Held in the Dechaineux Theatre at the College of the Arts on historic Hunter Street, the ever-popular Australian Maritime Museum Wooden Boat Symposium is back with a stellar program! Over three days and two nights, a distinguished lineup of professionals and passionate enthusiasts will share their expertise, exploring themes such as traditional watercraft, Pacific voyaging and maritime history, and social and environmental issues within the region. Entry is by donation, but space is limited—come early to secure your seat.
SYMPOSIUM SCHEDULE
| DAY | TIME | PRESENTER | TITLE | DESCRIPTION |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Saturday | 09:30-11:00 | Tom Robinson | Rowing solo across the Pacific | The epic tale of a young man’s quest. |
| Saturday | 11:00-12:00 | Tony Stevenson | Ngataki, the South Sea vagabond resurrected | The iconic Depression-era yacht and its adventures that inspired a generation. |
| Saturday | 12:00-13:00 | Marine Vallée | If they could speak... | Objects from the Museum of Tahiti embodying voyages and cross-cultural exchanges in Polynesia. |
| Saturday | 13:00-14:00 | Thor F. Jensen | Circumnavigating PNG in a traditional sailau canoe | A 13-month odyssey by a Danish adventurer and three PNG master sailors. |
| Saturday | 14:00-15:00 | Darienne Dey | Nā Wa‘a Na‘auao: Canoes as vessels of wisdom | Learning through voyaging. |
| Saturday | 15:00-16:00 | John Welsford | Small and capable | Designing and building a modern cruising dinghy. |
| Saturday | 16:00-17:00 | David Payne | Traditional watercraft of Papua New Guinea | An ANMM research project to document and showcase these sophisticated, functional and beautiful craft. |
| Saturday | 17:00-18:00 | Yuji Kanesada | A master carpenter in Japan | Sustainable forestry and the construction of a traditional minka farmhouse. |
| Saturday | 18:30-20:30 | Pecha Kucha Hobart | Pecha Kucha: Pacific Stories | Join us for a casual and relaxed evening featuring an eclectic series of speakers who will present very short, visually-based stories. |
| Sunday | 10:00-11:00 | Mimi George | Tepena TePuke | How an ancient Polynesian voyaging vessel is built and used today as sustainable sea transport. |
| Sunday | 11:00-12:00 | Larry Paul | The Daring rescue | The remarkable recovery of a schooner buried in sand dunes for 153 years. |
| Sunday | 12:00-13:00 | Valérie Vattier | Is there any news of Lapérouse? | The tragic history of one of the greatest maritime expeditions of the 18th century. |
| Sunday | 13:00-14:00 | Ben Hawke | Pacific adventures on Kathleen Gillett and Maris | The Pacific of the 1940s to 1970s, through the eyes of Jack Earl, yachtsman and artist. |
| Sunday | 14:00-15:30 | Darienne Dey, Heu’ionalani Wyeth, Hoturoa Barclay-Kerr, Mimi George | Waka voyaging today | Veteran voyagers discuss traditional navigation, sailing, and life aboard a voyaging canoe. |
| Sunday | 15:30-16:30 | Matt Poll | Objects collecting people | Engaging communities in Indigenous collections research. |
| Sunday | 16:30-17:30 | Alson Kelen and Hoturoa Barclay-Kerr | Building canoes, building community | Pacific projects that address social and environmental issues through seafaring. |
| Sunday | 17:30-18:30 | Matt and Dan Tucker | Tradition meets innovation | A voyage of proa design and discovery. |
| Sunday | 18:30-20:00 | Five young shipwrights and sailors in converation with Sal Balharrie | To D or not to D? | What is it about the iconic local Derwent Class that sparks the hearts of next-gen sailors? |
| Monday | 10:00-11:00 | Bob Downes | Getting the most out of modern materials using old-world rigging techniques | Blending the two can yield efficient, durable and elegant rigging solutions, as seen on Tally Ho. |
| Monday | 11:00-12:00 | Leo Goolden | Tally Ho: A dollar, a parrot and a fool | Behind the scenes of the ambitious rebuild that started with a $1 rotten hull and became the most widely followed boatbuilding project of its time. |
LIBRARY OF THE SEA
Presented by the Wooden Boat Guild of Tasmania, explore the rich tapestry of maritime history and craftsmanship, through unique books on seafaring, shipbuilding and nautical lore, in the Symposium foyer.
