Finding Aloa
We are hoping to help a previous owner of this delightful little boat find out her whereabouts. The boat has quite a special history. ALOA was designed by AC Barber (perhaps most famous for designing the first Sydney Hobart winner RANI) and built in Berry's Bay just north of Goat Island in Sydney Harbour, possibly by Charles Pugh. She was apparently built for dentist R. Bull of Five Dock.
She hasn’t been spotted in the bays
and harbours of Eastern Australia for over 20 years and we are keen
to know if she survives.
She is about 31' long , 10' beam and 6' draft and cutter rigged. She has a raised deck from the shrouds, a trunk cabin top and a horizontal cockpit coaming & toe rails. The mainsheet is aft of the lazarette hatch. There is a chance than her name might now be spelled ALOHA, She was in the 1947 & 1948 Sydney to Hobart races. Unfortunately she didn't finish the 48' race.
The first picture in this series of her dried out on the tide was taken just before one of the two Hobart races. Right after this she left Sydney Harbour to do a trial run with another boat up to Pittwater. and on the way back to Sydney, the other boat radioed (apparently both boats had recently installed radios for the race) to tell ALOA’s crew that there was a whale directly on collision course with her bow. She apparently tee-boned the whale and all were amazed that the only thing that happened structurally was that the seams cracked the newly painted hull. But other than that she was undamaged.
If you have any clues about where ALOA might be or what might have happened to her then get in touch! helm@southernwoodensailingboats.com
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