The News, Culture and Practice of Sailing woodenboats
in Australia, New Zealand & The South Pacific.

FOR SALE Mark Chew FOR SALE Mark Chew

5 Under 5

Here are five interesting little boats under $5,000, all harbouring within their timber shells thousands of hours of pleasure.

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REGATTAS Mark Chew REGATTAS Mark Chew

23° air temperature, 23° water temperature.

At the start line for Saturday's first race there were twenty Gaff or similarly rigged yachts. They ranged from a fifty plus year old 10ft timber gaff rigged skiff replica MERLE, with a crew of three and a healthy spread of sail, to a recently impeccably refurbished Couta Boat CRYSTAL.  

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Sal Balharrie Sal Balharrie

Dinghy Cruising and the Backpack

‘The Man Who Walked Through Time’, described Fletcher’s experiences, observations and thoughts when, in 1963, he walked the entire length of that portion of the Grand Canyon contained within the 1963 boundaries of the Grand Canyon National Park. He was the first person to accomplish this feat, “all in one go.” I have fond memories of reading Fletcher’s book and those memories re-surfaced when I decided to write about dinghy cruising, due to the many similarities shared between dinghy cruising and backpacking—not the least of which is the awareness of and the meaningful connection with, the Natural World.

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DINGHIES Mark Chew DINGHIES Mark Chew

Back to Chelsea

The Chelsea Classic brings to life the excitement of sailing from the Club’s formation in 1938, to the post war boom in sailing through the 1950’s to 1970’s including Vee Jays, Skates, Rainbows, Gwen 12's, St Kilda 8's, 14 foot skiffs, Heavyweight Sharpies and timber Lightweight Sharpies, both sailing and on display.

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DINGHIES Charlie Salter DINGHIES Charlie Salter

The Sharpie Story - Finding Sabre

The word Sharpie has always appealed. They were 1960’s working class street gangs with flash style and tough attitude. Melbourne’s own West Side Story was Romper Stomper, a movie made in Footscray and Spotswood, next door to the Royal Yacht Club Victoria in Williamstown. The club had its own fleet of Sharpies in the 1950’s and 60’s and hosted the Olympic Sharpies at the 1956 regatta.

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DINGHIES, FLOTSAM Mark Chew DINGHIES, FLOTSAM Mark Chew

Branding the Cloth

A couple of weekends ago, while covering the Inverloch Classic Dinghy Regatta for SWS, I was struck by the history and beauty of retro design encapsulated in the cloth badges of the sailmakers from the 1950’s 60’s & 70’s.

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