The Rippleside will be available for the last three races of the year. 22, 29 March and 5 April. Limited to 20 people so book early. Select “Ferry Bookings” in the menu above.
Opening Hours – Tue-Sun from 11.30am-late
Bill Hughes 1942 – 2025
There are many things that can be said about Bill Hughes but none of them bad. He was born in Birkenhead, Cheshire, England, in 1942 in the midst of the Second World War and came to Australia as a 9-year-old child with his mother and father to seek a better life. His northeastern midland accent had almost faded when I met him while he was cooking sausages on the barbeque on the lower deck of the Sydney Flying Squadron, the first (1891) of two 18-foot skiff clubs on Sydney Harbour. He was a big man with a pleasant, good-humoured face and a ready smile.
Bill worked in his early years at a foundry in Marrickville in Sydney – Duly and Hansford – as a skilled metal worker. Through hard work and dedication to his trade, he rose to become Managing Director of Australian Forge, an ANI Company in Melbourne, making parts for the motor vehicle industry in Australia and, amongst a host of other things, fan blades for the jet engines of F-18 fighter jets for the American defence forces. Precision work indeed.
His contribution to the Sydney Flying Squadron (SFS) was made through his management skills by participation on the club’s Board of Directors and through his desire to be of help to the club in any other way possible, which led him to the Social Committee whose primary task was to raise money for the maintenance of the replica historic 18-foot skiffs sailed by the SFS. Each year, significant sums of money were raised through the time-honoured means of raffles and selling sausage sandwiches to the hungry sailors on Saturdays after the race. Bill and his small army of social committee members worked tirelessly to this end where, at the end of each season, the money was divided up and handed to the skiffs to help with the cost of repairs. He was also no stranger to working on the spectator ferry, following the race each Saturday.
What was he like? A large, good-natured man, with a look that suggested hard work and perhaps even some hard play in his past. Tough, faint working-class Cheshire accent and a belted martial arts practitioner in his earlier days, courtesy I suspect of a hard migrant upbringing of the ‘50s. He was a man of complete honesty and integrity. No monkey business for Bill. During several stints on the SFS Board of Directors, one as Treasurer, he knew how to read a balance sheet and always asked the simple question of the bookkeepers: was the club able to pay the next month’s supplier invoices? Later on, as the voice of reason and balance on a Board more challenged by larger issues of the day.
The Sydney Flying Squadron has lost a valuable asset today, regardless of his reduced involvement in recent times. A fierce SFS supporter and advocate with a personality in tune with that of the Club, itself a friendly, vaguely working-class community asset with 18 foot skiff sailing at its core.
Billy Hughes fitted right in. He always will.
He is survived by his wife, Janis, also a Life Member of the Sydney Flying Squadron, three children and two step-children.
William Hughes
Born: England 1942
Passed on: Sydney, Australia, March 2025
Your Watch is Over
Sydney Flying Squadron (SFS) is the original home of the famous Sydney Harbour sailing skiff class, the 18-footers. The Sydney Flying Squadron Yacht Club was founded by Mark Foy in 1891. He promoted a vision of open boat sailing with broad popular appeal for spectators and open to all sailors, regardless of financial background. In doing so, he challenged the gentlemanly sailing conventions of the day, particularly by having coloured sails and prize money!
A fleet of replica boats from early 1900s up to the 1940s race each Saturday from October through to Easter each year. They are built and sailed using skills no longer practiced. These boats provide an insight into how sailing used to be almost a century ago.
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----Other Related Websites
The Open Boat – Celebrating the 18-footers and all open boats. Lots of history, yarns and pictures.
Historic Skiffs – The home of the Australian Historical Skiff Sailing Association.
Welcome to Australia’s oldest open boat sailing club
The Sydney Flying Squadron today still enshrines much of Foy’s vision. The Historic 18-Footers race with coloured insignia to enable spectators to distinguish each skiff in following the races. They sail courses in view of a ferry of onlookers following the race, and a timed handicap start enables a thrilling, first-over-the-line finish for the ferry patrons. These unique wooden boats keep alive the skills and excitement of boats you would normally only see in a museum.
From early October to Easter, the SFS sails the Historic 18-foot skiffs on Saturdays. The Club also hosts other open boat or skiff classes, such as the 12 footers. A dedicated spectator ferry runs on Saturdays during the sailing season, providing a magnificent harbour cruise while following the 18-footers’ racing. It is easily the best value, and most visually exciting cruise on our magnificent harbour!
Situated at the end of Careening Cove, Kirribilli, the Sydney Flying Squadron clubhouse enjoys spectacular water views and is situated next to Milsons Park which provides a large grassy rigging area. It is a great sight on Saturday mornings in summer, when the Historic 18-footers are rigged on the lawn, before launching down the ramp next to the Club for the afternoons’ racing.
Facilities include a boatshed, wharf, balcony, bar and the stunningly refurbished Foy’s Kirribilli Restaurant – the perfect location for all your social events. A café operates on the lower deck, accessed from Milsons Park.
Membership is open to sailing and social members and offers the best value of all amongst Sydney Sailing Clubs. The location cannot be bettered.
See you there!
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