Newsletter July 2014 - Australian Wooden Boat Festival

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Hobart for the best-loved wooden boat festival in Australia. See you .... ples from boat builders present or past, from
AWBF

newsletter April July2014 2014

Greetings, All

Things are starting to ramp up, with detailed plans under development for the 2015 MyState Australian Wooden Boat Festival. We are working on the site map, which changes this year with the redevelopment of the Brooke Street Pier on Franklin Wharf and a planned extension into Castray Esplanade to display more boats ashore. The venerable Macquarie Wharf No.1 on the northern end of the harbour will be a building site in February next year, as TasPorts undertakes redevelopment of the old warehouse for a new hotel and tourism facility. All this means that the Hobart waterfront will be busier than ever and Dock Master Ross Barnett will be working hard to fit in all the wonderful boats already requesting berths. The search for a poster design is over, with Norfolk Island artist Tracey Yager coming up trumps with a superbly simple and evocative drawing of a wooden dinghy. Tracey is a genuine Norfolk Islander, descended from the HMS Bounty mutineer Matthew Quintal. She has studied and worked as a professional artist in London and Noosa, before returning to her native island in 1997. Tracey’s design beat a dozen other entries to take the valuable commission. The original artwork work will be sold during the festival to raise funds for the next one. One well-known and beloved boat will be missing in 2015, but for all the right reasons. The 102 year-old ferry MV Cartela left her home dock on the Hobart waterfront this month for a short passage under her own power to the working river port of Franklin, south of Hobart. There she will undergo a major refit, converting her back to steam power and restoring her to former glory. We have been spreading the word about the Southern Hemisphere’s largest wooden boat festival interstate, at the Brisbane Caravan and Camping Show and the Melbourne Boat Show. These large events feed into increasing visitor numbers for Tasmania. The State recently broke previous records with one million visitors for the year, largely driven by popular events. Visitors can put together an extraordinary summer itinerary this year, with the MyState Australian Wooden Boat Festival 2015, Launceston’s food & wine Festivale, the St Ayles Skiff Regatta in Franklin and the Cricket World Cup all within weeks of each other. As the days grow a little longer each week, summer is surely coming and with it a chance for you to join us in Hobart for the best-loved wooden boat festival in Australia. See you there!

- Paul Cullen, General Manager

This beautifully simple pencil sketch by Norfolk Island artist Tracey Yager gained a strong majority of votes from our selection panel. This prototype sketch will be the basis for the 2015 AWBF poster. The artwork joins a significant collection of fine maritime art including works by Bill Mearns, Tom Samek, Peter Hiller, John Ford and others.

It was smiles all around as AWBF, Inc. took the Hobart City Council’s annual award for Best Practice in Volunteer Management for a Public Event. The award honours the huge contribution our volunteers make to the festival, donating thousands of hours of unpaid work to produce a great festival. Co-sponsors Volunteering Australia promoted the benefits of volunteer work not just to the community, but to the individual as well. AWBF volunteer Cheryl Barnett accepted the award on behalf of the 350+ festival volunteers and Chairman Steve Knight represented the all-volunteer Board of Directors that guides the event. Lord Mayor Damon Thomas acknowledged the great contribution to the Hobart community that volunteers make. This was the second major award for the festival in twelve months. The MyState Australian Wooden Boat Festival won the Silver Award at the Tasmanian Tourism Awards in the category Major Events.

Farewell, For Now On a sparkling winter morning on the Hobart waterfront, one of Tasmania’s iconic vessels, the 102 year-old passenger ferry left Brooke Street Pier for her last trip in her present guise. Skippered by Captain Michael Roche, the veteran ship sounded her whistle and set out under her own power for a new berth in Franklin, on the Huon River. There, she will undergo a complete restoration including a return to the original steam power that saw her carry generations of Hobartians on outings, picnics and adventures. The talk among the hundred or so well-wishers at the dock-side was of fond memories aboard the vessel. Lord Mayor Damon Thomas cut the ribbon that released her from Brooke Street Pier, which will soon be transformed into a new hotel and retail centre. Honoured for her military service and for her cut of speed on the river, the has been part of the social fabric of southern Tasmania for more than a century. All of us at AWBF look forward to her eventual return to Sullivans Cove and decades more service to the people of Hobart.

