• Join
    • Our Membership Options
    • Join the Club
    • Renew your Membership
    • Reciprocal Membership
  • Notice Board
    • Notices and Protests
    • Sailing Documents
    • Racing Programme
    • Entry and Results
  • Calendar
    • Calendar
    • Inshore Racing
    • Offshore Racing
    • Club events
    • Volunteer Rota
  • Sailing
    • Inshore
      • Port Nicholson Regatta
      • Wellington Harbour moorings
    • Offshore
      • Offshore Races
      • Offshore Race Records
      • Crossing Cook Strait
      • PredictWind Tracking
    • Race Management
      • Sailing Documents
      • Notices and Protests
      • Boat Register
  • Social
    • Coming events
      • Social calendar
    • Buy tickets
  • Clean Club
  • About us
    • Rules
      • Club Rules
      • RPNYC flag protocol
    • History
      • Learn about our past
      • Yarns
    • Contact
      • Our Crew
  • Venue Hire
  • Learn to Sail
  • Youth Scheme
Facebook Twitter Instagram
Royal Port Nicholson Yacht Club
Login
  • Join
    • Our Membership Options
    • Join the Club
    • Renew your Membership
    • Reciprocal Membership
  • Notice Board
    • Notices and Protests
    • Sailing Documents
    • Racing Programme
    • Entry and Results
  • Calendar
    • Calendar
    • Inshore Racing
    • Offshore Racing
    • Club events
    • Volunteer Rota
  • Sailing
    • Inshore
      • Port Nicholson Regatta
      • Wellington Harbour moorings
    • Offshore
      • Offshore Races
      • Offshore Race Records
      • Crossing Cook Strait
      • PredictWind Tracking
    • Race Management
      • Sailing Documents
      • Notices and Protests
      • Boat Register
  • Social
    • Coming events
      • Social calendar
    • Buy tickets
  • Clean Club
  • About us
    • Rules
      • Club Rules
      • RPNYC flag protocol
    • History
      • Learn about our past
      • Yarns
    • Contact
      • Our Crew
  • Venue Hire
  • Learn to Sail
  • Youth Scheme
Royal Port Nicholson Yacht Club
Club History

Racing Atalanta in the 1950s

By RM Jollands19 September 2023Updated:20 September 2023No Comments6 Mins Read
Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn Tumblr Email
Towing Atalanta to the start line

My name is Bob Jollands and in 1958 I was working with a friend of Jack Cox, the owner of Atalanta, who, after finding that I was a keen sailor, arranged for me to join Jack’s crew aboard the 40 footer which was moored bow on to the concrete wave screen, secured to four pile moorings, in the boat harbour in front of the Royal Port Nicholson Yacht Club, for the weekly Saturday races.

Atalanta had a Bermudan rig, no safety rails and no motor so when I joined Jack and the crew on the first Saturday aboard her, I learned that we had to manoeuvre her, reversing out of the mooring and raise the sails to sail her out of the marina to join the fleet that included Mata Atua, Queen Charlotte and five other keelers.

The racing was very competitive and we frequently finished first or second with Mata Atua in close company behind or ahead of us.

The spinnaker pole was a solid piece of timber which took two of us to lift into place to set the sail.

The crew consisted of Jack as skipper and three crewmen, including myself, a character who was a newly qualified solicitor and Chris Harris.

There was a ZC1 radio fitted into the cabin to provide communications with the yacht club race tower, which broadcast the communications from Atalanta into the club lounge for club members to follow the race. At one point, Jack asked me to give a commentary on where we were on the harbour and what the placings of the fleet were. So I began by explaining that we were heading north from Evans Bay and that they would see us shortly emerging past Point Jerningham. That was a big mistake, when in fact we were still well south and in Evans Bay. The problem was that I could not see out, so I gave up at that stage and went up on deck to “retire” from being the race commentator.

When the annual “crew race” was held, I was given the honour to helm the boat and with instructions from Jack, it was my first ever win.

Returning to the mooring was a feat of seamanship. Particularly in a strong southerly that required some deft work on the part of the crew, with the timing called by Jack, and involved entering the boat harbour and immediately making a 180 degree turn, drop both jib and main sails to drift along the fairway to the berth which was about half way along the wave screen, turn 90 degrees into the berth and catch the mooring lines off the mooring poles and anchor them to the cleats to ensure that the boat came to a stop before hitting the concrete wave screen.

Occasionally, Jack loaned me to crew for Pat Miller to serve as sheet hand, racing in his X class, where I first learned to use a trapeze and to trim and tack the main sail. Pat, a multiple winner of the Sanders cup, was an amazing skipper who could not swim and I recall one time in a strong southerly when we were reaching from Point Halswell to Point Jerningham with the forward hand and me on trapezes, the bow wave was washing over our legs and then straight into Pat’s eyes, which he kept closed, so the forward hand was calling directions to keep him on course as we planed through the water.

Some other memories from those days include an accident between Queen Charlotte and Ruawaka at the head of Evans Bay when the mast of Ruawaka dipped between the two masts of Queen Charlotte which damaged both boats. Fortunately, no one was badly injured, but we returned to the marina and went aboard the large launch owned by the McAlister’s, that was moored in the marina and went out to help sort out the damage and tow the boats back to the marina.

