The mystery of the 30sqm yacht Aeolus is still unsolved but her story is being uncovered and the results so far have only caused even more interest in finding this yacht.
Aeolus is first recorded in the racing results of the Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron racing alongside the wonderful 30sqm Bacchante back in 1938.
Her Owner Len Easy passed away some years ago and to date there has been no one who remembers the yacht by that name.
Len Easy loved square metre yachts and I found this article about his holiday experience in the USA.
The next discovery was an amazing find. Photos of Aeolus racing with Bacchante in the 1938 season. Bacchante with sail number 19 would more than likely be the first yacht on the register but Aeolus was more than likely launched in the same year and with the sail number 27.
A stiif breeze for Bacchante as she works her way towards the Sydney Harbour bridge. This photo was taken on the 26th of January 1938
Bacchante being sailed solo by the looks of it. This photo was taken back on the 26th of Febuary 1938. You can see her unusual stow hole built into the front of the cabin top.
Aeolus looks brand new with very nice lines when this photo was taken back on the 29th of October 1938
A magic day on a magic boat.. Just superb.. 19th of November 1938
A cracking shot of Aeolus on Sydney Harbour on the 26th of November 1938. WOW!!
Aeolus in a good breeze on the 25th of Febuary 1939
Bacchante on the same day with considerably less sail and powering along nicely...
To see more of these wonderful pictures of Bacchante visit her gallery.
Aeolus is an amazing looking yacht and she is worth the effort to track down.
Where is she now?
Could she be one of our currently listed yachts?
There are 2 possible candidates.
Skye which sank in Sydney harbour or a yacht called Toothpick which was advertised in Ebay 3 years ago and was located in Windsor. Toothpick was a mess with split planks and collision damage and she was most likely destroyed. Her last owner was trying to track down her history when he owned her but he was unable to discover her origins. Toothpick however was a 22sq and Aeolus was listed as a 30sq which could discount her from the list but form time to time some yachts have had the rig replaced with different mast sizes and sails.
One of the owners of Skye has been contacted and she was said to have been built in Tasmania in the early 1940-50 period but there is nothing to confirm an exact build year.
The last possibility is that she is still out there stored in a shed or hiding up a creek somewhere....
If you have any information that might help in our search we would love to hear from you.
email us at info@asqma.com
Bonjour...A visitor from France
Last month we were contacted by a square metre yacht owner from France.
Hello,
I am French, living in Singapore and working frequently in Sydney where I spend 2 weeks every 6 weeks.
I am owner of a 30 metre square ship in France, a Malar 30 N° 33 design built in 1933 by Eklund.
She was built in Erickson Batbiglieri in Stocholm in 1937 . I bought Bla Safir 6 months before I was relocated to Singapore for work. I started to rebuild it and the hull is now renovated but the yacht will touch water probably in 2 years time when I will be back in France. I have never sailed on a square metre yacht. There is very few sqm yachts in France probably 3 or 4 only , 2 in Britany , mine and a 22m² on the Mediterranean coast.
Remy Jaffres.
Remy sent us these wonderful pictures of his project.
Bla Safir....
Remy had an early Christmas pesent and he was lucky enough to be to offered a spot to crew on the fabulous Fagel Grip. A very memorable experience by his account and he is a changed man with enriched inspiration to see his own yacht completed.
Benchmarks progress continues....
She gets a new coat of paint inside...
Prep work on the hull is done and she is ready for her final coats...
Above decks is prepped and sprayed and she is almost finished...
Next month we see Benchmark hit the water.
Wings progress continues with a new cabin top glued and coated with resin.
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The new boom section is added. The new section was bare aluminum teardrop. It was painted with 2 pack white and modified to take the old fittings.
The final layers of white paint are added to rear cabin walls and hull.
In the bottom of the photo on the tarp are the new seats being painted.