Page 3 - Mark Chews Forty Two Australian Wooden Sailing Boats Sept 17 2020

hen Melbourne went into stage three lock down
Win July 2020, we lost the opportunity to go sailing Contents
in our beautiful old wooden boats. Suddenly, most of
us also had more time on our hands than we were KA T HL E E N G I L L E T T 4 A K A R A N A 5 2
accustomed to. It was under these circumstances that
S A Y O N A R A 6 L A U R A B A D A 5 4
I chose to compile a personal list of 42 boats that are
important to Australia’s sailing history. 42, because the M O R N A ( K U R R A W A I V ) 8 B A L A N D R A 5 6
lock down was meant to last for 6 weeks. S T O R M B A Y 1 0 F R A N C E S 5 8

The criteria I set were the following; U T E I K A H I I I 1 2 S O L V E I G 6 0

The boat had to be floating, or at least able to float, i.e. no wrecks. It also had to R I P P L E 1 4 S T R U E N M A R I E 6 2
be primarily made of wood in one form or another, it had to be designed to sail L O V E a n d W A R 1 6 J U D I T H P I H L 6 4
and perhaps most difficult of all to decide, it had to have made an important
F R E Y A 1 8 A L W Y N 6 6
contribution to Australia’s maritime history. “Importance” is a difficult characteristic
to judge. Design pedigree, construction methods and provenance all factor in, M A L U K A 2 0 W E S T W A R D 6 8
but because this is a subjective list I probably weighted achievements, whether
C A P R I C E o f H U O N 2 2 I S E P E A R L 7 0
through racing or adventuring, more heavily.
M E R C E D E S I I I 2 4 R U T H E A N 7 2
The content and order of my initial list of 42 boats changed considerably as I
learned more and more about our unique sailing past. Some boats were chosen F I D E L I S 2 6 A O R E R E 7 4
as representatives of bigger successful fleets, and others are just individually G R E T E L I I 2 8 W R A I T H o f O D I N 7 6
brilliant. It’s not the sort of thing that can ever be fully resolved. As knowledge of
M A R G A R E T R I N T O U L 3 0 A R C H I N A 7 8
the past grows opinions and judgements change.
A C R O S P I R E I I I 3 2 Y E N D Y S 8 0
The most important thing however, is not who is right and who is wrong, but that
these boats and others are being discussed, valued and cherished. So when the T A S S I E T O O 3 4 C Y G N E T 8 2
day comes that we can untie the mooring lines again we will do so with a renewed
Y V O N N E 3 6 A O T E A 8 4
passion and enthusiasm for their custodianship.
M A R I S 3 8 W I N D W A R D I I 8 6

H U R R I C A V 4 0 P h o t o c r e d i t s 8 8
MARK CHEW L A N D F A L L 4 2
FAIR WINDS
S I A N D R A 4 4
A S T O R / A D A 4 6

N E R I D A 4 8
V A N E S S A 5 0

CYAA Magazine Issue 43 September 2020 Page 3