Boat show gets Spirit
enabling greater manoeuvrability for all vessels.
On land there’s a large hardstand area, slipway and boat ramp with easy access for marine trades. The marina’s haul-out equipment caters for vessels up to 18.2m (including catamarans) and 47 tonnes.
Facilities being completed include a pump-out service and a floating dual fuel pontoon depot (diesel and petrol). Also being developed on land will be a cafe, chandlery and a new amenities building.
Anyone interested in berthing facilities can visit margatemarina. com.au/, phone 6267 9600 or email admin@margatemarina.com.au WITH hopes of better weather next weekend, December 8-9, the Royal Yacht Club of Tasmania Cruising Committee has organised its Barnes Bay and Richardson’s Beach Cruise down the D’Entrecasteaux Channel originally planned for last Saturday and Sunday,
The event was to have been the first on the RYCT cruising calendar put together after the winter break to further augment cruising activities within the club.
The calendar features a variety of cruises designed to appeal from “learners to legends” for cruising in company and vary from easy day trips through to overnight and to extended cruising and the Seamanship and Navigation Trial.
Online registration is available on the RYCT cruising calendar.
Other cruises of note coming up are the Tasman Peninsula Navigation in January around Australia Day, the Cygnet Regatta and the Channel Food Experience.
of the American wooden boats at the 2019 Australian Wooden Boat Festival will be Spirit, a monohull, six-oared pilot gig — and with it there will be an opportunity for festival goers to literally “get into the spirit” of it all.
Spirit is nearly 10m in length and built of oak and cedar. It was designed by John Gardner and built by the Apprenticeshop — a facility dedicated to wooden boatbuilding and seamanship situated in Rockland, Maine, US.
Launched in 2017, Spirit is similar to the more than 200 pilot gigs currently used for recreation and racing in the southwest of England. The pilot gig design was gradually developed over 200 years. The early boats of this design were created to be the fastest boats in which to ferry a pilot out to incoming sailing vessels arriving from across the Atlantic.
Spirit is one of 10 similar pilot gigs operating within a 21km radius of Maine, and there are others being enjoyed in the states of Massachusetts and Vermont.
Spirit’s owner, Susan St John, said that at the recent US Wooden Boat Festival in Port Townsend, Washington, Spirit was greeted ashore by festival goers.
“And when we wanted to go out for a row, we simply gathered a large group from those at the festival and carried her into the water,” she said.
“Come and help us launch her [next February], and then come out for a row,” she said.