Page 87 - Mark Chews Forty Two Australian Wooden Sailing Boats Sept 17 2020

WINDWARD II: built in Tasmania and now calls Port Phillip home. By 2008 it was racing again, under cutter rig, and once more WINDWARD II started
to gather trophies in the Victorian Classic Yacht Fleet.
And for $220,000AUD she could be yours!
Designed by Englishman Norman E Dallimore, the carvel planked hull was built in
Hobart at Coverdale's Battery Point yard and launched early in 1930 for Edwin
Webster, a towering figure in Hobart yachting over many decades from 1900. It was
rigged as a staysail schooner, the first time this American style of rig was employed
on a vessel built in Australia.
A report of its launching in February 1930 Australian Motor Boat and Yachting, notes
that 'It would be difficult to conceive a more handsome looking craft than
WINDWARD and she is finished in a manner that would do justice to any palatial
liner. The topsides are painted a shamrock green, while the underbody is a lighter
green.”
Webster only owned WINDWARD for a short period. In 1931 it was sold to James
March Hardie and sailed north to Sydney and his club the Royal Sydney Yacht
Squadron. WINDWARD now became WINDWARD II because a yacht with the name
WINDWARD was already sailing on Sydney Harbour.
Hardie had used his previous yacht MORNA primarily for cruising but with the
purchase of WINDWARD II he was able to compete seriously in the RSYS racing
program. WINDWARD II quickly made a name in the following season, winning the
1932-33 Fairfax Cup. It went on to win the Fairfax Cup four years in a row. She won
the Gascoigne Cup in 1933-34 and the Revonah Cup in 1936-37. In 1935 a youthful
Lou d'Alpuget joined the crew and remained aboard for sixteen years. D'Alpuget
gained enough experience aboard WINDWARD II to become a confident sailor and
yachting journalist, and the dominant writer on the subject up to the 1990s.

After World War II, WINDWARD II and the yachts THETIS, NORN and MORNA
re-started racing on Sydney Harbour. Despite its age and the competition of new
yachts, she dominated the 1948-49.

WINDWARD II was changed to a single mast cutter rig in the 1960s. After Hardie's
death the yacht was sold and changed hands four times until the current owner
bought the vessel from its Brisbane-based owner and sailed it down to Melbourne.
It was in excellent structural condition and only required refinishing to be restored.
After a racing accident in 2006 WINDWARD II was given a major overhaul under the
supervision of Dan Atkins at the Wooden Boat Centre in Melbourne's Docklands.

CYAA Magazine Issue 43 September 2020 Page 87