The closure of our current location means the end of The Victorian Wooden Boat Centre as we know it. There will never be another opportunity to recreate what we have here and keep it viable. We will wind down the VWBC until its lease ends, at which point it will close permanently.

“Without their regular feasts, the faithful are unstrung from the calendar, awash in a sea of days that are all the same.”
― Hilary Mantel,

The Grand Parade, led by the drum of dragon boats and the sails of a tall ship, invites all boats to the water, spiriting all vessels past a crowd of thousands waving from the foreshore.

We repeatedly emphasized that we were aboard a small 8-meter sailboat, but the response was the same each time: "We are a 50-meter three-masted sailboat, and we offer our assistance in towing you to Paimpol."

But we weren’t going to South Australia for art, landscapes and wine, we were going to experience the 17th biennial South Australian Wooden Boat Festival held in Goolwa near the mouth of the Murray. I was looking forward to understanding a little bit about the particular craft of the area and how they relate the idiosyncratic geography of the region.

TARKINE, is a 40ft Pilot Cutter inspired design by Paul Gartside, and she’s starting to come together in away that gives the viewer an understanding of how this elegant craft is going to look and function.

Ouch, The title of this article is so bad it actually hurts! Surely you can do better! Why not enter THE SWS I CAN DO BETTER Competition. And there’s a PRIZE!

When the 2021 Australian Wooden Boat Festival went the same way as so many other mass gatherings over the last 18 months, the organisers quickly made sure that the year wasn’t completely wasted.

If there’s one thing we’ve learned over the last six months publishing articles on SWS it’s that the events that do best are created by enthusiasts on the ground, having an idea and then making it happen.

The greatest celebration of Wooden Boats and Maritime Culture on the planet*, welcomes you attend the 2021 Maritime Trail.

The photographs and article come all the way from Hungary.  The images speak for themselves of family bonds, of patient learning, of persistence and of dreams. This is the story of Eight And A Half.

When it comes to capturing the true nature of boats and the essence of sailing there are few finer than photographer Andrea Francolini. Join us in this exclusive interview.

I refuse to call THE ENDLESS SEA a coffee table book. It’s so much more than what that mildly derisive term implies. Once in a while a beautifully designed book such as this, lands on my desk, and …

The famous Sunstone is for sale in Nelson, New Zealand, and for the right custodian she would be the most rewarding combination of form, function and provenance.

With just a week remaining in this bizarre year, it would have been surprising if there wasn’t a twist in the tail of 2020.

Every week you’ll find snippets of stories from around the globe. This week in Flotsam - The AGE profiles Wyruna.

“When Melbourne went into stage three lock down in July 2020, we lost the opportunity to go sailing in our beautiful wooden boats.”

In the spring of 1895 Charles Bailey Jr and his younger brother Walter, trading as “C. & W. Bailey”, built the 5 rater Ida for their good customers, merchants Jagger brothers and W. Frater Jr. …. The restoration process commenced with cutting off the rotting, cabin top, decking and beams.

it’s good to see that despite the cancellation of the 2021 Australian Wooden Boat Festival, the organisers led by Paul Stephanus, have decided to go ahead with the spectacular biennial Parade of Sail on the Derwent. on Sunday 7th of February 2021.

Every week you’ll find snippets of stories from around the globe. This week in Flotsam - A library book is returned 33 years overdue.