In 1957 I was lucky enough to be selected to do my 5 months of National Service (NS) in the Navy at H.M.A.S.Cerberus at Flinders Naval Depot, Westernport Bay, Vic. This was before the balloting system was introduced and we were placed in either Navy, Army or Air Force by chance.

I had just finished sailing the Stonehaven Cup (12 foot Cadet Dinghies) series in South Australia trying to defend the title (unsuccessfully, coming 2nd) which Fred Neill, Leo Dunstall and I had won the previous year in Tasmania, when I had to pack my bags and head off to "do my duty" in about mid January. The cadet dinghy (NocToo) we were sailing in that series, and in the previous year in Tasmania, had been built specially for Fred by Jim Hardy. In his back yard!

That was the end of sailing "Cadets" as the age limit was 18 years and I had my 19th during NS.

National Service was a "real life" experience which I enjoyed. Many did not!!? It certainly made most of us "grow up" much more quickly that we may otherwise have done!

Whilst doing NS I received a letter from my brother informing me that Jim Hardy had asked if I would consider sailing with him in his Heavyweight Sharpie during the next season, which included the 1957/58 Australian Championship Series to be held in Brisbane.
As you might imagine, I could not get my reply in the affirmative back to Jim quickly enough.

My NS was completed in June 1957 and I was soon assisting Jim in his task of preparing his Sharpie for that series.
The yacht which he was working on was the boat which he had built and sailed in the trials for the 1956 Olympics in Melbourne. He was placed second to Rolly Tasker from Western Australia who went on to win a silver medal with his crew Malcolm Scott.(Only 2 crew!!)
Not being a very technical person, my contribution was very menial, and consisted of me riding my pushbike from Glenelg to Seacliff (about 6Kms) on weekends, and some evenings to remove fittings that were only required for Olympic racing and replacing many with items which Jim had made himself. One item that I seem to remember was a thing called a "tabernacle" which I guess was a "mast step" and that was not in the Aussie rules. Many replacement and complete new fittings were made in the "Tintara" wine cellars workshops in Adelaide to which I accompanied him on many occasions.

When the refurbished "Tintara" was finished we entered the elimination heats to choose the team to go to Brisbane and we were able to secure first place. By this time my brother,Bruce, was mainsheet hand. Anne,(Jim's wife) Jim, Bruce and I drove to Brisbane, with suits of cotton sails, in Jim's VW "pregnant pasty".

The series was sailed at Sandgate and we finished second to John Cuneo.

The weather was pretty heavy going and we capsized in one heat, not pleasant as our "uniform" was white overalls and the water was full of jellyfish. Not fun to swim with! We had a great time and were treated royally by the locals, particularly Greg Cavill.

After the series in Brisbane and we got the boat back home, Jim and I continued the rest of the season with a new crew, Ian Gray, as mainsheet hand. Ian was a new member of the Brighton & Seacliff Yacht club. With the new crew we finished out the season winning the State Championship.

During the winter a number of adjustments were made to the rigging etc, because Jim was always coming up with "go fasters" which involved "twitching" things (his words in quotation marks, and in fact, at a later date, he called his 505 "Twitch" in which I also sailed !).

Come the next series, Tintara was again number one representative for our State for the series in Perth. South Australia had quite a large number of crews who made the trip to Perth including Tattler - Bob Lanyon, Kestrel - Chippy Barclay, George Ross - Lloyd Sugars and Windseeker - Fred Neill.

The conditions for the series were quite a change from the previous year, with quite a few changes in wind conditions generally, and during the course of individual heats. I can quite vividly remember during one heat, when approaching the wing mark on a full run and needing to gybe on to a shyer run to the next mark, I suggested (a very rare occasion!) to Jim that I reckoned that we could comfortably carry the full kite to the next mark cutting out the need to change to the shy kite. He agreed with me and it worked! I know that it did, but I can't remember exactly to what extent? There was also one occasion when Cuneo was lying way back in the field in light conditions, when the "Freemantle Doctor" came roaring up behind the fleet carrying Cuneo with it into first place for the heat.
It reminded me of the last heat of the Stonehaven Cup in Tasmania in 1956 when I was sailing with Fred Neill in Noctoo, the same thing happened to us catapulting from way back to first place, giving us the title.
Cuneo also had bad luck because in the 3rd heat, I think, his gaff gave-way and he had to retire. The over-all end result was a win to us with Cuneo second and Tattler in third place. Jim's first Australian championship win.
The series was memorable also for some fun times on shore, some of which were frowned upon by the locals. I think Royal Freshwater Bay Yacht Club and another club which was situated right in the Perth CBD (can't remember it's name?), will remember the series well!!!!

