SWS @ AWBF
With two weeks to go until the faithful hordes sail, walk, row and motor up the Derwent to the 15th Australian Wooden Boat Festival, we thought we would give a plug for three particular events that SWS is involved with.
“To D or not to D?”. Sunday 18:30-20:00
Dechaineux Theatre, inside the UTAS School of Creative Arts and Media, located on Hunter Street.
As part of the Australian National Maritime Museum Wooden Boat Symposium, Sal Balharrie, co-founder of SWS, and film maker, will be facilitating a discussion on the Derwent Class revival.
Sal at the helm of her Sydney 38
Five young shipwrights and sailors will join Sal to discuss the phenomena. With distinctive design, rich local heritage, competitive racing potential and cool kid crews the “Ds” are back in demand.
Thet are being restored and raced by a fleet of sailors with smiles on their faces and Blundstones on their feet. So… why Ds? What is it about this Class that’s grabbed the attention and hands-on restoration abilities of a community – a group of boat finders, young sailors and shipwrights. This conversation will break it down. Join us to hear from a passionate community as they explain how they get their hands on these rare and precious boats and the unique system created to take a trashable hull and turn it into a unique craft.
With big dreams, where will a laid-back spirit of friendship and sailing take this very special class?
And if you’re lucky enough to have a D secreted in your shed, you’ll come to realise you’re sitting on a gold mine – of fun.
“Ngataki, the South Sea vagabond resurrected.” Saturday 11:00-12:00
Dechaineux Theatre, inside the UTAS School of Creative Arts and Media, located on Hunter Street.
SWS Editor, Mark Chew, will be introducing and provoking his friend Tony Stephenson of The Tino Rawa Trust, which has restored Ngataki to its original configuration. From his formative years racing NZ sailing dinghies in Auckland, with few moments on the podium, Tony Stevenson spent eight years in North America racing and working on a variety of keelboats. This included blue water races and deliveries including two Sydney to Hobarts, Kenwood Cups and IOR Maxi series.
Since its inception in 2007, Tony has chaired the Tino Rawa Trust which has restored and maintains several prominent New Zealand classic yachts including the Logan brothers’ Jesse Logan (1880), Rawene (1908), the mullet (couta) boat Corona (1934) and others. He has recently completed the restoration and return to the original gaff rigging for Johnny Wray's Ngataki (1933).
With his wife, Michelle, Tony has recently delivered the inaugural and very successful Auckland Wooden Boat Festival. He also chairs the NZ Sailing Trust which has restored Sir Peter Blake's Round the World Steinlager 2 and Lion NZ. Both iconic maxis deliver voyages to over 1700 young New Zealanders annually.Following a herculean effort to get Ngataki to Hobart for the festival the talk will explore the rescue and restoration of the boat and the influence of both Wray and his book South Sea Vagabonds on many bluewater voyagers. The story of Johnny Wray, a Kiwi who designed and built his boat Ngataki during the early 1930s in his parents’ front yard is remarkable. The 21-year-old Wray had lost his job at the height of the Depression and decided to drop out of the struggle for employment. He constructed his ocean-going yacht from kauri driftwood that he collected on beaches in the Hauraki Gulf.
This presentation covers the design and construction of Ngataki, Johnny Wray’s voyages throughout the Pacific and the 1934 Trans Tasman race with George Dibbern and Te Rapunga. Johnny Wray’s book South Sea Vagabonds is a seminal tale of Kiwi ingenuity and comradeship which inspired a whole post-war generation of Kiwi yachtsmen to build their own boats in their backyards and follow his path into the Pacific and beyond. And then when your finished at the lecture theatre, step out side and take a look at the vessel herself, flaoting happily in Sullivan’s Cove!
“The Daring Rescue” Sunday 11:00-12:00
Dechaineux Theatre, inside the UTAS School of Creative Arts and Media, located on Hunter Street.
Mark Chew will be introducing Larry Paul from Auckland about the coastal schooner Daring. She was beached during a westerly storm in 1865 on the wild west coast of New Zealand’s North Island, re-emerged from the sands 153 years later during a series of storms. This presentation will delve into her rich history, the incredible recovery effort, and the ongoing preservation work. It will also highlight the Daring’s significance in sharing New Zealand’s maritime and social history of the mid-1860s.
Larry Paul, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Classic Yacht Charitable Trust and skipper of the 1894 gaff cutter Waitangi is also on the Board of the Mangawhai Daring Trust. A long time wooden boat enthusiast, Larry is a champion of maritime heritage, passionate about the history and preservation of Auckland’s classic yacht fleet.
In 2018, when the historic vessel Daring emerged from the sands of Muriwai Beach, Auckland’s renowned maritime figure John Street initiated an ambitious recovery project. Larry eagerly joined the small Daring Rescue team, contributing to the remarkable recovery of the ship. Since then, he has been actively involved in the preservation of the Daring, working towards its permanent exhibition in Mangawhai, the town where it was originally built in 1863.
