The News, Culture and Practice of Sailing woodenboats
in Australia, New Zealand & The South Pacific.

BOOK REVIEWS Mark Chew BOOK REVIEWS Mark Chew

Harry Pidgeon's “Around the World Single-Handed”

It is interesting to compare Slocum to Pidgeon, and their boats.  Slocum was  the hard-bitten sea captain who'd come up through the hawsepipe, and who had fallen on hard times.  His voyage was a way of fighting back, and he did a magnificent job of it.  Harry Pidgeon seemed to breeze through life, guided by his sunny disposition. 

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FLOTSAM Mark Chew FLOTSAM Mark Chew

Is it wrong to wish on space hardware, I wish, I wish, I wish you'd care?

Three wood specimens were tested and showed no deformation after space exposure," the researchers said in a statement in May. "Despite the extreme environment of outer space involving significant temperature changes and exposure to intense cosmic rays and dangerous solar particles for 10 months, tests confirmed no decomposition or deformations, such as cracking, warping, peeling or surface damage.

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FOR SALE Mark Chew FOR SALE Mark Chew

Gumtree Lugger

Waitoa was part of a flotilla boats used by a pearl cultivation enterprise, run by Japanese investors in 1960’s. As time went on she became a ferry for Islanders working at Escape River to travel back and forth to TI. When an oil spill wiped out the cultivation business in 1970 we returned this lugger and few others to fishing for pearl shells, called mother-of-pearl, in the Torres Strait.

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RACING Mark Chew RACING Mark Chew

sellgp

Reality check No.1: this is on an island that is a public reserve administered and maintained by the taxpayer-funded National Parks and Wildlife Service. Anyone has a right to be there.

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BOOK REVIEWS Mark Chew BOOK REVIEWS Mark Chew

Sira – One boat, two kings

She is perhaps one of the most famous of Norwegian yachts and has a long history of racing and regatta wins. Sira was built to win the Kattegat trophy, a trophy that was transferred to the 8 Metre class in 1907. This was achieved in the very first season in 1938 with the designer and builder Johan Anker himself at the helm.

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REGATTAS Mark Chew REGATTAS Mark Chew

Kettering Number Eight!

The maritime gods smiled upon us, with lots of sunshine and winds tailor-made for the wooden boat vessels. A gentle breeze fluttering between 10 -12 knots filled the sails throughout the weekend.

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FLOTSAM Mark Chew FLOTSAM Mark Chew

A Letter from Nick Atkins

The closure of our current location means the end of The Victorian Wooden Boat Centre as we know it. There will never be another opportunity to recreate what we have here and keep it viable. We will wind down the VWBC until its lease ends, at which point it will close permanently.

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FOR SALE Mark Chew FOR SALE Mark Chew

SVEK- The American Sibling

The door slid open again and the room lit up as an unassuming bearded man in a dusty cable knit jumper walked towards me. He moved through the shed, feet wide as if crossing a moving deck, held his hand out and with a beaming smile and a soft Hudson Valley lilt said, “Mark? I’m Nat”

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FESTIVALS Mark Chew FESTIVALS Mark Chew

Auckland Updates

Six engaging speaker sessions will take place each day at the Maritime Museum, with films playing on rotation all weekend long. All are invited to join the celebration! Entry is free but bookings are recommended.

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RACING Mark Chew RACING Mark Chew

Anti Clockwise Around Bruny

“I had a look, and seeing so much water in, knew something had gone wrong, and that the craft was foundering. The only chance for us then was to square away for Cloudy Bay.”

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HISTORY Mark Chew HISTORY Mark Chew

Council keeps Cook

"It gives us an opportunity to move forward as a nation and as a community … By not creating those opportunities for those conversations, we stay in the status quo."

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FOR SALE Mark Chew FOR SALE Mark Chew

“Moderate in Every Way”

“I have mentioned the influence of Claud Worth, the English doctor, writer, and designer, whose TERN IV I greatly admired. Those who know Worth’s boat and my BRILLIANT design may see this inspiration; both are shaped and built not as racing yachts but as sea boats intended to survive the worst weather and to make good passages.”

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HISTORY Mark Chew HISTORY Mark Chew

The Stupidity of it All.

“All too often, we expect history to be definitive, to pass judgement and announce a verdict. But understanding Cook is about much more than apportioning praise or blame.”

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