Flotsam & Jetsam 20.02.26
More February News from around the Wooden Boat world.
JABIRU could be yours
Most Australian’s would associate the word Jabiru, with the the black-necked stork which lives in the Northern Territory. But you might be surprised to know that the word isn’t indigenous, but borrowed by colonists from the Tupi-Guarani people, a major indigenous group from South America, who lived on the Atlantic coast and plateau regions of Brazil. Their Jabiru was a similar large stork.
Well thanks to Ian Johnston (AWBF co-founder/Author/Mariner/Custodian of the Cray Boat JULIENE), you can now own your own JABIRU and she’s a gem!
Ian writes…
She’s a beautifully restored King Billy Pine original gaff rigged Sharpie. She is in excellent condition with plenty of varnish to appreciate her timber construction. Sails are near new, and a trapeze has been added. She is easily sailed with 2 or 3 people or take a big mob of kids for a sail.
She comes on a registered trailer and a canvas sun and rain cover. Jabiru has been slightly changed from original to make it easier to sail with short battens (the long ones are still usable) and a roller furling jib. The mainsail has a reefing point, and she sails well with a rolled-up jib. She has a full set of safety gear for offshore sailing plus boat rollers for manoeuvring on the beach.
The design is renowned as an easily sailed swift, comfortable safe performance cruising dinghy. Twenty minutes to launching after arriving at the beach. We are reluctantly selling our beautiful boat as it is starting to get a bit much on a windy day as we both approach our mid-seventh decade.
Please contact Ian Johnston if you are interested in taking over the ownership of this beautiful wooden boat.
He is asking $5000, and may be able to arrange transportation to the mainland.
And if you want to know more about Sharpies, check out these two articles
Vote for VOLUNTEER!
SWS is committed to promoting modern Classic Boats alongside the originals… and what better way to do this than encourage you to vote for the Sydney finalist in Classic Boat Magazine’s global award for Best Modern Classic.
VOLUNTEER is a 24ft LOD Ranger style Gaff sloop designed by Cliff Gale, and built by Ian Smith.
The original Ranger of 1933 is a Sydney legend. Seven were built since, all still in commission. VOLUNTEER is the work of boatbuilder Ian Smith, with an exotic spotted gum keel, a blackbutt stem and sternpost, spotted gum frames and Huon pine for the planking. Since her launch, she has been racing locally; Ian plans some well-deserved cruising.
And he’s up against some serious opposition from two of the big hitting boatyards in America’s North East.
The other two finalists are KIANDRA a 56ft Bermudan sloop designed Mark Fitzgerald and build by Brooklin Boatyard and WHIRLWIND II, a Gaff cat rigger 26 footer designed by Gill Smith and build by Artisan Boatworks.
Click HERE to vote
More Bad Luck?
Thanks to Yves Capelle, SWS supporter and European correspondent, for reminding us about the 120ft 3in schooner VENDREDI TREIZE built for the Transat in 1972. This follows our editorial from last weeks newsletter.
The yacht was a three masted behemoth, designed for single handed sailing by American, Dick Carter. The boat (actually drawn by Yves-Marie Tanton, an employee at the time) was narrowly defeated by Alain Colas, sailing Eric Tabarly's revolutionary, aluminum trimaran. Generally, her racing record was perhaps a seven out of ten, but her legacy is more about being one of the most experimental solo racing yachts of the early 1970’s.
After various failed attempts to restore her she now sits in a car park in Bordeaux’s disused submarine base. Not that lucky after all.
Here’s a few pictures from happier times!
Tim Stone on the brig CYPRUS
This is a great initiative from the Melbourne Maritime Heritage Network to present a lecture given by Tim Stone, Churchill Fellow and documentary film producer on the almost unbelievable story of the brig the CYPRUS
A watercolour of one of the Cyprus mutineers (1830)
We have covered it before in SWS in a two part article HERE and HERE.
But the gist of it is…Late in 2025, news arrived of a remarkable gathering at Tokushima, on the southern coast of Japan, to commemorate the 195th anniversary of Australia’s astonishing first contact with Japan way back in 1830. This was a time in which Japan was effectively ‘closed’ to the world by its strict isolationist policy (1639–1853), restricting foreign trade, banning most foreigners, and prohibiting Japanese citizens from leaving.
