| Andrew Spring | |
|---|---|
 Amity, the Diamond owned by Andrew Spring. Photo by Photo Patrol  Amity, the Diamond owned by Andrew Spring. Photo by Photo Patrol  Andrew Spring and Peter Clarke 1964 | |
| Gender | Male |
| Status | Deceased |
| Nationality | Australian |
| Hometown | Sydney |
| Club | Middle Harbour Yacht Club |
| Boat Owner of | Amity Diamond Amity Soling |
Andrew Spring
From son Andrew Spring
"My dad, Andrew Spring, was very active at Middle Harbour Yacht Club in the 60's, 70's and 80's. He first raced a YW Diamond and then a Soling, both called Amity. They are both listed at the top of the Honour Board in the Club Bar. He passed away 18 months ago aged 91 and we had his memorial at the Club. He & Bruce Richie introduced the YW Diamond Class to the Club, which later then morphed into the hot Soling fleet that raced there throughout the 70's. John Hurley was his sheet hand on the Soling. He also was very active in setting up the Adams 10's with John Partridge, Andrew Clinton Snr etc. He helped rig Andrew's A10 Senang, and also was heavily involved in setting up Defiance when first built, and was part of the original crew.
He also did a lot of tuning of both Diamond Cutter I and Diamond Cutter II - Allan Sweeney was a good friend.
But one design was his passion, he never liked handicap or IOR racing offshore. He sailed in the 1974 Soling Worlds held by RPAYC of Palm Beach. Mum had a Half model made of the Diamond Amity, I thought it was lost but we found it in the back of cupboard in the garage after Dad passed. I would like to donate it, plus a couple of skite plates, to the Club. The name Amity sits on that board, it would be good to add some context."
These articles and pictures are from his scrapbook given to me by his son Drew Spring.
Andrew was a member of MHYC from ??? and had the following boats:
* Amity Diamond - from ??? to ???
* Amity Soling from ???? to ???
* Moonshadow (MH169) in 1975
* Bluebird Tyrant 1977
Amity Soling | Amity, The Soling was owned by Andrew Spring from 1970s Booth Tops in Solings Trio sailed by Kevin Winterbottom, beats to windward in Heat 2 of the Middle Harbour Soling Championships. Winterbottom will ... new HMG boat for the State titles. BOOTH TOPS IN SOLINGS NORMAN BOOTH in 'Adios' with his all star crew, Carl Ryves and Pod O'Donnell, won the three-heat Middle Harbour Soling Championships after getting a third in the final heat. A wind change from south east to east just before the start of the final heat last Saturday saw a group of leeward end starters get a big jump on the rest of the fleet, which was some three to four minutes behind. With the breeze temporarily dying with the change, many boats, including 'Alexia' sailed by Jamie Wilmot, wallowed on the line while the port-end group bolted away on port tack into a strengthening breeze further up the bay. Trevor Beardsmore sailing 'Minx' was first around the first mark, but Max Whitnall in 'Siandra' soon took the lead. Whitnall stayed there to win comfortably by 1m 40s from Kevin Winterbottom sailing 'Trio', who was a close 10s ahead of 'Adios'. Back in the fleet, the easterly breeze which never got above 10 knots was not enough to save 'Alexia', who slumped from 10th place to end up 16th and third overall. 'Terror' owned by Bob Durrett and sailed by ex-Flying Dutchman sailor Ian Robertson, was second overall and so made it two Abbott-built Solings in the first two places. Wilmot was third overall in the Championships, with Andrew Spring, the current top Middle Harbour Soling skipper in 'Amity', equal fourth with Lee Cooper in 'Zero'. With the NSW State Soling Championships now only a week away, the results of the Middle Harbour Championships are worth noting. Dave Forbes will be sailing a new HMG boat; they are said to be even better set out than the imported Abbott boats. He and Norm Booth in 'Adios' must rate as favourites. If Wilmot can improve his light weather speed, which is somewhat hampered by his two heavy crewmen James Cook and 'Alexia's' owner Ken Berkeley, he could be the skipper to beat. Wilmot Soling Star 26th Oct 1973 'Battle Axe VI' sailed by Bill Kopsen beats to windward with a torn mainsail in the 30 knot blow on Middle Harbour last Saturday. She was competing in Heat 1 of the Middle Harbour Soling Championships - the first real inter-fleet event for the class this season. WITH TRUE CHAMPION'S FORM, current Fireball national champion Jamie