This week we seem to have accumulated a locker full of small items that we thought we should clear out, by putting them all into one big news post.

As the work is nearing completion, the AWBF is now welcoming any enquiries regarding her future! She will be launched on February 10th 2024, as part of the Kettering Wooden Boat Rally, and all funds from her sale will go directly to the AWBF.

On a moonless night in August 1943, a US torpedo boat commanded by Lt John F Kennedy, on patrol in Solomon Islands, was rammed by a Japanese destroyer.

Needing substantial, but not complete restoration, just as she was about the be dismantled, three years short of her 100th birthday, a final desperate round of emails produced an outcome.

The Blue Peter comes down… a minute to go… the Div One boats are jostling for the final run to the line…. It’s all about max. boat speed at the gun… winding these things up takes minutes not seconds… Five 40+ footers all get it right… as the gun goes 60 tonnes of timber elegance come up onto the breeze on starboard tack, waterlines fizzing, gunnels just yards apart.

The Couta Boat Association has posted a wonderful record of the early years of the Class on its website. There are about 50 Editions of “SCOOP” on line, starting 42 years ago in 1981 and ending in 2011.

Our EDM goes out at 7am every Friday to 4000 readers. By 8am we had over a dozen emails and comments, rightly pulling us up on our shoddy research!

A few motorised tourist junks with fixed sails still confuse the credulous but – much like other endlessly recycled Hong Kong clichés – the obsolete sailing junk icon is decades beyond having any genuine symbolic purpose.

Prof Morieux said: "When we are separated from loved ones by events beyond our control, like the pandemic or wars, we have to work out how to stay in touch, how to reassure, care for people and keep the passion alive. "These letters are about universal human experiences, they're not unique to France or the 18th Century."

As you can see from Paul’s films, sailing a Tall Ship like DUYFKEN isn’t for everyone, but is your the sort of person who likes a bit of adventure, doesn’t need to wash three times a day, and understands the meaning of teamwork then get involved!

Entering a maze of muddy islands, the mouth of the Victoria is a vast delta within the Joseph Bonaparte Gulf that does not easily explain itself to mariners. We are in the 65-foot Island Explorer, decked out for group fishing tours but now temporarily repurposed in an attempt to locate two anchors that were cut free from the Beagle at a point on the river named Holdfast Reach 180 years earlier.

This little event has always been aligned closely with SWS’ values. Community based, volunteer run, racing but not for sheep stations… all the right ingredients… Get Involved!

Entries closed this week for the 78th Rolex Sydney to Hobart. As we did last year, let’s have a quick scan of the timber vessels that are making the trip south. As far as I can tell there are only four genuinely timber boats… unless I’ve missed something.

As isolated cultures and forgotten societies are infiltrated by thrill seekers wielding the tools of social media, finding truely original and enriching adventures seems harder and harder.

Regular readers may have noticed that here at SWS our interest in Wharram Catamarans has morphed into a minor obsession over the last year or so. Well how could we not sit up and notice this surfing adventure film released today in the UK.

If you love boat building, you’re going to love the third and final instalment of THE BRITISH BOAT BUILDERS 2023 TOUR.

More than 10 years later, the term Frequency Illusion was coined by Stanford linguist Arnold Zwicky. Essentially, the Frequency Illusion is a perception that something you’ve been thinking about, or recently learned, all of a sudden seems much more frequent in your environment than it was before.

Students of dugout sculpting believe that once the tree was felled, it would have been stripped of all its bark, then have its future top and bottom surfaces determined by its curvature, if any.

While not a boating story, it’s boating related in so many ways; Surrounded by Australia’s most recognisable sailing ground, emblematic of the canvas of wind powered craft and designed by people with maritime history running through their veins.

As dawn breaks in Costa Rica, filmmaker ANNIE MEANS is about to settle into a bowl of rice and beans. Meanwhile it’s noon in the UK founder of WOMEN IN BOAT BUILDING, BELINDA JOSLIN wonders where she’ll find another female boatbuilder to meet demand from young female apprentices…SWS grabs them both to discuss women as boatbuilders and why film is a great way to get a positive message out in the world.