It is dark, but the sky is clear enough to see the moon bearing true north. The navigator, crusty old salt, informs the skipper they will arrive at the Rip at the flood slack and they can sail straight in. No tide tables were on board. How did the navigator know?

Here are four brand new wooden boat designs that will be entering the new yacht market in 2025

In attempting to find something positive in her demise, I can only think that coming to grief on a reef in Western Australia is preferable to a slow death in a marina from lack of maintenance.

The brain uses this positional disparity automatically in everyday life to gain a depth of perception. Measuring distance by the rule of thumb relies on leveraging the known dimensions of the outstretched arm and the distance between the eyes. Your arm is typically 10 times as long as the distance between your eyes.

The crew of 1958 pilot cutter Goondooloo called police at 3:45pm on Wednesday after the vessel experienced a mechanical failure in D'Entrecasteaux Channel, in the state's south.

Mr Palin approached the Wooden Boats Centre in the Huon Valley in Southern Tasmania to create five buoys out of wood, to be dropped into Antarctica's icy waters later this month.

According to the most recent data from the Marine strike log maintained by the MMAG, over 50% of all collisions reported result in damage to either the vessel and/or its crew, as well as possible injury or death to marine life.

So what better way to learn a little of the history and philosophy of this seminal craft than to chat with the legendary Peter Shipway, who sailed aboard her in every one of the early races and is involved with the program to this very day.

“For the amount of work in the six-month time frame, it was very tricky. We worked every day, some very long days, to get Mermaid ready for relaunch at the Australian Wooden Boat Festival in February.”

I love a good map.. and these ones are next level, uncovering patterns that govern our environment and society. Its particular strength lies in its ability to show things that are hard to see, yet profoundly affect us, such as economic flows, environmental changes, and social inequalities.

In 1942 she was bought by Mr. Len Nettlefold who held the agency for General Motors in Tasmania. He had the quaint ‘dog house’ build aft of the mizzen mast and it is said that the design for this was drawn from the cab of a Chevrolet truck.

It is not a “want” issue but a “need” issue and few I wager will be completely honest about this at the time of purchase. But let’s not to be too hard, the answer sometimes comes after a time.So here is the story of ROSIE to question what each new owner may wish to achieve.

Mark and Sal will be in Hobart on the waterfront for all four days of the festival. Don’t hesitate to come up and say hello, (especially if you’ve got a good story to tell in future pages of SWS!)

The original INDEPENDENCE was built in only five months by the ship's carpenter and some of the crew of a larger boat, the Union. The Union's captain Isaac Pendleton had learned from French explorer Nicholas Baudin of the existence of a large island, south of the South Australian mainland, where seals and other wildlife were plentiful.

If you are looking for someone willing to spend a few million dollars restoring a very beautiful 1910 Herreschoff schooner that’s lying wrecked on the seabed of Osaka Harbour, Japan, would you really ask them for A$161,523?

Rogers’ song refers to Sir John Franklin, one of the best known of the explorers as, having led two missions to try and find the passage, he set out on a third journey with two vessels the HMS Terror and the HMS Erebus in 1845. The ships were last seen in Baffin Bay, and in spring 1847. There are later accounts stating that Franklin died in June 1847. As you can imagine, the crews of two ships that had seemingly vanished into thin air captured the imagination of many at the time.

I find it hard to get too excited about stories of semi-billionaires spending a small proportion of their wealth on enormous toys like this one. But you have to admit there are some good trickledown effects…Shipwrights with solid jobs, skilled crew in permanent employment, caterers, photographers, engineers, pilots, sailmakers, insurance companies, … the list goes on and on.

Halvorsen boats hold a special place in the hearts of many Australians. Halvorsens were renowned for their innovative design, quality vessels, and distinctive styling.

Browsing the Australian Wooden Boat Festival Program it’s hard not to be impressed with variety and quality of the eleven vessels that carry the “Tall Ship” moniker. If you are planning to be down in Hobart for the Festival consider getting onboard one of these awesome craft!

The paddler, a small young man, with well-defined muscles, nimbly guides the fragile little craft back from the mother boat, having loaded up with ice, fuel, and charcoal, the necessities for a successful outing. His “oneness” with the boat hints at generations of seafaring ancestors.