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

FOR SALE Mark Chew FOR SALE Mark Chew

5 Under 5

Here are five interesting little boats under $5,000, all harbouring within their timber shells thousands of hours of pleasure.

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FOR SALE Mark Chew FOR SALE Mark Chew

ATHENA & Len Randell

Although he designed racing and cruising yachts, it was fishing boats that launched his commercial career. The introduction of high-powered diesel engines was a significant change and needed someone able to calculate the power and propeller requirements, along with the best hull shape and construction, if the craft was to achieve its desired performance

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FOR SALE Mark Chew FOR SALE Mark Chew

ALICIA- writing the next chapter

Chris Crerar was a great supported of SWS. He wrote some heartfelt articles that told of the highs and lows of owning wooden boats. Many of our readers were absorbed by a deep seated honesty in his writing style

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FOR SALE Mark Chew FOR SALE Mark Chew

Consider the Options- Opportunities on the Tamar

The boat yard needs a good tidy up, as most good boat yards do. There are two working slipways, quite a few interesting timber boats around in various states of disrepair, and a great big shed that appears to house generations of maritime objects that “might just come in useful one day”. It’s picturesque, it’s mildly functional and just for a fraction of a second, the romanticism the of prospect trumps the daunting realities.

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FOR SALE Mark Chew FOR SALE Mark Chew

This is Hard to Write

This summer we spent a month living on board, cruising through Bass Strait and the Southeast coast of Australia. In was another special adventure aboard this extraordinary craft. Anchoring 30 meters off the beach at Erith Island on New Year’s Eve with no other human in sight; sailing 220 miles from Flinders Island to Eden, with the windvane nodding and nudging us back on course as the miles disappeared under our transom. These and hundreds of other memories will never be erased.

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FOR SALE Mark Chew FOR SALE Mark Chew

Gumtree Lugger

Waitoa was part of a flotilla boats used by a pearl cultivation enterprise, run by Japanese investors in 1960’s. As time went on she became a ferry for Islanders working at Escape River to travel back and forth to TI. When an oil spill wiped out the cultivation business in 1970 we returned this lugger and few others to fishing for pearl shells, called mother-of-pearl, in the Torres Strait.

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FOR SALE Mark Chew FOR SALE Mark Chew

“Moderate in Every Way”

“I have mentioned the influence of Claud Worth, the English doctor, writer, and designer, whose TERN IV I greatly admired. Those who know Worth’s boat and my BRILLIANT design may see this inspiration; both are shaped and built not as racing yachts but as sea boats intended to survive the worst weather and to make good passages.”

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FOR SALE Mark Chew FOR SALE Mark Chew

Five Under Five

E.F. Schumacher wrote in his seminal work Small is Beautiful that “Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius — and a lot of courage — to move in the opposite direction.”

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FOR SALE Mark Chew FOR SALE Mark Chew

The End of the Affair

A lot of thought went into how she should look and It was about this time that one of the crew said, “this would be a great boat to take to Southport”. There is a world of difference between harbour racing and heading offshore for a 400-mile race, as I was about to find out.

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FOR SALE Mark Chew FOR SALE Mark Chew

A 160 years of Boatbuilding

“A Huon Valley boat yard with a 160-year history has hit the market offering a rare buying opportunity. This historic and well-known property sits on the water’s edge with a Crown Lease in place.”

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FOR SALE Mark Chew FOR SALE Mark Chew

A Spare $10 Mill

“The yacht is characterised by a classic design that focuses attention on her unique wooden frame, finished in a high-gloss clear coat. “

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FOR SALE Mark Chew FOR SALE Mark Chew

Jolly Roger-Rani’s Relation

Perhaps before embarking on the new build of a wooden boat, first consider if there is an existing craft that, given a full restoration, would fulfil your needs and dreams as well as one built from scratch.

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FOR SALE Mark Chew FOR SALE Mark Chew

A World Girdling, MAORI LASS (from Tasmania)

It's not often that you come across a seventy year old, 30ft yacht that’s been around the world. The story of MAORI LASS has some great history but it also has some large blank chapters waiting to be filled by a yachting sleuth with the time and inclination to fill in the gaps.

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