In last weeks article on a potential new Q Class yacht courtesy of Spirit Yachts, we mentioned the recent launch of a brand new Tumlare in Tasmania this month. Charlie Salter gives us a little more detail.

Until now only one Tumlaren was ever built in Tasmania. Max Creese at Battery Point built a cruiser for Ken Gourlay in 1949. KG sailied MALAREN from Bellerive YC for the 1950/51 season then sold her to buy a Dragon, when that class was nominated for the 1956 Olympics in Melbourne.

TASMANIA SOON TO HAVE SECOND TUMLAREN YACHT

Two weeks ago a brand new Tumlare cruiser went into the water at Kettering in Tasmania. This is a classic Knud Reimers design from 1933 and the first new boat built and launched in Australia since ZIRCON in 1968. One skilful and sprightly eighty year old, Doug Jack, set himself the task in 2020 of building a cold moulded version in his basement garage. Drawings supplied by Roger Dundas were lofted on MDF sheets on the garage floor and ply station moulds made. Doug chose all endemic species with Celery Top pine for the keelson and stringers and three cross-lam layers of 4.2mm King Billy pine. He then righted the boat with barely enough headroom to fix the deck and build a coaming and cabin with Huon pine detailing.

Doug prudently purchased a soon to be cut-up 1937 Tumlare ZANET from Adelaide. He salvaged the lead keel, rudder, spars and cast bronze fittings ready to refurbish and recycle. Kettering is a small community of shipwrights and sailmakers who all pitched in at key moments to keep Doug on track. He recently shocked local classic sailors revealing his brilliant choice of hot magenta topsides. Is he reliving his youth during the 1960’s and 70’s when lots of brightly coloured hulls appeared? Perhaps Doug remembers the excitement when Joe Adam’s and Bob Miller’s little 30ft cold moulded PLUM CRAZY arrived in Hobart’s Constitution Dock to win her Sydney Hobart race division in 1971. She was an instant celebrity with pregnant plum coloured topsides and spinnaker.

Storm Bay Sails in Kettering are cutting a new suit this week and Doug is hoping to stand the re-furbished mast by end of May. While there’s some quiet controversy in the Oyster Cove Marina about the non-traditional lightweight construction, we’re sure Knud Reimers would have approved. He was developing an updated design called TumlarTwo in fibreglass in the 1980’s just before he died. PICCOLO will be quick in Kettering YC’s twilight racing with the fleet of Derwent class. Once again ‘it will be interesting to see the performance of the new yacht against one of them’ to quote Leeward from the 1949 Mercury.

Apart from ‘project completion’, there’s much to admire here. Doug’s modest tenacity is matched with superb timber craft. He’s also done his bit for Tasmanian north/south unification acknowledging his own sailing connections and history. The stern is marked with both Kettering and Tamar Yacht Clubs. The sail number will be 3 as was ZANET at RSAYS.

If you also want a new Tumlare, M-Yachts Oy Ab offer a strip plank version, but you need to go to Helsinki with a sail bag stuffed with Euro.

Photos in Doug’s workshop

Doug talking with SWS correspondent. Kathy Veel and Bridget Canham paid a visit after completing a two-hander Sydney Hobart in 2022 in their 30ft Joubert Currawong. Classic sailors Pete Jerabek, Roger Dundas, restorer of of three Tumlaren and CS sailed from Melbourne for the 2023 Hobart WBF. We were welcomed in Kettering by Doug and Helen Jack with a dockside pick-up, home shower, laundry service and full inspection. (Click to enlarge)