Lars Halvorsen’s five sons and family created what became the largest and most famous Australian boatbuilders of their era, later taking their skills to Hong Kong and China, with exports all over the world. The story is one of hardship and passion, stoicism in the face of great adversity.

Students of dugout sculpting believe that once the tree was felled, it would have been stripped of all its bark, then have its future top and bottom surfaces determined by its curvature, if any.

I remember trying to sleep in the forward berth and being “squeezed” as the bow flexed - rather frighteningly as they were built to be very light - perhaps too light, as much strengthening was needed before the next trip in rough weather.

“…She was built at a time when people wanted adventure on the water, rather than a chilled Chardonnay tied to a pontoon.”

The creators of GLORIA were certainly looking for perfection during their 15 year build at Wilson’s in Cygnet. I’m not sure if they achieved contentment but they certainly created one of the most special yachts in Australia.

The purpose of any rating rule is to enable yachts of different sizes to race together fairly. Without a rating rule there could be no enjoyable racing as, barring unforeseen circumstances, the largest yacht (and the richest owner) would always win.

The phenomena of designers distorting the functional shape and appendages of a yacht to gain a rating advantage is not a new one.

Each Day we lived in hope that we would discover a Contessa, that was within our budget, but such was their reputation, that they rarely came on the market, and when they did the instant demand spiralled the price right out of our reach.

A completely intuitive designer, Uffa Fox, trusted his gut feelings about what made a boat fast, seaworthy, fun to sail and safe.

Earlier this month 23 Fife yachts raced on the Clyde Estuary in Scotland. Images from the Regatta are somehow a relief from the sunny, sparkling press releases that seem to flow like Veuve Clicquot from the Mediterranean at this time of year.

Wally Ward was perhaps the last truly ‘amateur’ designer to have one of his boats win the Sydney-Hobart race and also one of the most successful designers to use the metacentric shelf principle.

Wally Ward designed a well-known series of yachts in Sydney over a period of 30 years from 1937 to 1965. His first yacht JANAWAY paved the way with her perfect hull balance and unmatched performance for her size.

“If you love and cherish her you can learn to draw sweet melodies from her and she will carry you through all the scale (Beaufort scale) of gales and calms, for she is based on well proven principles”

In 1922, on a remote beach in Western Australia, a group of Australian Scientists proved Einstein’s Theory of Relativity to be correct.

The careful mathematical figures and many pages of design details, displacement ratios and sail area plans give a picture of the meticulous planning that he did before a yacht was allowed to be built.

The fleet developed from a competition run by the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron during the late 1940s. They wanted to build a fleet of yachts that would perform well in local conditions and satisfy both the serious sailor who wanted to go racing as well as the family that wanted to go cruising.

As I later found out, this was the first boat built in Australia by a young Danish shipwright Anders Johansen, who, after teaming up with his uncle John Hald, built more than 30 yachts over 8 or so years in Sydney in the ‘60’s

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.

Dreams sometimes overpower reality. Lyle Hess understood that, and he didn’t want one of his wooden boats to be the cause of unhappiness. "I warn people, 'Don't build a boat if it's beyond your means, or if it's going to cause family trouble.

In one season alone Coles made sixteen Channel crossings in COHOE, but her most famous voyage was the 1950 Transatlantic Race from Bermuda to Plymouth.