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New & Events - New South Wales
Three grandchildren of famous marine artist Jack Earl, the original owner of the classic yawl Veolia Maris, have teamed up with co-owner Ian Kiernan in a bid to win the Hempel Paints 37th Gosford to Lord Howe Island Yacht Race for an unprecedented third successive year.
Skipper Tiare Tomaszewski, 44, will be joined by her twin sister Leilani and their younger brother Matt, 29, with Kiernan as the navigator, on the 414 nautical mile race that starts from Broken Bay on Saturday, 30 October 2010.
“We sailed with our grandfather when we were little kids and have often raced the boat with Ian since he bought it, including racing to Hobart, Lord Howe Island and the Gold Coast, as has Ben, our elder brother,” recalled Tiare, a member of the Sydney Amateur Sailing Club.
“I sailed with Ian when Maris won her first Lord Howe Island Race but could not compete in last year’s race because of work commitments,” added Tiare, a film producer. In fact, all four grandchildren are in the media and film production business, which as Tiare says, comes down from the artistic talent of their grandfather.
“Veolia Maris is in great shape and we hope that Ian will set us the course of least resistance as he has done so well over the past two Lord Howe races, ” she said. “We hope to arrive on the island Melbourne Cup Day in time for the celebrations at the Bowling Club, as we did in 2009, which was also yacht’s 50th birthday.
Veolia Maris will again be the smallest, oldest and lowest handicapped yacht in the IRC division and, as an always well-sailed boat, she must rank as one of the favourite for handicap honours. “We have also been fortunate in Veolia coming aboard as full sponsors after being a supporter for previous races,” Tiare added;
The relatively shallow, long keel of the Alan Payne-designed, Jock Muir-built yawl-rigged Tasman Seabird class yacht assured her a place in the fleet this year, but limits on draft and moorings at Lord Howe Island has resulted in a number of deep draft yachts missing out.
A total of 15 boats were nominated for the five available positions, with the five accepted being Warwick Sherman’s Occasional Coarse Language, Mike Freebairn’s Ray White Spirit of Koomooloo, Grant Dawson’s Karisma, Anthony Sweetapple’s Quetzalcoatl and Paul Clitheroe’s Balance.
In addition, Sean Langman’s maxi yacht Loyal, representing the Huon Yacht Club in southern Tasmania, has been accepted by Gosford Sailing Club as turn-around entry. She is a clear favourite for line honours in the 414 nautical mile race across the Tasman Sea.
The Hempel Paints 37th Gosford to Lord Howe Island Race will start from Broken Bay, south of Gosford, at 1.00pm on Saturday, 30 October with the fleet heading north to a turning mark off Terrigal before setting a north-easterly course across the Tasman to Lord Howe Island. — Peter Campbell
Peter Fox writes….
I am seeking information on a class called the Pittwater 30s. There is one for sale in Queensland.
They were designed or built by Halvorsen, Morson & Gowland in the early 70’s in glass, presumably for the twilight racing on Pittwater.
I think only 3 were built but not sure. The profile from the top resembles a dragon, but most certainly have a fin keel, and much more substantial accommodation. If you can help please contact
Neil Farmer writes….(to the Geelong Wooden Boat Festival)
“I read in a recent Club Marine magazine that your club had a wooden boat regatta last weekend. I noted in the article that the festival featured ex pilot boats which caught my attention as I am a Sydney Pilot and own an ex Pilot Boat that had its origins in Melbourne. Her name is “URANA” (photo below) and I understand she was build around 1911 and used to transport River Pilots up and down the Yarra. I do not believe she was owned by the river pilots, as they did not own boats, so she was probably used on charter.
I re-built her two years ago and while I have some limited knowledge of her history, I am keen to find out more. I would love to know if any of your wooden boat members have any knowledge of her.
Hopefully one day I will be able to bring her to Geelong for your festival weekend (on a truck)
Kind regards
Neil Farmer”
farmers@bigpond.net.au
Thomas André writes…
Please, find attached the program of our classic event, that will take place in Ajaccio, Corsica, from the 24th of may to the 30th may 2010. The Event will close on 30th of may with the start of the “Yacht Club de France Spring Cup”, the first CIM cruiser race of the year Ajaccio-Antibes. We expect an exceptional meeting as 42 classic yachts are already registered and with the coming of “big boats” like Mariska the sistership of Tuiga (W. Fife), Moonbeam of Fife vs Moonbeam IV and many visitors coming from all over the world, as the “Roaring Forty” Rowdy (Herresoff NYYC class 40), Samarkand from Germany. Registration is open to any yacht owner in the Epoch, Classic and Spirit of Tradition categories. Of course, all impassioned sailors who wish to join the Régates Impériales will receive a friendly welcome.
