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

ADVENTURE Mark Chew ADVENTURE Mark Chew

‘We pledged not to eat each other’

He looked at his father and discovered he was ankle-deep in water. Then he looked over his shoulder to the vastness of the Pacific. “There were three orcas; a daddy, mummy and a baby in between. The daddy’s head was split open and bleeding badly.”

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RACING Mark Chew RACING Mark Chew

No SOLUTION

It was an easy but painful decision to abandon SOLUTION. She was clearly sinking. I estimated  that the water was rising an inch every ten minutes and it was now completely covering the  floorboards, with 8 inches to go before it covered the main batteries located beneath the lower  bunks in the main cabin.

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ENVIRONMENT Mark Chew ENVIRONMENT Mark Chew

Child’s Play

For four years now, orcas have been ramming and sinking yachts in European waters, and scientists have struggled to work out just why these smart, social animals had learnt this destructive new trick. But it's not due to some anticapitalist 'eat the rich' agenda, nor is it to do with territory and aggression. The truth is, well, it's child's play.

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RACING Mark Chew RACING Mark Chew

180ft below Lake Ontario

It would not be an exaggeration to say that for many, it was as traumatic as losing a dear friend. Severn II was built in 1934 at the Bute Slip Dock Company at Ardmaleish, Isle of Bute in the Firth of Clyde in Scotland. To describe Severn II, built of carvel mahogany on oak frame, as ‘beautiful’ is a huge understatement. Gorgeous striking, amazing. These 8s would be museum pieces, were they not still energetically sailed racing boats.

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