AUSTRALIA’S FIRST ‘8’ Defiance is the first Australian designed and built 8 metre, created by Ernest Olney Digby, a formidable Victorian shipwright and champion helmsman who designed and built Defiance in the backyard of his home in Williamstown, Melbourne. The boat was launched in 1935. Digby helmed his own ‘8’ to victory, rapidly establishing her as the ‘gun’ boat of her day and the pride of Port Phillip Bay.Defiance was aptly named. Digby defied all class barriers with his new 8 Metre. In a most unusual combination, Digby designed, built and raced his own yacht — at a time when large metre boats were the preserve of the very wealthy and the royalty of Europe, not hardworking shipwrights from ‘struggle town’ in Williamstown, Victoria. ERNEST DIGBY THE LEGEND Ernest Olney Digby, or ‘Old Dig’ as he was affectionately known, built a number of champion racing yachts and celebrated vessels over his lifetime, including Moyne, Nancy, Independence, Frances, Victory, Goudie, Tam-O-Shanter and Thorsen.Digby owned and raced Defiance for a decade. He then built a second champion 8 Metre ––named Frances after his wife Mary Ann Frances — that he launched in 1946. His pair of 8 Metres were pure racing weapons, akin to being the Wild Oats of their day.The 8 Metre Defiance was a masterstroke of ingenuity, determination and imagination. It was also an act of great confidence. To build a racing yacht of nearly 50 feet — 14.78 LOA, 2.27 Beam and 1.95 Depth — in one’s own backyard in the middle of the Great Depression as a father of eight and the usual working man’s load was no small feat. Digby achieved this with the help of three of his sons and apprentice shipwright Harry Clark, and with the patient understanding and support of his gentle wife Mary Ann. The industrious shipwright built Defiance with meticulous pride and care from carefully selected and collected Australian timbers such as Queensland kauri for planking, celery top pine, blackbutt and huon pine as a feature for the cabin top. Her hanging knees were fashioned from the crooks of trees for both beauty and strength and to some degree a shipwright and timber lover’s pleasure. Every part of Defiance was made to Digby’s rigourous specification, including the lead keel and the bronze keelbolts. What he could not make himself, he had made through his access to skilled tradesman as foreman at the Melbourne Harbour Trust. Digby’s style was simple and strong, with chamfered edges and quality timbers, robust bronze fittings such as keel bolts and sleek lines. The boatbuilder spared nothing on his own boat. He studied wave motion and had a portrait of his hero William Fife in his study over his desk, taking lessons from others but creating boats of his own unique style. Although the original plans were lost, Digby’s intentions were true. Sydney-based naval architect Andy Dovell and international measurer Ken McAlpine confirmed what the newspapers of the day pronounced — that the scantlings of his new boat — including freeboard, girth and draft — all fit the 8 Metre rule. For Dovell, her position sitting perfectly on the displacement line is the surest evidence of her being drawn as an 8m class yacht. Andy notes, “It is difficult and takes considerable effort to design a hull that has the minimum displacement over a range of lengths, matching the angle of the overhangs with the volume gained. Defiance is right on the line.” The new racing yacht was the source of great pride and caused something of a local sensation when launched in 1935. The unusually pronounced camber of her deck and shallow, self-draining cockpit — unique among 8’s — and possibly her low freeboard — were designed to shuck off a bigger sea state. Certainly no lake boat, Ernie built her strong and long for the conditions of Port Phillip Bay — for choppy waters, stiff breezes and tide. EARLY RACING HISTORY Defiance was launched with great excitement in 1935. The beautiful yacht was a beacon of hope, of singular courage and vision to all. Approximately 500 8 Metre yachts were built around the world, of which only about 177 have survived. They were built strictly in accordance with the metre rule which was essentially a racing formula that enabled subtly differing boats to race together. Able to be manned by fewer crew, they quickly symbolised sporting freedom, elegance and speed. British sailor and author Uffa Fox on the 8 Metre, 1934: The owner can sail his Eight Metre round the coast from regatta to regatta for coastal cruising would give owners the two most sought things in life; health and happiness, for without doubt sailing at sea brings peace to the mind, and the clean salt-laden air health to the body; which are both needed by all in this mechanical age of irritating