Tim Stone notes, “behind every great story is an incredible archive”. Indeed, this is the case with the pirates and the Cyprus. By chance, a recent discovery in Japanese archives has revealed coloured drawings and a detailed account of a ‘mysterious’ vessel arriving in Japanese waters between Tokushima and the tiny island of Tebajima, and the Japanese response.
Tim will share his latest research into the fate of the Cyprus and its pirate crew at 5pm on Wednesday, March 4th at Waterways Branch, City of Melbourne, Suite 120 (upstairs) at 425 Docklands Drive, New Quay Docklands, Melbourne.
You need to be a MMHN member but joining is great value at $30 a year and entirely worth it!
RSVPs are essential
Albert Strange’s CHARM
CHARM. Credit: Paul Wyeth
Leo Goolden with his TALLY HO project, has almost single handedly been responsible for bringing the work of English designer Albert Strange out of the darker recesses of Classic Boat History into the spotlight of the 21st Century.
Strange (1855–1917) was an English yacht designer, artist, and sailor best known for his refined small cruising yachts that combined beauty, seaworthiness, and practicality. A founding member of the Yorkshire branch of the Humber Yawl Club, he championed trailerable and easily handled boats long before they became fashionable, believing that ordinary sailors should be able to explore coastlines and estuaries safely and independently.
There are not many Albert Strange Yachts in this part of the world that I know of, and that’s a pity because they can be painfully beautiful. There is a 26ft boat called IMOGEN in New Zealand, a 24'9" Canoe yawl called STRANGE LADY here in Australia, and a 28 footer, called PHANTOM built in Port Adelaide. Any others we should report?
One stunning looking yacht from Classic Boat Magazine is CHARM
For about 30 years around the turn of the 20th century, brothers HJ & NR (Norford Reeve) Suffling, timber merchants based in Great Yarmouth, owned a number of sailing boats. The design of at least four of these was attributed to one or both of the brothers, so it can be no surprise that they also had some input into the conception of Venture, a new boat they commissioned towards the end of the First World War. They were on friendly terms with Albert Strange and Harrison Butler, and it is thought that after they had sketched out some ideas for their new boat, Butler suggested to them that they ask Strange to develop the design.
Read on HERE
RPEYC Classic Yacht Regatta
The Royal Prince Edward Yacht Club will be holding it’s inaugural Classic Yacht Regatta on Saturday 11 April, 2026.
This is a series of firsts; a first classic regatta for a royal club on Sydney Harbour, a first classic regatta open to all classics on Sydney Harbour raced under PHS and IRC and a first classic regatta for the RPEYC in its 104-year history.
All races will be raced in tandem PHS & IRC. Two ways to win the same race should provide exciting opportunities and interesting racing for all, with spinnaker and non spinnaker.
Classics include Coutas, Rangers, 18 Footers and anything else designed up to 1975.
Don’t forget this includes Etchells too – they are spirit of classic as boats designed in 1969! Same for 5.5’s, designed in 1949, Star Class in 1910. All boats based on original hull shapes but with modern materials are spirit of classic, along with modern beauties such as Emily and Drumfire.
The Notice of Race is available from the RPEYC here.
2026 Grenada Workboat Regatta
We don’t know much about this one but the pictures by Ed Gifford are great, and the attitude seem to be spot on!
The waters off Grand Anse Beach, Grenada burst into life during the Westerhall Rum White Jack Workboat Regatta 2026 January 31 and February 1. Six boats from communities across the island participated in two days of racing and a total of 10 fun family events. Other activities included tug of war and one-on-one football. The event’s mission is to have more boats on the water by helping owners repair damaged boats.
Can’t argue with that!
A legendary golden fabric lost for 2,000 years has been brought back
Romance and Tech mix seamlessly in this good news story from Science Daily
A legendary golden fabric once worn only by emperors has made an astonishing comeback. Korean scientists have successfully recreated ancient sea silk—a rare, shimmering fiber prized since Roman times—using a humble clam farmed in modern coastal waters. Beyond reviving its luxurious look, the team uncovered why this fiber never fades: its glow comes not from dyes, but from microscopic structures that bend light itself.
Women in Mesopotamia used the exceptionally light fabric to embroider clothes for their kings some 5,000 years ago. It was harvested to make robes for King Solomon, bracelets for Nefertiti, and holy vestments for priests, popes and pharaohs. It’s referenced on the Rosetta Stone, mentioned 45 times in the Old Testament and thought to be the material that God commanded Moses to drape on the altar in the Tabernacle.
Read on HERE