INTERNATIONAL MAN OF IDEAS
Walter Marks, Commodore of the Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club in Sydney, was a high powered influencer: pre-war, he was working on three major schemes to raise the profile of Australian yacht racing. The first involved negotiating for an ‘Ocean Race’ between Sydney and New Zealand, for a new ‘Tasman Cup’; the second was entering an Australian metre boat into the upcoming 1916 Olympics in Germany. A total of £900 was raised at a banquet by the Royal Prince Alfred, when welcoming their Commodore home; the aim was at least an 8-Metre, and up to a 10-Metre depending on further crowdfunding. The scheme was catching on in Australia as late as July 1914, with Marks declaring loudly that Aussie sailors would be highly successful at Keil and Cowes Week in 1916. For his third and final plan, Marks had bought Curlew, the Hobart One Design champion boat, to form a new class which he hoped would to be adopted by all serious Australian and New Zealand yacht clubs, to facilitate competition between them.
His status as “the moving spirit of Australian yachting” in Britain, which he saw as the yacht racing capital of the world, was growing exponentially: his