Wilmot, sailing the current national champion Soling 'Alexia', convincingly won Round 1 of the Middle Harbour Soling Championships last Saturday. While some of the top Soling names were absent from the entry sheet, Wilmot still had to contend with some pretty hot competition; Middle Harbour is now considered the hottest Soling fleet in NSW. In a difficult north wester and with extra harbour traffic, due to the opening of the Sydney Opera House, Wilmot with super-star (and heavy) crewmen James Cook and Ken Berkeley, who owns 'Alexia', won by a solid three minutes. Second to Wilmot was another young ex-small boat champion Phil Susans, sailing his newly acquired Soling 'Cynara III'. Like Wilmot, he used his heavy all-up crew weight to make the most of the 30 knot gusts on the last beat to the finish, and grabbed second place. Early leader in the race after a running start was Andrew Spring in 'Amity', with Norman Booth in his new imported Canadian Abbott boat 'Adios' a close second. After rounding the mark off Quarantine Beach, 'Amity' dropped her spinnaker for the reach to the South Reef mark. 'Adios' decided to carry her spinnaker on the reach, but soon got into difficulty with it and after a round-up Booth dropped the extra, having lost second place to Susans in the interval. On the first beat to the Grotto Point mark, Spring got caught on the wrong side of a shift in the breeze, and lost out to both Wilmot and Susans who had picked the wind shift to advantage. Wilmot grabbed the lead by the third mark and using a small reaching spinnaker in the fresh gusty conditions was able to maintain his lead from then on. On the beat back from the South Reef mark to the finish off Middle Harbour Yacht Club, the breeze which had been gusting above 20 knots, started to gust to 30 knots. Despite losing his mainsail battens, Wilmot, who weighs only 7½ stone, used the 30-odd stone combination of Cook and Berkeley to drive 'Alexia' to a clear three minute win. After Susans, Lee Cooper in 'Zero' took third place with Ian Robertson sailing another imported Abbott boat 'Terror', owned by crewman Bob Terrett, at fourth. 'Wirong' sailed by Tony Denham was fifth, with 'Amity' taking sixth place after losing five places by being caught on the wrong side of a shift for a second time. Seventh place went to 'Adios'. For some competitors the breeze proved too much, and Mal Anderson in 'Brolga' lost his mast while Bill Kopsen in 'Battle Axe VI' ripped his mainsail in two. 'Battle Axe' did not seem to be too worried by her torn mainsail, however, and held her place to finish well up in the fleet. Forbes' Perfect Score in Solings 1970s  Andrew Spring and Bill Solamon 1974 Worlds RPAYC DAVID FORBES, Olympic gold medal sailor in Stars, left no doubts about the world Soling titles when he notched up a perfect score in the NSW Soling titles last weekend. Sailing off Palm Beach where the Soling world titles will be sailed in two months time, Forbes took his new boat 'Pocohontas' to a win in the final two heats of the NSW titles. Three previous wins and a fourth place gave him a perfect score of zero in the five-heat series, with one discard. In last Saturday's race, 'Pocohontas' won by 1m 53s from 'Alexia' (Jamie Wilmot), with 'Terror' (Ian Robertson) third. Top Middle Harbour Soling sailor Andrew Spring, who was a close second to Forbes for most of the race, was unlucky to lose his for'ard hand over the side in a quick tack only yards short of the line. Spring ended up fourth across the line. Saturday's race was sailed in a moderate 12 to 15 knot north-easterly breeze with choppy waves. In Wednesday's fourth heat the breeze had been lighter and Forbes had powered off to an all-the-way lead in a lumpy swell. On Wednesday Ian Robertson, sailing Bob Terrett's imported Abbott boat 'Terror', had placed second ahead of Norman Booth in 'Adios'. While the fleet stayed very close together on Wednesday's race, it was more spread out by the end of Saturday's. One of the most interesting results of the state titles has been the dispelling of myths surrounding exotic imported hulls. Rob Antill sailed the rather old and standard 'Piranha' to a 3m 20s win in the first heat of the series. While Forbes is using a new HMG-built boat, his speed is more a case of well-set gear. Forbes uses North sails with his spreaders set up in line with the mast and generally his rig looks powerful to suit the heavy crew in his boat. David Forbes' early domination of the highly competitive Soling class seems to be due to his ability to gain a fractionally better boat speed over everyone else, besides the ability to get good starts and a lead early in the race. Overall results of the NSW Soling titles, which are not a selection series for the world titles, are:
