As a piper played and the crowd looked on, the cradle holding this perfect little craft, eased down the slipway gently returning the Huon Pine planks to the salty waters of the Bay

The relaunch of the 1894 Logan Gaff cutter on her 100th birthday, was a turning point in Australian perceptions, of what was possible, and more importantly worthwhile, when it came to the restoration of our sailing heritage.

The Yachting World Keelboat #1 ZEST was presented ‘on the pool’ at Earls Court Boat Show in 1961 and in an article by Yachting World as A-BUILD-HER-YOURSELF DESIGN BY JACK HOLT. In 1967 the boat was renamed the YW Diamond. Here’s Jack sporting hair a la Cosmo Kramer, writes Charlie Salter.

In the words of custodian Juha Sironen - “My original plans are not feasible anymore and I am tired. I have brought KALUA home and there she will stay. I will auction her as soon as I get import approval.” The fate of KALUA awaits.

In March 1886 the now Royal Yacht Club of Tasmania conducted a race to Port Esperance for 28 footers with a sweepstake prize of 10s. per boat. Entries included F Turner’s SUNBEAM, Mr Calder’s MAGIC, Mr Knight’s TERRA LINNA, Mr Lewis’s MILLY, Mr Cheverton’s MABEL, and Mr Maddock’s MYRINE.

''I am not in a position to to carry out the necessary renovations myself, either physically or financially, so unless someone steps forward in the next couple of weeks, I’ll have to start scrapping her.”

On January 16th, 1980 the barometer dropped 4 points and things got hairy.
 Their single sideband radio would receive Radio Moscow in English but all they could receive from Australia was snatches of cricket commentary no weather forecasts.

A film about a rough, old school sawmill that produces some of the world’s finest timber, including the uniquely Tasmanian Huon Pine.

The collective archives of our nation are suffering slow strangulation by lack of commitment and funding. The National Library of Australia, the National Museum, the National Film & Sound Archive, the ABC and various State Maritime Museums are struggling. Collections are deteriorating and large parts remain undigitised. Archivists, researchers and librarians have been sacked and if retained have been ironically rebranded as Knowledge Keepers or Navigators.

The young colonial town of Auckland, built on the isthmus between the Waitemata and Manukau harbours, for centuries traversed by Maori waka, was completely dependent on sea transport.

FLIGHT was used as a Patrol Boat on the Tamar River in the last years of the War. Thereafter , she was used as a pleasure craft, the Flag Vessel for the Derwent Sailing Squadron and hosted the Queen and Prince Phillip during the Royal Tour of 1954

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.

Yes we have been slack. 18 months is too long between updates. We could call “COVID” but really its just time and resources. (Hence the “Donate” button at the top of the page!) So here’s a short update on how the beautiful old lady is coming along….And we promise it won’t be 18 months before the next one!

From her early days PISCES worked from Apollo Bay, venturing into Bass Strait for shark fishing and netting. After a stint at a few other Victorian west coast ports, she was eventually taken to Queensland where she was used as a vessel for fishing the black tipped reef shark.

Firstly, and most importantly… she has an appointment with a large, angry chainsaw on the 1st May unless someone puts their hand up

The pictures in this article are my brief attempt to capture the essence of this wonderfully evocative piece of Tasmania’s wooden boat history.

She first met Julian, the man not the boat, at the Shakespeare Hotel - an irony not lost upon her, for Julian was a fisherman with a sonnet in his heart and his very own name on the stern.

“She was a good result for the effort that went into her. The fact that she has lasted 130 years is proof of that, particularly when you consider that this boat has not been pampered. For much of its life it has either been neglected, or actively abused.”

The Kettering Wooden Boat Rally 2022 – if you didn’t happen to make it, here’s what you missed. Welcome to a place where you can smell the wood shavings. Here varnish is thick, history alive and passion is real. Old boats are and always have been, a way of life in Tasmania. Old boats don’t come to Kettering to die, they come here to thrive.

The vessel has long held a place in the imagination of Shute fans who embarked on a search for the yacht several years ago, tracking it down to a harbour in Newcastle where its owner lived on board with his parrot.