MV Cartela From the top: The Cartela show her years without apology. The vessel has carried ten of thousands of passengers on the Derwent and beyond. Two old campaigners, the Cartela and the Antarctic supply vessel Aurora Australis are familiar sights on the Hobart waterfront. Lord Mayor Damon Thomas recalls his own schoolboy excursions on the Cartela photos: Paul Cullen

PREPARES FOR THE FESTIVAL It was a calm sunny winter’s day in Sydney when the Captain received the call from his old chum Roscoe. ‘We’re looking for articles for the Festival Newsletter. You write a good yarn, how about it?’ The Captain agreed to pen something for his chum. ‘Rum Bucket’ (or RB, the Captain’s fanciful name for his boat Lahara), is a Jock Muir sloop built at Battery Point in 1951. She has owned the Captain’s bank account for the last 13 years ever since he made the mistake of telling the yacht broker that ‘he would love to own a boat like her, but…’ The remainder had been ignored and being an expert fly fisherman, the broker landed his catch. This will be the fourth festival for Rum Bucket, the first being in 2003. How the festival has grown since then! On the way to last year’s event Rum Bucket developed a ‘salt-water spring’ in her bow whilst crossing Bass Strait and had to be slipped on arrival in Hobart. Roscoe received the call for help and organised everything with Terry Lean, the well-known shipwright and assessor. The Captain was most impressed, arriving at RYCT on a Friday night, RB was slipped on Saturday morning, the offending seam re-caulked on Sunday morning and the boat back in the water on Monday. The cost was taking Terry and his wife out to a seafood lunch on Sunday afternoon. Now where do you get that type of service in Sydney? Over lunch the Captain discussed certain repairs to RB that were on the ‘to do list’ but somehow never got done. The result was RB remaining in Hobart after the festival whilst her broken ribs received attention and fastenings were renewed amongst other tasks. It did not end there. A couple of ribs still required attention and the chain plates could not be thoroughly inspected. RB returned to Sydney only to return early this year for the next round of her makeover. The Captain understood why boats are always female; they have an extensive wardrobe and require occasional surgery to keep them in pristine condition! Whilst back in Sydney the lockers in the forepeak were removed to give Terry good access to the chainplates and other broken ribs. The trip south had taken its toll. Another salt-water spring; the headsail furler came apart, the rudder stock was uncomfortably loose, the No.2 was ripped and the No.3 disintegrated. Who’d own a timber boat? During this stay in Hobart the chain plate ribs were all refastened and strengthened, the broken ribs repaired, topsides painted and the rudder stock keyway repaired. But Terry had been thinking. ‘Your topsides are splined, how about completing the job below the waterline?’ The Captain thought about this and agreed to the additional surgery; surely it won’t cost that much. The Captain’s plan was to sail RB to NZ once in good shape. The splining of the hull would certainly strengthen her significantly and hopefully cure the ‘salt-water springs’ once and for all. But why NZ? In 1951 RB, following her launch, had competed in the Hobart race and secured second place. Immediately following this she had competed in the Trans Tasman Race from Hobart to Auckland, again securing second place. At Christmas 1952 the first owner again took RB to NZ, leaving Sydney in a gale and sailing through a cyclone on the way. She departed without a ‘ticket of leave’ and was in deep ‘doo doo’ on return, but that’s another story. Many have asked the Captain whether he would be attending the 2015 AWBF. Till recently the answer had been no. The Captain planned to sail to Lord Howe as a staging point for the assault on NZ. Having been advised that Hobart was possibly a better departure point, and not to disappoint his Hobart chums, the Captain amended his plans and submitted the application. But there are a few loose ends to tidy up. The Captain picked up the phone, ‘Chris old boy, fancy a trip to Hobart for the Wooden Boat Festival? Oh great, great! Now on the way back I thought we could take a detour, something a little different this time....’

