A quick calculation shows that just over four percent of the fleet are of some sort of wooden construction.

With a whole family of dedicated sailors, and his father famous for designing a distinct class of classic yachts developed from traditional hull forms, it should be no surprise that the ribs and shells of the Opera House share a strong geometric and functional connection with traditional Viking and Scandinavian boat forms.

“I have corresponded with James Hill – Peters’ son – James did a number of Sydney to Hobart races on her in the 60’s and has fond memories of her. He believes she had never been in the water when she arrived in Sydney and that the sails were unused.”

A quick scan of the images shows that 13 are of wooden or “traditional” craft, so lets call it 16%. My unscientific gut feeling suggests that about 1% of all yacht racing would be done in these sort of craft so in a sense classic boats are rewardingly over represented.

Emotional Storytelling - The meta-communication of the clip, characters and setting, shapes how people connect with it - Hoana’s birthday provided a story, the Rally participants, the Sydney Harbour sailing, the representation of her young crew and the snippets of history provided by the interview against the backdrop of a historic clubhouse satisfied the criteria of emotional storytelling - we can claim success on that one.

This weeks news from around the world and its wide web.

Craft of wildly disparate shapes and sizes, built for different purposes on both princely or miserly budgets, assemble on the start line, go hard for two or three hours, squeezing every 10th of knot out of there often unsuitable hull forms

News of the victory was celebrated in Hobart, with the result announced in cinemas and greeted by thunderous applause. Not one to rest on his laurels, Skipper Batt soon designed and built Tassie Too.

It was another week to remind ourselves that we are doing this out of choice not obligation. A dramatic night in the windy passage between Corsica and Sardinia, taught us some good lessons, and put the breaks on any overconfidence that might have been creeping in.

A mythical past of heroic journeys, survival against the odds, human cargo saved from the abyss, home-comings of Homeric proportions: Resurrections! PAGAN is yours for nothing — a giveaway.

This week’s news from around the wooden boat world

We were the only visitors to the village and he and his wife are the only residents, having moved there from the central Sardinian mountains forty five years previously, to complete his national service. He never left. Despite it only being 1030 in the morning, Enrico offered us a chilled vermentino from a jug, and some delicious sweet biscuits.

This week’s news and questions from around Australia and the world.

We describe sensible, rational people as ‘grounded’. The moorings are dropped, the anchor breaks ground, the pen is left behind: What is it? It’s avoidance. Avoidance of being ‘grounded’. A drift up a creek, a fang around the cans, an ocean crossing, an around the world race, all just ways of evading the sticky mud that clings to earthbound life

A recent interstate road trip with lifelong friend Martin Bryan, led us to a glide on the Murray river. Aficionados of wooden boats ogle at the age of Echuca’s paddle steamers. We took the PS Adelaide, claimed by the owners to be “the oldest working wooden hulled paddle steamer in the world”. She was built in 1866. This  claim deserved research and I will refer to the result below.

But if nowadays we crave isolation, for thousands of years previously communities were searching for means of connection with other settlements, a long way away. The first people to try and address the problem were the Greeks who devised coded torch systems to send specific letters or messages over long distances. But it wasn’t until the middle ages that watchtowers across Europe and the Mediterranean, like the Genoese towers in Corsica, using fire and smoke for warnings They could only convey very simple information such as “enemy sighted”.

Remember when they turned Jellicoe Harbour into a sea of wooden boats? It’s happening again! The Festival will be back in full force for 2026, as part of Moana Auckland.

Not sure what these are called, but I was very surprised and impressed early this year while anchored off Matthew Town at Great Inagua at the southern end of the Bahamas to see these Haitian trading vessels sailing in and docking in the tight basin, all with no auxiliary power.

Well, its on again this year, on Friday 31st of October with four local boats being offered to visitors to compete against a Port Phillip crew. There will be a slight change in 2025 with Melbourne owners being aboard their yachts during the racing rather than watching (heart in mouth) from the comfort of the MARGARET PEARL as per last year.

Wooden Boat and related news from around the world.