Five times that great white whale of a mountain tried to kill the first team that sought to reach its summit. Yet in 1964, back they sailed, through the worst seas in the world, to try again, this time with legendary explorer Bill Tilman as their skipper. 

"My father in law, Hugh Garnham (now in his late 80s) built a 26ft Huon pine yacht, called GLENSHIEL in the late 1950s, to do the Sydney-Hobart. He was in his early twenties when he built it at his parents’ house, which happened to be on the foreshore of the Derwent."

After being revitalised in 2023, The Cup Regatta, organised by the Classic Yacht Association of Australia, is now looking to expand its reach, with a goal of having 50+ boats racing on the waters of Port Phillip on the first weekend of November.

One of the main catalysts for starting the company was to sustain and grow the art of wooden boatbuilding by passing on the skills they have accumulated. It’s a shared passion to keep the skills of wooden boat building alive for generations to come. 

“…Of all the many anachronisms at the modern Olympics, sailing is perhaps the most conspicuous of all: a continuing sop to super-rich men who founded the Games and still just really love yachts, basically inaccessible to most of the countries in the world, even the ones with a viable coastline.”

Here are five interesting little boats under $5,000, all harbouring within their timber shells thousands of hours of pleasure.

All boats are cultural heritage and kept in great sailing and racing condition, governed by strict class rules that guard the traditional outfit and materials. Since they all have different hull dimensions there is a type of IMS/VPP system determining how much m2 of sail each Skûtsje can have to ensure fair and equal competition.

As the world becomes more and more risk adverse, and our weekly screen time reports go up and up, perhaps we can be advocates for stepping outside the commonplace and doing things a little differently.

As Melbourne celebrated the Olympics in late 1956, and Beryl and Miles Smeeton headed off from the Yarra River on their epic journey around Cape Horn, the finished vessel quietly slipped into the water near Great Yarmouth on the Norfolk Broads.

A beautiful thing is the culture of reciprocity, you go into a relationship with people by exchanging gifts. I also like that you are defined by your kinship and relations, not your job title.

After threading his way through the island-strewn Bass Strait, often running on ded-reckoning in thick weather, he made landfall in Kiama after 92 days, going on to Sydney a few days later.

But one of the stainless bolts broke off in my hand. The original silicon bronze bolts appeared to be excellent condition and not replaced. New silicon bronze bolts replaced the old stainless steel bolts.

CARESS has a delightful neutral helm which gains a very small amount of weather helm as she heels, but the tiller remains light and sensitive. She does not tend to gripe or round up in gusts as do many modern boats, an attribute sought by Wally Ward in his quest for a nicely balanced boat.

From the beginnings of the novel in the 17th century until the present day, the sea has provided a compelling backdrop for storytelling. Be they tales of adventure and derring-do, romance, philosophy, historical, political or geographical drama, the allure of the sea is strong.

Half a dozen finished boards rested against a wall, their lacquer shimmering in the morning light, but what immediately caught the eye were the intricate patterns embedded in their facades.

After sixty years of constant use the entire boat has been stripped back to bare inside and out.

He looked at his father and discovered he was ankle-deep in water. Then he looked over his shoulder to the vastness of the Pacific. “There were three orcas; a daddy, mummy and a baby in between. The daddy’s head was split open and bleeding badly.”

Although he designed racing and cruising yachts, it was fishing boats that launched his commercial career. The introduction of high-powered diesel engines was a significant change and needed someone able to calculate the power and propeller requirements, along with the best hull shape and construction, if the craft was to achieve its desired performance

Having sailed hard in the big winds in the early part of the week and then dominating in the light breeze in the second half of the regatta, it was the Metre yachts that triumphed overall

"When you are out at sea for months on end and you don't get to see your family, it's also like a nice warm beacon that reminds you that civilisation is just on the coast right there. It gives them a feeling we are there to look after them and help them get on with their journey safely.