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Forgotten classics

The 21-Footers: a unique Australian sailing class

WHY DO SOME ONE-DESIGN YACHTS ENDURE while others wither into obscurity? Why does the Dragon still prosper after 82 years while – if they survive at all – the Bluebird (1947) and Thunderbird (1958) seem to serve mainly as mooring minders? The answer is probably a combination of factors – performance, aesthetic appeal, durability, patronage, competitive fleets and resale value – but there’s no doubt particular designs find that ‘sweet spot’ and enjoy extended popularity. Others rise and fall within a few decades, for reasons that can be difficult to fathom. This splendidly detailed new book contains some clues to this mystery, tracing all the influences that determined the initial success and then slow decline of a uniquely Australian class. The prototype of the class, Idler, was built in Melbourne in 1909 to a design by Charles Peel. It was 24 feet long, 21 feet on the waterline, with a beam of 8 feet and 2 foot 3 inch draught. Sail area on a lug, gaff or gunter rig was around 450 square feet with a small bowsprit. The maximum drop of the plate keel was 3 foot 6 inches and it sailed with a crew of six. Idler was quick, and within a few years its rough dimensions became the basis of the 21-foot restricted class rule.

The outbreak of World War I halted further development, but in the early 1920s racing resumed with gusto in Port Phillip Bay. The class then spread to Sydney, with the sail area of the Sydney boats reduced by 25 square feet in response to the sudden gusts on Port Jackson.

The era from the mid-1920s to the beginning of World War II in 1939 was the heyday of the 21-Footers

Australia’s 21-Footers were built in every state. Image courtesy Nicole Mays Little Boats with Sails: The History of Australia’s 21 Foot Restricted Class

By Nicole Mays, Colin Grazules and David Payne, published by Navarine Publishing, Hobart, 2021. Hardcover, 244 pages, illustrations, index. ISBN 9780-6487252-3-7 RRP $55.00

Australia in those days had been a federated nation for less than a generation. Interstate rivalry between the old colonies was still fierce, especially in sport. New South Wales and Victorian sailors were itching for a contest and the 21-Footers emerged as an obvious candidate. All that was needed now was some heavyweight patronage and the traditional prize of a challenge cup. By happy coincidence, the new Governor-General of the Commonwealth, Lord Forster, was a keen sailor. He had arrived in mid-October 1920 and by December had ordered himself a new boat, Corella, to be built to the class rule. In 1922 he donated a trophy for the inaugural interstate series, the Forster Cup. With the prestige of vice-regal involvement, the 21-Footers boomed. Tasmania joined the fray and their well-designed and expertly built boats began to dominate. Examples of the class were also built in South Australia, Queensland and Western Australia. Held in a different state each year, the annual Forster Cup series enjoyed prominent press coverage. The mid-1920s to the beginning of World War II in 1939 was the heyday of the 21-Footers. Little Boats With Sails records the boats and sailors of that golden period in impressive detail. The co-authors have unearthed a wealth of newspaper and photographic sources to document just about every 21-Footer ever built, every skipper, every builder and every race ever sailed. It is an engaging account, rich in controversy and tales of yachting derring-do. There are generous tributes to the tough old sailors who competed ‘for keeps’ and the talented builders and designers who kept seeking to squeeze that extra half knot of boat-speed from the rule’s dimensions.

The Forster Cup was last sailed in 1955. By then the class was in terminal decline, with many states not sending a representative. So why did the once dominant 21-Footers dwindle to just a few boats still sailing at Goolwa in South Australia?

One answer is that with Melbourne to host the Olympics in 1956, all attention had shifted to the Olympic sailing classes. Another reason is that the design was a difficult size – too big and heavy to be trailed comfortably, and neither an all-out modern racer nor a workable cruiser. More modern boats and construction methods had made the 21-Footer an awkward antique. But the historic arc of these boats is a wonderful story, well told in this book by a clearly enthusiastic trio of authors.

This is an edited version of a review first published in Afloat magazine, April 2021.

Reviewer David Salter is an independent journalist, author and television producer and an experienced offshore racing sailor.