This season (1959/60) once again saw us, that is Jim Hardy, Ian Gray and myself, being number one representative for the State for the Australian Heavyweight Sharpie Championships which was held in conjunction with the Australian Lightweight Sharpie Association Championship for the first time.
Both series were run on the Olympic Points score system.

The series commenced on Saturday 26th December 1959 with the customary sail measuring and official welcome to visitors.
The series ended on January 9th with prize night held at the Brighton & Seacliff Yacht Club.

The series was sailed in the usual Adelaide changeable winds and weather, mainly heavy weather after the first heat's light weather. Tintara and Daring(Cuneo) were in the top places in most races, so it came down to the last heat to determine the winner of the title, which I am sure was the final title ever of the Australian Heavyweight Sharpies.

The final race was sailed in very strong South Westerly winds of approximately 30 miles per hour and Daring and Tintara were battling it out for the race and the title, in front of the fleet, until the last full spinnaker run across from the Westerly mark to the Northerly mark before the final beat back to the finish, a distance of about one kilometre.
Both of us were overlaying the mark by quite a long way, with Cuneo in the lead. A decision was made by us to drop the full kite and either make way up to windward under jib, or possibly to try putting up the shy kite. This manoeuvre we hoped would enable us to lay the mark better and thereby catch up to Daring by shortening our course and would possibly be faster than keeping going with the full kite.
Unfortunately, the idea came unstuck because, with the huge seas and stong wind conditions, we lost control in the changeover causing us to capsize, leaving Daring to go on it's way to win the heat and the championship with us placing second overall.

Jim and I then sailed for the next two seasons in the new 505 "Twitch", and Ian sailed with Fred Neill in his 505 the next year winning the Australian Championship in that class in Port Lincoln.

As a wind-up I would like to say that it was a great experience to sail with Jim and I learnt heaps from him which I was able to put to great use in my sailing career for the next 20years as crew and finally as skipper of my own 470, my first and only time.
Jim's biggest downfall, if one can call it that, was that he was always late off the beach which is not the greatest way of starting a race leaving no time for warming up and testing rigging etc.
Always "Twitching" something at the last minute!!

We had loads of fun as he was great story teller and prankster.

As a preamble to the photos of our crew and the Australian Championship 1962/63, I had sailed with Fred Neill as for'dhand in Cadet Dinghies for 2 seasons until our age (18) ruled us out of competing.
I was then approached by Jim Hardy to see if I would like to sail with him as for'dhand in future seasons until whenever!
This I did until 1961/62 season sailing both heavyweight Sharpies and International 505 Class. Jim was then transferred for business to Sydney.

In the meantime Fred had also transferred to the 505 class winning the Australian title in Port Lincoln in 1960/61 with Ian Gray as crew. The 505 class took many of the Sharpie sailors, and many became involved with actually building the 505's at the premises of David Binks who initiated the building of them in Australia in fibreglass.
At this time Fred was working for David Binks, and also much was being done in preparation for Bryan Price to compete in the 505 Worlds to be held in Larchmont USA.
In the meantime, Fred's regular crew had bought his own 505, and with the Australian Championships coming up 1962/63 in Adelaide, Fred asked me to crew for him in that series.

After that series, David and Fred had decided that it would be an idea to build a lightweight sharpie to try to make the S.A team for Adelaide 1964/65 championship series. It (YA IV) was only finished in time for the first elimination heat and with new crew as Mainsheethand, Mike Mc Gorman, and his "old" crew, me, we got Number one spot in the team.
The rig was a little controversial mainly because of a strut on the front of the mast fastening it to the foredeck giving the mast more rigidity at it's base.We were carrying a de Haviland mast and Cuneo a Proctor which was stronger and proved our undoing.

The series was very close with John Cuneo and us fighting it out to the last heat in almost gale force winds (probably would not have started if sailed today!!!)We were leading Cuneo down the last run to the finish when our mast collapsed under the pressure. A jury rig, of sorts, was hastily constructed with Mick trying to desperately hold up the remaining mast but to no avail as Cuneo sailed past us to claim the championship with us in second place. The 3rd time that I personally had been beaten into 2nd place by him, twice in heavies and now this!

We had great fun both on and off the water.