Atalanta at her mooring. Ruawaka is next door with the broken mast after her accident with Queen Charlotte

Even in those days, mind games came into play in the close racing and one day, as we approached the finish, neck and neck with Mata Atua, who was to windward of us with her main sail hanging over our deck where our solicitor crewman was lying, he called out to Brian Miller, the skipper of Mata Atua, telling him that if he reached up and touched his boom, Mata Atua would be disqualified. Well Brian really lost it and entered into a shouting match with our crewman so with his inattention to sailing his boat, we crept ahead to finish first!

Being the youngest in the crew, it seemed that it was my role to go up the mast when any work was required up there, using a Bosun’s chair, a canvas seat that fitted a man’s buttocks and in that year’s Island Bay race, we were passing Barrett’s Reef on the return leg, heading into a strong northerly, when the main sail split from luff to leach and I was sent up the mast to retrieve the jammed sail head board, which I did, but without any safety line or bosuns’ chair and just hanging on to the stays and walking up the mast which was healing at 30 to 40 degrees! The job was successfully accomplished and we managed to clear the reef under headsail and were finally towed in by another vessel.

I spent the full season sailing on Atalanta and the following season, the crewman that I replaced, decided to return to crew aboard Atalanta and I was out of a job.

The crewman had left previously because he suffered bad seasickness and hoped that he would cope with it. One of the ways they tried to alleviate it was to give him a cup to bail out the bilge, to take his mind off his problem!

The experience was really enjoyable and this was not just the sailing and learning, but the wonderful fellowship amongst the crews, especially at the RPNYC where regular social occasions were organised, one of which was a regular evening of indoor bowling.

Amongst the crews at that time was a wife, Mrs P. Parson who sketched pencil portraits of some of us at the club and I have one of myself that she did in July 1958.

*some of the drawings by Mrs Parson can still be seen at the Clubhouse, and also here

**more information on Atalanta is everywhere, but here is a start

Maintenance of Attie at Evans Bay

Related Posts

Boat racing in a war zone

RPNYC and the Sydney to Hobart race

Nigel Crisp – my neighbour

Comments are closed.

Key links
RPNYC Season Entry and Results

Subscribe to our newsletter

Subscribe to our calendar
Buy RPNYC Swag

We’ve collaborated with Embroidme to offer a range of RPNYC clothing and other cool kit.

Visit the Store

FAQ

Subscribe
Subscribe to our newsletter
Subscribe to our calendar
Upcoming events
May 21
6:00 pm - 9:00 pm

Ghost Diving NZ Info Evening 🐟

Wardroom
May 23
5:00 pm - 10:00 pm Event Series

🍻 Bar open from 5pm

Wardroom
May 24
9:00 am - 2:00 pm

Clyde Quay Clean up by Ghost Diving NZ 🤿

Clyde Quay
May 30
5:00 pm - 10:00 pm Event Series

🍻 Bar open from 5pm

Wardroom
Jun 6
5:00 pm - 10:00 pm Event Series

🍻 Bar open from 5pm

Wardroom
Jun 7
6:00 pm - 11:00 pm

Prizegiving 2024-2025 Season

Wardroom
Jun 13
5:00 pm - 10:00 pm Event Series

🍻 Bar open from 5pm

Wardroom
Jun 14
9:55 am - 3:00 pm Event Series

Winter 2-Handed Series

RPNYC Start Line
View Calendar
Weather and Tides
  • MetService Marine Forecast
  • CentrePort Port Weather
  • Port Marlborough Weather
  • Windfinder
  • Windy
  • Beacon Hill Webcams
  • Tory Channel Webcams
  • Tide Predictions
  • Tidal Stream Predictions - Tory Channel
Copyright © 2017-2022 Royal Port Nicholson Yacht Club

Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.

Subscribe to our calendar
  • iOS / iPhone / iPad
  • Android
  • Outlook
    1. Launch the Settings app on your iPhone or iPad.
    2. Tap Accounts & Passwords.
    3. Under the Accounts section, tap Add Account.
    4. Tap Other.
    5. Under Calendars, tap Add Subscribed Calendar.
    6. Type “https://rpnyc.org.nz/calendarfeed” in the Server field (to paste in a copied link, tap and hold the field and select Paste).
    7. Tap Next.
    8. Use the Description field to give the calendar an easily recognizable name.
    9. Tap Save.

    1. Go to google calendar on the web – http://calendar.google.com
    2. Log in
    3. Click the 3 dots next to add calendar and go to by url
    4. Enter: https://rpnyc.org.nz/calendarfeed
    5. To view on web make sure it is selected to show on the left hand menu.
    6. To view on phone, go to calendar app, then settings and select the Royal Port Nicholson Yacht Club calendar to sync.

    1. Right click on ‘My calendars’ (or any other calendar group) in the calendars view.
    2. Click ‘Add calendar’ and then ‘From internet’
    3. Type “https://rpnyc.org.nz/calendarfeed” into the location box
    4. Click ‘OK’
    5. Click ‘Yes’

Subscribe to our newsletters

Subscribe to our mailing lists

* indicates required




Sign In or Register

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below.

Lost password?