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Graham Mander

Innovative sailor Graham Mander passes away

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Graham Mander might have become the first New Zealand sailor to win an Olympic gold medal if brotherly rivalry had been a bit stronger.

Graham, who passed away recently into his 90th year, narrowly missed out on winning selection in the Sharpie for the 1956 Melbourne Olympics, when his brother Peter Mander won gold with Jack Cropp. The brothers had been rivals at the Olympic trials, and a different result could potentially been achieved if Graham had acted more swiftly.

"Graham, very reluctant to protest his brother, belatedly lodged a protest from the first race of the trials, which he won," said Nick Tolerton, who is helping write a centenary history of the Canterbury Yacht & Motor Boat Club. "Had he won the port-starboard protest, Peter would have been deprived of second-place points from that race and Graham would have gone to Melbourne instead. However, the sailing committee rejected the protest for being too late."

Graham finally managed to get to the Olympics, in Mexico in 1968, but as a reserve for Geoff Smale and Ralph Roberts who were eighth in the Flying Dutchman. 

The Manders were highly influential figures in Canterbury sailing, winning multiple national titles between them.

Graham twice did the Tanner and Tauranga Cup double in the P Class (1946, 1947) and followed it up with successes in the Z Class (1950), Idle Alongs (1954), R Class (1957, 1959, 1963, 1965) and X Class (1955, 1956, 1964). He even won the open trailer yacht national title in the mid-1980s with Peter, who passed away in 1998.

The majority of these victories were achieved in the major classes of the era and his wins in the X Class, used for the interprovincial Sanders Cup, were regarded at the Ranfurly Shield of yachting.

His success had a significant impact on young sailors in the region, including a young Peter Lester who went on to win the OK Dinghy world championships and Admirals Cup and had a long association with the America's Cup.

"Peter and Graham Mander were very influential for young yachties, not just in Canterbury," Lester said. "They were pretty legendary.

"He used to pop up to our place at lunchtime and give us some encouragement and words of advice. We would have the P Class on the front lawn and Graham would cast his eye over that. His nickname was Happy because he was usually pretty serious, but he was a really nice person."

He was also a very creative one and his biggest impact was on the R Class, which was a precursor to modern-day skiffs.

"At that time you couldn’t buy a boat or equipment," Lester said. "You had to do it yourself.

"He was very creative when it came to design and even with equipment he was very capable of building stuff. He was pretty damn handy with the tools. He had the ability to think outside the square, like a lot of Kiwis in sailing are now."

Graham was on hand at the Pleasant Point Yacht Club's centennial celebration in February when he ran his eye over Jest, the Sharpie class yacht in which Peter Mander and Cropp won New Zealand's first Olympic sailing gold medal.

It's likely it would have brought back memories of those Olympic trials in the mid-1950s and what might have been.

Mander and Cropp
Peter Mander and Jack Cropp.
Banner photo: Graham Mander and Jack Cropp. Photo: Nick Tolerton.