Derwent Class World Champs. The winds are light but the banter, high. A ‘D’ sails up to the transom of the start boat. Is it a sign on? Nuh. ‘Have you got any Panadol?’  Almost 100 years after the first ‘D’, IMP, rolled out of Percy Coverdale’s yard at Battery Point, did anyone imagine the boats would still be racing in 2025?

SOS HELP US FIND THE ROWLOCK LADY! We both stared at the ROWLOCKS in her hands imagining how we could murder our husbands with a short bronze stick and a bit of bronzy horse shoe. Interesting. Turns out I’m rather imaginative.

Owners have banded together to salvage, buy, restore, maintain and race the D’s, as they are called. They’ve found boats from as far afield as Burnie, Launceston, the Tasman Peninsula, even Sydney. They believe 18 still exist of the 26 or so that were built.