“Nothing can be more ridiculous to my mind than our open boats here with their enormous sails and unseaworthy qualities, they are always on the brink of capsize and their owners seem to measure their sport to the nearness they can go to the inside of a shark.”

Walking around below decks and seeing the names on the bunks and the pots in the galley and the nav station where Mike Quilter sat for days on end, makes the hairs stand up on the back of my neck.

In the 1960's PA25 came to grief when David and a friend were out fishing one night. A passing Scallop boat hooked their anchor, dragging the boat underwater, and tipping the occupants into the water. They were extremely lucky that their screams were heard by the Scallop boat crew who came to their aid. The boat was in the water for some days, before being salvaged by a Mr Ireland (of the Florist family), who placed tractor tyre tubes under the boat. He inflated them which brought the boat to the surface.

Why should anyone care about the disappearance of sharks in the Saya de Malha Bank?  Ernest Hemingway once described going bankrupt as something that happens gradually… and then suddenly. The extinction of species is like bankruptcy, and when it finally occurs, there’s no going back. If we keep draining the Bank of one of its most previous riches, a “sudden” reckoning may be soon.

The AWBF has just released a recording of the panel discussion between a gang of Derwent Class sailors and SWS’s co-editor Sal Balharrie at the recent festival. It’s not your standard symposium fare!

The outcome of both day one races saw the long time champion, YVONNE, continue her progress through the record books of the Tumlaren Victoria State Titles. With around 30 Sydney-Hobarts, an America’s Cup Campaign and a Whitbread Race between them, the helm (Dave Allen) and main sheet hand (Aaron Cole) were always going to be hard to beat!

A selection of News Items from the week in wooden boats.

The idea has taken a life of its own! We now have an enthusiastic Committee dedicated to the task, and the Centenarians Rally is mooted as a bi-annual October event, taking turns with the Club's well-established Gaffers Day. An approach to the Australian National Maritime Museum saw them seize the opportunity with both hands.

On International Women's Day on Saturday, a crew of 10 women and 30 female passengers sailed on Hobart's River Derwent to pay tribute to the contribution of women throughout maritime history.

Victorian Tumlaren State Championships, 2025. Day One.

The story of mosquito nets in Lake Mai Ndombe shows how solutions created thousands of miles away can have unexpected consequences, and why local communities must lead conservation efforts. 

One of the remaining trees was this 700 year old specimen, bought and felled by the late Dick McIlvride whose goal was to build an all-Kauri 47-foot ketch to the plans of the naval architect John Alden.

For nearly eight decades the name POLLYANNA has been inextricably linked to Rotnest Island. The initial catalyst to this strong and enduring bond between three classic motor launches bearing the name POLLYANNA and Western Australia’s much loved holiday island was Roland Smith – affectionately known to generations of the state’s business and boating sectors as Roly.

“...to the last I grapple with thee; from hell's heart I stab at thee; for hate's sake I spit my last breath at thee.”
Looking deeply into the world of Herman Melville.

During the race a boat’s location must be determined by traditional star, sun, planet or moon sights. Navigators of boats competing using celestial navigation must at a minimum maintain, and have ready for inspection in Bermuda, the paper-based plotting sheets for the entire race which demonstrate the method of obtaining the vessel’s position at any time during the race. All fixes resulting from Lines of Position shall have recorded the GMT, altitude, azimuth and intercept of the body or bodies of each LOP. Any Local Apparent Noon fixes shall have GMT and altitude data recorded and available for inspection.

I always start a search with so much optimism, and then the mishmash of soulless production non entities, unrealistically priced one-offs, and boats than need to be put out of their misery becomes too much, and I switch to the more bespoke sites that have fewer offerings but more potential.

Bolivar, sometimes known as Porky, an experienced fisherman whose hands are large and whose plastic sandals are held together with tape, has done something stupid. To make enough money to fix it before his pursuers cut off his ears, he needs to catch fish.

“It is disappointing to now be told to leave Docklands with no viable alternative,” Mr McDonald said, adding that it had received a previous commitment from DV “for a future home for the Alma Doepel in Docklands for more than a decade. After all of the work, meetings, plans and advocacy to now end up with ship getting kicked out of Docklands is extremely disappointing.”

While this was going on Barry, who was navigator, said that ‘he was not feeling too well and would go and have a lie down’. When we did get sailing again Alan called down to Barry to give us a course but received no reply. Steve Kingsland went below, to discover that Barry had died during the half hour it had taken us to get sailing.

"My girlfriend said she would look for a house and I would look for a boat, but then she realised houses are expensive and maybe we should just live on the boat. Houses are well and good, but you can't move your house, can you?"