Spirit of Mystery, the little wooden boat sailed by Pete Goss and his family crew to Australia last year in a re-enactment of a historic voyage 155 years ago, is to return home to Cornwall.
The 37-foot Mounts Bay lugger is currently in Port Kembla, Australia, being prepared for loading aboard a container ship bound for Holland. There she will be unloaded and finish the journey under sail to her spiritual home in Cornwall.
The ship survived storms and a knockdown in the Southern Ocean while sailing the 11,800 mile voyage, which shone a spotlight on the bravery of seven Cornishman who made the journey to seek out a better life and become the smallest migrant vessel ever to make it to Australia.
Spirit of Mystery is made of locally sourced wood and has history literally built into her. The keel, stem and stern were made from a tough hardwood called Ekki. Fallen Cornish Oak makes up the frames, with Larch for the planking and Ash for the tiller and sweeps. Pete sourced a piece of oak from Nelson’s Victory, teak from the Cutty Sark and a part of the rigging from the SS Great Britain. With so much local history and so many happy memories in her, Pete decided she should return to Cornwall rather than dry up under the burning Australian sun.
He said that he was excited about getting her home in time for the sailing season in the UK: “I have to say I have wrestled with the decision as to whether I should sail her home or ship her ever since we arrived in Melbourne. My heart wanted to sail her but looking at life, commitments and other projects I have in the pipeline, it was readily apparent that I didn’t have the time slot. Once I had made it the decision just felt right and I am now really excited about getting her home, we have missed her.”
An added bonus for Pete is that the ship is returning complete with her dinghy Tacker, which was feared lost forever in the Southern Ocean knockdown. This incident turned out to be the start of her own little adventure. The intrepid little boat drifted over a thousand miles and turned up in King Island between Tasmania and Australia, where she was spotted by local boys and after much detective work and some restoration reunited with Spirit of Mystery.
That Thin Line Between Bold And Insane..
This morning, one of the greatest Australian adventurers of all time, Don McIntyre, formally announced his most recent expedition – to re-create one of the most extraordinary stories of survival and determination, Captain William Bligh’s 4,000 mile open boat ‘Mutiny on the Bounty’ voyage.
The reenactment, following the journey across the Pacific from Tonga to Timor, will launch on the same day (April 28th), at the same time and in the same place 221 years after the original mutiny journey.
Not content with just taking on this huge challenge, McIntyre and his crew of 3 men are also attempting to raise over $250,000 for The Sheffield Institute Foundation for Motor Neurone Disease (SIF), which is building the world’s first research Institute into Motor Neurone Disease (MND), Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s.
The seven week expedition aboard the Talisker Bounty Boat – a 25ft long, 7ft wide, open wooden vessel – will see the crew -facing the same deprivations as the original crew that were cast adrift in the middle of the Pacific, including: no navigation charts; only two weeks of water; hardly any food; and, of course, no luxuries like a torch or toilet paper!
Alongside Don McIntyre, one of Australia’s most experienced sailors and adventurers, the international crew includes experienced English sailor David Wilkinson, US sailor and businessman Peter Stier and the youngest ever Solo circumnavigator, 17 year old Brit Mike Perham. The crew met together for the first time a little over two weeks ago and have spent the last fortnight together in Sydney, training and making last minute preparations for the journey, a journey that has been Don’s dream to complete for 20 years.
McIntyre does not underestimate the challenge ahead: “We’re incredibly excited to get close to Captain Bligh and his crew; however everyone aboard the Talisker Bounty Boat will be pushed to the limit of endurance and survival, forever hungry and unsure of everything, except their own desire to fight through this.”
The voyage is sponsored by Talisker Single Malt Scotch Whisky, the only single malt whisky from the Isle of Skye which is also the origin of Don McIntyre’s ancestry as his grandparents emigrated to Australia from Skye shortly after their marriage in 1901.
