Page 63 - Mark Chews Forty Two Australian Wooden Sailing Boats Sept 17 2020

I saw her on the slip at Gonsalves boat shed a few months ago and she seems such
an unassuming little boat ..but what a record! It’s hard to go past a wooden Sydney
Hobart Winner! (1951) especially as she set a race record which stood for 11 years.
She is one of the earliest example of a yacht that was purpose-built for the event.

STRUEN MARIE was built by Les Steel at his Speers Point boatyard on Lake
Macquarie, NSW in 1950. Steel based the design on a plan by English naval architect
Robert Clark. He adjusted the shape to fit the 35ft maximum length allowed for
yachts racing with the Sydney Amateur Sailing Club (SASC). The first owner was
Tom Williamson, a chemist, whose wife was named Sheila. The yacht was named
after their daughter STRUEN MARIE and later in its life, the third owner was his son
Michael Williamson and his wife Casandra Firman.
The 10.67m wooden yacht is carvel planked in full length Huon pine on laminated
spotted gum frames, supported by grown timbers for floors, stem and knees. This
sturdy construction is a mark of the high quality skills typical of Les and Barry Steel's
boatbuilding. In its first year of sailing STRUEN MARIE won most of the major races
it entered and continued to have a fine career racing offshore and on Sydney
Harbour for a number of years. Included in its trophy list is the Kelly Cup from the
SASC, which dates from 1893 and is one of the oldest remaining yachting trophies
in Australia. Now as a classic yacht, STRUEN MARIE has won many classic yacht
regattas in Sydney and Queensland. The Mercury December 31 1951 carried the
following report.

"The crew of STRUEN MARIE thought their inability to take off the yacht's spinnaker
off the south-east coast of Tasmania on Saturday night would put them out of the
race. In a hard blow the skipper (D. A. Williamson) was forced to head seaward
before the wind while the crew worked to get the big running sail down. STRUEN
MARIE moving fast through the water, was taken miles off course.

A weather change, which gave STRUEN MARIE a big advantage over the rest of the
fleet, allowed her to improve her position from fifth to third. Williamson said that
at times in her run off course STRUEN MARIE was moving faster through and at
times "over" the water than was considered possible by a craft of her size. She
finished only 16 minutes behind LASS O'LUSS, which crossed the line 43 minutes
after MARGARET RINTOUL."

CYAA Magazine Issue 43 September 2020 Page 63