Sydney's Wooden Boat Show, new challenge for hero, Awards for rescues
by Nancy Knudsen, Editor on 30 Aug 2012
Award to be given for Elle rescue by AMVER ship Oleander SW
A couple of maritime Sydney events you should know about. For
wooden boat lovers there's a great new festival taking place soon in Darling Harbour, and
Sea Scoopa, that very clever MOB retrieval invention of Sydney doctor and sailor Bob Wright is on display at the Powerhouse Museum.
Two heroes worth talking about this week. One is a
profoundly deaf British sailor who is about to sail solo and non-stop around the world. Now I think that just setting out for such a voyage makes him a hero – especially when I remember how much information one gets from both the ocean and your boat through your ears. Good luck Gerry Hughes – remember the name, you're likely to hear it again.
The other hero is a ship,
the Oleander, well, I guess it is the crew of the ship who are the heroes. They rescued the sailing boat Elle in the Atlantic last November in very dramatic circumstances. A low key hero in this incident, in my opinion, is
AMVER, the voluntary world-side ship rescue system, which is responsible for so many yachts and their sailors being rescued by ships recently.
Up in the Northwest Passage read how the summer traffic is increasing all the time – maybe that makes up for the dearth of cruising sailors in the Indian Ocean. However, the national forces are having an effect – read just how successful they have been in deterring Somali piracy.
The quirky story of the week is of reunion between two men and their boat Queen Bee, which ejected them in Massachusetts and then sailed itself across the Atlantic solo. What kind of a tough little boat is that! Sad story was, they didn't want her back.
Some good practical articles too – there's a new cruising guide to Tasmania by people who should know, Jack and Jude Binder, probably the most experienced cruising veterans of Australian waters on earth; John Jamieson is talking knots; and a favourite of mine, Boat Beacon, is now available in Android.
That's just a taste, so browse down the headlines to find your interest.
Sweet sailing!
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