65 miles in an open boat-
Perhaps not a journey of bligh-like proportions, but This is One Tumlaren’s account of a trip to The 2024 Geelong Wooden Boat Festival
Last week we wrote about the first wooden boat festival in Auckland during the first three days of March. We are still hoping for a report on the gathering at Paynesville the same weekend, and so we thought we would save the readers from another blow by blow account this time of the Geelong Wooden Boat Festival. Instead we’ll recount the weekend as seen from the deck of the engineless 29ft Tumlaren YVONNE
OK, the forecast wasn’t great. Four days of temperatures in the high 30’s with either gusty northerlies or no wind at all. But as a wise sailor friend of mine constantly reminds me … “IT’S JUST A FORECAST!” Five Tumlare had entered the Festival but it was down to the last man standing by Friday morning, the day of the scheduled departure for Portarlington.
As the mercury climbed the father & son crew of Mark and Archie Chew, cast off from St Kilda at around 1300 as a gentle sea breeze arm wrestled its way over the light northerlies. It’s not often that beating is a pleasure but given the heat, we were grateful for apparent wind as we ticked off the 22 miles to the gathering point on the Bellarine Peninsular. There was a pressing deadline. We had to be established in front of a screen at the newly refurbished Grand Hotel, for the AFL Round Zero bounce of the ball. Four hours on one long port tack saw us squeeze through the harbour entrance and with the generous help of the RGYC RIB, tie up in a pen at the end of the pier. We were joined by four Couta boats, the cray boat MARGARET PEARL, the small but perfectly formed GUMNUT from RYCV and the Peter Ibold Sloop SALACIA recently acquired by Greg Phelan and Jacqui Thomas.
Both the company and food at the pub were hearty, and the evening was topped off with a rousing comeback victory for the Blues, auguring well for both the weekend and season ahead.
Sleeping arrangements for two 6ft plus men on a 6ft beam boat are a challenge. But with the help of a couple of blow up matresses and the beer consumed during the football, sleep was inevitable!
The cancellation of the passage race from Portarlington to Geelong for heat related reasons was a disappointment. In 40 years of yacht racing, I’ve had races cancelled for too much wind, not enough wind, lightning, whales and excessive flotsam, but this is the first N over A because it was predicted to be too hot!
But we need to constantly remind ourselves that these decisions are not taken lightly, and the organisers, often volunteers, are trying their best to provide a safe, fun event, and that’s not always easy, and not everyone is going to be happy all of the time.
And there’s worse things to do than a 15 mile cruise the length of Corio Bay in the company of a few wooden boats. With spinnaker up YVONNE wound her way towards the Hopetoun Channel, a strong northerly threatening, but holding off for the moment. Jim Woods and Roger Dundas aboard the magnificent MARGARET PEARL took pity on us parched engineless mariners, and and performed a skilful beer delivery that a USAF mid air refuelling team would have been proud of. (Click to enlarge)
After a brief tow through the Hopetoun Channel from SALACIA, the northerly finally broke though and we flew down to the Royal Geelong Yacht Club in an exilerating two sail reach.
Image Roger Dundas
There were about forty wooden boats moored in the RGYC marina for the festival. This is down a little on 2022, however given the stifling heat that’s not surprising. But it was still good to catch up with friends on the quay in between regular cooling off dips in the harbour
Paella on the MARGARET PEARL is fast becoming a festival tradition and with Greg Phelan on the tongs 2024 did not disappoint. An interesting group of about 20 family and friends enjoyed the food and conversation. Jim Woods then pulled out his guitar and handed Pete Jerabek (BARANNE) a melodica and the astonishing improvised music drifted through the crowd and into the warm night air.
Images - Tom Smeaton
With no wind forecast for Monday (yes I know, it’s just a forecast!) the YVONNE crew decided it was wiser to make trip home on the Sunday when despite being on the nose, at least we would be moving. An early departure at 0800 ensured that we had a good run down the Hopetoun Channel passing the Spirit of Tasmania at the narrowest point.
Departing Geelong- Image Roger Dundas
The 32 trip to Melbourne took seven hours but it didn’t seem that long. We made just one tack up to the northern western corner of Port Phillip near Avalon, and from there we hugged the shore, trying to stay in flatter water. We stayed safe in the heat with layers of sunscreen and litres of water, and after couple of sail changes and lunch on the go, St Kilda emerged out of the heat haze exactly where it was meant to be. Reverse parking an engineless double ender downwind was the final challenge, executed with no paint lost and a deep sense of satisfaction. There’s a lot to be said for simplified cruising.