Soling to Master Tactician May 1973 Mike Fletcher rounds the bottom mark in tenth place in the crucial fifth heat of the Soling NSW state title. The wind died and Fletcher picked his way up to fourth place and secured the championships by 3.3 points from Rob Antill, winner of the fifth heat. MIKE FLETCHER, sailmaker and master tactician bested a hot fleet to win the Soling NSW championships which ended in the dark in drift conditions last Saturday. Going into the fifth and final heat last Saturday Fletcher on 13.7 points had a slim 5.3 point lead over Middle Harbour sailor, Andrew Spring in 'Amity'. Breaking the start in the fifth heat, Fletcher had to return and he rounded the first windward mark in 23rd place. At that stage he looked far from winning the series. Yet after only one lap the light westerly fizzled to a drift, and Fletcher, sailing 'Bumblebee', showed cool determination as he picked his way up through the fleet. At the end of one lap Rob Antill in 'Piranha' was the clear leader. Fletcher was back in tenth place, having got ahead of his nearest points rivals Spring and Bob Miller. Miller was sailing a chartered boat in the series, called 'Imposter', while his own 'Alexia' was being shipped to Europe for the World's. With the race shortened to finish after a run and a windward beat, 'Piranha' still took three hours to finish in darkness. Mal Anderson in 'Brolga' was next, just beating Kevin Winterbottom in 'Trio' after a tight tacking duel near the line. Fletcher placed fourth, well ahead of his main points rivals to take the series by 3.3 points from Antill. The series started well for Fletcher with a third in the first heat and a win in the second. The weather varied, with the first heat on Easter Friday seeing close racing in a 12 knot south-wester. From the start Spring showed good boat speed with his Miller and Whitworth gear to be first around every mark and eventual winner. Ex National Champion Bob Miller lacked the boat speed on the harbour course, and from the start of the series never looked happy despite having National Champion, John Bertrand as his for'ard hand. However, Miller placed second in the first heat, his best place in the series. Caption Mike Fletcher rounds the bottom mark in tenth place in the crucial fifth heat of the Soling NSW state title. The wind died and Fletcher picked his way up to fourth place and secured the championships by 3.3 points from Rob Antill, winner of the fifth heat. Close Finishing for Solings April 1973 Four fight it outFour skippers are in the running to win the International Soling State championship which ends on the Harbour tomorrow. The close racing in this Olympic class has been the highlight of Easter yacht racing in Sydney. Leading after four heats is Mike Fletcher, sailing Bumblebee, who is on 13.7 points after discarding his worst heat. He has had a third, a first, a fourth and a ninth. Fletcher is closely followed by Andrew Spring, sailing Amity, on 19 points, Olympian Bob Miller in Imposter on 21.7 and Kevin Winterbottom in Trio on 23. Miller was disqualified from the fourth heat after Fletcher had protested that Imposter had been under tow after the five-minute gun. This resulted from the starting line being set for a southerly course on the eastern side of Bradley's Head - out of sight of most of the fleet who had sailed up to Kirribilli expecting a south-east course. Only five of the 30-boat fleet got to the start on time. In tomorrow's final heat Miller will have to win with Fletcher fourth or worse to take the title. Spring will have to win with Fletcher third or worse to come out on top.
The state championship for the International Fireball class saw one place in the final heat decide the title on Botany Bay. Coming into the fifth heat, national champions Jamie Wilmot and James Cook, in James II, were level on points with the third on 11 points. Victorian brothers John and Buster Hooper in Sir Juicer. Each had had two firsts, one second and one third. In a thrilling race it meant now, with the Hoopers second, to give a final point score of 4½ points to 5½.
