Newsletter May 2014 - Australian Wooden Boat Festival

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To see Nancy today, I am sure Trevor will tell you it's the best $1 he has ever spent. ... municating with and rostering
AWBF

newsletter May 2014

Greetings, All In this issue, we’ll bring you news of some interesting boats that are making their way home to Tasmania in the run-up to the MyState Australian Wooden Boat Festival, give you a preview of the Wooden Boat Symposium that will draw internationally famous speakers to Hobart and we relate the sad story of a 100-year old wooden boat that may be near the end of its days on a lonely beach on Bruny Island. Applications for boat owners planning to join us for the next festival (6-9 February, 2015) opened on April 28 and there was no waiting around. More than 120 boat owners submitted their electronic ‘expressions of interest’ in the first two weeks. It’s not a race, of course (applications for Boats Afloat remain open until October) but owners certainly seem keen to join us for four days of maritime fun and excitement on the lovely River Derwent. Tall Ships signalling their intent to join the opening day Parade of Sail include the magnificent HMS Bark Endeavour, the eerie black caravel Notorious and local ships Yukon, Windeward Bound, Lady Nelson, Olive May, Last Vintage (the former Pacific Sunrise) and Rhona H. The Tawe Nunnugah ‘raid’ will go ahead in 2015, organised under the auspices of the Living Boat Trust (http://lbt.rforster.org), with an adventurous 9-day voyage from Recherche Bay to Hobart. Look for the WOW factor with Women on Water producing a full scale St Ayles Skiffs Regatta in Franklin in the week just after the festival. If you have always meant to get down to Tasmania for the MyState Australian Wooden Boat Festival, this is the year to do it, with lots of exciting events before and after the festival. Tim Oxley gives us a run-down on some of the other things you can get up to when you are not ‘messing about in boats’. The countdown has started and we’re 37 weeks away from the biggest wooden boat festival in Australia. Good luck!

- Paul Cullen, General Manager

Nancy Comes Home by Daryl Peebles

A PROUD WORKING BOAT Left: Nancy undergoes post-restoration trials in the Noosa River, Queensland. Below: Flying boats connected Hobart with Sydney from the 1930s, offering passengers a level of luxury that was generally only available in large cruise liners. Ansett Airlines operated passenger service into the Derwent up until the late 1960s. Passengers were ferried to shore aboard nimble launches including Nancy, pictured. Photos courtesy Laurence Bergin, LBT

The beautifully restored Huon-pine workboat Nancy left Noosa on the 12th May to make her way south – and home. Her destination is the Living Boat Trust at Franklin and she will also be featured at the forthcoming MyState Australian Wooden Boat Festival next February Nancy’s restoration was started by Trevor Dicker on Bruny Island and completed by Martin Krynen, who saw her in 2007 while attending the Australian Wooden Boat Festival. Martin purchased Nancy from Trevor and took her back to his home in Queensland where she has undergone a complete make-over including a new single-cylinder gas engine, similar to her original motor. Nancy is a 35’ motor launch built in 1917 at Battery Point for the Rowes of Brookes Bay on the Huon. She operated as a ferry, as a flying boat tender and in various other roles on the Huon and Derwent Rivers for almost 40 years until the late1950s. She became very dilapidated and was, at one stage, on the point of being wrecked when Trevor Dicker stepped in and saved her with a contract written on a beer coaster and $1. Part of the deal was that Trevor had to ‘clean up the mess’ made by her potential wrecker. To see Nancy today, I am sure Trevor will tell you it’s the best $1 he has ever spent.