noise and poisonous fumes. The Eight Metres are very popular, for in the cabin and [sic] owner can live, or simply change his wet clothes after a hard race and eat his lunch in comfort according to his ideas of pleasure. Added to this there is the protection the cabin gives in bad weather, for then it seems to make what otherwise be a boat, a ship. The Digby 8 Metre was enthusiastically met in 1935, reported by the local press as meeting the rule in every way. Designed to win against the A1 boats of the day, she quickly established supremacy, winning seven of her first twelve starts. Digby himself was a well-liked and admired figure on the waterfront by the time he launched Defiance, known as both shipwright and yachtsman. Sailing his earlier yacht Independence in 1932, (which later perished on the way from the way back from racing the 1949 Sydney to Hobart) the Sporting Globe praised him: “Ernie Digby is one of our best and most popular yachtsmen, and one who is always ready to give a helping hand where needed.” In fact he was known to have bolstered the Royal Club of Victoria in the 1930’s, when he brought, it was said, ‘ his boats and his boys’ across to stimulate the scene at the time. Sailmaker Colin Anderson, owner of the beautiful Acrospire, remembers Digby as an eight-year-old. “ I knew Ernest. He was like a God to me,” he said. “If you showed an interest he would take you by the hand and encourage you.” His reputation was ‘firm but fair.’ In post-Depression Melbourne, getting ahead was the essence of the times and friendly rivalries on the water such as that between Ernest Digby and Melbourne businessman Joe White of the Joe White Maltings company were enduring and fruitful. Interestingly, White’s boats were all named Acrospire after the shoot from the malt kernel indicating the readiness to brew. The racing boats of these eras, including the Couta boats of Melbourne and the 18 Footers and Rangers of Sydney, all went towards creating the sailing culture that is the hallmark of Australian coastal life. THE INTERNATIONAL EIGHT METRE Metre boats such as the 5.5, 6, 8 and 12s dominated racing for half a century and still surprise today. International 8 Metres familiar to Australians that were either built here or raced here are: Vanessa, Norske, Cariad II, Sandra, Juana, Juanita, Varg (also known as Norn), Erica J, Saskia, Jo Palmer’s Brand V, Marie Louise III, Emily, Pakadoo and Moonbeam. Josephine, a Fife built in the metre boat-style was closer to a 9 Metre, and was the sister ship to a boat called Carina. Yachts raced for prized trophies such as the Sayonara Cup, although the penultimate big-boat Cup was not held from 1932–51, over the years Digby owned Defiance. In the post-war period, Digby challenged and won the Sayonara Cup with his second 8 Metre Frances — in 1951 and ‘52. In 1953 Digby lost the Cup to Erica J, the Tasmanian-built 8 Metre. According to the rule of the Sayonara Cup, a challenger had to sail on their bottom to the place of the defender. So Digby sailed Frances to Hobart and won it back in 1954. The Sayonara Cup was then lost to Olympian Bill Northam in an imported 8 metre by Fife called Saskia. Interestingly the champion boat left England with a wooden mast, but prior to competion with Frances had been fitted with a mast made of alloy, a cutting-edge material at that time which was allowed by the Rule but would have been an advantage against a yacht with wooden spars. In the famous tussle of 1955 Digby won one race but ultimately lost and the Sayonara Cup transferred to the Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron. In a heroic final bid, he sailed Frances to Sydney to compete against the alloy-masted Saskia in 1956 but sailed back empty handed; the fabled Sayonara Cup stayed with the RSYS until it was transferred to the dragon classes in later years. Five generations of Digbys made their stamp on Victorian waterways from their first port of call in Port Fairy around 1840. They were ancestrally imbued with the love of water, sailing, boat building and the quiet lust for good timber, doubtless stemming from father Joseph, a fisherman and carpenter who built a Couta boat for himself in 1903 called Elise. “There was a tradition of boat building and affinity with water,” recalls Digby’s granddaughter Ann Crisp. Her father, Ken, was one of the three sons that worked on Defiance. “Anywhere we were near water — whether river or bay — was where my father wanted to be. He was off to the water’s edge. Mentally he would sail off into the horizon.” Ken went on to build his own racing yacht Moyne and carved out his own distinguished record on the Melbourne waterways, taking out the Royal Geelong Yacht Club’s Australia Day Regatta, a 32-mile