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"Bottles", the Double Scull in the Ceiling

Perhaps the most striking feature of the YYRC boathouse is the two beautiful old wooden boats suspended from the ceiling upstairs. If you've ever wondered where they came from, here's the story of "Bottles", the double scull...

On a trip to Perth to watch the 1962 Commonwealth Games rowing, two YYRC members, Jim Skidmore and Allan Rice, decided to try out for the 1964 Olympics. Yarra Yarra didn't own a double scull, so they ordered one from Sydney boat builders Sargent & Burton.

Excerpt from the Weekly Times, winter 1963:

Double sculling has become very popular in Victoria. There will be several new craft on the Yarra during the coming season. Most have been built in Sydney. Double sculling has not previously received the same support in Victoria as in NSW, where it is especially popular. Jim Skidmore and Allan Rice, prominent Victorian scullers from Yarra Yarra club, will soon have a new craft. They intend to compete at the National Regatta to be held probably on the lake at Canberra. This may be the 1964 Olympic Test race. They could develop into a top-class double sculls crew with a good chance of winning the last event. The crew that wins at Canberra will have the best chance of going to Tokyo.

Twelve months later, the new boat arrived, air freighted from Sydney to Essendon Airport in November 1963. The total cost of boat and freight was $656.45. The boat was named "Bottles", due to a saying at the time: "It's the best thing since they put beer in bottles". Jim and Allan thought it was the best type of rowing they had encountered. The hull is two-ply cedar plywood. The girder-type riggers were designed in Sydney so as not to break a wave when sculling in rough water, hence less water in the boat when racing. It has never been rigged as a coxless pair; as the shoulders have not been strengthened to avoid twisting from uneven tension each side of the boat.

Finding a coach was a problem, as nobody in Victoria knew anything about this type of boat, and nobody wanted to help. So, with the aid of Peter Gill and his 8 mm movie camera, plus details from a book or two on training, the task commenced.

Jim and Allan won the double scull event at Australian Henley, 29/2/1964, representing the first win for a Victorian crew in many years. They also won at the Scotch and Mercantile regatta, 21/3/1964, being the only regatta on the Victorian regatta program to put on events for this type of boat.

At the second Australian National Regatta in Canberra, 2/5/1964, Jim and Allan came second at by a margin of just 0.3 s. The winner of that race went on to represent Australia at the Tokyo Olympics. At the third national regatta in Ballarat, 30/4/1966, "Bottles" came third.

The boat has done a lot of Kilometers in training, but very few in races.