Selim & Yvonne #97
YVONNE #97 C1970 with Selim on kite and daughter Monica helming. Photo RMYS 140 Years
Last weekend Tumlare YVONNE was relaunched in Williamstown, 84 years after her first season in 1938. For fifty years these yachts were a famous one-design fleet based in St Kilda. The master of the class was Selim Nurminen skippering YVONNE #97. Together they became the most successful skipper and small keelboat on Port Phillip Bay.
Many Tumlaren have been restored and a healthy fleet is sailing again. YVONNE is the fleet flagship. She was sold to Adelaide in 1999 becoming another unfulfilled restoration project. A small syndicate funded and supported her return to Melbourne in 2016. A smaller group did the slow heavy lifting of a complete re-build. She’s racing again this weekend in the Classic Yacht Association’s Cup Regatta.
Backstory
In 1937, Royal St Kilda YC (now RMYS) were looking for a one-design class suitable for Port Phillip Bay. In April 1937 a meeting was called that included a delegation from Royal South Australia YS, headed by boatbuilder Mr P. Clausen. On the night, the Tumlare class of the Stockholm designer Knud Reimers was unanimously adopted and it was agreed that 6 yachts would be built. Two orders were placed with Clausen and two each with J. J. Savage and Charlie Peel of Acrospire fame in Melbourne.
Clausen’s had ACKLOREAN #98 and TARNA #91 ready for launching in Victoria for the 1937-38 season. Savages built ZONJA #92 and Charlie Peel had YVONNE #94 and ZEST #99 ready for the November season start. GOTNUM #93, the sixth boat was built using Peel moulds and launched in early 1938.
In the first sailing season Joe White, Commodore of RStK YC sold YVONNE #94 to Don Banks who renamed her DOFFIE. To invest further in the class, he ordered YVONNE #97 from Charlie Peel. She was ready by October 1938. Skippered by Alick Rose, she proved to be fast, winning the first two races of the 1938-39 season. By 1949, White had put her in the capable hands of Selim Nurminen.
Selim’s Story
Selim Nurminen was born in the Åland Islands between Sweden and Finland (pronounced OR’land). Like most young men from the islands, he went to sea. At 16 he joined the schooner SUNLIGHT, trading on the Baltic. He then signed on to the square-rigged barque PONAPE. These vessels were owned by Gustav Erikson of the Åland Islands Shipping Company. In the 1920’s, it was one of the largest shipping fleets trading around the world as far as Australia. The PONAPE is still known from a detailed model built from memory in an Isle of Man prisoner of war camp. Many sailors developed these skills during downtime on long voyages. These stories are worth a read at the Åland Maritime Museum website.
On route to Australia in 1926 with a cargo of timber, the PONAPE hit tremendous storms in the North Sea, taking 154 days to reach Melbourne, 2 months longer than schedule. The ship had missed the return cargo of seasonal wheat. Most of the crew were released and found jobs ashore. Selim went grape picking along the Murray River at Lake Boga. He then joined PONAPE’s third mate, John Sutherland on HURRICA V, a 71ft Camper and Nicholsons ketch built in Sydney for sheep grazier Bill Oliver and sailing from Royal Yacht Club Victoria. He stayed with Oliver for 11 years being paid 3 pounds and 15 shillings a week. There’s one photo of Selim guiding an aspiring helmsman on HURRICA V.
This was an era where wealthy owners like Bill Oliver and Joe White employed skilful boatmen and racing skippers to manage their yachts. Even in the 1970’s, Mick Brooke was sailing Lawrence Baillieu’s Flying Dutchman GLIDESCOPE out of St Kilda to a State Championship.
In 1939 Selim took charge of Joe White’s ACROSPIRE IV. During the war he was employed at the Williamstown Naval Dockyard working on mine-sweepers. In season 1949-50, Joe White offered Selim the Tumlare YVONNE #97 to skipper. After the war Selim worked for himself before taking charge of the Royal Melbourne yard in 1958. After White’s death in 1959, his daughter for whom YVONNE was named, maintained the relationship offering the boat to Selim for charter.
Joe White’s ACROSPIRE IV after launch in 1929
Over twenty-one seasons from 1955 to 1976 Selim was rarely out of the placings in club racing. He won 17 Victorian state championships in YVONNE with Len Digby in YOEMAN #309 taking out the other four. In seasons 1981-83 Selim reprised his State title skippering YOEMAN, owned by RMYS Past Commodore Doug Jenkin and then again in VAHINE #201 for Robert Neilson. Nurminen established a record in keel yachts on Port Phillip that will remain for many years.
After a long life as a successful professional boat and yachtsman Selim died in 1999 aged 94. His forward hand and Royal Melbourne YS historian Bert Ferris writes;
Nurminen was regarded as a wizard for his ability to work his chartered Tumlare class yacht YVONNE to windward. He was rarely beaten by the top skippers pitted against him. In YVONNE, he won over 300 races, including 17 State titles, the last 11 in succession. He won the club championship 3 times.
YVONNE racing in 1966 with VAHINE #201. Nurminen Family archive
State Champions 1974 Robert Neilson, John Leigh, Bert Ferris and Selim Nurminen. Photo RMYS 140 Years
Selim’s Voice
Selim still focused upwind at 84. Photo RMYS 140 Years
In his late 80’s in the 1990’s, Selim Nurminen was interviewed. Here’s his unique voice talking about how he came to be in Melbourne;
‘I’m actually from the Åland Islands between Finland and Sweden. They got their own flag, and are part of Finland, but I’m Swedish speaking.