Sunbeam’s End Not a very cheerful story, this one. The once-elegant 33’ motor cruiser Sunbeam was washed ashore on Bruny Island in a recent storm after breaking away from her mooring. The distraught owner was not insured, nor does he have the resources to refloat and restore the Huon Pine classic, badly damaged by grounding and wave action. The boat is, of course, a hazard to shipping where she lies and the authorities want to see it made safe. The owner tells us that his only recourse may be to break up the boat and burn it on the beach. Sunbeam is reputed to be nearing 100 years old and perhaps at the end of her long maritime life. But then, more remarkable restorations have been made, so if there is an individual or organisation out there with an interest in rescuing an old lady fallen on hard times, contact the AWBF office on (03) 6223 3375 or by email to: [email protected] for more details. Photos courtesy Bob Elliston

The Big Red Army Takes the biscuit! It’s official. Volunteering for the MyState Australian Wooden Boat Festival is good for you. AWBF took out Hobart City Council’s award for Best Practice in Volunteer Management for a Community Event at a recent ceremony at the Hobart Town Hall. Lord Mayor Damon Thomas honoured the tremendous good done for the community by volunteers and the life-enhancing qualities of getting involved. The award, accepted on behalf of the AWBF Board of Directors by Chairman Steve Knight and with Cheryl Barnett representing all Festival volunteers, acknowledges good recruitment, good training, safe working conditions and great team spirit. The Lord Mayor also gave a nod to major sponsors MyState Ltd for their generous and enthusiastic support. The complex job of recruiting, communicating with and rostering more than 350 workers on site over 4 days goes to Volunteers Manager Annette Ritchie, who is herself a volunteer. Annette travels all the way from her Sydney home for each festival and we are delighted that she is with us again for the 2015 event. Well done, Annette, this one’s for you!

Photo credits, from top, clockwise: Rob Oates, Terry Sims, Tim Ikin, Mary Lincoln (x 2)

What Else Can I Do In Tassie? Even though registrations have just opened, it's great to see so many yachts from Victoria, NSW and Queensland ready to join us for AWBF 2015. Some are returning visitors who know what Tassie offers and wouldn't miss the trip south. Many others are considering their first trip and we hope to see them as well. One question we've been asked is 'if we sail down, what else can we do in Tassie?' To answer this we take a quick look at some on-shore and cruising activities. Conveniently next door to Sullivans Cove and on the same weekend as the Australian Wooden Boat Festival, visit the Royal Hobart Regatta, Australia’s oldest sporting event. Since 1838, this spectacle of racing, rowing and even swimming in the River Derwent has captivated Hobart audiences. The Museum of Old and New Art at Berriedale in Hobart's northern suburbs - MONA - has established itself as a major attraction and is not to be missed. Many mainland and overseas visitors have put Tasmania on their travel list because of this amazing privately owned art gallery set in it's own vineyard. Take the ferry from Hobart and see what they're raving about. Festivale, (13 - 15 February 2015) one of Tasmania's premier summer events, is a three day celebration, designed to showcase the very best of Tasmanian food, wine, beer, arts and entertainment. Staged in Launceston’s historic and picturesque City Park the ambiance of this outdoor event is unique. In March 2015 World Cup Cricket comes to beautiful Bellerive Oval just across the Derwent from Hobart CBD and only a few minutes’ walk from Bellerive Yacht Club. Also in March, the Taste of the Huon, 40 minutes south of Hobart has become another very popular food and wine event. Great produce in a lovely rural setting and well worth a visit. Don't miss Tasmania's world beating whiskies while you're here. Tassie distillers have established a stellar reputation for quality and have become a magnet for discerning visitors. The Tasmanian Whisky Trail introduces you to these superb products and you can sample all of them in the historic Salamanca cafe and restaurant district. Enjoy live music every night on the thriving Hobart pub scene, with plenty of venues to choose from.