PECHA KUCHA HOBART
Join us for a casual and relaxed evening featuring an eclectic series of speakers who will present very short, visually-based stories.
The word “PechaKucha” is Japanese for “chit chat”. PechaKucha Night is a slide night enjoyed around the world, where speakers have 6.5 minutes and 20 images to tell a visual story. It’s a casual and fun way to explore a theme, with “more show and less tell”. There will be refreshments available for purchase and an intermission for mingling and asking questions.
MEET THE PRESENTERS
Tom Mahuta Robinson is a young adventurer and wooden boatbuilder from Queensland. Growing up along the mangrove-lined banks of the Brisbane River, with a plywood rowing dinghy to get to and from school, it’s no wonder that Tom pursued a life in boats. At age 14, he made the decision that he was going to row solo across the Pacific Ocean, and build himself a wooden boat for the journey. This set in motion a series of events over the next nine years, including solo rowing trips on school holidays, a four-year apprenticeship at a traditional slipway, offshore sailing and racing, and ultimately the design and building of his 24-foot whaleboat, Maiwar, for what would be a 7,000 mile journey across the Pacific, departing Lima, Peru in July 2022.
From his formative years racing NZ sailing dinghies in Auckland, with few moments on the podium, Tony Stevenson spent eight years in North America racing and working on a variety of keelboats. This included blue water races and deliveries including two Sydney to Hobarts, Kenwood Cups and IOR Maxi series.
Since its inception in 2007, Tony has chaired the Tino Rawa Trust which has restored and maintains several prominent New Zealand classic yachts including the Logan brothers’ Jesse Logan (1880), Rawene (1908), the mullet (couta) boat Corona (1934) and others. He has recently completed the restoration and return to the original gaff rigging for Johnny Wray's Ngataki (1933).
With his wife, Michelle, Tony has recently delivered the inaugural and very successful Auckland Wooden Boat Festival. He also chairs the NZ Sailing Trust which has restored Sir Peter Blake's Round the World Steinlager 2 and Lion NZ. Both iconic maxis deliver voyages to over 1700 young New Zealanders annually.
A keen sailor of both classic and modern yachts, Tony is responsible for both Trusts’ funding initiatives, sponsorship and strategic direction.
Dr Marine Vallée is Assistant Curator at the Te Fare Iamanaha – Musée de Tahiti et des Îles. She holds a PhD in Art History from the University of Auckland – Waipapa Taumata Rau. Trained in heritage and contemporary Pacific arts (École du Louvre, University of Auckland), her research interests include history of collecting and curatorial practices, the provenance of objects and their resonance in contemporary visual arts and cultures. She recently was the lead curator for the exhibition ‘Hōrue: Waves from the past, waves from the present – Hōrue : ’Are nō mua ra, ’Are nō teie nei’, reflecting on the history and contemporary place of surfing in French Polynesia.
Born in Copenhagen in 1981, Thor F. Jensen is a world record-holding adventurer and TV host who loves small vessels and big seas. He has produced three award-winning adventure documentaries and authored the book Saltwater and Spear Tips. He lives in Darwin, where he produces media for NGOs. Thor is a member of the Adventurers' Club of Denmark.
Darienne Dey has crewed the Polynesian Voyaging Society’s Hōkūle‘a for over a decade, holds an OUPV captain’s license, and is a student of Weriyeng, one of two remaining millennia-old Micronesian schools of wayfinding and seafaring. Having earned a B.A. in Archaeology from Stanford University and an M.Ed. in Teaching from the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa, she has worked in both cultural resource management and Indigenous math and science education. Darienne is currently a Ph.D. student in Data Science at National University and hopes to increasingly leverage Indigenous data science in support of traditional wayfinding and seafaring education and research initiatives throughout Oceania.
