the class, went on to became a successful sailor in his adult years. He has competed in 31 Sydney Hobart races, including twice aboard winning yachts, as well as representing Australia at the Admiral’s Cup.

Website - www.sabot.au.com