At a time when personal liberation and rebellion against authority were prevalent many expressed their individualism through new outlooks on religion, popular culture, and sexuality, and a handful through making slow and mindful voyages around the world in under prepared small boats.

Perhaps rowing is a metaphor. As we age we seem to spend more time looking back than looking forward, and we risk stagnation. If we don’t row we go nowhere.

“As the latest custodian of Māori Lass, I’ve often tried to visualise the people who’ve sailed her before us, the far-flung corners of the world she’s been to and the rough weather she’s survived. Rounding the buoys in the D’Entrecasteaux Channel during twilight racing with the Kettering Yacht Club just doesn’t seem a suitable enough challenge for her.”

After two years of planning thirteen Couta Boats travelled from Melbourne along with two crews from Perth for the 2022 Sydney Harbour Gaffers Regatta.

Sal and Mark - Editors of SWS - walk you through what’s to be undertaken in the 8 weeks prior to departure.

The SARIMANOK was entirely made of vegetal elements, not a single nail was used, and was modelled upon the Filipino Vinta. There were no modern navigational instruments on board and the sailors relied only on the sun and stars to guide them.

But Freddie Mercury is not why I came to Zanzibar. Early childhood memories of holidays at Lamu on the Kenyan coast are filled with images of powerful Dhows plying their trade along the East African coast.

“I have always been a bit eccentric and done my own thing. My mother thought it would ruin my skin and make me unladylike, which it did, and I wasn’t encouraged. So that for me was a great challenge, I did it in spite of everybody.” From teaching sailing during WW2, to commissioning her own boats and founding a magazine - Sheila’s story remains an inspiration.

THE SHANK RETURNS for anyone who wishes to turn the pages of adventure on the high seas, or plans to visit Tasmania's wild South West Coast for themselves to write adventures of their own. 
If however the latter is your preference, make sure you heed Ian's warning, "Are you ready for this?”

‘Women Should Own Boats. Women are very enthusiastic about sailing, but comparatively few of them own and sail their own boats. If a few more women owned boats they would be placed on the same footing as men in yacht clubs, as are the women in England and the United States’. So wrote the inspirational Shelia Patrick and first female member of CYCA - Charlie Salter takes us inside her story.

The sheets were inch thick manilla or sisal rope and there were no winches or cleats, just solid belaying pins. The enormous tiller was controlled by a rope bridle. There was no shelter for the helmsman from heavy weather although luggers built in following years had a small wheelhouse.

“In our next anchorage-the fjord-like Puerto Eugenia, a sheep farmer rowed out and made us a gift of a lamb. “I bring you fresh meet” he said in perfect English. At first we tethered it to the mast but that proved to be awkward while sailing so finally we lashed it to the stern pulpit. We did not know how to feed it and none of us had killed a sheep before.”

The Abrolhos are phenomenal! Clusters of islands and reefs hover just a few metres above sea level and are interspersed with fishermen’s dwellings that are occupied during the high season.

Recently I heard, via the SWS grapevine, EGRET is alive - she’s in Beashel’s shed in Elvina Bay. So, this week, for SWS, I’ll rekindle old love and write an article about EGRET. I’ll call Colin and find out what’s going on with the vessel, I believe to be one of the most beautiful in Australia.

TARKINE, is a 40ft Pilot Cutter inspired design by Paul Gartside, and she’s starting to come together in away that gives the viewer an understanding of how this elegant craft is going to look and function.

The first images of the ship since those taken by Shackleton’s photographer, Frank Hurley, revealed parts of the vessel in astonishing detail. An image of the stern showed the name ENDURANCE above a five-pointed star

One squally day or stormy night about 1,700 years ago, a boat carrying hundreds of amphorae of wine, olives, oil and garum – the fermented fish sauce that so delighted the ancient palate – came to grief during a stopover in Mallorca.

“She was a beautiful boat, and what made it good for my wife Rhona and me was that we were the first to fish at Sandy Cape with a decent boat. We learnt to catch crayfish there before they ever knew there were crayfish off the continental shelf.”

Sailing the southern Pacific Ocean in 1769, two of history’s greatest navigators drafted a remarkable map. One was the British explorer Captain James Cook. The other was Tupaia, an aristocratic high priest from the island of Ra'iātea, who had joined Cook’s expedition in Tahiti.

In many ways ocean racing has become a monoculture. To succeed you must be skilled and tough and rich, but for most owners with a realistic chance of victory, the broader values, ambitions and motivations of the founders of the event have disappeared amid the ruthless need for a trophy.