The Williamstown St Ayles Skiff Project (Jane Howard)

  The St Ayles Skiffs are 22 foot row boats that are similar to ancient Scottish craft used for fishing and recreation around the Scottish Isles. The St Ayles Skiff was designed for communities to build and own to encourage community engagement and build skills both in the building and the rowing. These boats are now being built around the world for this purpose. The Williamstown group had its inaugural meeting in July 2016. A core group of 12 women members have been active in raising funds, attending other events here in Victoria (Geelong and Warrnambool), Tasmania and South Australia, and meeting monthly. The commitment by the women to attend on a weekly basis for the build has been phenomenal. The Williamstown build was inspired by the Franklin Women's Build in Tasmania. Their boats (x4 now) are moored on the river and accessible at all times for casual rows and competitions.

In February a small group attended the Hobart Wooden boat festival and participated in the mini raid return to Franklin over four days. This introduced us to people from around Australia, Scotland, England, Holland and New Zealand and gave us an amazing opportunity to see the full impact that this growing sport engenders.We are auspiced by Outlets Community Co-Op in Newport who are very supportive. As part of Outlets we qualify as a non-for-profit group. We have a committee and membership structure. At the beginning of the year the Welsh Church (which built and rows the St Ayles Skiff “Cariad”), kindly allowed us to set up to build our St Ayles Skiff in their shed at Seaworks, Williamstown.

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Club Night with FloataBoat May 2017

Another great night at the Albert Park Yacht Club rooms (APYC) – a great turnout.

It was good to see visitors and their model boats from Broadmeadows, the Albert Park Yacht Club with Chris’ and Paul’s twin model yachts, Surrey Park Model Boat Club with a model of the “African Queen” as it looked in the film, and the Lake Illawong Model Boat Club (Patterson Lakes) displaying 3 models which included a vintage model of the pilot vessel “Wyuna” that had been made by Rosey as an 8 year old.

Our club also had models on display from David O’Dempsey, Alex and Stewart Pigdon with their lovely model Couta boat, and Graham Signorini’s giant model of the cutter “Madge”. This last boat is so detailed, I suspect that Graham soaked the original cutter until it shrank to its current size!  

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Building A Wooden Boat?

If you are building a Wooden boat of any size, building a model wooden boat, - own a wooden boat, or you are interested in building a wooden boat of your own, THIS CLUB MAY BE FOR YOU.

Every member of the WBA has at least one of these interests, and you will find like minded men, women, and the occaisional youngster, willing to share experiences - and if required, offer advice and assistance.    Of course we enjoy using our boats together, too.

More information required?    Email  info@woodenboat.asn.au  and we will be in touch.

Rescued on Westernport Bay

A great forecast for the day, and a mate rings up to see if I would like to go fishing. I have to think carefully about this, as he doesn’t have a wooden boat! On the other hand, his boat is bigger, he is doing the towing and launching, responsibility for finding the fish and shouldering the blame for failure is his, I don’t have to spend an hour cleaning up etc. when I get home …. and his missus is a fabulous cook who always forces his friends to stay for homemade delights with accompanying beverages.

I accept.

So I pick up the 3rd mate, rendezvous with the skipper and we head off to Warneet to catch the tide.

All is well, although the skipper did drop a bucket accidentally over the transom, which managed to snap off the transponder on the way past……. But we simply drop into “what we used to do before transponders” mode and head out.

Well you know what fishing is like, you sit and chat for 4 or 5 hours, throw the keepers in the fridge and the others overboard, then getting tired ,and having eaten all the food you go home! Usually!!

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From a Live Bait Boat to this!

Over the years of browsing the Float a Boat shop in Ringwood, I had been intrigued by the large model boat (as I thought) on the counter as a display item.

When I asked after plans for the boat, Adrian informed me that there were no plans – the boat is in fact an original full size craft that had been brought in by a customer for refurbishment to supplied specs – but never reclaimed.

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Sailing Day 22/1/2017 – Penny Braybrook

There was a good turnout for the unofficial Sailing Day on 22 Jan! We were pleased to meet new member Simon Webb and his crew, who travelled from near Bendigo with Oughtred-designed Arctic Tern Oenon to his first WBA event. The Lake was busy with walkers, joggers, cyclists and pic-nickers, and the pleasant day and light conditions were perfect for mucking about on the water. Jimmie Baillie rowed Hunca Munca the length of the lake and later sailed with Geoff Carroll in Bluebelle, Penny & Jim gave guest Chris the helm of Talisman while David Stott put son Andrew’s $100 Pacer through its sea-trials, declaring it satisfactory subject to new rigging. Leigh McNolty, Jill Carroll, Jenny Stott, Andrew Stott and friend and Andrew Campbell did not venture out on the water but we enjoyed a convivial lunch together. Members of APYC were also out and about, their social sailing day timed to coincide with the WBA’s – an excellent idea.

