The Goss Family of SoPYC
The club wouldn’t have been the same without the work of our founding members and the club has reason to be proud of them. The Goss family were there from its 1946 beginnings and recently the archives team had the opportunity to learn of their Club participation from Kevin Goss, son of Founding Member Jim Goss
This story is part of a series of emails exchanged between the H28 archivist and Kevin.
Of the Goss family members associated with the South of Perth Yacht, my brother John achieved the greatest success. He crewed with Ian Blankensee on the 14-footer Redwing (pictured sailing downwind of the Club) to win the 1975/76 Australian Championship.
However, John’s and my venturing into sailing was more ‘boys own adventure’ than sailing academy. From an early age we lived on the Canning River near Deep Water Point, where we spent much of our out-of-school hours with mates either on the River or in it! We made our own rafts and canoes from materials left over from building sites in the new suburb. At one point we salvaged a sunken clinker-built dinghy and rigged it for sailing. Our first attempt with a square rig of old beach towels had limited success. Then we persuaded Mum (a dress-maker) to stitch up a Marconi mainsail from sheets. To keep the boat on course with an oar for a rudder we hinged a cast off brickie’s mortar sheet to the keel, held horizontal by cords until we reached deeper water when we would pull it into place. Our understanding of lateral forces wasn’t too flash and the screws soon pulled away from the rotting timber. It served as a rowing boat only after that.
This was a learning experience for real sailing. Our Dad and Mum, Jim and Ev Goss, signed us up to the newly established South of Perth Yacht Club and bought us a Sabot which we called Sprite (SP23). I have attached a photo which is likely the inaugural Club Opening Day in 1960. In this photo you can see the Hon. John Tonkin, the local Member for Melville and formerly Deputy Premier, shaking John’s hand with me next in line. In the background you can see Pelicans and a small boat shelter.
In another photo taken during official speeches, the grass is not yet established, and staked trees were recently planted. The dress standard, the pennants on a boat in the background indicate the importance of this occasion. In the background of the third photo is a visiting Nedlands Yacht Club Pelican and the H28 Mariner (SP8) which still sails today. In our time the Sabot, Pelican and Vee Jay fleets were large and I recall a claim at one point that the SoPYC had the largest junior membership of any yacht club in Australia.
John and I likely sailed together for two years, then we moved separately to other classes. I was taken on as sheethand on Ron Ellard’s 14-footer, Sea Mist, with Ray Nitschke as forward hand. I think John went on to Pelicans. Needless to say ‘Fourteens’ were far different to Sabots, careering down the Swan with all 250 sq ft of spinnaker up. We did well enough on Sea Mist, although not champions with such outstanding boats as Trevor Bett’s Teal and the boys on Vanbar. I think Peter and Barry Nevard’s Ballerina was a Vee Jay at the time; their time in fourteens was to come. The Perth Dinghy Club had our measure too. I graduated to forward hand with Ron and that’s me in the attached photo along with another photo with Ron in a pensive mood. We were one of the few remaining three-man boats just prior to the change to twin trapezes. Ron went on to bigger craft and to become Club Rear Commodore and Commodore.
Attached is an aerial photo of the Club taken by me from a light aircraft in 1966 or 1967. Note that there are few masted craft in the pens. I’m pretty sure my last season at SoPYC was 1968-69. With a country posting in late 1969 I let my membership lapse.
After John sailed 14-footers with Ian Blankensee, he sailed with Peter Nevards oversized skiff Ballerina, with Barry McKinnon and remained a SoPYC member until his passing in 2014. Notably, he maintained a close friendship with Peter and Stan Howells. Those three met weekly at the Fremantle Sailing Club to refurbish Max Sheans S&S34 Bluebell (winner of the 1979 Parmelia Race), so important to John in his battle with cancer. Max and my Dad, Jim Goss, were boyhood neighbours and longstanding friends in South Perth, Max was John’s godfather giving him his second name and Peter is Maxs nephew. Jim Goss, the last living Founding Member of SPYC, passed away in 2007. His photograph is included to remind us of the man. He was possibly on Max Sheans boat Bluebell.
John was recently recognised by the club as a 50 year member thanks to some work by the archival team. They were able to identify an early trophy board that bore the inscription John Goss and the boat Sprite in the 1963-4 season
The next week’s story will cover Jim Goss’ recollection of the beginnings of the South Perth Yacht club supported by older photos.
