Built as a shallow-draft yacht, WHOOPER was mostly cruised, but her natural reaching and downwind speed exceeded expectations. Anecdotes from Peter Bruce recall crossings back from the Channel Islands in the 1960’s, at average speeds over 10 knots!

Reality check No.1: this is on an island that is a public reserve administered and maintained by the taxpayer-funded National Parks and Wildlife Service. Anyone has a right to be there.

The annual Mahurangi Regatta is back to its former glory after a few years of setbacks. Enjoy the imagery here!

The Couta Boat Association has posted a wonderful record of the early years of the Class on its website. There are about 50 Editions of “SCOOP” on line, starting 42 years ago in 1981 and ending in 2011.

This is going to be special! Drinks and food and friends amongst some remarkable restorations. There will be a welcome to the Regatta and brief description of the vessels being worked on in the shed.

So now I’m a little confused!  There are so many good things going on, so many positive stories and no shortage of activity, so why we are not brimming with optimism?

We have a seriously diverse, storied and decorated fleet of wooden boats coming to Williamstown on the weekend of 3rd 4th 5th November… A couple of Admiral’s Cup winners, a Newport Bermuda race overall winner, a three of circumnavigators, Victoria’s most successful keelboat, Sayonara Cup challengers and a plethora of Sydney Hobart contestants.

“I was still in school in ’83 and was on the dock during the Trials in 1977 when Ted Turner and Gary Jobson rushed by with cameras following them,” said Courageous Skipper Dawn Riley, who would go on to sail in four America’s Cup races and two Whitbread Round the World races. “It made a big impression on a 13-year-old from Detroit!”

The boats themselves are the sculptures…. but sometimes too much “trickery” shouts “look at me, the clever photographer” rather than look at this image and understand a little of what it is like to witness this awe-inspiring sight.

Ed is tough but considered, practical but romantic, exacting but inclusive. If more people were like him, sailing would be a better sport.

While these timber yachts sail majestically on, most of the hot new fibreglass boats in the class of ‘72 have disappeared off the radar.

SWS is continually shuffling pieces around a Tumlaren history puzzle. It’s gumshoe work to cross reference clues and sift fact from bar-fiction.

Len Heffernan was a champion 18ft skiff skipper, designer and boat builder of the 1950s and 60s, who changed the style of the Sydney 18 footers in the early 1960s, but never gets the recognition that he deserves.

Plans were thrown into chaos with boats trapped on the hard and crew travel arrangements stymied, undaunted, Peter Costolloe pressed ahead and those who made it to the start line didn’t regret it.

Can we draw your attention to the smile on the chap, about to christen the bow of his boat with a bottle of beer. Sums it all up. Priceless.

Here, summertime Wednesday night racing seems to be a form of sailing cult.

I watched the dramatic events unfold in the early stages of the Prada Cup last weekend. I must admit that subconsciously I was hoping to dislike the whole event.

For almost 150 years, excluding the odd war and pandemic, SASC has held races every Saturday in summer. January 9, 2021 was no exception. Here are some fantastic photos of the fleet in action, captured by Andrea Francolini.

“Owning a timber Dragon has been a dream of mine for a long time, and when I was lucky enough to notice Siena on eBay in 2009, I knew my heart had to rule my head and I had to put in the winning bid.”

This is one of the things we love about old wooden boats…For less than AUD$7000, you can own this incredible piece of history!