More Wooden Shorts
We seem to be getting more and more wooden boat stories that, while perhaps not worth a stand alone article, are definitely worth sharing.
Vernon PowelL replied to last week’s Wooden Shorts.
Not with an answer to Greg Clark’s mini-Derwent Question but with a lovely bit of personal Maritime History
Hi Mark,
Not about the boat, but the back story. Nettlefold's were the Holden dealership I seem to remember. Given the Holden - Ford rivalry of the day, worth pointing out.
And I did so enjoy the the piece about kids sailing in easily accessible boats. My fondest memories of “mucking about in boats”, are of sailing a pirogue on holidays “at the Coast”, north of Mombassa at Malindi, Kenya, and of the yacht in the creek at the bottom of our garden in the Seychelles. Then when we came to Tasmania in 1964, I soon stepped up to a Gwen 12. And ultimately built a Couta boat.
My father used to talk about “his time before the mast”. As kids, we thought he was joking. Only after his death did we find out the truth, As a young teenager, he and his two brothers were orphaned in Kent. He ended up in a Shaftsbury Boys Home for Wayward Boys. Losing his name and given a number, Boy 541, he lived on The Arathusa in the lower Thames. The Arathusa was the last fully rigged and armed ship of the RN, and fought in the Crimean War. My dad scrubbed decks, climbed the rigging, danced the hornpipe, learned the bugle and of course went to school. All of this on board. Shortly after he “graduated”, the ship was changed to the Pamir, and its topmasts removed. She later went to New York and was an exhibit at the Maritime Museum in Lower Manhattan. Now she is back in Berlin and being restored to her former glory.
As harsh as life was for my Dad, I’m sure his time before the mast, influenced his decision to just let me muck around in boats when I was a kid.
Cheers Vernon, Hobart
The Melbourne Maritime Heritage Network is having an event on the 12th June called “Growing the Blue Economy into the Future”
Hear about some of Victoria’s unique maritime and natural treasures as well as some strategies we might adopt to sustaining these at the same time as being part of the blue global economy.
Hear from Dr Christiaan de Beukelaer: Author Dr Kate Robb, Research Director and others on a panel chaired by Dr Gregory Harper.
When: June 12th, 17:45 for 18:00 until 19:00
Where: RSV, 8 La Trobe st, Melbourne
Admission: Free
Refreshments provided after the panel session Please RSVP to greg@MMHNVIC.onmicrosoft.com
Tasmania “Watch Out”!
The slender oarfish, "Ryūgū-No-Tsukai", known in Japanese folklore as the "Messenger from the Sea God's Palace", is said to portend earthquakes. The oarfish has been nicknamed the "doomsday fish" because, historically, appearances of the fish were linked with subsequent natural disasters, namely earthquakes or tsunamis. After the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami which killed over 20,000 people, many in Japan pointed to the 20 oarfish washed up on the country's beaches in 2009 and 2010 as being a traditional harbinger of doom. But to spoil this great story, a study published in 2019 states the relationship between the appearance of oarfish and subsequent earthquakes is an "illusory correlation". Disappointing!
So despite one washing up on the beach in Strahan, Tasmania this week, we can presumably ignore the possibility of and upcoming Tasmanian Tsunami?
From Our ABC by Georgie Burgess
Elusive oarfish found at Ocean Beach on Tasmania's rugged west coast.
When Sybil Robertson went dog walking on Tasmania's Ocean Beach on Monday, she was unaware she was about to join the small club of people who have found an elusive oarfish.The creature from the deep is the longest bony fish species in the world and is rarely seen by humans.
Known by some as the "doomsday fish", it is linked to tales of sea serpents and natural disasters.
"I was watching a sea eagle flying around and I noticed it was coming down onto the beach and I thought, 'That's unusual, I don't often see them land on the beach,'" Ms Robertson said.
The Strahan resident could see the sun catching a silvery streak on the beach, on state's rugged west coast.
"I could see it was a long fish but I had no idea what kind of fish," Ms Robertson said.
"As I got closer, I could see the beautiful colouring around its head and the markings on it were fabulous."
She said it was a "good three paces" in length and had some injuries, but otherwise appeared in good condition.
Ms Robertson took photos of the fish and posted them to a social media group called Citizen Scientists of Tasmania, where it was confirmed as an oarfish.
In a race against time due to hungry birds circling, authorities were contacted to take samples of the fish so it could be researched by CSIRO experts.
Ocean Beach is known for its wildness, and at its longitude there is no land between it and South America.
Building breeze and sea state create a spectacular conclusion to Cowes Classics Regatta 2025
From the Cowes Classic Regatta
Ahead of an oncoming, breeze-filled front from the west, the superb race management teams of the combined Royal London Yacht Club and Royal Thames Yacht Club, under the watchful eye of Principal Race Officer Tim Hancock, elected to send all the fleets out early on the concluding day of Cowes Classics Regatta 2025. It was a wise decision, with reports from the Needles soon after 1pm of 30 knot gusts building at the western approaches to the Solent. Once again, the three course areas were set with the bigger boats on the Hill Head plateau whilst the inshore boats were again set to the shifting breezes and flat water of Osborne Bay.
It was all to play for amongst many of the fleets but in the Daring Class, once again it was Josh Peckham and his young team who proved to be a class apart from the rest of the fleet, taking two race wins to secure the regatta. Crew-work on ‘Dauntless’ was near-perfect and as both the breeze and sea-state built on the Bramble Bank, Peckham and his team sailed better and better. It was a boat-handling masterclass that saw ‘Dauntless’ win by six points after one discard with six straight race wins. Paul Wiseman’s ‘Doublet’ secured the runner-up spot by just one point from David Tydeman’s ‘Dynamite.’