John Welsford is a small boat designer with ten generations of boat building under his belt. John has been building small boats and exploring the New Zealand coastline from an early age and now has over 40 designs to his name with thousands having been built and sailed all around the world. John describes his role as:
"A creator of dreams. Really, that’s the aim of a designer of small recreational boats.
There are a lot of technical issues to solve to make sure that the dreamboat functions in such a way as to make the dream come true, but nevertheless, that’s the aim and I’ve been working on that for around 45 years, so have had lots of practice.
I’m older and greyer than I was, I live in Rotorua New Zealand where there are a group of lakes on which to sail, and the salty water is not so far away, I’m retired from the everyday job as a sawmill machinery sales engineer and repair technician so can devote more time to important things like boats. That background, though, helps immensely with the machinery in my workshop where I build boats, experiment to try out new ideas and structures, and maintain the collection - the fleet - of boats my partner and I have built or collected.
As a dedicated dinghy cruiser and small boat enthusiast it’s a privilege to be invited to participate in the Tawe Nunnugah raid, and to be a part of the Australian Wooden Boat Festival."
David Payne is an Honorary Research Associate with the Australian National Maritime Museum, and from 2004 to 2020 he was Curator of Historic Vessels at the museum. His work included research on Indigenous watercraft, and in 2017 he spent a month in Papua New Guinea waters documenting their outrigger canoes.
David is also a boat designer with many wooden craft in his portfolio and co-author with Nicole Mays of a recently released biography of Australia’s first professional naval architect, Walter Reeks.
When I was a kid, I used to play in my father’s workplace as he was a fusuma [traditional sliding door] craftsman. My toys were his hammer, saw, and plane. I got absorbed in mountain climbing when I was a student, hitting pitons into rocks and ice. I visited the Himalaya and Pamir mountain ranges, and South America, reaching up to 7,100 meters high. I also travelled to many countries and met many young backpackers. I found each of them had their own cultural identity. Soon after I decided to become a Japanese traditional carpenter ... maybe I wanted to express my own Japanese cultural identity and pride? I’ve been working as a carpenter for more than 30 years and have learnt the wisdom and techniques of Japanese traditional architecture styles like minka [farmhouse], temple, shrine, teahouse, castle and so on. Now I can speak in my own words and want to share its wonderfulness with many people. So please join me and feel the depth of Japanese culture!
In 1984, after returning from overwintering a sailboat in the Antarctic sea ice, Dr Marianne (Mimi) George and Dr David Lewis co-founded the Pacific Traditions Society, and sailed both sides of the Bering Strait, overwintering with sea mammal hunters and reindeer herders. In 1993 Mimi began directing Pacific Traditions’ Vaka Taumako project, supporting Solomon Islands masters of traditional navigation and boatbuilding to teach their knowledge to new generations.
Mimi is an academic with extensive knowledge of ancient wayfinding practices, including star and wind compasses, complex swell patterns, and deepsea lights that show the way to land. She continues to share what she learns from supporting the educational initiatives of knowledge-holders and from helping young students of ancestral voyaging to document what they are learning from the few remaining masters of ancestral boatbuilding knowledge across the Pacific.
Larry Paul, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Classic Yacht Charitable Trust and skipper of the 1894 gaff cutter Waitangi is also on the Board of the Mangawhai Daring Trust. A long time wooden boat enthusiast, Larry is a champion of maritime heritage, passionate about the history and preservation of Auckland’s classic yacht fleet.
In 2018, when the historic vessel Daring emerged from the sands of Muriwai Beach, Auckland’s renowned maritime figure John Street initiated an ambitious recovery project. Larry eagerly joined the small Daring Rescue team, contributing to the remarkable recovery of the ship. Since then, he has been actively involved in the preservation of the Daring, working towards its permanent exhibition in Mangawhai, the town where it was originally built in 1863.
