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Mark Foy Australian Challenge Sailing Cup flyer

Datec 1930

Object numberANMS0204[001]

NameFlyer

MediumInk on paper

DimensionsOverall: 341 x 217 mm

ClassificationsEphemera

Credit LineANMM Collection Gift from Mary Shaw

Terms

DescriptionThis flyer contains information on the Mark Foy Australian Challenge Sailing Cup. It includes photographs of the new Mark Foy Cup, the earlier Mark Foy Cup won by H C PRESS II, and 18-footers racing, as well as the cup rules and regulations.History"Who cares who wins when no-one knows? And the kernel of this sport is always wasted, not only to the spectators but to the competitor... who cares what the boats are doing when they sail out of sight?" In 1895, entrepreneur and founding Commodore of the Sydney Flying Squadron Mark Foy (1865-1950) wrote this about the manoeuvres of the big yachts in regattas. He preferred the potential of Sydney's smaller open boats. Open boats, or skiffs, were beamy boats with huge sails - and large crews of waterfront workers for ballast. Based on workboats from six to 24 feet (1.8 - 7.3m) long they were a spectacle on Sydney Harbour. Skiff racing was a tough working-man’s sport. Foy introduced rules to make the sport more lively - coloured emblems for the sails, a short triangular course with handicapped stat, large prize money and spectator ferries with punters following the races. By the 1920s the open boats were standardised as 18-footers and were racing in Western Australia and Queensland. In 1935 Mark Foy inaugurated his second Australia Challenge Cup, to offset a challenge from a new Sydney club, the NSW 18-footer Sailing League. Foy's objective "in making available the new Mark Foy Australian Challenge Cup was to attract clubs from other States and bring the era of international competitions closer still." (The Sydney Morning Herald, Thursday 21 November 1935, p 16). SignificanceThis flyer relates to the Mark Foy Australian Challenge Sailing Cup, and highlights the contributions of Mark Foy - the founding Commodore of the Sydney Flying Squadron - to the sport of sailing in Australia.