Dear friends:
When we were invited to be guests at a wooden boat festival in Geelong, Australia near Melbourne, both of us had lots of reasons to pass up the opportunity; we’d just spent several months living on the road and promoting my latest book in the USA, early March is the very best sailing time in the Southern Hemisphere and Taleisin, due to a small misplaced rock, had been out of commission for three weeks. She was just out of the shipyard, back in the water ready to be used. But then we remembered a very special boat that had really impressed us almost twenty years ago when we spent five months working in Sydney, Australia. We’d sailed there to earn the funds to head west toward Africa. Among the 225 boats that attended the 2nd Sydney wooden boat festival in 1990 was one called a Couta Boat. (I worked as one of two coordinators for that festival and Larry earned cruising freedome chips by building a new but very age appropriate interior in oldest boat on show that weekend, a Fife designed racer called Kelpie. Kelpie was ready just in time for the festival, i.e. the varnish was still wet the night before it started.) We remembered that Couta Boats had been working and racing around Melbourne for over a hundred years. When I asked the coordinator of the Geelong festival if there would be any Couta Boats attending he said, “Of course, want to sail on one?” Enticed by this, plus a chance to see a part of the world we’d missed when we chose to sail south from Sydney directly to Tasmania, we signed on. Little did we expect we would end up as judges for the concourse d’ elegance alongside the two boat builders who’s family had, for four generations and over a hundred years been building the very fastest and most able of the Couta boats.
Geelong is situated on Port Phillip Bay, the large inlet that juts into the very southern coast of Australia. We’re talking about really south – like roaring 40’s, with the infamous Bass Straits at its doorstep. Melbourne, its much better known neighbor is about 60 miles by road and 30 by water further upstream. Both have a very long history of commerce under sail. After seeing the foaming, roiling bar at the entrance to Port Phillip Bay, I am amazed that square riggers ventured here to pick up grain and timber. But thousands did – usually assisted by a steam tug for the long trip from the entrance to the appropriate loading port.
Just as amazing was that beamy, 22 to 32 foot open work boats with huge lug rigs, actually sailed out to the entrance in almost any weather and fished right on the upheaval of the bar for the barracouta that fed here. (These are not barracuda, but a distinct southern species that is said to make the very best fish and chips.) Check out this article on Couta boats for some real nice photos.
Geelong was a delightful surprise. Definitely not a tourist town – but an industrial town whose occupants have worked together to fix up the waterfront from an ugly jungle of warehouses, into a delightful two mile long park, complete with giant Ferris wheel and of course, a small boat harbor. The Royal Geelong yacht Club is neither as large nor pretentious as its name implies and this was the fifth time they had hosted Wooden Boats. The festival has been growing and this year for the first time the fleet topped a hundred. A special surpise for us was, 5% of the fleet was comprised of Lyle C. Hess designed cutters, some like 24’4” Seraffyn, some like 29’ Taleisin, all built in Australia and that would have been 6% but one beautifully built new Hess 29, missed it’s intended launching date due to a very welcome baby arrival (our hosts drove us out to see this one). Almost as exciting for Larry, was to to watch a fleet of 27 foot long Tumlaren sloops come racing in. Larry had restored one of these Swedish designed boats and raced her for several years before he set off in search of a cruising boat and found me. For three days we were guests on board various boats, shared boatbuilding ideas, talked about offshore sailing and watched wonderful sailing scenes as many of the attendees raced in from other parts of Port Phillip Bay. Then there was the judging. For much of the last day of the festival we walked the docks with Keith and Daniel Cayzer trying to take notes to identify which boat should be given the prize.
Scattered all along the Geelong waterfront are these fun artworks. Actually they are old wharf pilings that were dolled up by a local artist and donated to the city. This one is in front of the yacht club.
Appropriately, this one stands right opposite the marina berth for the harbor firefighting tug boat.
How do you judge fully restored 60 foot gaff cutters like the famous Fife designed Sayonara, against 20 footers built in the owners garden over a dozen years, or lovingly restored old Couta boats against perfectly finished motor boats used for skiing or deep sea fishing? The four of us took our notes over to a quiet table at the yacht club. After about half an hour we all agreed that one boat, 44 foot Windward II, a 90 year old gaff sloop of true elegance, lovingly maintained by her owner, with all her lines neatly coiled, every dockline flemished and topsides gleaming, deserved top prize but…“We need more trophies to give out,” one of us said, especially because some of the smaller boat showed how much their owners loved them. “Okay, I have a perfect cutlass bearing casting that didn’t work out,” said Keith, “If I mount it on a nice piece of Houn pine, call it the Cayzer Trophy, we can give it to the best power boat and I want to give it to Conquistador.” We’d all admired the immaculate 50 year old bright red wooden ski boat on its trailer attached to a bright red Holden V8 of the same vintage. Even better was the plaque declaring, This boat has done more than 6000 hours as a ski tow boat in the past ten years.
A real favorite at the Woodenboat show, a steam powered launch.
Larry and I had a favorite among the small boats, Ruby Meryl a 22 foot, hundred year old Couta boat restored and re-launched only a few weeks previously with the owner having worked alongside the professional shipwright. So I piped up, “Then we’ll create a trophy for the best loved and maintained sail boat under 30 feet and call it the Taleisin Trophy.” I had the honor of presenting the prizes that evening in a room bursting with enthusiastic Wooden Boat owners. With the several special mentions plus three prize winners instead of the expected one, everyone seemed to be delighted.
Two of the Lyle Hess cutters we visited at the show, each has done its fair share of miles along the Australian coast
Whenever folks ask me if I get tired of talking about boats, I answer, “How can I. What other sport, hobby or life style lets you own something as special as this. Not only can we cross oceans on our boat, we can live on it, entertain with it, go out for a casual afternoon away, play games like racing or join in festivals like the one at Geelong where everyone, be they owners of regal appearing 60 foot classics or 15 foot racing skiffs, shares the same interests.”
The Tumlaren fleet. I once got to sail on the one Larry restored. Fast, weatherly and wet.
Talk about sweet sterns. The Scandinavian designers know how to draw double-enders.
Storm Bay is one of the oldest working sailboats in Australia. She has been beautifully restored by Tim Phillips, who has also built several dozen Couta boats over the past 30 years.
Thanks to everyone at Geelong, especially the man who was like our guardian for the weekend. Paul Rose said he would like to be our adopted son. (Sorry Paul, it wouldn’t look right for me to have a son who is only 6 years younger than me.) A very special event and the prefect kick off to a ten day tour from Geelong slowly northward along the rugged coast of Australia. But that’s another story.
May your boat have strong spars, an easy helm and full sails.
Lin and Larry
