"The AWBF is a celebration of our collective heritage. The 2025 theme allows us to explore our connection with the Pacific like never before, bringing visitors face-to-face with historic vessels and remarkable people from across the ocean. We hope to create a festival experience that feels both grand in its spectacle and intimate in its sense of community."

Five artists interpret the remote cool South, taking in Ernest Shackleton’s failed yet epic Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition (1914-1917) to the Weddell and Ross seas, and modern-day South Georgia in the South Atlantic Ocean, where the climate crisis has glaciers on the run and biodiversity experts worried

A very long time ago I was in the boatyard talking to a retired marine engineer who had hauled his 35 -foot long keel yacht out for maintenance. Knowing I was a budding naval architect he imparted what he though was wisdom to me. “Look at that boat” he said, puffing his pipe whilst pointing to the modern fin keel yacht hauled out next to his. “It’s completely unsound to separate the keel out like that and hang it from the hull with a few bolts. It’s much too radical a design for offshore sailing”. The boat in question was an S&S 34

Wickham and Anne took up residence at Newstead House along with three Galapagos tortoises called “Tom”, “Dick” and “Harry” (later re-named “Harriet”) which Charles Darwin gave Wickham on his second voyage on the Beagle. Upon Wickham’s 1860 departure from the District, Harriet lived in the Brisbane Botanic Gardens, and much later Australia Zoo, for another 150 years.

While other kids were playing sport, Ms Lambert and her brother spent weekends by their father's side as he built his masterpiece over the next decade. She was a teenager when the boat was finally launched at Mackay Harbour in 1984.

A yacht constructed with one of the greatest timbers.
By one of the worlds most famous shipwrights.
With 130 years of irrefutable provenance and achievements.

Of the eighty images in the initial selection, eight are loosely of traditional/timber boats. This is down by two, from our unscientific survey in 2022. Interestingly twenty of the eighty images are of foiling boats. Is this the writing on the wall?

It is one thing for modern day master mariner travelling through Patagonia or the South Tasman Sea – in a modern one hundred thousand tonne plus cruise or commercial ship, viewing from enclosed bridge – to navigate and marvel at the ferocity of a Southern Ocean gale. It is quite another thing to command from an open deck a ninety  foot long two hundred tonne timber hulk, tasked with the safety of the vessel and sixty crew.

There are two types of traditional boat enthusiasts; Those that grew up reading the American publication “Wooden Boat” and those who grew up with the British monthly, “Classic Boat”.

Sixty years after entering Port Phillip Bay [under Flinders in 1802], INVESTIGATOR returned with cargo for the Victorian Gold Rush. After 77 years of service, she was finally sold in Williamstown. Ironically, the ship that put Australia on the map [literally] finished up a coal hulk in Melbourne. In 1872, her register closed with the comment “broken up.” It was a dreadful end to arguably Australia’s most historically significant ship.

“It's like dumping a car in a national park and expecting everyone to be OK with that. I'm not OK with dumping a car in a national park, and we should be treating our beautiful harbour with the same outlook."

Imagine This. You are standing amongst some of Australia’ most important wooden vessels, smelling the huon pine, admiring the gracious curves and soaking up the history. You have a glass of Tahbilk Ambassador Shiraz 2020 in one hand and a bespoke snag from Lygon Street’s greatest butcher in the other.

In May 2021 a boat from Mauritania full of dead men was found adrift off the coast of the Caribbean Island of Tobago. Forensic investigation by local police discovered that the boat came from Mauritania, a West African nation on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean. Who were these men and why have they been found so far from home?

As responsible, environmentally aware marine professionals, we should be fostering the value of maintaining and rejuvenating more of the fine vessels that have already seen yeoman service rather than taking part in their ignoble demise in the rush to connect our customers with new models of dubious virtue or reliability.  

I can’t help thinking that auctions are an under used way of passing on unwanted timer boats. They provide an accurate way of assessing the REAL value of a particular vessel on any given day. Assuming the advertising is comprehensive, and the bidding system is fair, then the market will speak.

“It was 3am on 25th March when Flinders, Bass and William Martin rowed the over-laden little boat out through the heads of Port Jackson. They audaciously hauled directly offshore to clear the confused seas inshore and to catch a sea breeze.

Let’s face it: those of us in this room belong to a religion, a cult, if you like. It’s not a blessing of the fleet kind of religion; it's a nature-worshipping religion, a pagan religion, a mystery cult. The deepest mystery of all - is, of course - where does all the money go? Yes - our totems do demand the occasional sacrifice of the fatted wallet. But what do they offer in return?

By this time a crowd had gathered. Word had spread of the Mzungu’s visit, always an opportunity for some quick cash. The sun was getting hot, excitement was rising, and the boat building advice was flowing fast in Swahili.

It appears that there is currently a clear choice for designers between either ‘modern’ or ‘traditional’ hull designs, which produce quite different handling characteristics. This provides a significant challenge for designers to adopt the significant benefits of both hull types, without inheriting any of the poor handling qualities. 

Discussions on survival ensued until on about 23 or 24 July Dudley suggested that it was better that one of them die so that the others might survive. He suggested that they draw lots, but Brookes refused to take part. Dudley then suggested to Stephens that the obvious person to die was Parker.