“All is well on the mighty Pacific. My first few weeks were cold and wet and rough. I’m now into my fourth week and conditions are calm and peaceful.”

MAFALDA was first Launched in 1926, so I guess she wasn’t named after the character in Harry Potter or the famous Argentinian comic series of the 1960’s.

Olivier Barreau and his twin brother, Jacques, are part of a small but growing number of entrepreneurs who are grappling with the problem of how to transport goods across the globe at a scale that makes economic sense, without further damaging the planet.

While these timber yachts sail majestically on, most of the hot new fibreglass boats in the class of ‘72 have disappeared off the radar.

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 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.

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

Lewis was born in England, of a Welsh-Irish family, and brought up in New Zealand and Rarotonga, where his unconventional father sent him to the Polynesian school - for ever after he was really a Polynesian under the skin. He always called himself a New Zealander.

Driving south on a family holiday, our road rounded a point to open a view over Kahana Bay - a shallow open bay protected from the south-east winds which were currently blowing at 25 knots. Working its way back and forth across the bay was a small craft with what appeared to be a lateen sail.

Sure, the videos still have a slightly annoying millennial sensibility, but by combining some authentic James Wharram footage she makes me think that she would have fitted in well aboard TANGAROA in 1955.

“I don’t think I will ever forget the hours at the helm, three on -six off. All woollen clothes soaking wet under oilskins and seaboots; safety belt hooked into the eye of the cockpit; and end of the main sheet around the waist, made up on one of the jib cleats It was bitterly cold but I didn’t feel it.”

MAIWAR is fully loaded with enough food and water, spares and supplies to last me the five months. Her diminutive size means that for the first few weeks I’ll be sharing my bunk with my onboard pantry, I’ll by eating my way into more comfortable accomodation.

The word Sharpie has always appealed. They were 1960’s working class street gangs with flash style and tough attitude. Melbourne’s own West Side Story was Romper Stomper, a movie made in Footscray and Spotswood, next door to the Royal Yacht Club Victoria in Williamstown. The club had its own fleet of Sharpies in the 1950’s and 60’s and hosted the Olympic Sharpies at the 1956 regatta.

Earlier this month 23 Fife yachts raced on the Clyde Estuary in Scotland. Images from the Regatta are somehow a relief from the sunny, sparkling press releases that seem to flow like Veuve Clicquot from the Mediterranean at this time of year.

Former Chair of the AWBF, Peter Higgs once described the Festival as an elephant on roller skates, zooming down a hill. In the words of the current General Manager Paul Stephanus… “Well, we are are now almost seven months out from the big day, and the beast is well and truly picking up momentum.“

Motoring under the Harbour Bridge on Saturday morning headed for the SASC, there was a sudden and very loud bang from the engine.

Now I pride myself on being a rational person.  I’m a card-carrying atheist, and I’m more than happy to walk under ladders… but I don’t like to leave on a big sailing trip on a Friday, and the sight of those bananas engender a small, sharp intake of breath!

Pole fishing might have been full of adventure, but it was also a dangerous industry. A memorial for those lost at sea lists more than 50 fishers who never returned to shore, including whole boats. Among the names is Mr Bellamy's brother, Keith.

When did Asian spices first step off the Spice Route and make their way into Australian bush tucker? Did Aboriginal people and Asian people trade before European Settlement? Enter the Macassans and what Mathew Flinders referred to as, The Malay Road.