Flotsam & Jetsam- 07.11.25
Lots of news this week from around the world and the web.. .Let’s barge right in at the committee boat end…
PETREL on Youtube
Kudos to Larry Eastward whose series of films on the restoration of the PETREL on Pittwater are gaining some real traction. She’s a 30ft Linear Rater designed by Arch Logan, and built in 1900 by the renowned Logan Brothers in Auckland, New Zealand. She is 40ft in length overall, 29ft on the waterline, with a 7.9 ft beam, and 5.6 draught. And is out of Kauri – Agathis australis. Episode 7 shows the meticulous prep work before deck installation. It focuses on centerline blocking for stability and reinforcement blocks for deck fittings. Plus details the construction of the boat's cockpit, showcasing precise carpentry and finishing techniques.
And if that leaves you wanting more, Larry has also put out a “Video Summary” of the last three years of work. An extraordinary undertaking and an inspiration to those of us who appreciate why these boats must be saved!
An IMPECCABLE addition
Thanks to Robert Moore for pointing out a missing yacht from my list of wooden boats that did the 2005 Sydney Hobart. With the 80th race coming up. it would be a great project to track the number and percentage of wooden boats sailing in the Sydney Hobart over the eight decades. The data is there in the online programs but it needs some one with more knowledge than me to know what the 60s 70s 80s 90s boats were made of. Any volunteers?
Robert writes
“the 2005 fleet included IMPECCABLE , the Peterson three-quarter tonner built by Doug Brooker for her skipper the late John Walker. She last competed in 2008, marking 25 races skippered by John.”
I’ve always wanted to do an article on her in SWS and have accumulated a little bit of background. Here’s the gist of it…
IMPECCABLE is a three-quarter-tonner designed by the American yacht designer Doug Peterson and built in Sydney in 1980 for Australian yachtsman John Walker. She was designed for racing under IOR as a Three-Quarter Tonner which was hotly contested at the time, producing some of the most refined small offshore racers of the late 1970s and early 1980s. She 10.36 metres LOA , with a beam of about 3.45 metres and a draught of 1.99 metres, she displaced just over four tonnes. Unlike many of her contemporaries built in fibreglass, Impeccable was constructed in cold-moulded timber, using Douglas fir over Queensland ribs — a painstaking process that gave her a combination of stiffness, lightness, and a beautifully faired hull form.
John Walker, who came to yacht racing later in life — he was already sixty when he commissioned IMPECCABLE — campaigned her with remarkable dedication and success. Over a career spanning decades, Walker entered IMPECCABLE in an extraordinary twenty-five editions of the Sydney Hobart. Among her best results were a division win in 1986 and another in 1993; she also placed second overall in 1986 and third in 1993 in the prestigious Tattersall’s Cup handicap results.
Walker was known as a true gentleman of the sport — a quiet, methodical sailor who combined seamanship with perseverance. When he died in 2014, aged ninety-one, Impeccable was already regarded as one of Australia’s finest and most enduring small offshore racing yachts.
In the years that followed, the boat underwent a significant restoration, initiated by woodworker and sailor Ben Gray in collaboration with the Walker family. Determined to preserve her authenticity, Gray tracked down the original builder, Doug Brooker, as well as the mast builder and sailmaker who had worked on her in 1980. The restoration involved meticulous structural work, replacing sections of hull and deck timber affected by rot — particularly around the transom and mast step — while keeping her original lines intact. She was relaunched in 2022, restored to her former glory but subtly modernised for longevity and safety.
The launch the Maritime Heritage Trail project
The Melbourne Maritime Heritage Network (MMHN) has launched its comprehensive new Maritime Heritage Trail, celebrating the history of Melbourne’s waterways across Northbank, Southbank and Victoria Harbour.
It has been a long and evolving project, but the end product looks great. This three-part trail guide to our waterways is historically accurate, comprehensive, illustrated and provided free online via the MMHN website.
Northbank: A Riverfront Port in the CBD – Birrarung Marr to the tip of North Wharf
Southbank: Billabongs to the Bolte Bridge – The Boat Sheds to the Bolte West Precinct
Victoria Harbour: A Port City – North Wharf to the East of Moonee Ponds Creek
MMHN invites you to launch the Maritime Heritage Trail project with us at the recently completed Seafarer’s Rest Park. After the official launch, several MMHN Board members will demonstrate the trail resource by leading a short, circular waterways walk. Bring your phones! MMHN is confident that it will prove to be of immense value to tourism in this city and will certainly grow greater awareness of maritime heritage.
Note: This event is a good opportunity to see the completed Seafarers Rest Park and the repurposed heritage-listed No. 5 Goods Shed on North Wharf.
Where: Seafarers Rest Park, near the Vera Anchor
Date November 13, 2025Time 12:30 pm - 1:30 pm
Inverloch Classic Wooden Dinghy Regatta
SWS has been a big supporter of the Inverloch Classic Wooden Dinghy Regatta. We’ve covered the event on a couple of occasions. Have a look HERE
Well it’s on again in February and it’s now, quite rightly, billing itself as “the largest off the beach classic dinghy regatta in Australia”
Find yourself a Mirror, a Sailfish, a Gwen 12 or the like. There’s sure to be one in someone’s garage near you! Register and plan for a great weekend courtesy of the the wonderful community based South Gippsland Yacht Club
Scandi Connections
We’ve been positing for a while now that Australian Sailing DNA is more Scandinavian than British or American. But we couldn’t have put it better that Peter Forbes in his comment on last week’s article by Martin Van der Wal entitled “The House”
“Australia’s Scandinavian maritime connections go well back into the nineteenth century.