Boatbuilding in PORT VILA (Vanuatu)

         “Ultimately I would like to make something that can carry the six of us for an afternoon of sailing but I think that would be too much of an undertaking for a first attempt at making a boat. I would rather start with something that is achievable and fun to build with the boys”.

Discussions with Chris Kelly, Bill Jones and others, led to that the conclusion that although simple, the boat would be too small for his purposes and this led to research into finding something that may better suit the family and would not be beyond the resources available at present in Vanuatu.

A few options were checked out, and the Selway -Fisher 11’6” Acorn Garvie http://www.duckworksbbs.com/plans/sf/dinghies/sdp/acorn/index.htm was put forward as an option. It is a relatively simple build, follows the lines of the Graefin in many ways and help is available from the designer if required. Yes Leigh, it looks very much like a Mirror dinghy!

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Inverloch Classic Wooden Dinghy Regatta 2017 (Leigh McNolty)

There were over 50 boats entered in the regatta this year, about a dozen more than last year. The increase in numbers shows the word is spreading about the great venue, hospitality and variety of historic boats to be seen at the Inverloch regatta. Perfect weather for all three days made it a magnificent weekend to be on the water.

The regatta opened with a cruise across the inlet to Point Smyth on Thursday (Australia Day). To see the whole fleet lined up along the beach over at the point was spectacular. Walking from boat to boat, recognizing the designs and looking at the details of the rigs and gear, I realized that this year we have a real representation of the sailing scene of 30 or 40 years ago.

On Friday morning the boats were displayed on the beach for judging and as Chair of the judging panel I had a challenging task assessing the finer points of construction, restoration, rigs and fittings. I was joined on the panel by sailmaker Mark Rimington, professional boatbuilder Reuben Kent, SGYC race officer Lyn Leppin and Past SGYC Commodore Ian Jones. Their combined knowledge and experience helped us assess all aspects of the boats.

We spent over three hours moving from one boat to another, listening to the owner’s stories of how they found the boat and what they had done to restore it and get it to the regatta. Deciding the winners of the four category awards plus the special awards for Gwen 12s and Sailfish took some careful evaluation of the short listed contenders but we reached agreement in time for lunch!

Friday afternoon at 2pm was the scheduled start time for the regatta race. There were three starts. The fast boats started on the 2pm gun and the Sailfish started 3 minutes later, with the slower boats starting three minutes after that. At least that was the plan. Precise timekeeping may not be the most salient virtue of wooden dinghy sailors. Despite a well conducted start procedure on the committee boat, there was a degree of confusion about the start times out on the water and many boats started a bit late, including myself. Nevertheless it made a great spectacle for the crowds lining the shore.

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Hands On Learning Raft Race – David O’Dempsey

Hands On Learning Australia is a programme committed to preventing the harm of early school leaving by creating opportunities AT SCHOOL for young people to discover their talents and experience success.

In addition to their normal schoolwork, participants in the programme are involved in “making and doing” at the school they attend. They have access to resources which allow them to learn life skills, and under the oversight of trained coordinators may also learn how to use the tools required for various tasks. For those interested, more at http://handsonlearning.org.au/ .

Towards the end of last year your club was involved in helping the Westernport Secondary College HOL group prepare for one of the fun events of the year – the annual raft race between HOL Schools, held at Mornington.

You may want to check out the only video I could track down of a previous race, and get a picture of what happens - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8m54rEKnKd8 .

Design is one of the keys to a good raft, along with simplicity of construction, availability of resources, skillsets of the builders, time constraints – and of course, floatability (is that a word?).

A number of designs were considered, and the suitability of many different construction materials was discussed – from plumbing pipes and car tubes, to large garden tubs and plastic barrels. In the end, the kind donation of a stack of packing ply from Cambridge Commercial Equipment – a commercial refrigerator supplier in Hallam – resolved the issue, and plywood it was.

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About the Wooden Boat Association

The Wooden Boat Association was formed in 1989 for people who enjoy wooden boats and wooden boat building.

Members appreciate wooden boats for their aesthetic qualities, the beauty of the boats and the materials from which they are constructed, and the pure romance of wooden boats.
In this age of mass production, each wooden boat is as individual as her owner.

Join the Wooden Boat Association today, by completing our online membership form.

Find out more about the Wooden Boat Association