Ivy Tucker’s AGRICOLA 7101
dinghy sailing develops independence and resilience. Kids learn to swim but mostly learn about themselves by managing a boat on and off the water. As Arthur Ransome writes in Swallows and Amazons, ‘Better drowned than duffers, if not duffers won't drown.’
‘In the midst of a global pandemic, a young boy is given an extraordinary gift. AGRICOLA 7101 is an uplifting documentary focusing on a group of kind-hearted individuals who come together to rescue a long-neglected and rare classic Australian sailing dinghy - fundamentally changing the life of a young boy along the way.’
Ivy Tucker. Photo courtesy Ivy Tucker Films
Pond People
This is a friendly reference to sailors on Victoria’s inland lakes. SWS has written about the long history of sailing at Albert Park Lake in Melbourne, Lake Wendouree in Ballarat and Lake Colac. There’s also Lake Eppalock near Bendigo, Cairn Curran Reservoir west of Castlemaine and Lake Nillahcootie near Mansfield. Some are man made catchments and others are old volcanic craters. Their little sister is Lilydale Lake in the Yarra Ranges. It was built in the 1980’s as flood mitigation, preventing Olinda Creek from the Dandenongs, inundating the town and pub.
Some of our finest sailors were country kids who started on these waters. Eppalock has produced a few champions. There’s Greg Ashby, a multiple America’s Cup winner. Also the Goodall brothers who started sailing on Mosquito scows. Allan then became the A-Class World Champion in Long Beach CA in 1985 with brother Greg in second place. Jim Boyer started sailing at Cairn Curran and built the cats sailed by the Goodalls. They now have a design, boatbuilding and sail making business specialising in high performance catamarans in Bendigo.
Swallows and Amazons
In 1976 David Allen was a 12 years old growing up in Bendigo. Arthur Ransome’s adventure books for children, set in the Lakes District in Cumbria ‘are what did it for me’. Dave started sailing with his brother in a 125 dinghy on Cairn Curran Reservoir. This boat was designed by Simon Greig of Blockey the Boatbuilder fame, thinking what happens between a Mirror 10 and 16. Now based in Williamstown, Dave is a highly regarded international sailor and teacher. He has built a professional career as a sailmaker on America’s Cup campaigns. Starting with Iain Murray on KOOKABURRA in 1987 then with Paul Cayard on IL MORO di VENEZIA 1992 and Dennis Connor’s STARS & STRIPES team in 1995. He’s completed Volvo Round the World races and is currently sailing master on a 63’ Sydney Hobart boat. Adventures in the 125 dinghy on lakes around Victoria taught Dave survival skills and the confidence to sail home in a southerly buster.
Obie Tucker was a 10 year old stuck at home in the Yarra Ranges during the long 2020 lock-down. He didn’t much like team sports but started sailing a few years earlier at Lilydale Sailing Club. He had found his thing. Through long days of limited travel and online schoolwork, he committed to reading all twelve Swallows & Amazons books. Like Dave Allen, he was engaged and inspired by the outdoor adventures and what followed became his older sister Ivy’s film, AGRICOLA 7101. This is a celebration of her brother and other people’s kindness and generosity. Ivy then aged 14, describes her film;
‘COVID lockdowns were particularly difficult for so many of my peers and young people in general, the film is my response to that. It’s about my brother Obie, who lives with dyslexia. I wanted to portray some of the everyday aspects of his experience without making the film specifically about this. I wanted to express my gratitude, and to acknowledge the generosity and kindness of strangers. The organisations and individuals featured have contributed such enrichment to the lives of our neuro-diverse community. I wanted to shine the spotlight on my little brother who has found joy and strength after overcoming a great struggle, and create a joyful and uplifting record of a truly remarkable event in our lives.’
AGRICOLA 7101 has been selected, screened and commended at children’s and open festivals worldwide. It’s travelled from the Lantern & Light Festival in the Yarra Ranges to Los Angeles. Ivy is busy juggling school and filmmaking, so her little Minnow, SPEEDY GONZALES has been passed to another junior from Lilydale SC and is currently sailing at Phillip Island.
Yarra Ranges Sailing
The old north east corridor out of Melbourne follows the Maroondah highway to Lilydale and the hills surrounding the Yarra Valley. Not many Port Phillip sailors will know about Lake Lilydale which is part of a larger recreational parkland.
Lilydale Sailing Club started in 1990 and ‘exists to introduce people of all ages and abilities to the joys of sailing in an easy to understand, fun and inexpensive way within a supportive environment.’ They focus on introducing disabled kids to sailing and offering juniors after school and weekend programs.
A committed group do the necessary local politics and fundraising to build community support. They have worked with the Yarra Ranges Council to fund and build a boat shed, dedicated disabled toilets and a boat ramp. Rotary and Council assisted with a new disabled lifting hoist.
Past Commodore and now movie star, Stephen Beitzel, has professional links through the disabled community in the region. He’s worked to make Sailability a defining part of the Club. It takes a lot of effort and commitment to wrangle boats, instructors and carers. Steve is a natural teacher guiding kids fleets around reaching courses, learning to position their boats to luff or lead, if just for a moment. His post ‘race’ reviews invite kids to talk about ‘what happened, what we learnt and what we do next’.
