The Wooden Boat Show

Rather reluctantly we packed up to move from our spacious apartment to our room in the Grand Chancellor for the Boat Show (reluctance disappeared after we saw the spectacular view of the whole marina from our window). We seemed to have acquired a number of extra bags filled with Tasmanian food and wine, which we intended to partake of over the next week of our travels, so looked rather like a Gypsy caravan checking in.

Our room was not ready so we called in on our friends, Mike and Pam Tyquin to coordinate our movements. Mike was off to do the ‘Parade of Sail’ on his son Chris’s boat ‘Boxer’ so we went down to the boat show to have a look around with Pam and find some scallop pies for lunch. After wandering through the exhibits in the Marine Pavilion – most of which we would have liked but couldn’t afford – we split up with Ed going to look at the boats and Pam and I to look through the craft shops and galleries and to visit Happy Happy Hobart again – which to my relief was still not sold!

We found Ed chatting with Garth Fielding (who sold us Suzanne) on his boat, Barcarolle 11, which was moored beside Barcarolle, the first boat we looked at, now ($200,000 later) looking much smarter. To everyone’s amusement Pam and I were selected as fashionable representatives of the boating community and were interviewed and photographed by an unknown magazine.

Once again back in Mike and Pam’s suite we re-arranged the furniture, opened some beer and settled down to watch the boats sail in.

Mike and Brian (Mike’s brother) had been instructed to bring some drink, sit in the back and not touch anything whilst they were on board, which they dutifully did – Mike expressing some relief as the operation of ‘Boxer’ under full sail is quite a complicated affair. ‘Boxer’ came in looking very stylish and did a sail past the crowd before anchoring in the Marina.

One of the other boats of interest was the barque ‘James Craig’ . The 72-metre vessel is now based in Sydney but has Tasmanian history. The ship was left to rot in Recherche Bay in southern Tasmania until a salvage operation began in 1972 and saw the vessel relaunched in 1997.

That night we went to the first of the three restaurants we visited over the next three days – Franklins, Me Wah and Templo. All very interesting and pleasant meals with Me Wah, with it’s dishes that were full of flavor and beautiful presented, as the stand out for food and service.

Over the next couple of days we visited the Salamanca markets, organised the transportation of Happy Happy Hobart (which was now ours!) and spent some hours looking at the wooden boats that were moored in the Marina – all obviously well cared for and appreciated by their owners and the attendees of the boat show.

Of particular interest was “Boxer” which Chris built underneath their house and is a replica of what is believed to be the first client commissioned design and build by the famous Brisbane based boat builder, Norman ‘Boxer’ Wright , circa 1906. Launched in 2002, Boxer was built of red cedar mahogany and teak over 8 years under the watchful eye of Bill Wright (Norman’s grandson).

Today she is used for picnics, camping and racing. Her interior includes a number of creature comforts and mod cons including a drop leaf mahogany dining table that seats six, ice boxes, toilet, double sink, lighting, stereo, a demountable galley, electronic navigation and bench sleeping for six. In racing configuration she can hoist over 1500 square feet of sail across a gaff mainsail, topsail, spinnaker, balloon jib, ringtail (extends off the end of the boom) and watersail (extends under the boom)

We spent some time on the Rous Explorer, which had come down from Southport – we were welcomed aboard by the owners, Peter and Fran Green and got some good tips on varnishing. We spent quite some time at the Muir Winch exhibit – which resulted in our decision to replace our winch and finally we restocked for our trip up the east coast the next day.