The Shank Returns

By Andrew Wilson

On a calm morning in Bathurst Harbour the tannin-stained water forms a vast flawless mirror. Your wake rolls symmetric hills. Turn the motor off, sit on the water in perfect silence. Nowhere on earth can you hear such silence. Nobody dares whisper.

The water perfectly reflects the colours above; landforms and clouds are duplicated. Make passage along the coastline in calm conditions, and come upon a shoal of mutton birds. Turn off the motor and drift towards the birds. Visibility is 30 feet and you can watch a hundred birds with part-folded wings flying underwater, feeding on krill.

After an overnight passage arrive outside your chosen anchorage just after a winter dawn. Intense colours paint everything with the promise of a blue-sky day. Pause for a while near a pod of whales...and they come over. As they pass under your boat they roll their eye up to have an intense look at you. Wind your way past the sheltering outer rocks and anchor securely in a place where very few dare enter.

Spend your time absorbing and appreciating this remote Wilderness World Heritage. These are some of the reasons why I love the Southwest."
- Prologue | THE SHANK RETURNS

Welcome to the third edition of Ian Johnston's THE SHANK, which contains many additional pages of writing, photographs and navigation instructions.

For the uninitiated, The Shank began its publishing journey when Ian bounded into my office with the vigor of an 18 year old, a backpack full of handwritten stories and USB drive filled with incredible images of Tasmania's South West coastline. Having sailed this area just once myself, when collecting content for book two of Old Sea Dogs of Tasmania, I was amazed at the stories and places Ian had documented of such a wild and remote area of the world.

"This is a land that has been inhabited for more than 30,000 years.

The First Nation people were taken from this country; by rights this should be their decendants’ land. Walk around a midden, pick up a stone knife, feel how well is sits in your hand and ponder that the person who made this could have lived before the Pyramids were built. Replace the relic. Pause near a ring of hut depressions – this could be the centre of a small village, here since the end of the last ice age. Or gaze around a cave filled with deeply-etched carvings – what are they saying? My hair stands on end; I am breathless and my companions feel the same. In the settled parts of lutruwita, evidence of the Palawa people is hard to find, but over here it is everywhere.” - Prologue | THE SHANK RETURNS

First came THE SHANK, then THE SHANK REVISITED and now THE SHANK RETURNS - a singularly unique publication whose primary purpose is to help safely navigate mariners along an expanse of rugged coastline besieged by the Southern Ocean and the Roaring Forties.

Yet over its three editions, The Shank has evolved into more than just a navigation guide, or Rutter. The Shank Returns is Ian's dedication of love for our island home and clarion call to protect not only this staggeringly beautiful area, but all of the truly wild places left on our planet.

THE SHANK RETURNS for anyone who wishes to turn the pages of adventure on the high seas, or plans to visit Tasmania's wild South West Coast for themselves, and write adventures of their own. If however the latter is your preference, make sue you heed Ian's warning, "Are you ready for this?"

For further reading make sure to revisit Ian’s speech - Why I Love Tasmania in an earlier edition of SWS.

THE SHANK RETURNS available for pre-order here, due to arrive in November.

THE SHANK RETURNS | A Rutter for Tasmania's Wild South West Coast
RRP: $65.00 | Author: Ian Johnston | Publisher: Everything Everything
Format: Hardcover - 289 pages