Tasmania deserves its reputation for fine boating destinations and opportunities abound for cruises while you are visiting. Sailing south from Hobart around Bruny Island you can enjoy the beautiful D'Entrecasteaux Channel - described as one of the best sailing waters in the world. Some continue around the south coast and on to Port Davey on Tasmania's west coast. Port Davey is in a national park and is a 'must' according to those who've made the trip. Several excellent guides are available to help you choose and plan your trips. Marine and Safety Tasmania has comprehensive information on anchorages, public moorings and marine facilities around the state. One of Tasmania’s well known yacht clubs, the Derwent Sailing Squadron has plenty of sailing activities as well as a series of moorings available to visiting members at reasonable terms. DSS offers a busy sailing program including the popular annual Barnes Bay Regatta. The Cruising Yacht Club of Tasmania has an active cruising program throughout the year and, with TasMap produces the highly detailed and recommended guide 'Cruising Southern Tasmania'. We hope this information helps to make up your mind to sail south and join in the fun at AWBF 2015. If you have any questions or would like to make contact with others planning the trip, please contact the co-ordinator at [email protected]

Wooden Boat Symposium The Wooden Boat Symposium will present talks and workshops with leading experts as part of AWBF 2015

Kaci Cronkhite is a remarkable woman: author, sailor, circumnavigator and for ten years, director of the Port Townsend Wooden Boat Festival in Washington, USA. Kaci is an engaging speaker and the author of Finding Pax, the story of her six-year mission to trace the history of her 28’ Danish spidsgatter Pax. Kaci was a popular presenter at the last AWBF and her infectious enthusiasm for adventure and challenge won over her audiences. She is currently working on her forthcoming book When a Cowgirl Goes to Sea and maintains the web-based blog Woman of the Wind. A frequent visitor to Australia, she once crewed on a sparsely equipped 32 foot gaff rigged double ender from Lake MacQuerie, NSW to Honolulu. Kaci has led an amazing life and she is an inspiration, not just to women sailors, but to anyone who responds to the lure of wood, wind and water.

Brion Toss is the author of The Complete Rigger’s Apprentice, the definitive handbook on traditional and modern rigging for sailing boats. He is both a craftsman and an educator, giving classes and workshops at his base in Port Townsend, Washington. He also travels the world to deliver talks on all aspects of professional rigging in a lively and entertaining way. Brion is regarded as one of the world’s leading authorities on the subject. ‘A sailboat can generate tons of force when it powers up its rig. This is fine, as long as the rigging system is designed and fabricated to deal safely with all that power. I like to demonstrate the loads that rig components bear, how to establish safety factors, and how all that energy can be channeled into moving your boat’.

Meade Gougeon and his late brother Jan were pioneers in the use of epoxy resins in wooden boatbuilding. Their company, Gougeon Brothers, developed the WEST system used by many builders. ‘Back in 1991, a good friend of mine lent me a very battered and worn copy of the Gougeon Brothers on Boatbuilding which was considered even back then to be the bible on wood epoxy construction (and it still is today). I couldn’t put it down and remember thinking at the time how amazing it was for someone so knowledgeable to share this knowledge so wooden boat building would continue. Gougeon Brothers…have been at the forefront of modern and traditional wooden boat building and repair for decades and I can honestly say no other company could be more responsible worldwide for the renaissance of wooden boat building’. - Andrew Denman, Denman Marine

Taylor Allen is the director of Rockport Marine, the company founded by his father in 1962 on the west side of Penobscot Bay in Rockport, Maine. The yard is one of America’s premier wooden-boat building and restoration facilities. Taylor first began building boats as a teenager and later studied with designer Joel White. Rockport projects include a 112-foot, three-masted Bermudian schooner, a 36-foot Fontaine-designed Friendship sloop and a 76-foot, W Class racing yacht. Restorations include the 1924 William Fife schooner Adventuress and the 1949 Sparkman & Stephens Bolero.

T Tom Jackson is senior editor of Wooden Boat magazine, based in Brooklin, Maine. His regular articles explore the world of small boat construction and large ship restorations. He says: ‘I've made a specialty of experiential journalism, mainly by working in shipyards alongside shipwrights on large projects. The first of these was at Mystic Seaport, where I helped build a whaleboat. Later, I worked on the restoration of the three-masted schooner C.A. Thayer in Alameda, California, then on the restoration of the 1841 whaling ship Charles W. Morgan at Mystic Seaport, and still later on the schooner Adventuress in Port Townsend, Washington. I also sailed with the 98-foot Danish Viking ship replica Havhingsten Fra Glendalough from Dublin to Denmark - six weeks on an open boat with a crew of 65.’