passage race from Williamstown to Geelong in 1933–34. In his own boat Topsy D, won many races in the highly competitive 21ft Restricted Class. His brother Len was a triple, consecutive winner of the Tumlaren Victorian State Championships in the Knud Reimers- designed, Australian built Yeoman, originally Snowgoose from 1958–1961. Crisp remembers her grandfather’s dedication and enthusiasm, taking her out specifically for a sail and handing her the helm of Frances as a young girl: “He was a tall man who knew what he wanted. He was quite emphatic. He stood erect. He was a very proud man and led in everything. He made himself felt wherever he went. In the house there was a wall of trophies.” Digby put his twist on everything he built, from the 18 Footer he built in around 1924 for his 14-year-old son — the sweetly named and inclusive Utu (long before U2) — to a pair of stunning tugboats called Victory and Goudie, both featuring unusual yacht-like counter sterns. Digby’s Victory, which was built in 1934 just prior to the launch of Defiance, replacing an earlier tugboat of the same name, was lighter and faster. Both had been celebrated tugs that had been used as supply vessels for gunpowder and a familiar sight on Melbourne waterways during World War I. Digby’s Victory was equally aptly named — against a backdrop of waterfront disputes that rendered a certain amount of shipbuilding forbidden. True to his characteristic determination, the shipwright/foreman of the Melbourne Harbour Trust found a way to get the job done. The wonderful tug is currently owned and being carefully restored by marine engineer Marius Fenger, a partner in prominent tug operators Engage Marine. Each of Digby’s boats was dynamic and useful in its era. A cruising yacht called Tam-O-Shanter was built in 1951, and was entered into the Sydney to Hobart in 1954 by the Royal Australian Navy, and a pilot boat called Thorsen built in 1960, is still in service as a committee boat for the RYCV today. It seemed that the passion for boats — building, sailing and championing them — galvanised the whole family. Digby went on to become the Commodore of both the Hobson Bay Yacht Club and the Royal Yacht Club of Victoria, his wife Mary Ann appeared on Frances in Lady Skippers’ events, and each son distinguished themselves on the waterways. Len Digby was awarded best performance of the summer season for six seasons in a row. Part of a syndicate that imported the famous 5.5 Metre Yeoman from the Aisher family of Cowes racing fame, he became Commodore of the RYCV and sailed into his mid 80s. Like his brother Ken, Arthur built and raced and won in a boat built by his own hand — this time in the Australian 21ft Restricted Class named Bunyip. With his energy and intelligence, Ernie Digby had set the precedent as designer/builder, owner, Commodore and champion helmsman.“Ernie is something of a hero of mine,” says Peter Johns, former Commodore of the Royal Brighton Yacht Club and Queenscliff Cruising Clubs and the current owner of Frances, along with his wife Karen.“He was the original poor man’s rich yachtie.” Ernest was the Finn controller for the Olympics in 1956 and had input into the 5.5’s, some of which were distorted by heat in the journey over the Equator. He built a system to re-shape the 5.5s in order for them to measure and compete. Ernest was still racing Frances when he was tragically struck down at the age of 78. Cycling to the corner store on a newly gifted bicycle to retrieve a newspaper left behind, he was struck down by a drunken driver — an inestimable loss to Australian sailing and maritime history. He left behind his second wife Lillie May and seven children. His first wife and mother of his childen Mary Frances, having actually passed away from a heart attack at the RYCV. It is said that a Digby goes for a sail the way others go for a walk. Ernest’s son Len was the winner of the George D. Low Trophy for the best performance of the season of any yacht — six seasons in a row by ’59 -’65. He was partly assisted by his son Peter who continued the competitive sailing tradition over four decades. An International Cadet champion in his youth, RYCV Cruising Yachtsman of the Year (2012–13) and effortless solo sailor of a 500–1000 km, weather dependent, each year. Peter is an involved yacht club man who has provided invaluable help in the restoration of Defiance. Grandson Peter Digby recalls his forebears were speedsters on the water, men in a hurry who would have explored every new option in order to win. Digby himself chose a Bermudian rig for his second 8 Metre Frances in 1947 with stunning results. Interestingly, the E. O. Digby Cup once raced for by the A1 division — inaugural win by Vanessa in ’61-’62 in the year