Sharing the same race area as the Darings and starting just behind, the Dragon Class enjoyed some thrilling final day action with plenty of surfs and broaches down the fleet. In the two races completed today, Chris Grosscurth’s ‘Fit Chick’ was unstoppable in the building breeze and secured both race wins but unfortunately for Chris it wasn’t enough to seal the overall regatta win with Simon Barter’s ‘Bertie’ winning by just one point. The ‘Bertie’ team sealed the win after posting a third and a second today with the third place being their discard after a remarkably consistent regatta. The final place on the Dragon podium went to a countback after both Owen Pay’s ‘Furious’ and David Ross’s ‘sanka ended up tied on points after discard. On countback to the last race, ‘Furious’ ended up taking third having finished one place ahead of ‘Sanka’ in Race 7 of the series.
In the Classics Division for yachts over 12 metres LOA, just one race was completed on Sunday with Race Officer Phil Hagen seeing the building breeze and sea-state and abandoning the seventh race before the start. The regatta victory went to the imperious 30 Square Metre of Richard Hargreaves ‘Aeolus’ who completed a clean sweep of race wins to secure the overall victory from Michael Briggs’s Fife Clyde 30 Linear Rater ‘Mikado’ by six points after discard. Peter Cyriax scored a second place on Sunday to bounce back from a retirement in Race 4 on Saturday and sealed his place on the podium in his Sparkman & Stevens 43 ‘Firebrand.’
Meanwhile in the Classics Division for yachts under 11.99 metres LOA, Craig & Emma Dymock’s International H-Boat ‘Wight Wedding’ won the regatta after posting a second place on Sunday which blotted an otherwise perfect scoreline through the series and ended up being their discard. The race win on Sunday went to Ursula Hollis’s International H-Boat ‘Warrior’ who secured second overall in the regatta division. Steve Scanlan’s beautiful Fife One Design ‘Vega’ had a discarded seventh place on Sunday but did just enough to take the final place on the winners’ podium.
The final racing on the Hill Head plateau saw an uncontested race in the Old Gaffers fleet with Andrew Hitt’s Plymouth Hooker ‘Spinaway X’ not competing and thus allowing Richard Jacobs’s Gaff Cutter ‘Ivy Green’ to record a clean sweep of victories, recording a perfect five from five race wins.
Whilst the sea-state increased quickly on the Hill Head plateau, down in Osborne Bay it was relatively flatter but no less challenging with the dayboats facing some tricky shifts around the Peel Wreck marker buoy. Cat’s paws were filtering through the forestry and clearings shoreside on this tricky stretch of water for the racing sailors but in the XOD fleet, it was the ever-quick Cordelia Ellis who secured two outstanding race wins, sailing fast and consistently to capitalise on her overnight lead and take the class win overall. Cordelia’s starts were first class, and the Ellis family crew onboard ‘Myrtle’ were near-faultless in holding off the hard-charging David Palmer on ‘Princess Jalina’ who secured second overall just three points behind with two second places today. Lisa Childerley sailing ‘Palassie’ posted two third places on Sunday and secured third overall. Fabulous close racing for the XOD’s.
One of the most visually pleasing fleets at Cowes Classics Regatta, the Bembridge One Designs who sail spinnaker-less and goose-wing their jibs downwind, proved to be a hotly contested fleet over six races ahead of their traditional passage race home to Bembridge. Front-runner from the beginning of the regatta Mark Grzegorczyk, sailing BOD 9, posted a first and second on Sunday to establish a two-point lead after one discard going into the Passage Race over Hugh Doherty sailing BOD 10. Third overall looks likely to go the way of Jos Coad, sailing BOD 8, who is a handy six points clear of the chasing pack.
Arguably the outstanding performance of the week was in the National Squib Class, with Dan Henderson and Marc Moncrieff digging themselves out of impossible positions on Sunday to take both race wins and win the regatta scoring eight wins from eight starts in this very competitive fleet. Bradley Mclaughlin, sailing ‘Abnorm,’ was able to discard a 9th place in race five on Saturday and continue a remarkably consistent run of four second places to take second overall just one point clear of third place Charlie White onboard ‘Kestrel.’ The Squibs were revelling in the breeze and flat water of Osborne Bay and provided a very visual spectacle for Cowes Classics Regatta.
Competitors came ashore in the early afternoon for the regatta prize-giving and were greeted by huge crowds and a real party-atmosphere with Cowes Classics Day in full stride. Along the Parade, some 54 classic cars of various vintages proved to be an entertaining spectacle whilst on the Trinity Landing various classic yachts were on display for spectators to peruse. Up in the skies above Cowes, the sound of a Second World War Spitfire loop-the-looped and thrilled, a wonderful addition to the festivities and spirit of Cowes Classics Regatta 2025.
Summing up the event, Commodore of the Royal London Yacht Club, His Honour Peter Ralls K.C. was delighted with how the club’s flagship regatta unfolded saying: “Cowes Classics Regatta is such a marvellous tradition on the Cowes yachting calendar and this year’s events both shoreside and on the water were simply first class. We were blessed with near-perfect weather and, as the results show, there were some very sporting performances on the water. Thank you to all the competitors who came from far and wide, bringing some of the finest classic yachts to Cowes, and competing in such a Corinthian spirit. Shoreside, my thanks go to the wonderful team at the Royal London Yacht Club for their tireless work and further our deepest thanks go to our colleagues at the Royal Thames Yacht Club for all their considerable assistance in helping to run the regatta so well. However, I must make special mention of our outstanding team of volunteers, without whom we could not put on such a successful regatta. We now look forward to hosting Cowes Classics Regatta 2026 and welcoming old friends and new to the Royal London Yacht Club.”
Magnus Wheatley