Lilydale SC has built relationships with Albert Park YC and the Classic Dinghy Network who help with teaching. They claim Sarah Blanck as their own. She had her first sail on the Lake as a 9 year old and went on to win the Laser Radial Women's World Championships in 1997. She represented Australia at both the 2004 and 2008 Olympics and has returned as Club patron.
After school sailing. Keyhole loading for disabled sailors. Photo: LSC
Ivy continues;
‘Obie was given a gentle introduction to sailing under the watchful eye of Junior Sailing Instructor Steve Beitzel at the Lilydale Sailing Club. Run entirely by volunteers including a dedicated Commodore Mick Taylor, the Club offers affordable membership fees and easy-to-sail access dinghies, attracting young sailors from the age of 6 upwards from across the eastern suburbs.
Steve Beitzel spearheaded the introduction of classic wooden dinghies for graduates of the Lilydale SC ‘learn to sail program’. He matched old boats with young sailors, bringing together the Club and the Australian Classic Dinghy Network to form a local social sailing group Yarra Ranges Classics who meet informally at Lilydale Lake and Albert Park Yacht Club.
We currently have three Classic dinghies awaiting restoration and a new home including a Mirror, 125 & two Minnows and welcome new sailors and volunteers with boat building experience for mentoring roles.’
Classic Dinghy Network
There’s much to celebrate here. The mission of the Australian Classic Dinghy Network is to ‘recover, restore and re-home classic dinghies’. The ‘mission thing’ is definitely matched by quiet action rather than corporate blather. As Will Oxley, a Sydney Hobart navigator noted when upside down in Bass Strait, the quietest people usually know and do the most.
When Obie’s parents and Steve Beitzel decided Obie needed a boat of his own, Steve put out a request through the Classic Dinghy Network. Ralph Ballard had just finished restoring AGRICOLA, an old Tasmanian Rainbow sourced from an Adelaide collector. Thinking he might make a bit of space in his Cairn Curran shed, Ralph responded saying he was happy to gift the boat to Obie Tucker.
Unidentified pram bow dinghy: Photo: Steve Beitzel
Here’s a little unidentified pram bow, lug rig dinghy. She’s marine ply clinker construction with a sail needing patching or replacing. Like AGRICOLA, Steve Beitzel is restoring her to give to a promising junior. Boats are offered free if returned to Lilydale SC when done for recycling to the next sailor.
Rainbow Sailing
click on images to enlarge
Obie Tucker is quite young and a scow is traditionally a lively and difficult boat to sail. However, a Rainbow scow can be sailed gently to start. As the crew gain strength and confidence, they can add a trapeze and spinnaker. Soon they will be gybing the kite from the trapeze with perfect timing and communication between the crew.
The best claim for the Rainbow comes from Andrew Chapman, a regular at the Inverloch Classic Dinghy Regattas. Andrew has two family restored Rainbows. He will sail ANNIE with one grand-daughter and his daughter Trilby, sails MOONRAKER with his other grand-daughter. Andrew notes;
‘The Rainbow is lovely small boat to sail. It is very forgiving and a lot faster than a Mirror and Heron without using the trapeze or large spinnaker. I think it’s an ideal boat for an adult and young kid or young teenagers. Trilby and I sailed with each of her two daughters and we plan to introduce them to the trapeze, first on a beat and then with a spinnaker on reaches. We also put them on helm and they enjoy sailing the quicker boat and they are not overwhelmed by the boats size. When they are comfortable using the spinnaker trapeze combination the next step will be the Gwen 12 and Cherub. The Rainbow is a very good small boat and easy for home builders to make.’
Rainbow Rhythm
At their peak from the early 1950’s to the 1970’s Rainbow fleets were all around Australia. Over one hundred Rainbows regularly competed in club events on ‘the apple isle’. Like other Tasmanian species, they are almost extinct. RHYTHM was built in 1957 for a Huon Valley orchardist Barry Calvert. Barry, sailing with his forward hand Charlie Ivey, were National Champions in 1961. After a restoration in 2012 she was donated to the Tasmanian Maritime Museum. Thats a terrific Tassie Tiger transom?
Rainbow RHYTHM in the Derwent. Photo: Tasmanian Maritime Museum
AGRICOLA 7101
You can watch Ivy’s film on a public link for the month of June 2022.
Credits
Ivy Tucker is an award-winning student filmmaker and actor. She’s an accomplished storyteller with a passion for screen acting, Ivy’s recent works explore themes of social justice, inclusion and compassion, drawing inspiration from her experiences and the natural beauty of her home in the picturesque Dandenong Ranges in Melbourne, Australia. Other films include; THE FOUR DREAMS 2016 (International Shortlist/Collab), THE MONSTER 2019, THE HOMELESS 2019 (Awards winning/Collab), YOUNG FOREST 2020 and THINGS TO DO IN ISO 2020.
earwegoagin.blogspot for the Andrew Chapman story.