Larool
Launch Date : 1954
The 30 square metre yacht Larool was built in
Pittwater to a design by Knud Reimers, for Keith Dalton an avid
Sydney sailor with an ambition to show that Australian craftsmanship
could match anything seen in the 30 squares imported from Europe
after WWII. She was built from north coast cedar for lightness and
monel frames for strength. And her mast was deck mounted on monel
bridge that is as elegant as the big one. With her original bending
wooden spar, she could be easily tuned to the full range of wind
conditions that are experienced on Sydney Harbour.
Keith soon put his ambition to the test by challenging the Swedish
built "Teal", which had been imported in 1950, to a series of match
races. What sight that must have been with the two varnished flyers
going head to head with Sydney's two legendary skippers of the day,
Archie Robinson and Bill Solomon's alternating helming the boats in
order to see which one was the true champion. Bill and Archie later
mentioned the outcome " Larool was the overall winner after some
fiercely fought duels in all conditions."
At the time the current owner Tjerk Dusseldorp was a 9 year old boy
learning sailing from his father on the Blue Bird Zeehaen which he
had hand crafted in our front yard over a 2 or 3 year period.
Occasionally he and his father would see Larool fly past Zeehan on
the harbour and he dreamt of one day owning such a boat. That day
came sooner than expected, because Keith fell terminally ill with
cancer, and reluctantly had to part with her, and so began his 50
year love affair with Larool and 30 square metre boat sailing.
Tjerk Dusseldorp has had experiences most only dream of. We are lucky that he has offered to share his memories with us,
"I remember the day we came to sail Larool from
from her mooring at the CYC to Middle Harbour where we then had our
mooring. I remember counting all the sail bags in her shore locker,
ranging from a fully battened cotton mainsail, to any number of jibs
and genoas, and what I was told was the first set of synthetic
dacron sails to have been imported to Sydney. I also remember my
father, on our very first outing, very nearly sideswiping another
moored boat, having forgotten the 3 metres of stern behind the
tiller position!
"Now I'm a 64 year old, and with half a century of memories of
exhilarating racing and sailing friendships, from the time when
there was a fleet of some dozen 30 square metres on Sydney harbour
enjoying great racing as part of the RSYS Division 1, and then,
later, for a short time as our own class where we contested the
"Cock of the Harbour" trophy culminating in an annual championships
over the Easter weekend.
Then for many gentler sailing years we just enjoying the unique
features of this unique design which was launched in Sweden one
hundred years ago with the aim to provide top performance sailing
with cruising comfort all wrapped up in a set of classical lines
that I think look even more beautiful today.
Tjerk (Jack) Dusseldorp.
In 2010 Larool has had time in the Chowder Bay boat shed for restoration work.
Click here to see the restoration photos
Click here to see her historic photos
Below : Current Photos