Marine Safety at the AWBF We take safety very seriously at the MyState Australian Wooden Boat Festival and acknowledge that Marine and Safety Tasmania regulations making the wearing of Personal Flotation Devices (PFDs or life jackets) compulsory in small craft has significantly reduced the number of boating fatalities in Tasmanian waters in recent years. We’d like to support that initiative. This year, we’ll be asking boat owners to set a good example to the public by wearing PFDs at any time you are in a moving boat under 6 metres in length. That includes dinghies, rubber duckies and tenders, whether under power or not. We have a lot of young people at the festival, excited by the idea of sailing a boat of their own, and newcomers to recreational boating who see what fun it can be. That’s why we’re asking our experienced sailors to demonstrate that ‘the skipper is always responsible’ by wearing a PFD and requiring it of everyone aboard.

Gipsy Jac There are some lovely boats in Australian waters and the AWBF acts like a magnet to bring them together. We’ve GIPSY JAC received pictures of Gipsy Jac, a superb 55’ ketch built on the Oregon, USA coast as a lifetime project by shipwright and engineer John Clark. Based on an L. Francis Herreshoff Mobjack design, the boat was launched in 1989. It changed hands after Clark’s death and ended up in San Francisco where Australian businessman Steve Mathews spotted it and purchased it in 2009. A voyage crew sailed the boat from San Francisco via Mexico, Tahiti and the Cook Islands to New Zealand, where Steve joined the crew for the final leg across the Tasman Sea, making landfall in Eden in 2010. Gipsy Jac is now based in Sandringham, Victoria. (and yes, that is the correct spelling of the boat’s name - Ed.)

We’re Off to the Show Catch us at the Brisbane Caravan & Camping Show (4-10 June) and the Melbourne Boat Show (12-16 June), promoting the MyState Australian Wooden Boat Festival 2015. GM Paul Cullen will man the booth at the Melbourne gig, Media & Entertainment Manager Daryl Peebles will do the Queensland show. Daryl reckons he’ll get the better weather, which is short-odds bet. Photos: left: Phil O’Halloran, right: Elsje Steen

www.australianwoodenboatfestival.com.au Keep up to date with all the latest news by checking out ‘Breaking News’ on the AWBF website, or follow us on Facebook for pictures and stories. Remember to book early when planning your visit to Tasmania in February 2015. If you are planning to bring your boat, follow Tim Oxley’s valuable series of articles in this newsletter on crossing Bass Strait and cruising Tasmanian waters before and after the festival. If you’re planning to use a trailer, be sure to check availability with Spirit of Tasmania (www.spiritoftasmania.com.au), as space is limited. We have tried very hard, but February is high peak season and we have not been able to negotiate any reduced fares for the Spirit, so book early for the best prices. Air fares to Tasmania can go under $100 (Melbourne - Hobart return) with advance booking and the city is served by Qantas, Jetstar, Tiger and Virgin Airlines. There’s a very wide range of accommodation available in Hobart and given the small size of the city, you’re never more than a few minutes’ walk from the waterfront. Check with our travel partners Tas Vacations (www.tasvacations.com) for the best deals on advanced bookings. Explore further in Tasmania with a hire car or camper van - all the major companies have offices here and you can hire in one location and drop off in another. If you’re a wooden boat enthusiast, you can’t miss the town of Franklin, just 40 minutes south of Hobart on the lovely Huon River, where the Wooden Boat Centre and the Living Boat Trust offer a fascinating look at the still-thriving boat building and restoration business in Tasmania. Small boatyards along the shores of the Huon River and the D’Entrecasteaux Channel allow you to dream of your next project.

Photos (left to right): Tim Ikin, Doug Thost, Greg Muir