Valérie Vattier, originally from Normandy in France, arrived in New Caledonia in 1996. After holding several positions in the cultural sector, she took charge of the Maritime Museum of New Caledonia in 2002. Passionate about maritime history, scuba diving and adventure, she participated in 2003 and 2005 in the expeditions carried out in Vanikoro (Solomon Islands) on the wrecks of the Lapérouse expedition, then in 2008 collaborated on the major exhibition on Lapérouse at the National Maritime Museum in Paris.
Valérie has designed and produced more than twenty temporary exhibitions and numerous events on themes linked to the maritime history of New Caledonia.
Ben Hawke grew up with his grandfather Jack Earl close at hand. Having sailed many thousands of miles with Jack onboard Maris, he continued the next chapter of Maris’s South Sea adventures when ownership transferred to Ian Kiernan, including voyages to New Zealand and Tahiti.
In his professional life as a current affairs and documentary producer, Ben’s obsession with islands, especially in the Pacific, has forged many of the special projects he has helmed. He is currently working on covering the 2024 Rolex Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race.
The captain of the oceangoing waka Haunui, Hinemoana and Aotearoa One. Hoturoa has been sailing around the Pacific for more than thirty five years. He paddles waka, sails waka, and teaches waka—Hoturoa lives waka. Diving deep into the art form of waka, he is one of the few holders of mātauranga whakatere waka (waka sailing knowledge) in
Aotearoa. Throughout the years, Hoturoa has used his specialised knowledge to encourage tauira (students) to look at mātauranga waka from all aspects, which include science, technology, astronomy, arts and more. These teachings have taken him to many different indigenous spaces, working with many different rōpū (groups). Hoturoa is an orator on his marae at Kāwhia, the home of his waka, and the ancient landing and settlement place of his ancestral waka, Tainui, captained by his tupuna (ancestor), Hoturoa.
A Director of the Ka’imi Na’auao o Hawaii Nei Institute, pottery conservator on archaeological digs, and paddler extraordinaire, Heu’ionalani helped start the Vaka Taumako Project and has been Permanent Secretary since it started in 1996. She studied hula and Hawaiian language and culture with Kumu Hula Roselle Keliihonipua Bailey of Maui since 1985. Ka’Imi Na’auao o Hawaii Nei Institute was founded By Roselle Bailey for the preservation and teaching of Hawaiian culture. Meph performed Hawaiian protocol with Kumu Bailey at the 1997 launching of the first Te Puke of the Vaka Taumako Project. Meph continues to compose, perform, and write about the Vaka Taumako Project, as a Director of Pacific Traditions Society and in support of Vaka Valo Association.
Matt Poll is the manager of Indigenous programs at the Australian National Maritime Museum and previously worked as Curator of Indigenous Heritage collections of the Macleay Museum and Chau Chak Wing Museum at the University of Sydney. For more than a decade Matt was the repatriation project officer at the University of Sydney and was previously Artistic Director of Boomalli Aboriginal Artists Co-operative (2005- 2009) as well as working at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney (2000 – 2004). Matt has participated in international collections engagement projects in Helsinki, France, China and the United States and he is currently a member of the Reimagining the British Museum working group, representing Australia.
Matt’s recent curatorial work includes co-curating the new permanent exhibition at the Australian National Maritime Museum ‘Shaped by the Sea’ (2022) and two exhibitions at Chau Chak Wing Museum at Sydney University, ‘Gululu dhuwala djalkiri: welcome to the Yolŋu foundations’ and ‘Ambassadors’ (2020). Matt’s curatorial projects focus on embedding consultation process in exhibition design and his most recently published work is in the journal Aboriginal History (volume 45), ‘Bark Paintings as ambassadors, 1948-63, and the circle back to Aboriginal cultural agency’.
Alson, who is a certified counselor, has been involved in the traditional canoeing culture of the Marshall Islands for a number of decades. For four years, he assisted the Waan Aelõñ Kein (These Islands) project to document the step-by-step construction of Marshallese canoes. In the late 1990s, he co-founded the Waan Aelõñ in Majel program, a registered Non-Government Organization.