Peta (Bob Lowndes) won the World Champion in the International Contender class, Peter Hollis of Queensland, showed his outstanding skill in the ship-Dominion championship on the Harbour. Sailing Bon Vivante, he won four races and finished second in the other to gain an effortless victory over the New Zealand champion Neville Beetson in Aquino. Victorian Ian Crisp finished third in Tariel. Photo caption: One of the top contenders for the International Soling State championship, Amity (Andrew Spring), races on the Harbour last weekend. Thirty Yachts miss Start in Title Fleet - 1970s By BOB ROSS Only five of the 36 entries reached the line in time for the start of the fourth heat of the Soling class State championship on Sydney Harbour yesterday. The bulk of the fleet went to the wrong starting area through a misunderstanding over the course. While race officials from the Woollahra Sailing Club were laying the southerly course with starting line off Georges Head, most of the Solings assembled near Kirribilli, anticipating a south-easterly course. Bradleys Head obscured one starting area from the other. Finally, realising the southerly course was being set, the Solings near Kirribilli frantically sailed the two miles to Georges Head, but the race was started on time. A protest entered against the race committee by Trio (Kevin Winterbottom), was dismissed. Another was entered by Bumblebee (Mike Fletcher) against Imposter (Bob Miller), alleging Imposter was under tow after the five-minute preparatory gun. The protest against Imposter was upheld and Imposter was disqualified from the race. The race was won by Brolga (Malcolm Anderson), one of the two Solings to lose its mast in the southerly buster that hit heat four on Sunday. Anderson and his crew worked late into the night and early yesterday to rig a spare mast in Brolga. Boomerang (Bill Solomons) was the early leader - one of the five boats to be near the starting line at gunfire. FIVE SECONDSBut under three-way pressure from Brolga, Piranha (Rob Antill) and Solong (Ian Ford) on the final windward beat, Boomerang was outmanoeuvred. Brolga won by five seconds from Piranha with another 40 seconds to Boomerang which shot the line just one second ahead of Solong. The points leaders, all late for the start, finished out of the major placings. Imposter was sixth, Bumblebee tenth and Amity (Andrew Spring) 12th. With worst placings discarded and one heat to be sailed next weekend, Bumblebee leads with 13.7 points lost from Amity, 19, Imposter 21.7, Trio 23, Brolga 24, and Piranha 25. Jamie Wilmot and Jim Cook in James II finally defeated the Victorian champion crew John and Buster Hooper, sailing Sir Juicer, in the final heat of the Fireball State championship on Botany Bay yesterday. James II led from the start in a light south-easterly to win from Sir Juicer with Peta (Bob Lowndes) third. The final points were James II 4½, Sir Juicer 5½, Peta 11, Non Sequiter (Ian Bryden) 17 and Baroness (John Hardie) 31. The New Zealand champion Neville Beetson won the sixth heat of the Contender Inter-Dominion championship at Woollahra yesterday to secure the runner-up position. Peter Hollis (Queensland), with four wins and a second in the previous heats, won the series with three points lost. Beetson finished with a loss of 27 points, Victorian Ian Crisp was next with 29.7, followed by Robin Hawthorne (NSW) 47.1 and Campbell Pardey (NSW) 56.7. Wind Whips Yachts 1970s State champion Dave Forbes scored a comfortable win in the first heat of the King Haakon's Cup for the Soling class during Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron's championship regatta in violent winds on the harbour yesterday. Forbes won by about three minutes from Amity (Andrew Spring) with Brolga (Malcolm Anderson) a similar margin away third. The wind increased from 15 knots at the start to 30 at the finish but Forbes had a definite speed advantage in all wind strengths and led all the way. Norman Booth, in his new 5.5-metre Southern Cross IV, won the