Andrew ShortAndrew Short

1961 – 2009

Andrew Short was a unique individual. He was enormously likeable, gregarious, selfless, generous, enthusiastic, able and willing. He was also a very capable and successful businessman whose passion was boats and the boating industry.
His sport of choice was sailing, in particular yacht racing.  At approximately 0238 hours on Saturday 10 October, his yacht PCW Shockwave V hit Flinders Island off Wollongong while racing. Both Andrew Short and crewmember Sally Gordon lost their lives in a tragic yachting accident that stunned the sailing community around the world.
Shorty, as he was best known, was a ‘Willy’ kid, a term given to kids who were born and raised in Williamstown at the mouth of the Yarra River on the north western shore of Port Phillip Bay.
Born to Fred and Joan Short on January 10 1961, Andrew was the second youngest in a family of four boys, Matthew, Ian and Jonathon.
As a young lad Andrew learnt much from his father who, after giving away a life as a professional fisherman, took a position as General Manager of the boat building company J.J. Savage & Sons.
At the time little did he know that this would plant the seeds for what would ultimately mould a career and fashion his identity as a leader in the very competitive leisure boating industry.
When Andrew was just 10, Fred took his family on a sea trip into Bass Strait across to King Island and then to the north coast of Tasmania to Flinders Island and home via Wilsons Promontory. Memories of this voyage stayed with Andrew all his life teaching him the vagaries of the temperamental Bass Strait. This whetted Andrew’s appetite for the boating industry even more.
He was educated at Williamstown Primary before attending Essendon Grammar School until year 10.
Shorty’s sailing career commenced at the age of eight crewing with his older brother Matt in the international class Cadet dinghy in a boat called Skeeta built by Savage Boats. A season later he was skippering a boat provided by friend John  Molloy in which he finished second in the National Championships.
Fred Short then acquired the 30-footer Pajen and this was Andrew’s introduction to ocean racing. At age 12 Andrew competed aboard Pajen in the Melbourne to Hobart race finishing third overall.
As the boys grew older Fred Short bought the well known Victorian yacht Mary Blair and following several years of successful competition on Port Phillip Bay and the Melbourne – Hobart Fred loaded the family aboard the ‘Blair’ and sailed to Sydney settling in the Sutherland Shire.
At 16, Shorty commenced work with Bell and Howell Electronics. Long time friend, Bill Cutbush, the company’s General Manager took young Andrew under his wing, training him as an electronics technician before he decided to assist his parents Fred and Joan at their new yacht building business, Defiance Yachts and later at Sea-Al aluminium boats where he learnt all aspects of boat building.
In 1982 Andrew established his own retail operation, Andrew Short Marine operating from his parents’ Taren Point factory selling Mercury and Mariner brand outboards. It wasn’t long before Andrew Short Marine became a major force in the leisure marine industry winning many accolades and awards including the Searay International Dealer of the Year in 2004.
He enjoyed a full and wonderful sailing career. At 18 he regularly travelled to Melbourne with brother Ian to sail aboard the Kaufman design Mercedes IV and Alan Bond’s Apollo II. At 19 he competed in his first Sydney to Hobart aboard Mercedes IV.
In 1982 Short finished third in the JOG National Championships in Williamstown and later, sailing again with brother Ian and close mate Gary Vaughan, won the J24 Class State Championships three times and the Nationals four times. He also won the Australian Championships in the Magic 25, a class he dominated not only in Australia but also New Zealand and Hong Kong.
Andrew competed in many Hobart races aboard some of the country’s best known yachts including Diamond Cutter with the late Allan Sweeney, Bushfire, Ray Stone’s Kings Cross, Bobsled, Amazon with Peter Walker, Nicorette, Nokia and in all five of his own boats that include Innkeeper, the Sydney 38 Short Circuit, Djuice, Brindabella and his favourite yacht Shockwave V.
Andrew Short was a champion. Above all he was a dedicated and devoted husband and father who loved his family beyond all else. He is survived by wife Kylie, his sons Sam, Nicholas, Ryan, Mitchell and daughter Maddison, his parents Fred and Joan and families.
Patrick Bollen