of Ernest’s presented in his memory, ’63 -’64 Georgina, ‘64-’65 Vanessa, ‘65-’66 Venger, ‘66-’67 Vanessa, ‘68-’69 Acrospire and ‘69-’70 in which 120 yachts raced across three divisions was won by Destiny 11, in furious competition which led to the destruction of an imported dragon in a collision during the race. The Cup is still raced for by the fastest yachts on Port Phillip Bay. The most recent successive winner is Terra Firma, a Cookson 52. The Digby legend lives on in his boats. DEFIANCE SAILS ON Defiance has delivered numerous triumphs and delights over eight decades to her six owners since 1935: Ernest O. Digby, Frank A. Bullock, E.A. Harris, Nelson D. Rundle, Alan B. & Dr Ann Hinds and N. G Shrimpton. Digby had owned and raced Defiance for a decade when she was purchased at the end of 1945 by Sydney sailor Frank Bullock with the Sydney to Hobart, Jervis Bay and Montague Island yacht races in mind. On the delivery from Melbourne to Sydney, Defiance had tried to break the race record for the shortest journey but she was becalmed off Wollongong, with newspapers reporting concern the crew might starve. Among the crew was a young sailor named Neville Wran. On arrival in Sydney, Defiance was promptly converted for conditions offshore: her cockpit was reduced to minimise water ingress, and a second hatch and such modernities as a gimbled stove and ice box were added for the long haul. The 8 Metre attracted stellar crew, among them the well-known Sydney yachstmen and grandfather of John Flannery — Georges Brenac(who was reputed to have had his two front teeth knocked out by the boom), the white-singleted, international sailing legend Joe Palmer, Mick York, Gordon Ingate and Olympian Dick Sargeant. Her home was the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia in Rushcutters Bay, the home of the Sydney to Hobart yacht race since 1945. The yacht was ultimately dubbed the ‘Offshore 8,’ and became the only 8 Metre in history to sail in this prestigious offshore event. Defiance placed 3rd overall in the second Sydney to Hobart Race in 1946 and competed in ‘47, ’54, ’55 and ’57. In the 1947 race, Morna a Fife yacht of 65 feet high was first across the line easily at 3.00 in the afternoon, and then seven hours and fifty seven minutes later Defiance was second across the line, with Mistral (a 64 foot schooner designed by Aldin of Boston and built by Ford at Berry’s Bay) was third by thirty seconds — Mistral averaging 10 knots and whilst she and the those around her and endured a range from being becalmed to Force Eight. Sadly, there was an incident at the start which robbed Defiance of the glory of her second place. Along with a later winner Christina, Defiance hit the starter’s boat. Under the rules of the day Defiance was technically not wrong at the start. As described in Blue Water Warriors, the book written by Craig Harris and as logged by Marsden Hordern of Mistral, “We avoided a collision between Christina, Morna and Defiance who had converged at the windward end. Morna wore some of Christina’s paint on her starboard quarter but was otherwise undamaged. Defiance bounced off Christina and onto the starter’s boat which was obviously anchored in an inconvenient position.” In the 1947 race, Morna a Fife yacht of 65 feet high was first across the line easily at 3.00 in the afternoon, and then seven hours and fifty seven minutes later Defiance was second across the line, with Mistral (a 64 foot schooner designed by Aldin of Boston and built by Ford at Berry’s Bay) was third by thirty seconds — Mistral averaging 10 knots and whilst she and the those around her and endured a range from being becalmed to Force Eight. Sadly, there was an incident at the start which robbed Defiance of the glory of her second place. Along with a later winner Christina, Defiance hit the starter’s boat. Under the rules of the day Defiance was technically not wrong at the start. As described in Blue Water Warriors, the book written by Craig Harris and as logged by Marsden Hordern of Mistral, “We avoided a collision between Christina, Morna and Defiance who had converged at the windward end. Morna wore some of Christina’s paint on her starboard quarter but was otherwise undamaged. Defiance bounced off Christina and onto the starter’s boat which was obviously anchored in an inconvenient position.” Defiance then led Christina for most of the way until to the Derwent River and came in with a respectable placing of second across to line to Morna but both boats were disqualified. Christina failed in her protest and was disqualified. But rather cruelly Defiance, the innocent party was disqualified for simply not reporting the incident within 24 hours of finishing. Such is the heartbreak of the ‘Hobart’.