The News, Culture and Practice of Sailing woodenboats
in Australia, New Zealand & The South Pacific.

BOOK REVIEWS Mark Chew BOOK REVIEWS Mark Chew

For The Love of SAUNTRESS

Romance, courtesy, amateurism, respect.  These are all very much virtues of the early days of yachting: a time before marinas; a time when the amateur yachtsmen measured himself against those who sailed for a living; a time when the average middle-class man made it a point of honour not to have manual skills and yet, quixotically took pride in maintaining and fitting out his own craft.

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BOOK REVIEWS Mark Chew BOOK REVIEWS Mark Chew

“There are reefs enough to go around”

He is the true sea-wanderer, in these hurried days, when the professional seaman sees little but ports…. and the wandering globetrotter has his soft way sped until the whole earth is fast developing-for him-into nothing but a nerve-racking kaleidoscope of which, his voyage made, he remembers little. No, give me a wandering such as Dwight Long’s and a little ship, stout as the IDLE HOUR

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BOOK REVIEWS Mark Chew BOOK REVIEWS Mark Chew

A Well Navigated Life

Graham had raced with the who’s who of Australia’s golden age of racing. His skills were sought out by the great yacht designer, Olin Stephens from New York. Known colloquially as The Yacht Doctor, the boats Graham had tuned for success stand as a litany of that age; Vittoria, Ragamuffin, Love & War, Stormy Petrel, Salacia II, Mark Twain. Queequeg.

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BOOK REVIEWS Mark Chew BOOK REVIEWS Mark Chew

A Book for a Book Review

Three well known books came across my desk this week, rescued from years of likely abandonment on an Op Shop shelf. They are all acknowledged as historical classics in the Sailing genre, but it’s interesting to see how much of the content remains relevant today and how much becomes just quaint outdated anecdotes.

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BOOK REVIEWS Mark Chew BOOK REVIEWS Mark Chew

“The Tradition Lives On”

If you are heading to southern Australian waters, there is a fair chance that you will spot a gaff rigged wooden boat sailing or cruising along the shoreline. And when in full sail they are magnificent in their graceful movement through the water.

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BOOK REVIEWS, FLOTSAM Mark Chew BOOK REVIEWS, FLOTSAM Mark Chew

“How to Build a Boat”… a must-read

Jonathan, who becomes a father again at the age of 58, realises that he is not going to be around forever for his three-year-old daughter Phoebe. Despite his lack of practical experience, decides to build her a 10ft clinker dinghy in real wood, and in the space of a year. The result is, by turns, moving, funny and perceptive.

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BOOK REVIEWS, ADVENTURE, DESIGNERS Mark Chew BOOK REVIEWS, ADVENTURE, DESIGNERS Mark Chew

“People of The Sea” James Wharram’s Autobiography

The Wharram Catamaran has always held a fascination not because its a thing of beauty but because they reek of the promise of adventure. And not a modern day adventure clutching a GPS and Sat Phone, but a 1960’s hippy adventure with free love, tropical islands bare tanned skin, and the rejection of boundaries imposed by a disapproving society.

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