As indicated in my previous episodes, after finishing second to John Cuneo in the Heavyweight Sharpie Championships sailing as for'd hand with Jim Hardy, I changed to sailing in International 505 class as crew for Jim . This class was very new to South Australia and was introduced by John Bagshaw, a top executive with General Motors Holden. Jim wanted to get experience with an International class as he could see that this was the way Australian dinghy sailing must go. Jim had already sampled International sailing when he sailed in the trials for the 1956 Melbourne Olympics in the, at that time, Olympic Sharpie Class ,coming second to Rolly Tasker who went on to win a silver medal.
The next two years we sailed the 505 "Twitch", the first year in the class championship in Port Lincoln South Australia, which was won by Fred Neill with crew Ian Gray. Not sure where we finished, but, needless to say, as Jim often joked, I was towed over in the boat still putting fittings, and "go fasters" on what was a brand new boat.
During the next year Jim was transferred by the family wine company to Sydney.

The 1962/63 Australian 505 Championships were to be held at the Brighton & Seacliff Yacht Club in Adelaide, and Fred Neill invited me to sail as his crew for that series, Ian Gray now having his own 505 as skipper.
It was quite an exciting year as our association was preparing for locals, Bryan Price and crew Chris Hough in "Sundowner", to compete in the World Championships of the class to be held in the next Northern Summer in the USA. As usual the Australian championships were held as mentioned above.
Fred and I won the title, a disappointment for Bryan as he desperately wanted to go to the USA as Australian Champion. He was truly compensated, because as most would know, he and Chris won the World Championship. Because of financial considerations, "Sundowner" was sent by tramp steamer to America not long after the Australian championships accompanied by Chris. For me this was a great opportunity because Bryan needed to keep practising before going to America, and quite often I sailed with him as crew in a borrowed 505, keeping me on my toes as well. Sometimes the weather was not very good as it was early winter.

The Israeli Government were sponsoring the event by supplying the identical yachts and spars for the overseas competitors, made by the local builder Snapir. It was, for that country, the first world championship of any type ever held there.
John accepted the offer and received backing from the Australian 420 Class Association.
Unfortunately, his regular crew at the time could not make the trip, and John asked if I would go to Israel as crew. I jumped at the opportunity, so we packed our sails and headed off in August to Tel Aviv and the Mediterranean Sea. There were 72 competitors and we were the only ones from Australia.
It was quite amusing that on the first day that we were rigging up on the artificial beach, one of the Israeli guys was insisting on showing us how to rig the boat, well intended but unnecessary!
The championship consisted of a warm-up series, the Tel Aviv cup and then the world's. They used gate starts which I thought were great as I had never used them before and haven't since. We won the Tel Aviv Cup and were invited to a fabulous night in one of their parks on a perfect Tel Aviv evening. Had a wild night with the English team, one of whom, Alun Sands, I am still in touch with in Devon, England.
The heats were sailed in very light conditions which suited us as we were a very light crew, about 140 Kg. We won the series with the following placings 5,1,6,3,2 and 12 and we had really won the series before the last heat. A wonderful presentation night was held after.
Also while we were there, John attended the International 420 Association's general meeting at which he presented the proposition that the 1972 world championship series be held at the Brighton & Seacliff Yacht Club, Adelaide, which was agreed to. He was also charged with putting a proposal that the class adopt trapezes which was also agreed, so it was a successful mission on all fronts. When we returned home I resumed sailing with Pam and John with his regular crew.
The local association very quickly started planning for the series we were to host in 1972, and they also decided that John and I attend the next championship in Cherbourg France to defend our title.
It was also decided that we, as an association, not attend the champioships in 1973 in Belgium as we needed to save money for our hosting in 1974.
John and I had won a small yacht donated by Snapir which they shipped to Adelaide where we raffled it to help fund raising for the next challenge in France.

There was a pre championship series of 4 races with the Aussie boats blitzing the field. We were so pleased that we now had trapezes as the conditions were incredibly difficult. Not only did we have to sail out to the start and back each race (about 3 km) while the others were towed out by their teams, the winds were very strong and the tides so very strong that I can remember being stretched to the limit on the trapeze, making speed through the water, but no distance forward.
To add to this we had to sail through a narrow gap in the harbour walls which would suddenly take all of our wind. Not much fun when stretched out on the wire.
This was the situation throughout the series.
Because the Australian boats had done so well, the French officials claimed that our boats did not measure. To cut a long story short, our boats, and the others were re-measured, and it proved ours were closer to correct measurements that a lot of the others.
This trouble was not rectified until the day before the first heat of the worlds. Great timing!

