Mrs Vicious, 1968, Sailfish
Length: 3.1m, Beam: 1m, Draft: 0.3m
Propulsion: Sail
Construction: Timber
Owner: Robert Champion
Mrs Vicious was built by 17 yr old and then current Victorian senior and junior state sailfish titleholder Leigh Marriott at Castlemaine Vic. Leigh (Cairn Curran SC) wanted a new boat to challenge for the inaugural National Titles at Elwood, Dec ’68 – Jan ’69, which he narrowly won. Most of the original gear remains, including timber spars, cane battens and several ‘home-made’ fittings. The mast was innovative at the time having an oval cross section to reduce sideways bend.
Legend has it that Leigh named the boat after his mum! It seems that he earned mum’s extreme displeasure, which she did not hesitate to express very forthrightly, by spending far more time building Mrs V than on his (far more important?) Matriculation study. Leigh gave away competitive sailing after the 1968/69 titles and sadly passed away some time ago. The whereabouts of Mrs V was discovered by Chris Drury (Southwest Vic ‘fish reporter) several years ago and the Marriott family were delighted to have her passed on to the sailfish community. Custodianship was bestowed to Greg Barwick, who meticulously restored her to her former glory, and then Rob Champion, a “second generation” CCSC ‘fish sailor who cut his teeth (and learned a lot) chasing Leigh, Oliver Parnaby and others around CC in the late 60s.
Following damage to the aging deck in 2023 it was expertly replaced, along with some internal repair, by Ralph Ballard, our local boat-builder-extraordinaire in January 2025. New Unique sail this year.