As well as being the ongoing Director of WAM, Alson has worn many hats over the years, including the following:
Mayor of Bikini Atoll (November 2009 to 2011); Councilman for Bikini Atoll (November 2007 to November 2009); Chairman of Marshall Islands Shipping Corporation (2006 to 2015); and President, Council of NGOs (2005 to present). Member of the National Nuclear Commission 2018.
Alson’s many achievements relating to canoes includes writing and compiling the following: Traditional Canoe and Canoe Model Building Workbook, English version; Traditional Canoe and Canoe Model Building Workbook, Marshallese version; Canoe and Canoe Model Building Manual, English version; Canoe and Canoe Model Building Manual, Marshallese version.
Matt and Tucker grew up as two of five brothers sailing around New Zealand, Australia and the South Pacific Islands on their parents’ 48’ gaff-rigged ketch, New Zealand Maid. Some of their highlights include sailing to Mururoa Atoll in French Polynesia to protest the nuclear testing in 1995 and Matt sailing to Antarctica in another brother’s 34’ yacht, Snow Petrel, in 2006.
Their extensive sailing experiences and inquisitive nature led them to build a traditionally styled 30’ proa, Upokorua.
Matt has since moved on to more modern and experimental proa building with his 26’ prototype UFO, and founded Evergreen Boats, exploring alternative building methods and natural composite materials. More information on Evergreen Boats and UFO is at www.evergreenboats.com.au
Dan has upgraded and improved Upokorua over the years, renaming her Mahi Mahi and re-rigging her with a more traditional design. Dan is a multi award winning sculptor, originally trained in Aotearoa, New Zealand, his sculptures follow a traditional craft/carving style, often with strong ocean themes. They have been acquired internationally for both private and public collections and can be viewed at www.dantucker.co.nz
Sal Balharrie is a writer, producer and director for screen and publication. Her most recent project, the critically acclaimed feature documentary LIKE MY BROTHER, premiered at the Melbourne International Film Festival 2024 before an Australian cinemas release. Sal is currently writing an animated TV series for women starring Sharon Stone; working on her next feature film about the competitive mindset of elite female athletes and has a novel set for release in 2025. Sal is a passionate sailor and together with her partner Mark Chew founded SWS – Southern Woodenboat Sailing.
Bob Downes is a rigger based in Port Townsend, Washington, USA. He has a background working as a shipwright and shipboard engineer, and has been focused on rigging since 2013. With experience gained rigging modern and traditional vessels with Brion Toss, his recent projects include the spars and rig of the 17th century reproduction Maryland Dove and the restoration of 1910 English cutter yacht Tally Ho.
Leo Goolden’s adventures in boatbuilding and sailing have been catching the public imagination for over a decade, and his most recent project has brought a whole new audience into the world of traditional wooden boats. From singlehanded ocean sailing to DIY crowdfunding, Leo is captivated by unusual challenges and the stories that they bring with them.
ABOUT THE PRESENTATIONS
In 2013, 14-year-old Tom Robinson woke up one morning with a dream to become the youngest person ever to row across the Pacific Ocean. Eight years later, after qualifying as a boatbuilder, Tom quit his job, laid the keel of the ocean rowing boat he designed himself, then worked six days a week for five months to craft a traditional and sustainable wooden boat that would withstand the rigors of a trans-Pacific voyage.
Tom fulfilled his childhood dream, but the journey was anything but smooth … rowing. From battling contrary currents, intense weather, extreme fatigue and months alone at sea, to idyllic times on isolated atolls; covering 7,000 nautical miles from Peru to Vanuatu and 265 days at sea, Tom has a true adventure tale to share – a tale that continued after the ill-fated last leg and concluded on an isolated island in Melanesia…
The story of Johnny Wray, a Kiwi who designed and built his boat Ngataki during the early 1930s in his parents’ front yard. The 21-year-old Wray had lost his job at the height of the Depression and decided to drop out of the struggle for employment. He constructed his ocean-going yacht from kauri driftwood that he collected on beaches in the Hauraki Gulf.
