The Australian Wooden Boat Festival is a unique celebration

Every two years, Hobart beckons classic-boat enthusiasts from all over the world to an enticing and eclectic display of showcase wooden vessels, fascinating nautical equipment and intriguing events that simply dazzle and delight.

Hobart is a glorious venue for the biennial Australian Wooden Boat Festival, nestled under the brooding hulk of Mt Wellington, the vast area of Sullivan’s Cove, incorporating Constitution and Victoria Docks, and several large piers, that together create a safe haven for a spectacular selection of tall ships and other interesting sailing vessels.

Here, you can take visitors on regular cruises, which greatly energises what would otherwise be a static display, while the area adjoining the cove is supported by excellent seafood restaurants, quaint pubs and food venues, all surrounded by the wonderful colonial architecture of the docks and city.

There is something for everyone here. Wooden fishing trawlers still in active service, race winning and classic cruising yachts, a mix of motor cruisers powered by a variety of fuels such as steam, diesel, petrol and brute strength.

Even some hilariously decorated and highly festive little dinghies and small craft plied the harbour, one of them the Muziekboot from Amsterdam, a six foot dinghy elaborately decorated and perhaps precariously set up as a one-man band.

A RIOT OF COLOUR AND TIMBER
Colour is everywhere, as is gleaming brightwork, sparkling topsides and custom crafted fittings. With an estimated 240,000 people attending the 2017 Australian Wooden Boat Festival, this is by far the largest wooden boat love-in of its kind in the Southern Hemisphere.

The volunteers who created the event 24 years ago can take great pride from their efforts, bringing together a fabulous selection of boats, exhibits, and entertainments for the pleasure of visitors from interstate and overseas, and their extraordinary organisational skills are so very much appreciated by all attendees.

It is quite impossible to highlight any particular boat as a favourite as so many fall into different categories and are equally deserving credit. What is so wonderful is the hard work and effort that people go to in order to present their boats and displays, and the enthusiastic and welcoming way in which they host visitors and friends aboard.

The variety of designs are superb, as are some of the restoration efforts, and this is so pleasing as these are objects and skills which will undoubtedly vanish in a fast paced and increasingly electronic modern world.

Festival organisers go to obvious trouble to showcase local produce and wines, so one need only walk a few paces to discover a wondrous collection of stalls and vendors offering really high quality fare at very reasonable prices. With the crowds milling about and a very enjoyable festive mood, it takes very little effort to have a wonderful time.

Musicians, dancers, bands and entertainers pepper the show by day, as well as the Ironhouse Waterside Tavern, a special dockside entertainment music venue for those who wanted to party on into the night. The Royal Australian Navy Band, the Floating Shed, a mobile jazz music barge, children’s entertainment and a small circus. They have literally thought of every entertainment.

NATIONAL MARITIME MUSEUM
For those with an educative bent, the Australian National Maritime Museum hosted a symposium featuring famous guest speakers such as Ron Holland and Lyn Pardey, plus a wonderfully informative selection of short lectures on all matters nautical, ranging from design, construction, repair and maintenance issues to adventure stories from across our great continent.

Other exhibitors show off some very eclectic collections, one stand devoted to a rack of every conceivable outboard motors since their invention, plus some very odd engines and mechanical devices. Rusted Nuts Engineering sounded ominous but most amusing.

The Blundstone Shipwrights Village displayed traditional boat building skills such as steam bending, forge work, kit boatbuilding and even traditional Aboriginal boatbuilding. A Quick ’N’ Dirty Boat Building Challenge is always amusing and shows off creative craftsman skills.

Some competition events provided much entertainment for the onlookers, as did a children's paddling race in Constitution Dock in some alarming looking vessels Great fun though.

Suppliers of nautical equipment have the Princes’ Wharf exhibition centre showcasing all types of products and services including modern electronics, high tech paint finishes and classic boat equipment for sympathetic restorers.

Classic launches, superb speedboats, fishing, naval and commercial vessels are side by side with model boats, heritage and historical exhibits, even a seafood theatre which features displays of the billion-dollar industry for which Tasmania is so highly regarded. Everywhere you turn there appears another section of great interest.

AN INTERACTIVE SHOW
Unlike many boat shows and festivals, and thanks to the excellent layout of the docks, larger vessels such as tall ships are able to breathe life into their sails and take visitors for a proper voyage down the river to see first hand what these adventurers had to face.

Virtually all the larger sailing vessels were doing tours alongside the gorgeous steam yacht Preana which was taking river tours on a regular basis, as well as the big catamaran taking groups up to the fascinating MONA gallery.

Everything seemed to be on the move and very much to the great appreciation of visitors.

DUTCH CONNECTIONS
For 2017, a special Dutch theme was proudly celebrating the 375th anniversary since Abel Tasman became the first European to discover Van Diemen’s Land, now Tasmania. This is celebrated along with the Dutch maritime heritage through the mighty 17th century VOC trading company and their trading and exploration ships that were the first European’s to discover the West Coast of Australia.

Historical material allows the modern day observer to immerse themselves in this thrilling chapter of exploration and the search for the Great South Land. Interestingly, we derive many modern nautical words from the Dutch, including gin, buoy, cruise, deck, iceberg, pump, skipper and keelhauling, perhaps the last not as desirable as the first.

A small fleet of Dutch ‘tjotters’, 20’ sailing boats with shallow draught and retractable leeboards on either side of the hull, provided an unusual fleet, sailing out of the docks daily to the great pleasure and fascination of spectators. These little sailing vessels were regarded as essential transportation before reliable roads, used by tradesmen, vicars, doctors and fishermen among many others.

Naturally, the Maritime Museum of Tasmania and the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery were receiving many guests to enjoy their informative static displays, however, the real fun was dockside.

Rather incongruously berthed in the middle of all this activity was the massive cruise ship Ovation of the Seas, one of the largest passenger ships in the world and happily disgorging some of its 4500 passengers who must have been delighted with the show and party atmosphere.

THE EINSTEIN THEORY
Einstein said ‘the more you know, the less you know’, and like any complex subject, a pry into the details reveals a wealth of knowledge and fascination which can be quite compelling.

These niche festivals are a perfect example of the real pleasure in education on a wide variety of levels and it is simply fascinating to amble about and be informed about so many diverse subjects by so many experts.

The real and marvellous addition is the human element, the hundreds of boat owners, tradesmen, specialist providers and stallholders whose wealth of knowledge is simply amazing. Naturally there may always be a bore to be found, but for the most part one can say hello, open a conversation, be welcomed aboard and find such a fascination in other people’s experience and knowledge.
Just for this fact, the inquiring mind can spend days meandering about in perfect harmony with like-minded people studying fascinating objects.

For my part, I departed Sydney at noon, the pilot announcing that it was 41.8 degrees outside and that we would land into Hobart with clear blue skies and 24 degrees. It was heaven. The fresh air and party mood added to a celebratory atmosphere we enjoyed aboard a classic Halvorsen 50’ Bridgedeck cruiser Minocqua berthed on the Kings Pier Marina and stocked with champagne.

Advice on Buying a Wooden Boat.
More at Australian Wooden Boat Festival website.
Our news story on the 2017 Australian Wooden Boat Festival news.
A nice feature story on a  25ft timber sloop renovation at the Festival.
More on the The Dutch connection and Dutch boats on display at the Fetival.