History

The information within the History section was taken from the book “Vigilant and Victorious” written by Sean Brawley. References to the origin of the information contained can be found in this book.

While the war years retarded the development of the surf life saving movement in Australia there were still a number of significant developments. One major development was the wholesale adoption of the surfboat as rescue and competition craft. At the forefront of such developments was the Warringah Shire Council which decided to equip its surf clubs with boats following an incident at Dee Why on 22 February 1914. The Dee Why club had only been in existence for a short time when during the Sunday patrol the sandbank collapsed washing two people quickly out to sea. A Beltman gave chase, having several lengths of line added to the reel during the pursuit, but with the beach heavily seaweeded and so much line paid out, it became too heavy for the beltman to pull, forcing him to return to shore. With the swimmers now well off Long Reef a visiting lifesaver suggested that a row boat be used. A leaky row boat and some oars were procured. The visiting lifesaver, H.Duckworth, rowed the boat while the club’s chief instructor Jack Taylor bailed and they eventually rescued the swimmers. Having seen the usefulness of the boat in the rescue the Council ordered surf boats for its surf clubs.

The Collaroy club had also learnt from the rescue at Dee Why and Lionel Sheldon built the club its own boat made from canvas stretched over a wooden frame. This Canvas boat although not an ideal piece of rescue equipment gave Collaroy’s first sweep Les ‘Snowy’ Lee valuable practice time before the Council provided boat finally arrived. Made by W.L Holmes of McMahon Point its dimensions were 18 feet long with a beam of five feet, six inches. The new boat cost £36 and was named the ‘Collaroy’.

INSERT PIC OF COLLAROYS FIRST BOAT HERE (Page 33)

The 1927/28 season saw the delivery of Collaroy’s fourth surf boat, donated by Tooths and Co. and named KB. The boat was delivered directly to a carnival at Bondi where a short christening ceremony took place. The christening was performed by an actress claiming to be Miss Jessica Harcourt, a fictional character whose stories of adventure appeared each week in the Sunday News. Rather than normal champagne the boat was christened with a bottle of KB larger. The KB was of a new design, only the third four seater in the movement after Manly’s Sawfish (which first saw competition at Collaroy on Boxing Day 1926) and North Steyne’s Blue Bottle. The boat was much lighter than conventional boats of the period and more manoeuvrable.

The honour of sweeping the new boat in the carnival was given to Ralph Chequer. 

INSERT PIC OF THE CHRISTENING OF KB HERE (Page 72)

For many years the KB remained the sole boat at Collaroy, the club had been putting aside any spare cash for the purchase of a boat to replace the aging KB. At the start of each season the club surf boat would be sunk so that the boards, which had dried out and shrunk over the winter, would expand with moisture thus filling the gaps between them. In the earlier days of the club, boats had been lovingly taken to Narrabeen Lakes and gently submerged. By the mid 1930s the KB was simply rowed out into the surf at high tide where the crew would throw their oars over the side before tipping it to one side and sinking it. Secured by a line to the shore, the crew would wait for low tide before pulling the boat into a position from which the remaining water could be emptied. Many members by the mid 1930s hoped that the boat would not survive such an ordeal any longer, thereby forcing the Council to contribute to the purchase of a new one.

By the 1934/35 season, however, the situation was untenable. The KB had to be replaced . With not enough money for a new boat the Club turned its attention to the second hand market. Soon after, word was received that the Bondi club had a surf boat for sale at a bargain price. It was quickly snapped up. On getting the boat back to Collaroy, however, it was soon realised that it was not such a great bargain and ‘Quite a few will have to be spent to make this boat anything like the bargain we anticipated” The old decrepit KB remained Collaroy’s first boat.

The club now went all out to raise the £105 needed for a new boat and oars. A gauge showing the Club’s progress towards the cost price was installed in Club secretary Bill Hardy’s barber shop. By early 1939 the money had been raised and a contract for a new boat was lodged with George Solomon of Newport, whose family was well known in Collaroy. One quarter of the money had come from the famous biscuit family Arnott’s after a child of the family was rescued on the beach. In December 1939 the club received its first new surf boat since 1927. Christened on the beach by Bon Abbott the boat was named Miss Collaroy.

INSERT PIC OF 1946 JUNIOR CREW WITH MISS COLLAROY (Page 149)

Miss Collaroy would again be a long serving boat for Collaroy and eventually a very successful one.

The lead up to the Australian titles for in 1946 was not the best for the Collaroy boat. At a carnival the weekend before the championships it had been damaged in a collision, hampering the crew’s preparation as Dick Cullen hastily repaired it. On the Friday night before the titles the crew met at Hall’s home to plan the course of attack. Early the next morning they gave the boat the once over before it was loaded onto one of the Abbott’s trucks for the trip across town. At the club house the crew noted the big swell pounding the beach and wondered what the surf held at Maroubra.

Upon reaching Maroubra in the back of the truck the crew were somewhat startled by the size of the swell. Dick Twight just stood by the water’s edge, looking out into the swell, attempting to gauge its mood and character.

Twight was to sweep both the junior and senior crews that day. The junior races were held before the start of the senior heats and in this competition Collaroy made it to the semi finals. With the tide having just passed dead low, the swell was enourmous as large dumping waves pounded the sand bar. There were murmurs amongst race officials about cancelling the race but it was decided to continue. On the way to the bouys Twight found himself committed to punching through a large wave which had reared up over the bar. The boat went up the face but rather than punching through the top of the breaking wave it back flipped 180 degrees – finishing upturned with the bow facing back to beach