This presentation covers the design and construction of Ngataki, Johnny Wray’s voyages throughout the Pacific and the 1934 Trans Tasman race with George Dibbern and Te Rapunga. Johnny Wray’s book South Sea Vagabonds is a seminal tale of Kiwi ingenuity and comradeship which inspired a whole post-war generation of Kiwi yachtsmen to build their own boats in their backyards and follow his path into the Pacific and beyond.
The Tino Rawa Trust, which has restored Ngataki to its original configuration, explores the rescue and restoration of Ngataki and the influence of both Wray and his book South Sea Vagabonds on many bluewater voyagers.
Among the oldest objects held at Te Fare Iamanaha – Musée de Tahiti et des Îles are wooden boards from voyaging canoes that reflect the amazing journeys undertaken across the Pacific Ocean. Other objects illustrate technical or material integrations resulting from the multiple voyages and exchanges that occurred throughout the region from the ‘contact’ period. This presentation highlights heritage objects reflecting on navigating endeavours, as well as circumnavigations and whaling voyages across the archipelagos of today’s French Polynesia. These objects bear in their biographies, sometimes even in their materiality, marks of cross-cultural exchanges.
In August 2016, Danish adventurer Thor F. Jensen and three Papua New Guinean master sailors set out to circumnavigate the island of New Guinea in a traditional sailing canoe, called Tawali Pasana, using ancient seafaring wisdom that has stood the test of time.
After 13 months of high adventure, danger and friendship the ‘Fellowship of the Tawali Pasana’ sailed into the history books.
Jump aboard for a fast-moving, interactive, multimedia presentation where Thor shares the tears and triumphs, laughter and learnings sailing under three PNG master sailors.
Darienne will share her experiences sailing Hōkūle‘a and other wa‘a kaulua (double-hulled sailing canoes) across the Pacific Ocean and Caribbean Sea. She will focus on how living on the ocean has shaped her perspectives as a researcher and educator as well as how these opportunities have deepened her gratitude for her kumu (teachers) and kūpuna (ancestors), who come from every continent… except Antarctica!
A dinghy cruising resurgence is upon us! Perhaps it’s due to the increasing costs of owning larger boats, or the romance fuelled by books like Swallows and Amazons and Those Snake Island Kids, or the fact that cruising dinghies can be built by anyone with moderate woodworking skills in their backyard…
Renowned small boat designer John Welsford, in conversation with Mat and Ben from Small Craft Tasmania, discusses the sophisticated art of designing a capable cruising dinghy, and what to look for in choosing a design to suit specific needs.
The traditional watercraft of Papua New Guinea come to life in a colourful story built around detailed plans of many of the canoes and outrigger craft still in use today. As well as showcasing the design of these amazing watercraft, the plans demonstrate that these beautiful craft are also part of the artistic life of their respective cultures and communities.
The plans were drawn by David Payne after he spent a month travelling by launch in PNG waters. Using simple tools- string lines, tape measures, pencils and notebook – he was able to document many of the craft where they sat on the sand. He then returned to Sydney and turned this information into accurate scale plans, hand drawn to contemporary drafting standards. Other craft included in the presentation were recorded from examples held in museum collections.
Master carpenter Yuji Kanesada will share insights on sustainable forestry and the construction of traditional minka farmhouses in Gifu prefecture, including ways in which local traditions can help address global issues.
His company’s Kumundar initiative is designed to be a practical response to these issues, preserving the natural environment and passing on culture, history and wisdom to future generations.
Ever wondered why anyone would build a deep-sea sailing vessel today using only ancient designs, materials and methods? Want to know why such vessels cannot be built without the highly skilled roles and leadership of women and children?
This presentation shows the steps in the process of building a TePuke, a Polynesian voyaging vessel, from planning and agreements to lashing and launching. This presentation is for those with no idea what an ancestral Polynesian voyaging vessel is, and also for those who want some nitty gritty detail on how one is built. Learn why training youth to build, sail, and navigate using ancestral knowledge is more useful now than ever.
