The News, Culture and Practice of Sailing woodenboats
in Australia, New Zealand & The South Pacific.
Slocum’s Luck
Thanks to his 1895–98 solo circumnavigation in his 36′9″ sloop SPRAY and his 1900 book about the experience, Sailing Alone Around the World, Slocum would become a famous man, and he was called upon at times to sit for a portrait. When he did so, Slocum usually, though not always, presented his scar-free right side to the camera. One can only guess what Slocum thought about as he awaited the shutter’s click.
Peter Mounsey & the LARAPINTA
“I’d like to live to be 100 and die at sea,” Peter Mounsey says. The way he's going he'll live well beyond that. And why isn't he a “National Living Treasure” I ask?
“Deep Water and Shoal”- 90 years on.
There seems to be a long tradition in the telling of maritime adventures of, let’s call it….embellishment. I personally find a note of inauthenticity in perhaps the most revered early circumnavigator, Slocum. Some people like Tristan Jones, just blatantly made stuff up! Even writers like Jonny Wray and Erling Tambs who I enjoy enormously, are prone to gloss over the emotionally and politically difficult issues. But Robinson doesn’t shy away from telling us of his fears, his unfettered delights and his opinions of all manor of human and physical discoveries as he sailed around the world.
The word that comes to mind is FREEDOM
“What matters is action. Not to think about writing, but to write. Not to think about sailing, but to sail. Not to think about loving, but to love.”
“Arrived Newport in Fog.” WINSTON CHURCHILL’s 1967 circumnavigation.
We all know what happened to the WINSTON CHURCHILL. But her accomplishments in life have been eclipsed by her tragic demise. Many might not know of her whirlwind circumnavigation in 1967. A time in history when the word “laconic” began to be owned by Australians
“Everybody loves the sixties, especially those who weren’t there”
At a time when personal liberation and rebellion against authority were prevalent many expressed their individualism through new outlooks on religion, popular culture, and sexuality, and a handful through making slow and mindful voyages around the world in under prepared small boats.
MAORI LASS Part II- “She very nearly didn’t make it”
“The day I on got on-board that thing at Palm Beach, I sat in the corner and thought, ‘shit this feels good’, Roscoe says.
“You don’t fall in love with every boat”, he adds.
Saving SIRIUS-Australia’s first Circumnavigator
''I am not in a position to to carry out the necessary renovations myself, either physically or financially, so unless someone steps forward in the next couple of weeks, I’ll have to start scrapping her.”
Esperance to Fremantle in 16 days
A second wonderful piece from Tim Phillips aboard the Jane Kerr. Tim is undoubtably one of the last true woodenboat adventurers. An inspiration for those of us looking for more from our time on water than sailing well varnished, museum pieces, around in small triangles!
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