The Joe Adams designed 10m debuted in the mid 70s and quickly gained a foothold at Middle Harbour in the inshore divisions.
Originally built by Paul Kelly and then a few others including Dave Dillon, the A10 is the perfect harbour racer I think. You can race fully crewed with either 6 or 7 or shorthanded with as few as two, which I did over several decades.
A couple of the early owners were the Partridge brothers John and Kerry who owned Pear Tree and The Bird and I did a few races with them before settling down sailing with Pat Carroll [father of Matt, CEO of Australian Sailing/formerly Yachting Australia] on his original cabin top version , The Carpenter. A couple of crew back then in the early 80s included Nigel Holman before he bought the original Cuckoos Nest and Tim Gallego who still comes back each year from England to get his A10 fix.
Pat then upgraded the cabin top 10 to the last of the Timber seaters that Paul Kelly built. This boat went on to become Rock Solid/Dukes/Skinny Flat White. We had some great years sailing this boat on Wednesday’s with his brother Bill and Dave Hannon, father of sailmaker Tony. Another Saturday regular was Ian Sutherland who shares an ironic co-incidence with Robyn and I. Ian and his wife share the same birthdays as Robyn and I!
The 10s have for many years alternated the championships between Lake Macquarie Yacht Club and Middle Harbour Yacht Club, the two strongholds with the odd change to Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club at Pittwater and Gosford Sailing Club. These trips were mandatory offshore and there were plenty of easy and plenty of on the nose, not fun on an inshore racing boat with internal leads. Nowhere to go below to have a rest, without wet weather gear on.
The majority of these were of course done shorthanded either two or three up, great when it’s nice, wet on the nose and boring as all hell when you motor all the way. Those trips, you would sail a bit, motor a bit etc with the 6hp outboard ringing in your ear on the stern. I can’t remember who [The Doc?], but someone once borrowed a larger 8hp and thrashed us all motoring home, then there were the Pittwater guys who towed theirs up behind a large cruiser. The heydays were back in the 80s and early 90’s with up to 30 boats on the line, great racing amongst plenty of recognised champion sailors.
On a couple of occasions the girls joined me at the lake as we’d taken either one of Dibs’ boats or my fathers’ Thystle as accommodation. Mel had her first dinghy up there at the age of 5 or 6 sailing around the moorings, very much a family atmosphere around the regatta. She too grew up sailing with Pat Carroll, who would give her the helm to bring the boat in and out of the marina early on.
The White family had stopped racing offshore and decided to enter the A10 fleet with Salamander111 in partnership with Chris Watt, another of the Salamander11 crew. After a couple of seasons, it was noted that Extender was on the market and so a return to a timber seater 10 was made. Extender was renamed SSV after their family business, more on that boat later.
I had returned to sailing once again with Pat and he jumped at the chance to grab Cold Comfort from Tony Hill and she became The Carpenter111. The Carpenter11 initially became Dukes and then Rock Solid with a bunch of skiffies on board. I sailed with Pat Carroll on his three Adams 10s on and off for about 20 years, never quite in the placings but on our day ruffled a few feathers. It was however enjoyable sailing as Pat was ever the gentleman both on and off the water. There were a lot of Wednesdays, two handed and even a few night races usually sailed 4 or 5 up and more than a few beers during and of course how many trips to Lake Macquarie and back.
It was around 2000 that I returned to sailing with the Whites, Steve and Greg on SSV and along with Melissa, we were the core crew. We did all the usual A10 stuff, every other year up to the lake etc, competition was fierce as SSV was pretty competitive despite being one of the older timber seaters. After just missing out winning on the lake in 2001 we finally won one in 2002 and with a race to spare. It was perfect conditions for SSV, light with a few shifts. In one race we were OCS at the start but at the top mark, back in the race, somehow it all clicked that year in the championship.
At the end of that season, Mel made the call and decided to put her money in to a boat. She debated on old 1/2tonners and Adams10s of course. We looked at several boats but given our experience in the class, none stood up. One day at the club, I was talking to Ken White about not finding a suitable boat and he said ‘make me an offer’. He’d been thinking for a while about another cruising boat, talk about timing. So Extender/SSV became Animus and Mel at 22 was the youngest and only female skipper at MHYC. I stayed on the main, where I’d spent the greater majority of my time in the class and in the first season with Mel on the helm, she managed to equal Ben Nossiter for Gun Boat Trophy, number of guns at the club something few had achieved over the years when Ben dominated. Despite Ben not winning the championships. We’d beaten him to that!
Brigitta was a new boat and crew to the club and I offered to sail with Martin Chalk one winter in order to help them out and bring them up to speed. With many changes to the layout and by bringing them closer to the fleet, these guys had a lot of fun in the early noughties. With the invention of the HCW 24hr race around the lake I ‘borrowed’ Brigitta for the event and yet another overnight trip to the lake. With a pulled together crew, only one of whom had seen an A10 before, we won line honours even after a short period aground at Warners Bay. Mel sailed Animus with an all-female crew and it was around midnight that we finally caught them. I was below and when I poked my head up, ‘who’s that?’ , looking at the navigation lights nearby. ‘Animus’, finally after some 10 hours we’d caught up to them.
The following year, I ‘loaned’ Brigitta to Blake Middleton and Tom Freeman whilst I jumped back on board Animus with Mel. Blake had flown out the previous year for the HCW from Wayzata USA and Tom was Mel’s longest serving crew having also sailed with her on the Flying 11. The four of us sailed the two boats up to the lake for the second edition in a lovely easterly. Blake and I sailed both boats back during the following week in a couple of sweet NorEasters, great when that happens. Animus had a good tussle with Chris Williams and his T7 crew and they finally got away in the last couple of hours, but only just. Blake and I went on to run the next few editions of the HCW as the Race Officers.
Over the decades of sailing Adams 10s at Middle Harbour, there’s only a couple that I haven’t sailed on, three I think! They are a great class for around the harbour and have the ability to do coastal trips as well. One trip north was Mel, myself and Damo Bassett, Mel’s forward hand on Animus. We’d motor sailed overnight in company with Ben Nossiter on Sirius and at sunrise we were a little surprised at how big the southerly swell was when we went to set the kite!
One trip back was just Damo and I. We had a nice Northerly to Cape Three Points at the northern entrance to Broken Bay, before the forecast westerly hit and hit it did. Hot and windy, necessitating dropping the main and continuing under #3 headsail, the smallest aboard. The heat dried the salt spray on our clothing too. One of the harder trips offshore in the 10, but back in one piece. The majority were deliveries in optimum conditions, either downwind or reaching. Several were just motoring with the 6hp on the back ringing in your ear.
In the 10+ years I’ve been a National Race Officer I’ve run racing for the class, I’ve always enjoyed watching the racing. Especially the bottom/gate roundings and the various spinnaker drops. Needless to say I have a large portfolio of evidence in mark rounding stuff ups. Next up for the Adams 10s, I’ll be again running their National Titles at Lake Macquarie Yacht Club in January 2017. - Phil Yeomans
