Sail Number: F 1929
Type: International 9 Meter
LOA: 54’0″ / 16.45m — LWL: 36’0″ / 10.97m – Beam: 9’6″ / 2.89m – Draft: 7’0” / 2.13m – Hull Number: – Designer: Charlie Peel – Original Owner: Joe White, Commodore of the St. Kilda Yacht Club – Current Owner: Gary Martin – Year Launched: 1929, Collingwood – Built By: Saint Kilda, Victoria, Australia – Hull Material: Wood – Gross Displacement: 13 tons – ARHV Number: HV000545 – Club: Location: South Fremantle WA.
Historical:
ACROSPIRE IV is an international 9 metre class racing yacht, built in Melbourne Victoria in 1929 for a Victorian challenge for the Sayonara Cup. She was designed by Charlie Peel for Joe White, Commodore of the St Kilda Yacht Club, and built by Peel adjacent to White’s malt house in Collingwood.
Built to challenge “Vanessa” for the “Sayonara Cup” in 1929 and again in 1930, both times unsuccessful. Used in 1965 by Jock Sturrocks team to train against Gretel whilst they were building “Dame Patti”. Winner of the Lipton Cup, Portsea, International, Cactus, John Colvin and Sir Ernest Clark Cups.
The song “The Spell of Acrospire IV” was written by Jane Laws after sailing aboard her during the 2010 Cockburn Sound Regatta.
The history of Joe White and his famous Acrospires.
Joe White’s line of Acrospires made a name for themselves in the yachting history of Victoria. They had their origin on Lake Wendouree at Ballarat, when in 1903 Mr White became a keen yachtsman as a result of purchasing Acrospire I. With her he won many cups and shields.
In 1911 he had built by Chas Peel, Acrospire II. At the time she was the largest racing yacht designed for the inland lakes of Victoria and caused a sensation. She won many races and eventually became ‘The flag ship’ for the Albert Park Yacht Club.
In 1915 Joe White again commissioned Mr Peel, one of Australia’s foremost designer builders at the time, to design a fast yacht of 30 feet. Acrospire III (‘Ack’) was built by Hayes and Son in Sydney and launched in 1924. Amongst its many race wins, she won the championship of the bay and the Association Cup in 1927 and 1928.
Joe became obsessed with the challenge of winning the Sayonara Cup. After several failed attempts with Acrospire III he commissioned Chas Peel to design a larger more powerful yacht capable of bringing the silverware home. In 1928 at Joe Whites Malthouse in Collingwood, Acrospire IV was being secretly built with the express intention of winning the Sayonara Cup. She was the 4th and largest Acrospire that Commodore Joe White had commissioned.
At Victoria’s Centenary Regatta in 1934 Acrospire IV scooped the pool in the A1 class. At the Royal Hobart Centenary Regatta, she won the 100 mile Bruny Island race in atrocious conditions, and set a race record time that stood until the mid eighties. She also won the Cactus, Sir Earnest Clarke, Sir Thomas Lipton and John Colvin Cups along with the Grand Aggregate Trophy.
In 1960 following the death of Joe White, Acrospire IV was sold to a syndicate from the R. Y. C. V. Acrospire IV was used in training Jock Sturrock’s America’s Cup team against the slightly larger Gretal, Acrospire showed impressive speed and handling by beating her larger rival on a number of occasions.
She was sold to Western Australia in 1971, where she remains to this day.
She has recently returned to her winning ways by securing the 2012 Fremantle Harbour Classic, 2012 P & O Fremantle to Rockingham Trophy, 2013 Fremantle to Rockingham Kwinana Industries Trophy and the 2013 Oswald Family perpetual Trophy for the overall winner at the Sail Mandurah Regatta.
Originally Gaffed Rigged for the first year of 1930, she was then fitted with the new configuration mast at the time being a ¾ Bermudan rig. An aluminium Mast head rig was fitted around 1978 and then the current mast configuration was put on in 2010.
The current owner became the custodian of Acrospire in 2007. Over the past decade Acrospire IV has been lovingly restored to her former glory from the keel up. No screw has been left unturned! The extensive restoration is estimated to of cost in the vicinity of $300,000. Some additional creature comforts have been tastefully designed into the interior, and she is now comfortably setup for overnight or even weekends away.
Provenance (The Wall of Remembrance – The Owners, Crew & Notable Guest):
Owner/Guardian: (1929-1960) – Joe White, Commodore of the St. Kilda Yacht Club
Owner/Guardian: (1960-1971) – Syndicate from the R. Y. C. V.
Owner/Guardian: (1971-2007) – Western Australia
Owner/Guardian: (2007) –
The yacht was built by the newly created firm Peel Bros, owned and run by Charlie and his brother Harold. Their shed was on the Maribyrnong River near Shepherd’s Bridge. ACROSPIRE II was one of the largest racing yachts designed for the inland lakes in Victoria at that time. White’s first ACROSPIRE remains elusive, but one newspaper record shows it raced in a mixed fleet including the 7.6m long IDLER (HV000475) suggesting it may have been one of the early square-sterned racing yachts popular on Port Phillip in the early 1900s. His third yacht ACROSPIRE III was a large gaff cutter. The name ACROSPIRE is taken from the term that relates to a stage in the grain used in brewing. When it has grown its first shoot it is the right time to use the grain, and that shoot is called the ‘acropsire’. Joe White owned a malthouse, so the name was very apt.