‘In 1926, I was crew on the PONAPE, a cargo ship. We had a load of timber from Norway to come out here (Australia), but we had a very bad trip coming out, a slow trip. We got head wind entering the English Channel, so we had to turn round and go around right to the north of Scotland and to the North Atlantic, and we had head winds and so on, so that made us a very slow trip. Around 80 to 90 days should have been the normal trip, but having the bad conditions we had a slow trip.
‘The thing was, when we got here, we lost the wheat cargo that we should have taken back to Europe. So the ship had to wait for the following season’s crop. And quite a few of the boys just walked off the ship ashore. It wasn’t the right thing to do actually, but the owner of the ship was pleased that we did and the skipper let us go, because they didn’t have to pay us then, see. But they’d have to get the new crew. Some stayed on of course, but quite a few of us left the ship, and that’s how I came to be here.
‘After I left the ship I got a job picking grapes. That was my first job here. But I enjoyed that too. That was a good experience. I couldn’t speak much English at the time, so it suited me, but then I got a job on a big cruising yacht, Hurrica V, which belonged to William Oliver. She was a fairly big two masted cruiser, she was. And we’d go outside to Wilson’s Prom and Westernport.
‘Actually it was the 3rd officer on board the ship coming out here, who got me that job. He knew another man who wanted someone for work. But you see he couldn’t go. It would have affected his ticket. So he got me to come and crew on this yacht, which is how I got that job.
‘Later, the owner gave me a very good recommendation to work at St Kilda (yacht club), which is how I came to the Tumlaren. I was in charge of Joe White’s Acrospire yacht (68 feet long) when they introduced the Tumlaren class for Port Phillip Bay in 1937, and when Joe White, who had the Tumlaren Yvonne retired, he gave me the option of sailing Yvonne, so that’s how I came to be on Yvonne and skippering her.
‘So I’ve been lucky. I’ve always had work that I like. So from then, I have been in the Tums for years and won 17 state titles.
Selim’s Tum Tips
Robert Stott sailed Tumlare ETTRICK #321 in the 1970’s. The competition in this period was keen and Stott would sail ETTRICK up from Geelong every second Friday evening for the weekend race, returning on Sunday. He was always over the moon to get win or place against YVONNE and kept careful notes of Selim’s racing tips. Here’s a few for the bay;
Williamstown Course
‘for southerly winds when tide is coming in and conditions are light, tack to the west of the rumbline keeping 500yds away from the breakwater. If winds are fresh tack to the east of the rumbline. When running towards Southern Dolphin and tide is going out, cross the channel as quick as possible, keeping away from disturbed wind of breakwater.
NOTE - Southern Dolphin was a standalone wooden structure close to the end of Princes Pier. It was the Wednesday afternoon turning mark used by RYCV. Now replaced by nearby red fixed Mark 80.
Melbourne Course (St Kilda)
‘Maintain long tacks on starboard. Tack onto port during gust for extra power through seas. Selim says middle course is best because although one is broken when approaching Pt Ormond, the expected lift out to weather is short lived. Tack downwind and note tides.
SWS holds other Tum Tips on rig and boat management from Selim. A small donation might release the files. Contact SWS here
Restoration
Watercolour of YVONNE in F J Darley’s shed. Joseph Zbukvic 2016
YVONNE was brought back to Melbourne in October 2016. Ferdi Darley offered his shed and guidance to the re-build team. Let’s acknowledge Ant Perri, Chris Clapp and serial Tumlaren restorer Roger Dundas who did the slow and steady work stretched out through years of lockdown.
After removing the plank and canvas deck, all 104 ribs were replaced with paired spotted gum. The original Huon pine planking was in excellent order ...with only 3 replaced. All were re-fixed with donated copper nails and splined below the waterline. New Oregon deck beams were housed into the original beam shelf and a ply and epoxy deck was laid for stiffening. The original mast was retained with only the top 3 metres being newly scarfed.
Seeing the boat come to life and to give her racing legs required a new suit. Mark Rimington made the sails and recut a donated Dragon kite. Dave Allen drew a set-out for standing and running rig then recycled most fittings - ’just screw it on’. As is usual, much syndicate discussion about colour and respect. YVONNE was always white topsides, black anti-foul with light blue cab and deck. Feeling the new independence, teal won the toss. After some gentle push-back from Tumlare old guard, they now agree she looks brilliant.
Ålandspannkaka
SWS has tested the recipe for this Åland Islands pancake topped with homemade blood plum compote and Finnish style Viili yoghurt. Cardamom, native to southern India, was brought to Scandinavia by the Vikings. Maybe this was Selim’s secret after winter racing.
Credits
Bert Ferris. Royal Melbourne’s Remarkable Tumlarens. RMYS 140 Years on Port Phillip Bay
Ron Wells. The King of Tums. Seabreeze June 1978
Robert Stott of ETTRICK #321. Personal notes for a new owner
Steve Burnham Editorial Enterprises. The Tumlaren in Australia. Tumlaren and Selim Nurminen. Harold Clausen Tumlaren Builder https://burnham.net.au/