- Mike Warner

The historical theme for the 2015 MyState Australian Wooden Boat Festival is ‘As Once We Were’, reflecting on Tasmania’s long heritage of building wooden boats. We’re planning a retrospective display in Princes Wharf Numjber One, with a fine collection of Tasmanian dinghies, punts, sailboats and other vessels. We’re looking for good examples from boat builders present or past, from around the state, to demonstrate the range of designs and building techniques used over the years; some old and some new, all made with great skill using our wonderful native timbers. A few fine examples are being given a dust off and polish already! If you know of a special old Tasmanian boat which represents part of our maritime heritage, please send us a photo with your details and that of the boat to Tim Oxley at: [email protected] Don’t delay - the festival is only 7 months away! The double ended cutter Terra Linna will be one of the oldest boats at the AWBF 2015. Built as a private yacht in 1880 in Hobart by George Luckman, the boat restoration was a major project for the Wooden Boat Guild of Tasmania. Terra Linna was re-launched in 2012 after a four year project. Photo: Bob Linacre The Huon Pine ferry Admiral (below) is a rare piece of Tasmanian history that will celebrate her 150th birthday at the 2015 AWBF. Originally built as a 28’6” open ferry boat, the vessel was later lengthened, decked, rigged as a cutter and converted to a fishing boat. A chequered career saw her finally sink in Port Jackson. Recovered but unrepaired, she was spotted in 2006 and returned to Tasmania for a remarkable restoration that took more than three years.

At the Brisbane Caravan and Camping Show in June, Media Manager Daryl Peebles flew the flag for AWBF 2015. Caravanners represent a healthy slice of Tasmania’s tourism income, largely due to the length of time they remain in the State. The Australian Wooden Boat Festival is a major drawcard.

AWBF teamed up with Tasmanian professional fishing guides Gary France and Ken Orr to run the Tourism Tasmania-supported stand at the Melbourne Boat Show. Interest in the AWBF was high and the joint stall took out the award for ‘Best Tourism Stall in Show’. Many thanks to Tourism Tasmania and the boys.

Wouldn’t It Be Loverly?

We are very impressed with some excellent photos sent though by Jeff Malley of the steam yacht ENA, recently delivered from Sydney to its new home in Melbourne. This stunning restoration of a 116-foot Edwardian luxury yacht has to be seen to be believed. Built in 1901 for the ultra-wealthy banker Sir Thomas Dibbs, the ENA gleams with immaculate paintwork, glowing brass and polished teak. It wasn’t always like this, mind you. The ENA, under various names, has been a naval patrol boat, a scallop dredger, a training ship and (briefly) a submerged wreck in the D’Entrecasteaux Channel. Now in service as a luxury charter vessel in Port Phillip Bay, we would dearly love to see the ENA take pride of place at the MyState Australian Wooden Boat Festival. Watch this space.

At whatever hour of the morning or night that he was needed, you could rely on Harry to be there with his trusty ute, slinging equipment or supplies, bins or bricks, on the site of the Australian Wooden Boat Festival. Harry was a serial volunteer: we couldn’t keep him away from the place. His cheerful manner, his capacity for hard work and his remarkable endurance were of enormous value to our site crew and managers. Harry never made a big thing of giving to the festival he loved - he left that until later. We were very sorry to hear that Harry passed away suddenly in May 2014. We were astonished when his daughter Wendy called to say that in accordance with Harry’s wishes, mourners were asked not to send flowers, but to give a donation to the Australian Wooden Boat Festival. Go in peace, Harry. They don’t make them like you any more.

St Ayles Skiff Regatta February 8-15, 2014

There’s no holding back the Women on Water and plans for a second round of competition following the World Championships in Ullapool, Scotland have blossomed into a full scale regatta. Putting in a guest appearance at the Wooden Boat Festival for some demonstrations races and a bit of a warm-up, you can see these amazingly popular skiffs at work in Sullivans Cove on Sunday February 8. They’ll be at the Royal Hobart Regatta on Monday then set

off for the return trip to Franklin. Festivities open there on Thursday 12 February and run through the whole weekend to the finals and closing ceremony on Sunday 15 Feb. Rumoured to be attracting international talent, the first St Ayles Skiffs event looks to have real pulling power. Apparently, the Kiwis have thrown down the gauntlet and there’s honour at stake. Look out for some lively action in the little town of Franklin over the weekend.

Photos courtesy Living Boat Trust, Franklin

CAN YOU HELP? Volunteer registration for the AWBF 2015 will open in September, 2014. You can be part of the most exciting wooden boat festival in Australia by donating just a few hours of your time. We need all sorts of skills from telephones to computers, boat handlers to bar staff, safety marshals and graphic artists, researchers, information staff and lots more that we probably haven’t even though of yet. You’ll join a lively group of interesting people doing real jobs that count, producing a great community event that is entirely free to the public. Want to know more? Drop us a line at:

[email protected]

All photos courtesy of the Hobart Photographic Society and our brilliant team of AWBF volunteer photographers.