Features

“Honestly, I haven’t always been into boats and it took even longer to get into wooden boats, but now I am and have started down this path, I don’t really see anything else in mine or my family’s future.  I grew up in Goolwa…

Chris Webb was the most famous 18 footer skipper during the early period of the class. He was a legend and a major draw card every time he raced for the Sydney Flying Squadron (SFS), won four ‘official’ Australian Championships, 1913-14, 1923-24, 1924-25 and…

by Martin van der Wal There’s something about the two words, ‘Home’ and ‘Harbour’. A resonating harmonic as undertones common to both begin to amplify warm feelings of safety, refuge, familiarity. For those of us lucky enough to call Sydney our home harbour these…

A watermaker is one of the best investments you can make for your boat and one which will transform your lifestyle, allowing you to cruise further and stay away for longer. Although the process of buying and installing a watermaker might seem daunting, this…

Talk to any modern-day America’s Cup sailor and life at 50 knots is exhilarating. Scary at times. They are a breed apart from the average day-sailor or weekend sailboat racer and you are left wondering how their lives will ever be the same again.

James Backwell by James Backwell Last November, at the very end of COVID lockdowns that had prevented this trip for nearly two years, my mate Warren and I took our trailer sailer GEM 550 down the Murray River. Starting at Yarrawonga, the trip was…

For long-term cruisers, a marine desalinator or watermaker is one of the most essential pieces of equipment on your vessel and can be the difference between life and death on a long voyage. You may or may not have a watermaker onboard currently but…

Using a small group of enthusiastic volunteers, the Queensland Maritime Museum is currently carrying out a major restoration of our 115-year-old Pearling Lugger, Penguin.  We are taking her back to her original condition and equipped to her 1930s “Hard Hat” diving configuration. The work…

The nature of the boats and the men who have sailed them over the past 130 years always made 18 footer racing unique in the sailing/yachting world and one of the unique parts of the sport has been the gambling which has gone hand-in-hand…

by Shue Time to Tick off My Bucket List! Sailing to Pittwater has been on my bucket list since 2018. I was on a Qantas flight from Brisbane to Sydney. My seat-mate pointed down at the water patches out of the window when the…

In November 2020, Mark and Kathy Stringfellow embarked on a 26-day trip from the Central Coast in NSW to South Australia with their Cygnet 20, Tide Rider. In October 2020 the border with South Australia was opened. This gave us the chance to visit…

After more than a month during which the dockside pundits all made their various pronouncements about the controversial protest against Celestial in the 2021 Sydney-Hobart, two of the people most directly involved have now had their say. David Salter reports. Retired RAN Rear Admiral…