SWS in 2025
So far this year, 116,000 individual people have visited the SWS website and they have read 187,000 pages. I point this out not to be self congratulatory, but indicate the strength and size of the community that sees the value in promoting traditional maritime culture.
Unsurprisingly, the articles that are most read are the ones that the authors have spent most time on, digging deeper, researching, sourcing good photography and honing the messages. But this takes time and effort and sometimes not a small amount of money.
That’s why we are genuinely grateful to our small but loyal donor base, because they allow us to do better work, and spread the values of the wooden boat world to a wider audience. Thank you!
With this in mind, in case you missed them, here are the half dozen most read articles in SWS from 2025, in no particular order.
VALE - RON OF ARGYLL
By Jim Woods
4 Feb, 2025
The beautiful 1928 gaff topsail ketch “Ron of Argyll“ has been lost on a reef in Shoalwater Western Australia. In the world of wooden boats, there is, quite rightly, a concept of custodianship rather than ownership. I was her custodian from the late 1980's to the mid 2000's. But, right now, on hearing the news, I feel more like an owner than a custodian. She was my old girl and I don’t mind saying there are a few tears hitting the keyboard as I write this obituary. READ ON HERE
Still Making History
By Mark Chew
13 Feb, 2025
AS part of the AWBF, two small boats raced on the Derwent River in Hobart last weekend, after a 90 year break. But they weren’t just any old boats. They are two of the most storied small craft ever to sail in this corner of the Pacific. Many of you would know of and have read the books “South Sea Vagabonds’ and “Dark Sun” which recount the adventures of Johnny Wray and George Dibbern respectively. I’m not going to recap these seminal works here, suffice to say that if you like an adventure story, with a little bit of history and romance thrown in, then these two accounts will not disappoint.
The stories run vaguely in parallel through the 1930’s and 40’s, intertwining occasionally. One such occasion was the race that the two yachts engaged in, between Melbourne and Hobart in 1935. After racing across the Tasman from Auckland the previous year, (Te Rapunga won) the crews spent nearly three months in Melbourne enjoying, perhaps to excess, the local hospitality. The skippers decided you could have too much of a good thing and decided to continue the challenge from Melbourne to Hobart. READ ON HERE
Tumlaren Titles
3 Apr, 2025
There are, as far as I‘m aware, only two timber boat One Design fleets in Australia, that can put on genuine state titles.
In February the Derwent Class held there championships in Hobart. There were 12 boats competing in that event, over a day of six short races. We covered that amazing regatta HERE.
Well it was Melbourne’s Tumlaren fleet’s turn last weekend. There were only 6 boats entered due to a couple of late withdrawals, but it’s a realistic goal to have eight sailing next year, and ten in 2027.
It’s interesting to consider the similarities between the two classes. The first D was launched in 1927, the first Tum in 1933. D’s have a crew of four, Tum’s have a crew of three. D’s are 24ft 6in long (plus a sprit), Tums 27ft 3in. Both are engineless and fun to sail. Perhaps these parameters indicate a sweet spot for this type racing?
The life of LOVE & WAR
with Peter Shipway
29 Jan, 2025
There are not many boats that can sail competitively in the Sydney-Hobart one month, and then show up at the Australian Wooden Boat Festival the next, and outshine many of the other more pampered exhibitors. You could make a good case that LOVE & WAR is Australia’s most successful ocean racing yacht. Fifty two years ago she was drawn by Olin Stephens when he was at the peak of his extraordinary powers. Since then she has won the Sydney-Hobart on three occasions, and is rarely in the bottom two thirds of the fleet. In the the recent 2024 event, she again won her division, and came 14th overall, in conditions that were not always her forte. It would be a brave pundit who definitively predicts that, given the right weather, she couldn’t win the event a fourth time!
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.
Recorded before the recent Sydney Hobart, it’s thirty minutes of fascinating insights, reminiscences, and gentle advice about how to get the most out of a genuinely corinthian ocean racing program.
SAONA is for Sale
22 Jan, 2025
Regular readers with good memories will recall three articles published in SWS, about the Philip Rhodes yacht SAONA. Well, here is a fourth, published in sadder circumstances, but with hope for a bright future for one of Tasmania’s most important yachts. SAONA has attended all fourteen Australian wooden boat festivals so far, and will be there again this year but it will be the first time the Ben Marris hasn’t steered her into Sullivan’s Cove following his death in August last year.
Ever since she was built in 1936 she’s been having adventures….
SAONA was the last boat built by Charles Lucas in his own yard at Battery Point for a Mr Maldon Weston of Austins Ferry. Philip Rhodes’ extraordinary designs are rare in Australia. Others being SCIMITAR (attending the festival this year), the original MARGARET RINTOUL (multiple Sydney Hobart winner) and FAIR WINDS (your correspondent’s ride for 24 years)
Two boats were built to SAONA’s graceful design. The other operates under charter in Chesapeake Bay. They are unusual in having a centreboard, giving her a shallow draft but good performance under sail.
READ ON HERE. (As of 16/12 she’s still on the market. Ed.)
LEARNING FROM LAMU
By Mark Chew
11 Dec, 2025
The DFAT website clearly states that if you are planning to go to the Northern Coast of Kenya you should “reconsider your need to travel”. It goes on to say “The borders with Somalia, Ethiopia and South Sudan are high-risk areas for kidnapping. Armed groups from Somalia kidnap and target foreigners in Kenya, including aid workers, particularly along the Somalia border region. Foreigners have previously been the target of kidnappings. If, despite our advice, you plan to travel to these areas, get professional security advice.”
I considered the advice… and then ignored it. I had been given a precious invitation to sail in the spectacular regatta for the local dhows in Lamu and it was an opportunity too good to miss.
After forty years of mildly competitive sailing, on three different continents, I would list my few days of racing on the Swahili coast as an all-time highlight. Much of the event would be familiar to people who sail in “rich world” regattas. Considerations such as weather, sail choice, tidal movements and crew roles are almost identical but then the sailing is infused with pure joy, where physical prowess, respect for tradition and experience, and the love of the practical act of moving a wooden boat through the water, transcends the importance of the final results. But don’t misunderstand me. They push their boats hard.