To follow the expedition and donate to this cause, visit www.taliskerbountyboat.com
Yesterday marked the 174th running of the world’s oldest continuous sailing regatta, the Australia Day Regatta on Sydney Harbour.
Yachts competing included the iconic gaff-rigged Ranger, helmed by octogenarian Bill Gale from the Sydney Amateur Sailing Club, and the classic International 8-metre class sloop Erica J, skippered by Les Goodridge from the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia. The Historical Skiffs are all hand-crafted replicas of the hugely over-canvassed 18-footers that raced in the early 1900s.
Sydney turned on a superb mid-summer day, with the temperature peaking at 30°C and an easterly seabreeze reaching 10-12 knots, ideal for the fleet of modern and vintage yachts and skiffs that raced on the Harbour and for the ocean racers competing in a short offshore race in the Tasman Sea.
The 60-year-old International 8-metre class yacht Erica J took pride of place in the Classic Yacht division.
Erica J was built of Tasmania’s renowned Huon pine on the shores of Hobart’s Battery Point by Max Creese to a Norwegian design and launched in June, 1949. During an illustrious career of racing, she represented Tasmania in six challenge matches for the Sayonara Cup during the 1950s, winning for The Royal Yacht Club of Tasmania against the Victorian defender Francis on Melbourne’s Port Phillip in 1953.
Erica J finished second across the line today to Nigel Stoke’s Fidelis, line honours winner of the 1966 Sydney Hobart Race, but lost first place on corrected time to Ian Kortlang’s Antara, another classic metre-style boat. Fidelis placed third.
The Gaff Riggers division saw a win for Gary Ferres’ Intrepid from Reverie (John Barclay) and Nigel Berlyn), third place going to Hoana (Martin Van Der Wall) which took fastest time.
The traditional Australia Day ocean race from Sydney Harbour south to Botany Bay and return to Sydney Harbour, retracing the passage north of the First Fleet 222 years ago to hoist the Union Jack and begin the European colonisation of Australia, attracted a fleet of near 40 yachts.
Peter Campbell
John McGrath is searching for pictures of Typhoon the 30 Square meter racer now kept at RQYS. Especially when she was sailing from Royal Prince Edward Yacht Club in the mid 1960’s. If you can be of any assistance please contact john@agsuk.co.uk
Entries for the 174th Australia Day Regatta close today with the Sailing Office at the Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron, with regatta organisers expecting up to 140 yachts and skiffs to compete in the historic Sydney Harbour event and in the traditional short ocean race to Botany Bay and return.
The Australia Day Regatta will be sailed on the harbour from 1.30pm on Australia, next Tuesday, 26 January while the ocean race will start at 11am with the fleet heading down the coast to Botany Bay.
Casual entries are also being received by the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia for the Botany Bay Race, which is part of the club’s Ocean Point Score, the Grant Thornton Short Ocean Point Score, with the Grant Thornton Short Haul (non-spinnaker) fleet also joining the race this year.
A feature of the harbour regatta will be the emphasis on the early days of yacht racing in Sydney, with up to 30 original or replica ‘old-timers’ taking part in the Gaff-Riggers, Classic Yachts and Historical Skiffs divisions.
Among entries for the classic yacht division are 1966 Sydney Hobart Race line honours winner Fidelis, now owned by Nigel Stoke, and the 8-metre class yacht Erica J, owned by Les Goodridge. Erica J last year celebrated her 60th anniversary and a career that included winning the coveted Sayonara Cup for Tasmania in 1953.
The gaff-riggers division is headed by the famous Ranger, with octogenarian skipper Bill Gale again at the helm and proudly carrying the sail number A1 of the Sydney Amateur Sailing Club.
The nine Historical Skiffs are all replicas of the spectacular gaff-rigged 18-footers that raced on Sydney Harbour a century ago, many helmed by modern-day skiff champions including John Winning (Australia IV) and Michael Chapman (Yendys). Built to the original plans, these icons of Sydney Harbour carry colour emblems rather than sail numbers on their massive mainsails. — Peter Campbell
Norm Souter-Smith recently contacted the Register of Australian and New Zealand Ships and Boats to find a good home for his very historic yacht Oimara.
Norm wrote:
“It is with a lot of sadness that my wife Beryl and I have come to the decision that Oimara should be passed to a younger person or organization with the enthusiasm and enterprise to restore her to her former glory”.
For the full story and some lovely imagery visit