David, Peter and Graham Mander, at the Sanders Cup trials, Canterbury, 1957.

Photograph by Green & Hahn, reproduced courtesy of Graham Mander

R Class Salaam (1955) designed by Peter Mander, who twice sailed her to Leander Cup wins.

Photograph by W. Brynly-Keith, Sea Spray Collection, New Zealand Maritime Museum Hui Te Ananui a Tangaroa

18-footer Intrigue (1951), twice winner of the J. J. Giltinan Trophy. Intrigue brought to 18-footer contests two things Auckland yachties feared – gadgets and Manders! Peter Mander designed Intrigue and cut her sails. She was built by co-owners Bill Nicholson and Brian Wall.

Photographer unknown, courtesy of Graham Mander

Graham Mander’s Frenzy (1958) was one of his many successful R Class designs, which were widely copied.

Photograph by W. Brynly-Keith, reproduced courtesy of Graham Mander

GRAHAM AND PETER MANDER

Peter (1928–1998)
Graham (1931–)

Brothers Graham and Peter Mander were New Zealand’s top centreboard sailors of the mid 20th century, designing, building and racing their own yachts.

Centreboard celebrities

The Mander brothers of Christchurch were superb skippers from a young age. Between them, they won every major centreboard title in New Zealand. Peter won 16, despite being blind in one eye from the age of 13.

Among his various achievements, Graham skippered his way to win national titles for the four main classes of the 1940s and 1950s – P, Z, Idle Along and X – the only person to do so.

Younger brother David considered yachts a pastime rather than lifestyle, but still won three national titles.

GRAHAM AND PETER MANDER

Multi-talented ‘gadget men’

The brothers possessed a rare combination of skills. They designed and built most of the yachts they raced. They often cut the sails too – and even devised the rigs and fittings. They used equipment such as model aircraft propellers and boat weather vanes to study aerodynamics and drag reduction.

For their talents and endless quest for more speed, they were dubbed ‘the gadget men’.

PETER MANDER

Golden boy

Peter designed his first boat at 17, determined to find out ‘What made a boat tick?’

He became the first New Zealander to win the J. J. Giltinan Trophy twice (1952 and 1954), racing the 18-footer Intrigue (1951), which he designed.

His biggest triumph came at the 1956 Olympic Games. He and Jack Cropp won New Zealand’s first Olympic yachting gold in JEST, a boat that they, Graham, and Graeme Wilson built from demolition kauri.

Peter later won awards for his yachting contributions, in racing through to management.

GRAHAM MANDER

‘Designer of the family’

According to Peter, Graham was the real ‘designer of the family’, though Graham said they each drew lines as the need arose, and designs were often a joint effort.

Graham’s first design, the radical R Class Frantic (1949), blitzed others in the class and gave him an instant reputation. He later produced more top R Class yachts such as Radiant and Frenzy. His R Class designs were widely copied.

In 1955, his design won a New Zealand Yachting Federation competition for a new One Design X Class, to help the class survive competition from the new lightweight centreboarders. Graham’s specification for moulded veneer was amended to fibreglass. The design was never really accepted and eventually the class died.

ON DISPLAY

See the Graham Mander-designed Charade (X Class) in the Gallery of Yachts.