This week we seem to have accumulated a locker full of small items that we thought we should clear out, by putting them all into one big news post.

A few motorised tourist junks with fixed sails still confuse the credulous but – much like other endlessly recycled Hong Kong clichés – the obsolete sailing junk icon is decades beyond having any genuine symbolic purpose.

Long ago, beyond the mists of history, even before the Hobie Cat, an idea was born. It was found to be good and so it moved upon the face of the waters, at least in Southern California.

Many of those isolated hamlets are most easily accessible by boat rather than car, so in 1959, a group of librarians secured government funding to launch a waterborne library service with a special emphasis on children’s literature.

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

Maritime and terrestrial navigation requires two-dimensional coordinates. Once in the air a third coordinate comes into play — altitude. It was Gatty’s research and practical application that led to a solution to many of the complex problems associated with three-dimensional navigation.

Their core business seems to be in the small fishing boat market, with a side line in jet skis (now rebranded as PWCs), and devices for holding a plastic chardonnay glass stable, while towing a donut loaded with screaming kids.

Andrew has produced an old school, analogue (!) Calendars for 2024 featuring his photographs of some of Australia’s wooden craft, and he has kindly made a small quantity available to SWS readers.

After almost two weeks of uncertainty, and six months' worth of mud drying on the weary paddle wheeler's hull, Longreach tourism company Outback Pioneers revealed the boat would not be able to cruise again.

In 1923 Adolphe and his family opened the cash only Bar Nautic with its tables and balcony to take in the view and they lived there quietly for 20 years until World War II had its way and the family found itself on a train to Dachau.

So began a number of new practices. One was the balloon chase, a large field described by buoys and I unleashed balloons upwind across the water. Popped balloons were not to be counted in the final tally and you can imagine the mayhem that occurred.

With the goal of preserving traditional boat-building techniques and a great understanding of their relevance in contemporary times, his presence at the festival would be certain to captivate and inspire boat enthusiasts, historians, and sustainability advocates alike.

Emiliano Marino states categorically that, “Flat is faster and less powerful, Full is slower and more powerful.” I understand this to be a simplified description of the aerodynamics of sails made by a master sailmaker.

A cold night sleeping on the stretcher, breakfast was great then all hands on deck. Tug alongside, pass out the towline, a heavy rope thicker than my forearm. Lines brought on board walked out along the deck, coiled on palettes.

After a six-race series in windy conditions, Laurent Giles designed sloop WHOOPER triumphed to win this year's British Classic Week regatta overall.

“You have no idea what it feels like to screech across the bay at 20+ knots with water rushing over the gunnels into the cockpit.. and EVERYONE just beaming… sucking in the rush… “

The copper performed very well, both in protecting the hull from worm invasion and in preventing weed growth for, when in contact with water, the copper produced a poisonous film, composed mainly of Copper Oxychloride that deterred these marine organisms.

Next morning CONIDAW joined the armada of little ships rescuing the remaining French and British soldiers off the Dunkirk beaches. Her shallow draft allowed her to go close inshore to take the starving, frightened and exhausted men out to waiting ferries in deeper water.

They sit flat and stable on the deck, their convex sides, called “bilge,” give protection from bumps and pressure. They can be stored upright in cargo holds and still have air circulating around their curved sides. They can also be made from varieties of a widely available and sustainable material called “wood”.

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."