The coastal schooner Daring, beached during a westerly storm in 1865 on the wild west coast of New Zealand’s North Island, re-emerged from the sands 153 years later during a series of storms. This presentation will delve into her rich history, the incredible recovery effort, and the ongoing preservation work. It will also highlight the Daring’s significance in sharing New Zealand’s maritime and social history of the mid-1860s.
Coming soon.
Jack Earl’s grandson, Ben Hawke, will enthrall you with Jack’s Pacific odyssey on Kathleen Gillett in 1948, and voyages on Maris in the 1960s and ‘70s.
Over the past 50 years the building of voyaging waka and the use of traditional sailing and navigational skills to undertake epic voyages, often along ancestral migration paths, has become a powerful affirmation of Pacific identity.
Hear from individuals who’ve played key roles in that history, on how to navigate without instruments, how to sail a waka and what it’s like to live on and lead a modern voyaging waka.
The complexities of acquisition, collection and ‘rediscovery’ of museum collections are often as fascinating as the objects themselves. Exploring the deeper histories and object biographies of museum collections constantly offer new ways of thinking about the past. This presentation will explore three recent examples of national and international Indigenous collections research undertaken by the Australian National Maritime Museum.
Throughout the Pacific dedicated individuals and organisations are creating programs to pass on traditional boatbuilding, sailing and navigation skills to a new generation.
Programs like those run in New Zealand (and Vanuatu) by the Te Toki Voyaging Trust and in the Marshall Islands by Waan Aelõñ build skills and self-confidence for the participants, and increased self-reliance, including reduced dependency on fossil fuels, for their communities.
Dan and Matt Tucker discuss their experiences building, sailing and experimenting with proas.
The brothers first encountered the single-outrigger proa, found throughout Oceania, as children, sailing around the South Pacific on their parents’ 48’ ketch, New Zealand Maid.
Their presentation will cover the design and construction of a traditionally styled 30’ proa they named Upokorua (‘Two heads’ in Māori), on which they planned to sail home to New Zealand. Structural issues delayed the voyage and Matt and Dan, and the proa, now live in Tasmania.
They will talk about the benefits and challenges of proas, drawn from experience sailing Upokorua, (now Mahi Mahi), which Dan still owns, and Matt’s more experimental modernised proa. His 26’ prototype, UFO, is a test platform for trialling different configurations and build methods to maximise performance, using modern materials and design ideas.
With distinctive design, rich local heritage, competitive racing potential and cool kid crews the Derwent Class is in demand.
‘D’s are being restored and raced by a fleet of sailors with smiles on their faces and Blundstones on their feet.
So… why Ds? What is it about this Class that’s grabbed the attention and hands-on restoration abilities of a community – a group of boat finders, young sailors and shipwrights.
This conversation will break it down. Join us to hear from a passionate community as they explain how they get their hands on these rare and precious boats and the unique system created to take a trashable hull and turn it into a unique craft.
With big dreams, where will a laid-back spirit of friendship and sailing take this very special class?
And if you’re lucky enough to have a D secreted in your shed, you’ll come to realise you’re sitting on a gold mine – of fun.
The constant challenge in designing a modern “traditional rig” is to balance aesthetics with robustness, periodicity with longevity, ease of maintenance with economy, et cetera. The most elegant solutions tend to include a blend of old-world techniques with modern materials, or vice versa. The features of high modulus fiber rope products are well understood, and combining them with traditional skills like seizing, service and selvagees is about more than just covering them up – it can maximise their versatility and enhance their best qualities to the fullest.
Rigger Bob Downes will talk about why new materials should bring old techniques back into the ditty bags of modern professional riggers, using as an example some of the design decisions made while rigging Tally Ho.
Leo Goolden takes us behind the scenes of the ambitious Tally Ho rebuild that started with a $1 rotten hull and became a crowdfunded YouTube sensation. The presentation will explore how the project accidentally evolved, the difficult decisions that had to be made along the way, and the larger-than-life characters that made it all possible – as well as photos and stories from the recent shakedown cruise.
