The brownie box camera seen on deck may have been an aide memoir- that diary we all carry around with us. All this when the curve of the earth prevented a view of the city skyline from Mornington harbour.

In 2021, I was invited to sail on Sir James’ beautiful timber boat Nerida in a classic boat race on Sydney Harbour. Sir James had retired from competitive sailing, but came down to wish us well. He was about to turn 90, so I told him I was about to turn 60. He decided to give me some three pieces of advice for my 60’s…

It’s very low key event held on the beach at Sorrento to the west of the launching ramp. It's more of a family gathering, based around the extended Wooden Boatshop family. The Phillips boat shed opens onto the beach providing a vantage point and shade to keep the ice boxes cool. The dinghies are rowed or sailed and anchored ready for the rowing and sailing races later in the day.

This was an age before helicopter parenting became a thing, but even so, the Saunders children were given a remarkably free rein, and were often riotously exuberant. WALKABOUT's dinghy was stowed upright on the cabin top, and it was a favourite haunt of the kids,

SailGP persisted and a series of rules were agreed (the Marine Mammal Protection Plan) that would allow the race but protect the dolphins. The most important rule was that racing must stop if dolphins were sighted in or near the racing area.

This is going to be expensive and drawn out. Numbers at this stage are guesstimates, but market chatter suggests insurers should be very pleased if they can keep payouts much below $1bn.

A broken wrist while wakeboarding in 2015 turned out to be a pivotal moment for Kelsy. Despite the setback, it led to her first opportunity to helm a boat, as it was the only task she could perform with a cast. This experience opened doors for her and accelerated her career as a professional sailor.

So began an unlikely tale of man and bird that has captivated Turkey as the passing years — and a deft social media campaign by a local nature photographer — have spread the pair’s story as a modern-day fable of cross-species friendship.

He is the true sea-wanderer, in these hurried days, when the professional seaman sees little but ports…. and the wandering globetrotter has his soft way sped until the whole earth is fast developing-for him-into nothing but a nerve-racking kaleidoscope of which, his voyage made, he remembers little. No, give me a wandering such as Dwight Long’s and a little ship, stout as the IDLE HOUR

This short documentary features more wooden boats than you would see in a year, here in Australia, but that’s not what its about.

He knew his time was up – just couldn’t give up the ‘bungers’ – and lung cancer came calling. Passionate about life, he continued to live it with zest, right to the end. I last saw him in person at the Festival of Sails in Geelong last year. Despite his obvious illness, he’d been racing and was bagging out the opposition – loudly.

As the name suggests, the rally is held on the main waterfront of Paynesville on the edge of the beautiful Gippsland’s Lakes with McMillan Straight separating Paynesville from Raymond Island, a five-minute, 150m ferry ride away. Raymond Island has a famous koala colony to its name.

What I’m personally more interested in is the mentality… the relentless determination.. that drives this group of volunteers to show up every week and chip away at what must at times seem like an infinite task.

There’s lots of advertising, and a terrible design! But it’s good to be aware of the scale of what can be achieved given the right environment in the world of Classic Yacht Regattas.

Hope that they will not drag, hope that they will enable the vessel to survive the storms that threaten it, and hope that they can successfully be used to kedge the vessel off of the reef or sand bar she has grounded on before the waves break her back.

“I know nothing about restoring wooden boats so I’m not a good steward, though it does make an interesting paddock ornament.”

And bear in mind that in 1987 the ABC famously cost eight cents a day. Adjusted for inflation and population growth, the ABC today costs each Australian just half that amount. Since the mid-1980s the real funding has decreased by 28% or $336 million. This is 34% lower than the average of 18 comparable international public broadcasters.

OK, the forecast wasn’t great. Four days of temperatures in the high 30’s with either gusty northerlies or no wind at all. But as a wise sailor friend of mine constantly reminds me … “ITS JUST A FORECAST!”

Where many Spirit of Tradition designs would rest with the traditionally-shaped hull and classic styling on deck and mate them with a “standard” high-performance Marconi sail plan, we’ve opted to fully embrace the period piece and supply Beaujolais with an in-character gaff rig and lengthy bowsprit. Not only does this fully commit to the genre used as inspiration, it also offers some powerful advantages.

The first names that spring to mind when we think of Australian designers might be Lexcen, Paine, Bethwaite, Ward and Swanson, but perhaps Oughtred should also be near the top of this list given his profound influence at the grass roots of Australian sailing.