Colin Archer, the doyen of Norwegian yacht designers, spent his early twenties as a pastoralist in what became Queensland. He and his brothers drove sheep north of the previous boundary of settled country to discover and name the Fitzroy River and found Gracemere near present day Rockhampton.
He returned to Norway in 1857 to begin his quest to design a truly safe sea boat, a quest financed by his Queensland pastoral investments.Bruce Stannard’s fascinating book “Jack Earl - The Life and Art of a Sailor” discusses Archer as designer of the ‘Kathleen Gillett’, built for Earl at Gladesville and launched just before the start of the war. Earl circumnavigated in 1947-48 before selling her. After a chequered career she ended up wrecked in Guam.
Stannard was instrumental in having her rebuilt as a Bicentennial gift from Norway to Australia. A great book if you can find a copy.”
HMAS GOORANGAI
HMAS Goorangai was a Royal Australian Navy 223-ton auxiliary minesweeper. Initially a trawler, she was requisitioned for military service following the outbreak of World War II, converted into a minesweeper, and assigned to Minesweeper Group 54, which was based in Melbourne and tasked with keeping Bass Strait and surrounding waters clear of mines Melbourne. Her claim to fame is that she was sunk in an accidental collision with MV Duntroon in 1940, becoming the RAN's first loss of World War II, and the first RAN surface ship to be lost in wartime.
If you are on the Bellarine Peninsular on Saturday 22nd November, there’s a talk being given at 11am at the Queenscliff Maritime Museum by Andrew Campbell, on the history of the HMAS Goorangai,
Come to the Boat Shed at the Maritime Museum Entry is free, but a donation is appreciated.
AWBF Wins Again
Image Mark Chew
SWS readers who voted in the poll we promoted last month can be satisfied with the outcome!
The Australian Wooden Boat Festival has won double honours at the 2025 Tasmanian Tourism Awards Gala, held at Wrest Point Hotel on Friday, 31 October — winning Gold in the Major Festivals and Events category and coming first in the People’s Choice Awards. The press release from the AWBF says…
The recognition celebrates AWBF’s commitment to showcasing the heritage, craftsmanship, and culture of wooden boats through an inclusive and globally recognised Tasmanian festival that continues to grow in scope and impact.
“Winning Gold and the People’s Choice Award in the same year is an incredible honour,” said AWBF General Manager and Festival Director Paul Stephanus. “It’s a tribute to the people who make the festival what it is, our staff and board, volunteers, boat owners, partners and supporters, and to everyone who voted for us. Now we’re off to the national stage, representing Tasmania at the Australian Tourism Awards in 2026.”Born in 1994 from a shared love of wooden boats, AWBF has become the Southern Hemisphere’s premier celebration of wooden boats and maritime culture and Tasmania’s largest free festival — both grand in spectacle and intimate in spirit.
Today, the biennial event extends well beyond the waterfront, featuring an expanded arts program of exhibitions, films, theatre, and family-friendly fun alongside its much-loved flotilla of wooden boats. The 2025 festival attracted over 56,000 visitations across four days, with participants and guests travelling from across Australia and around the globe.
The 2027 AWBF will be held 5–8 February 2027 in Hobart, Tasmania.
The other AWBF (NZ)
Photo - Live Sail Die
Things are ramping up on the east side of the Tasman for the Auckland Wooden boat Festival scheduled for 13-15 March 2026, with expressions of interest now open.
Jellicoe Harbour turns into a sea of wooden boats for the duration of the festival.Boats generally arrive the day before the event starts to be safely secured and leave the day after it finishes, so you can expect to have a berth for around five nights. You’ll need to have someone onboard during show hours (Friday evening, all day Saturday and Sunday).
Small boats like sailing dinghies and picnic boats on trailers will be inside at the Viaduct Events Centre - which means sails up (if you have them)! We also have under-cover space for other exhibitors, which means art, books, models, boat building tools and steam engines can stay secure and out of the weather.
The New Zealand Maritime Museum will host short films, displays, talks and activities not only in the museum itself, but also in the glorious Percy Vos Heritage Boat Shed - which has the honour of being our oldest surviving wooden boat building shed and has been lovingly restored on the edge of Westhaven Marina.
With social functions, a great community spirit, and a very well organised event, there is a lot to enjoy as an exhibitor! To be part of it, complete the expression of interest form and learn more on our website. The Expression of Interest form is online now for boats at Jellicoe Wharf, the Viaduct Events Centre, interactive activities and displays.
THELMA on the Waitemata
Circumnavigating PNG in a Traditional SAILAU Canoe
The program at the AWBF earlier this year was so jam packed with interesting events that you were sure to miss something good. That’s why that the organisation should be congratulated for releasing videos of some of the symposium events to watch at your leisure..
Here’s one such account…
In August 2016, Danish adventurer Thor F. Jensen and three Papua New Guinean master sailors set out to circumnavigate the island of New Guinea in a traditional sailing canoe, called Tawali Pasana, using ancient seafaring wisdom that has stood the test of time. After 13 months of high adventure, danger and friendship the ‘Fellowship of the Tawali Pasana’ sailed into the history books. Jump aboard for a fast-moving, interactive, multimedia presentation where Thor shares the tears and triumphs, laughter and learnings sailing under three PNG master sailors.
Technology Working!
And finally… let’s end with a good news story! I think we are getting close to a point where this type of technology becomes the gold standard rather than a kookie outlier. Remember when electric cars were for the radical fringe?
