The Magazine of St Aloysius' College • 'Men for Others' • Issue XLVII ...

win on Sovereign and Line Honours in 1987. The telling
effect of these three wins, which very few people have
achieved, is lost until you consider he competed in
only eight Hobart races, so he had a 37.5 percentage
success rate!
Ocean racing was, however, merely the beginning of
his achievements. He subsequently competed in the early
America’s Cup events and achieved notoriety and recognition,
not only as a forward hand, as originally selected, but as a
helmsman and for his general tactical ability.
1962 on Gretel in 1962.
In his quiet self-effacing manner ‘Pod’ achieved great
recognition in America for his sheer wealth of talent. He
was invited to compete in the Southern Ocean Racing
Circuit, the Newport to Bermuda Race and Trans-Atlantic
Races.
Time moved on and so did ‘Pod’. He became interested
in Etchell Sailing and in 1977 he purchased his first Etchell,
Impala, and entered in the World Championships off
Palm Beach sailing his own boat for the first time at those
levels. He was marginally beaten into second place. He
persevered with his Etchell Sailing and ultimately won the
World Championships. He was also involved in Dragon
Sailing with his late father-in-law, Norman Booth, and
pursued those trails to the World Championships.
In the early 1960s he became interested in the 5.5
metre Class and ultimately with his long time friend, Dick
Sargent, teamed with Bill Northam to win selection for
Australia and participated in the 1964 Tokyo Olympic
Games. The end result was a Gold Medal. None of this
success changed ‘Pod’ one iota and most of his time he
was quite remiss about where the Gold Medal was residing
at any particular time.
Throughout the whole of his sailing career ‘Pod’ was
always available for a chat, advice, deep conversation, an
argument about tactics, the latest information on his view on
sails and any other technical information that was around.
Basically, he was a sailor by the “seat of his pants” and not
reliant upon a lot of the technical devices that assist sailors
today. He simply had an uncanny feel for a boat and an
ability to know precisely what he could achieve with the wind
that was available. He was well aware of the old adage
“You cannot change the wind but you can adjust the sails”.
‘Pod’ was an extremely strong swimmer, competing
in surfing events for Bilgola Surf Club, together with his
great mates, Michael Bartlett (SAC 1957), John Bergin
(SAC 1957) and many other Aloysians. He was extremely
popular during these years as he was one of the only
persons with a motor vehicle and they were able to journey
up and down the coast to the hot surfing spots, camp out
and have a reasonable time. During these early years ‘Pod’
achieved another nickname as ‘The Shandos Kid’ due to a
particular (not readily available) brand of lemonade, being
the only beverage of which he then partook. In later years,
we think under the influence of his wife, he was introduced
to wine and subsequently someone introduced him to rum.
He was named Yachtsman of the Year in 1980 and
was, without doubt, one of the outstanding yachtsmen in
Australia with his uncanny ability, calm leadership and
direction. His yachting achievements are simply too many
to mention.
He left Sydney and moved to Oberon to engage in the
breeding of cattle. He remained at Oberon for some years
before he was induced to go to Scone and commence
his involvement with horses. He subsequently retired to
Hallidays Point leaving the family to continue the pastoral
pursuits.
‘Pod’ was truly one of the most gracious gentlemen and
a total honour and credit to the school he loved. He was
not a great scholar but was a great advertisement for the
school and the principles advocated and, indeed, instilled
by the Jesuits.
He is a legend and there will be many articles written
about him, but to us Aloysians he was a great mate and a
person whom we are very proud to remember as our mate
and friend.
Michael Delaney (SAC 1957)
Nick Shanahan (SAC 1969)
Died on 20 December 2007. Before he passed away,
Nick had the opportunity to attend the Queensland
and Northern NSW Old Boys’ Reunion in Brisbane.
He very much appreciated the chance to re-connect
with the College. Nick was awarded the Australian
Police Medal in the 2007 Australia Day Honours List
for services to the Forensic Service of the Queensland
Police Force.
Andrew ‘Rock’ Leavey (SAC 1985)
Andrew Leavey (SAC 1985) passed away on 6 March
2008. Andrew was buried from Star of the Sea Church
in Terrigal with a large number of Old Boys and former
teachers present. His Year 10 Form Master, Father Michael
Ryan SJ, was the main celebrant, with former Headmaster,
Father Bob Bruce SJ and the current Rector of the College,
Father Ross Jones SJ concelebrating the Requiem Mass.
Andrew leaves behind his widow Lisa and daughter
St Aloysius’ College
A Jesuit School for Boys _ Founded 1879 aloysiad / page 55