Rolly Tasker

Rolland "Rolly" Tasker AM (21 March 1926 – 22 June 2012)[1] was an Australian sailor who won Australia's first Olympic sailing medal, at the 1956 Olympic Games in Melbourne. He and Malcolm (Huck) Scott won a silver medal in their 12m2 Sharpie after the New Zealander Peter Mander failed to disqualify himself and Rolly had not officially protested.[2][3] In 1958 Tasker won the Flying Dutchman World Championship.[4]

Not to be confused with Roly Tasker, an Australian rules footballer.

Rolly Tasker
Personal information
NationalityAustralian
Born21 March 1926
Died22 June 2012(2012-06-22) (aged 86)
Perth, Western Australia
Years active1953–2005
Medal record
Men's sailing
Representing  Australia
Olympic Games
1956 Melbourne 12 Square meter Sharpie

From 1969 to 1985 Tasker dominated ocean racing in Western Australia with five sister yachts all called Siska. In the 1978 Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race, Siska IV was denied official starter status on a technicality. Tasker started five minutes ahead of the fleet and crossed the finish line 20 hours ahead of line honours winner Apollo.[5][6] He won numerous other ocean racing events in his career including taking line honours and first place in the Queen Victoria Cup off Cowes, England. He competed in the disastrous 1979 Fastnet race, finishing third across the line.[7] In the Parmelia Yacht Race from Plymouth to Fremantle in 1979, he finished second in the line honours race, and was the fastest yacht for each of the two legs.[8]

Tasker was inducted into the Western Australian Hall of Champions in 1986 and the Sport Australian Hall of Fame in 1996. He became a Member of the Order of Australia in 2006 for his services to sailing.

He operated a sail-making business based in Phuket, Thailand called Rolly Tasker Sails.[9]

In April 2008 Tasker opened the Australian Sailing Museum in Mandurah, Western Australia, with exhibits of the America's Cup races from 1851 and famous sailors from Australian sailing competitions. Twelve lifelike icons of the sailing world form part of the display, along with over 200 model yacht fleet class examples on a scale 1" to the foot.

His biography, Sailing to the Moon was published in 2008. It is written by Roland Perry and describes Tasker's extensive sailing and business activities.[10]

In 2017, he was an inaugural inductee in the Australian Sailing Hall of Fame.[11]

References
  1. Wilcocks, Lana & Morison, Alan (22 June 2012) Phuket and Aussie sailing legend Rolly Tasker dies at 86
  2. W.A. Hall of Champions inductee booklet. (2006) Published by the Western Australian Institute of Sport
  3. Australia and Olympic sailing
  4. The History of Sailing in the Olympics
  5. Sport Australia Hall of Fame
  6. Siska "wins" but the champagne's for Apollo The Age, (1 Jan 1979) p15
  7. "Small yachts suffer most in 'freak' Fastnet storm". The Canberra Times. 53 (16, 032). Australian Capital Territory, Australia. 16 August 1979. p. 24. Retrieved 7 March 2018 – via National Library of Australia.
  8. "SAILING Independent Endeavour first home in Parmelia". The Canberra Times. 54 (16, 130). Australian Capital Territory, Australia. 23 November 1979. p. 17. Retrieved 7 March 2018 – via National Library of Australia.
  9. Rolly Tasker Sails website
  10. Irving, Mark (23 June 2012). "Tributes to yachting legend Rolly Tasker". The West Australian. Archived from the original on 24 June 2012. Retrieved 6 March 2018.
  11. "Sailing icon, Rolly Tasker, to be inducted into the Australian Sailing Hall of Fame". Australian Sailing Hall of Fame website. Retrieved 2 November 2017.
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