Last week it was wonderful news to hear that Joy Phillips was elected Chair of the Australian Wooden Boat Festival, the largest celebration of wooden boats and maritime culture in the southern hemisphere.

If there’s one thing we’ve learned over the last six months publishing articles on SWS it’s that the events that do best are created by enthusiasts on the ground, having an idea and then making it happen.

Although the Australian’s were quietly confident that they would not be disgraced, they were not prepared for the horse laughter of the English yachting press. One of their quotes read: 'Very sporting of the Australians to send over a couple of cruising boats (double-enders) and a very old Robert Clark design'.

While there are hundreds of beautiful words, lyrical and practical, used to describe the hull a boat, when it comes the interior there are few. Words seem to describe the atmosphere rather than the space. Those that do define space seem to have come from via the Navy rather than from the lips of the designer.

While researching the elusive Errol Flynn and his yachts, see Hobart to Hollywood SWS 3rd June, we discovered Templeton Crocker, the original owner of Flynn’s schooner the ZACA. From 1929 during a global Depression, Crocker spent his huge railroad fortune building and fitting the yacht and embarking on scientific expeditions in the Pacific.

What makes it different to the previous six books in this column is that it’s an adventure brought on by necessity rather than free choice.  It’s a story that is playing out in some form or another every day of the year in 2021, whether it be in the Mediterranean, the Indian ocean or the Caribbean. Normal people, whose mere existence is under threat, take to a small boat, to escape to a new life. 

Errol Flynn was a seasoned sailor before becoming a Hollywood film star. Whether on-screen as Captain Blood or off-screen as master and commander of his 74’ ALDEN ketch SIROCCO, there was always adventure with yachts.

Don’t Get Me Wrong. I love a big, glamorous, highly varnished yacht as much as the next person. However the reality is, most of us are attracted to this corner of the maritime world not because we aspire to have cocktails on the aft deck at Les Voiles de St Tropez, but because somewhere deep down, we have a respect for history, traditional craftsmanship and a quest for adventure.

A pop up exhibition marks the 150th anniversary of The Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron. Spanning the early days of Auckland membership to dominating the international stage with the America’s Cup.

A rather beautiful boat stands on the hard, on the banks of the Tamar. Unknown, Un-Named and seemingly, Unloved. Can you help us solve the mystery?

When Mr Lewin began explaining how cartographers addressed the challenge of portraying what is essentially a three dimensional object - the world - on a two dimensional plane - a piece of paper - my eyes lit up!

As with all things involving our FAIR WINDS crew, the weekend began with a knock-out dinner and about thirty seven bottles of our finest…and then the wind blew! Sal and Mark wrap up the weekend that was the GREAT VETERANS RACE.

It’s a good time to re-introduce inexpensive ply kits. Mirror enthusiasts from the 1960’s and 70’s are now parents and grandparents wanting to share Mirror Love with a new generation. So write Charlie Salter and Jaemie Wilson.

I’m Thinking, Is This An April Fools Prank From A Mate Or A Genuine Attempt To Return A Significant Piece Of New Zealand’s Wooden Boat Building History To New Zealand? The fantastic story of TANGAROA by Larry Paul

“While most people know that Bogie and Bacall had a great love affair, probably fewer know about my father’s other great love–sailing. Specifically, it was with his 55-foot sailing yacht, SANTANA. The sea was my father’s sanctuary.” - Stephen Bogart

Grace’s Guide to British Industry says that Arthur Beale was established as a rope maker called John Buckinghams circa 1500. Our Sign says “Established 400 years” but the sign is 60 years old!

After almost 160-years, an ill-fated unique vessel has returned to its final resting place of Mangawhai, NZ. Built from Kauri by a Nova Scotian boat builder in 1863 and used to transport goods along the coast, only eight months later the the 17m schooner was stranded and reported, wrecked.

In 1973 the 33ft MAKULU was the only German entrant in that years Sydney Hobart Yacht Race. Today you can find her on facebook marketplace for sale for $2200 AUD.

Page after page, a story requiring no words. Their looseness, their freedom, their confidence on the page inspired, for me, my career as a designer, as a writer and definitely as a sailor.

Bucknell happened to drink with Daily Mirror feature writers in a local Ealing pub. The Mirror was the largest circulation tabloid in the UK and was keen for a project. Sailing had recently topped a poll of English leisure activities so Bucknell suggested his DIY dinghy…And the rest is dinghy history so write Charlie Salter and Jaemie Wilson.