Vale: Hugh Treharne – The Complete Sailor
Hugh Treharne, one of the greatest sailors of the 20th Century, has died in Sydney aged 84.
The range of his achievements in the sport is unparalleled. It was only his self-effacing nature – and the fact that he spent so much of his time sailing other people’s boats – that kept him in the background while other, more forceful, sailing personalities captured the public’s attention.
It is remarkable that Treharne did not come from a sailing background. Born in 1943 to a country family in Forbes, NSW, his father worked as an engineer at Garden Island during WWII. When peace came Hugh’s father was offered a choice of business opportunities: buy a pig farm near Bathurst, or a boatshed at North Harbour in Sydney. He bought the boatshed at Fairlight, and young Hugh’s love affair with sailing and the sea began. He left high school in his fourth year to take up an apprenticeship with Laurie Mitchell, the local sail maker, and was soon crewing on 16-footers with the respected ‘hard men’ of the Manly skiff club. At just 17 his ability was so obvious that Treharne was offered the helm of a leading 18-footer, The Fox.
By 1970 he’d won the World Championship. That win brought him to the attention of Syd Fischer, an ambitious skipper who was always on the lookout for new young sailing talent. Fischer had chartered Stormy Petrel to contest the World One Ton Cup in Auckland. With Hugh as his tactician they won, and Treharne then became a regular helmsman on Ragamuffin. He was with Fischer again for the 1971 Admiral’s Cup when they won the Fastnet Race – the first Australian yacht to do so. Treharne is probably the only sailor to have finished 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th in the Sydney-Hobart (but liked to joke that he’d also come last at least once).
From his teenage years, when he watched Vim and Gretel charging up to the Manly rounding mark in practice races, Hugh was fascinated with the 12-metres and the mystique of the America’s Cup. In 1974 he joined with helmsman Jim Hardy for Alan Bond’s Southern Cross challenge. It was a tough introduction to the pinnacle of the sport, and taught Treharne much about American skullduggery. Treharne and Hardy formed a strong bond during that campaign and sailed together again as co-helmsmen on Impetuous in the 1979 Admiral’s Cup which concluded with the tragic Fastnet Race. It is now part of local offshore legend that all three Australian boats finished that horrific race, a feat of combined sailing skill and tenacity that won them the Admiral’s Cup.
Treharne will be best remembered for his role on Australia II when it won the 1983 America’s Cup. As tactician for John Bertrand he brought his unique instincts and immense experience to that challenge. Less well known is that the knowledge he’d acquired 20 years earlier as a sail maker would prove crucial when his re-cut of Australia II’s light air spinnaker helped pull them ahead in the deciding race. Hugh is also largely credited with calling the crucial gybe towards the slightly favourable breeze he’d spotted on the edge of the course during the last square run. But when Alan Bond gave Hugh his chance as helmsman for the 1987 Cup defence in Fremantle it turned out to be one of Treharne’s few unhappy campaigns. He was exhausted, under pressure to sort out his business affairs back in Sydney, and was driving a boat that never had the speed to match the Kookaburras.
Hugh was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in 2000 for his services to sailing, and in 2017 was an inaugural inductee into the Australian Sailing Hall of Fame for his role with the Australia II team. Treharne was a gentle and unassuming man who, after his retirement from top-level racing, was always quite happy to crew for far less capable skippers in club races. The President of Australian Sailing, Shevaun Bruland, said “On behalf of Australian Sailing I would like to send our condolences to Hugh’s family and many friends at this sad time. Hugh was a lifelong sailor, coach, and mentor whose passion for the sport never waned. He generously gave his time and expertise to countless sailors – from grassroots participants to world-class athletes – always with humility and an unwavering commitment to excellence.”
The passing of Fischer, Hardy and Treharne, within just a few years, has brought a distinguished era of Australian sailing to a close.
Written by David Salter
