“If there is one thing more than another which helps to form part of a yachtsman’s pleasure, it is what is known by the term ‘ship visiting’. I do not know anything, especially after having gone through a more or less roughish time of it for a few days, more enjoyable than finding on arrival at your port a goodly number of yachts riding at anchor; because though there may be many of them whose owners are unknown to you, still it almost always happens that mutual friends abound, so that you seldom are allowed for any length of time to remain an unknown quantity, and ‘Come on board’ very soon becomes the invitation of the day.
Supposing the yachts to be visited are those drawn to the port or harbour for the express intention of racing, then most will likely soon be filled till the gunwales are almost on a level with the water with those all bent on a merry evening.” ‘ – Bobstay’ – in ‘Thoughts on Yachting’, Australian Town & Country, February 1882
(More than 60 years before the first Sydney-Hobart race, ‘Bobstay’ seemed to be describing what for many years was the traditional scene at Constitution Dock.)