The series was almost entirely sailed in very windy conditions, and many other rather odd situations also cropped up. A weather mark sank and the race had to be started again, fog set in and we couldn't find the buoy and on it went.
The Australian boats again dominated in all races with the Sievewright brothers challenging us. They were in the lead up to the final race. Unfortunately for them, the wind moderated during that heat, and with their considerably heavier weight, we were able to get across the line in first place with City of Adelaide, the Sievewrights, back in 30th. That gave us the title with Melody finishing 7th overall.
Our placings were 10,1,8,2,5,1
Third place was Joel Sela from Israel who held the title in 1969.
All of our boats were sold because we could not afford to bring them home, pity.
"Flying Kangaroo" was sold to my English friend Alun Sands.

The Australian Championship series was sailed as the warm-up series, and was won by Gilder and Moncrieff followed by Anders Wangel and me.
There were 32 competitors for the World championship and it was notable that the number of 420's around the world had increased considerably to well over 20,000.

The conditions again were very typical of an Adelaide summer, with strong winds and big seas proving really difficult for the overseas competitors. There were many capsizes, including Dirk Jonsen the title holder.
Christian Wangel with his mother as crew finished a very creditable 9th.
Once again the Australian crews were too strong and the result was a win to Anders and me (our placings were 1,1,2,1,2 and 8) with John Gilder and David second and Australian boats taking 9 of the first 10 places.
Anders also entered the single handed race where the jib is dispensed with and, I think the mast stepped further forward. He won that also!
Anders and I continued to sail together for the rest of the season and into next season.

The Australian International 420 Association then decided that Anders and I should defend our title at the next series to be held in Kiel June 1974.
In the meantime Anders took sabbatical leave and returned to his country of origin, Finland, with his family. He was a Professor of Medicine at the University of Adelaide. Three "official" boats were shipped to Germany and I flew to Germany together with quite a large contingent of other Australians including Peter and Steve Sievewright. This meant that Anders and I had not sailed as a team for many months. However we eventually did meet when Anders flew in from Finland and we picked up the boat from Hamburg.
There were two series held as part of the extended Kiel Week, possibly one of the largest regattas in Europe each year. The sailing was based at Schilksee where the 1972 Olympic sailing had been held and it had a very large marina to cope with the thousands of yachts of all kinds from over the world.
The warm-up series was known as Kieler Wocher (Kiel Week) and there were 40 420's entered.
The winner was Swiss champion Gian Noldin who had raced in Adelaide.
Australia's best was Rowan Wyeth (7th) with Christian Wangel(8th) and us 10th. It was absolutely freezing, even in the middle of their summer. I think the maximum temperature on midsummer day that year was 14 C.
There were 71 competitors on the 420 Worlds list. There is not a lot I can say about this series from our point of view as it was a disaster. We seemed not to be able to get anything right which was embarrassing being the defending titleholder.
Australia's best was Christian Wangel in 7th place, Rowan Wyeth from Royal Brighton Yacht club 14th,and then us at 45th. Pete Sievewright finished 55th.
Unfortunately for the series, the French team, with their boat (Alain Chougnoz) were in the lead by a small margin (3.6 points) at the start of the last race, and they consistently broke the start so that the final race had to be cancelled giving 2 of their boats the top 2 positions.
It did leave a rather nasty feeling to end the series. I believe the rules have now been changed to prevent this from happening again.
It was certainly a great experience to sail in such a wonderful atmosphere, even if it was so cold sailing on the Baltic Sea!!!

After returning to South Australia, Anders bought an International 470 Class yacht and we continued to sail together at the Brighton & Seacliff Yacht Club for the 1974/75 season.
The next year the Olympics were to be held in Montreal, Canada during the Northern summer of July and August 1976, and we entered the Olympic Trials which were held in Geelong, Victoria over the Easter break 1975.
The conditions were again heavy and we struggled, particularly as there were so many classes sailing in the waters of Corio Bay, which is part of the larger Port Philip Bay. We finished in 11th place. The Australian crew (Ian Brown and Ian Ruff) who qualified for the Olympics won the Bronze Medal that year.

At the age of 39 I decided it was time to try my hand at skippering, so I purchased a 470.
About the only other occasion up until then was a "crews race" in "Twitch", Jim's 505, during which we managed to capsize 5 times! Fortunately no damage was done, except to my pride!
I loved skippering and I was able to put in to practice a lot of what I had learned from the great skippers I had sailed with over the years. I can't remember how long I sailed the 470, probably about 2 or 3 seasons when family and business caused me to drop out of sailing all together.
Not long after I had finished sailing, another interest took over in the form of amateur theatre performing, something that I had long wanted to do but had never had enough confidence to try!

Forty years later I have, at last, quit that also. THE END.

Doug Giles.