12 m2 Sharpie

Lore & Background

The 12 m2 Sharpie was designed in 1931 by the Kröger Brothers in Warnemünde, Germany. The class reached its peak at the 1956 Melbourne Olympic Games, where Rolly Tasker and John Scott won a silver medal in this boat. (Australia's first Olympic sailing medal was actually a silver won by Jock Sturrock and crew in the 5.5 Metre class earlier in those same Games.) The original design has been preserved, and the class is still sailed competitively in the UK, The Netherlands, Germany, and Portugal, with European Championships rotated among these four countries each year.

Reader's Guide

The 12 m2 Sharpie holds significance as an Olympic class that produced notable Australian champions, including Sir James Hardy, John Cuneo, Rolly Tasker, and John Bertrand. Rolly Tasker's silver medal at the 1956 Melbourne Games marked Australia's first sailing medal. Though the class has not been sailed competitively at international level since the 1960s, original boats remain in Australia and Brazil. The class is one of the Vintage classes for the 2018 Vintage Yachting Games. Its legacy includes the evolution in Australia from the original 'heavyweight' Sharpie into the lightweight Australian Sharpie. The term 'Twelve Square Metre' derives from the original sail area of 12 square metres, though modern designs may reach up to 16 square metres. When racing in a mixed fleet, the 12 m2 Sharpie carries a Portsmouth number of 1026.

Did You Know?

• The 12 m2 Sharpie was designed in 1931 by the Kröger Brothers in Warnemünde, Germany.
• Rolly Tasker and John Scott won a silver medal in the 12 m2 Sharpie at the 1956 Melbourne Olympic Games, though Australia's first Olympic sailing medal was actually a silver won by Jock Sturrock and crew in the 5.5 Metre
• The European Championships for the class are rotated annually among the UK, The Netherlands, Germany, and Portugal.
• In Australia, the original 'heavyweight' Sharpie evolved into the lightweight Australian Sharpie.

Origins & Sail Evolution

The 12 m2 Sharpie traces its roots to 1931, when the Kröger Brothers of Warnemünde, Germany, crafted a design that would go on to capture the imagination of sailors across multiple continents. The boat's very name is a nod to its original sail area, which measured approximately twelve square metres, or roughly 129 square feet. Over the decades, however, the class has not remained frozen in time. Modern interpretations of the Sharpie have pushed sail designs upward to around sixteen square metres, equivalent to approximately 172 square feet, giving contemporary crews a slightly more powerful canvas while still honouring the spirit of the original. Despite these incremental evolutions, the fundamental design philosophy laid down by the Kröger Brothers endures, and the class continues to be recognised as a distinct and competitive sailing category well into the twenty-first century.

Olympic Glory & the Australian Connection

The 1956 Melbourne Olympic Games stand as the crowning moment in the 12 m2 Sharpie's competitive history. It was at those Games that Rolly Tasker, partnered with John Scott, claimed a silver medal in the class, a result that marked Australia's very first sailing medal at the Olympic level. The achievement cemented the Sharpie's place in Australian sporting memory and elevated the class to a new level of international prestige. Australia's connection to the Sharpie runs deep beyond that single podium finish. A lineage of national champions has passed through the ranks over the years, including Sir James Hardy, John Cuneo, and John Bertrand, each adding their name to the class's storied record. The 1956 Melbourne event remains the high-water mark of the class's Olympic journey, a moment when a German-designed boat from 1931 delivered one of the most significant results in Australian sailing history.

A Living Class Across Four Nations

Remarkably, the 12 m2 Sharpie is not merely a museum piece. The original design has been carefully preserved, and the class remains actively sailed in competitive regattas across four countries: the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Germany, and Portugal. These nations form a rotating circuit, with the European Championships moving from one country to the next on an annual basis, ensuring that the class stays vibrant and that sailors from each nation get the chance to host the event. This four-country rotation gives the Sharpie a distinctive European identity in the modern era, even though its roots stretch back to the Kröger Brothers' workshop in Warnemünde. The fact that a boat conceived in 1931 continues to generate fresh competition, new champions, and annual championship cycles speaks to the enduring appeal of its hull form and sailing characteristics.

Legacy, Evolution & the Vintage Circuit

While the 12 m2 Sharpie's most competitive international era in Australia and Brazil stretched through the 1960s, the class has not faded into obscurity. A small number of original Sharpies still exist in both Australia and Brazil, serving as tangible links to the boat's earlier competitive days. In Australia specifically, the original so-called heavyweight Sharpie gave rise to a distinct evolution: the lightweight Australian Sharpie, a variant that carried the design's spirit forward in a different form. On the international stage, the class continues to be recognised within the broader vintage yachting community. It was included as one of the Vintage classes at the 2018 Vintage Yachting Games, a testament to its ongoing relevance. When the Sharpie shares a course with other classes in a mixed fleet, it is identified by a Portsmouth number of 1026, a small but meaningful marker of its place within the wider world of competitive sailing.