first heat of the Australian Gold Cup from the boat he owned previously, Southern Cross III, skippered by Bob Smith. Australian champion Baragoola (Russell Slade) was third. Rawhiti (Ted Albert) won the first heat of the Milson Silver Goblet championship for Dragons. Graham Nock sailed Yellowtail to an easy win in the Hood 23 State championship from Porpoise (H. Faerber) and Wanamara (Frank Small). Defending champion Gary Sheard, of Victoria, won the first and second heats in the Australian Quickcat class championship on the harbour. The strong wind almost halved the Northbridge Senior 14 Australian championship fleet in Botany Bay. The wind and a bad chop formed by it against the ebbing tide caused many capsizes, broken masts and rudders. Only 22 of the 42 starters finished. Lunatic Fringe (Roger Smith) was the winner from Witchway (Bruce Hewish) and Twilight (Phil Darby). - BOB ROSS General Articles Soling RSYS Australian Champs  John Hurley (left), of Mosman and Paul Knight, of Kirribilli have their sights set on the Soling world yachting title right now. Here, they prepare Andrew Spring's Amity at MHYC  National Championships 3rd Jan 1978 |
Amity Diamond | Amity, The Diamond was owned by Andrew Spring from .........................................................................................................................................................................  Amity, the Diamond owned by Andrew Spring. Photo by Photo Patrol  Amity, the Diamond owned by Andrew Spring. Photo by Photo Patrol  Boat Model of Amity, the Diamond Results of the Middle Harbour Regatta 1969 RESULTS MIDDLE HARBOR REGATTA 1969 Diamond: Amity (A. Spring) 1,Bounty (D. Turner) 2,Dandy (E. Bowen) 3. International Soling Class: Meltemi (T. Malone) 1,Trio (K. Winterbottom) 2,Mandy (A. Redstone) 3. Bluebird: Norelle (A. Hill) 1,Tarsus (G. Weaver) 2,Threave (J. Douglas) 3. Bluebird Scratch: Deryn Glas (K. Jones) 1,Hermione Kay (L. Peterson) 2,Lotchen III (J. Conroy) 3. Endeavour: Vladeree (R. Nicholson) 1. Div. 1: Catriona (J. Frank) 1,Thurloo (E. Merrington) 2,Viking (J. Maynard) 3; 28s., 33s. Div. 2: Yolanda (R. Gale) 1,Enterprise (M. Taylor) 2,Saga (D. Dickson) 3; 57s., 4s. Div. 3: Kalinda (F. Humphreys) 1,Pysche (S. Prentice) 2,Ranger (D. Gale) 3; 1m. 23s., 1m. 3s. Div. 4: Sparkle (T. Moody) 1,Senyah (G. Hill) 2,Sweet Morgan (E. Slocombe) 3; 2m. 52s., 14s. Div. 5: Kioloa II (B. Walker) 1,Odette (P. Borwn) 2,Tarpon (B. Ironside) 3; 2m. 13s., 1m. 31s. . MHYC Yearly Pointscore 1971  Amity The Diamond RACING AFFAIRS - MIDDLE HARBOUR YACHT CLUBBLUEBIRD DIVISIONSPRING POINT SCORE
ANNUAL POINT SCORE
NEW YEAR POINT SCORE
CHAMPIONSHIP POINT SCORE
ENDEAVOUR DIVISIONSPRING POINT SCORE
ANNUAL POINT SCORE
NEW YEAR POINT SCORE
CHAMPIONSHIP POINT SCORE
HOOD DIVISIONSPRING POINT SCORE
ANNUAL POINT SCORE
NEW YEAR POINT SCORE
CHAMPIONSHIP POINT SCORE
Y.W. DIAMOND DIVISIONSPRING POINT SCORE
ANNUAL POINT SCORE
NEW YEAR POINT SCORE
FLEET CHAMPIONSHIP
SOLING DIVISIONNEW YEAR POINT SCORE
MHYC ENDEAVOUR 26 DIVISION POINT SCORE RACE AND INVITATION RACESaturday, November 22, 1975 Time of Start: 1.05 p.m.
RESULTS OF RACE HELD 15.11.1975Handicap
Scratch
NOTE: RESULTS OF RACE HELD 8.11.1975Handicap
Scratch
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Other | MHYC Weekly ResultsFeaturing Amity Andrew Spring  MHYC Weekend Results 1968_11  MHYC Weekend Results 1969_10  MHYC Weekend Results 1972_03_05  MHYC Weekend Results 1977_11_30  MHYC Weekend Results 1972_09_22 Flying Ant Crewing with Robert Wilmot is Drew Spring and Graeme Fergusson Taking the windAstute skippering by Rodney Beurteaux enabled WA yacht Ajax III (right) to take the lead at this point in the second heat of the Australian Flying Ant championship sailed on the Swan River yesterday. He sailed to the windward, stealing the breeze from NSW yacht Triumphant skippered by Bob Wilmot (Robert Wilmot). Beurteaux, who holds the title, has won both heats of the championship.
Caption says Guess the handsome guy on the trap - It is Andrew's son Drew |