Dual Sydney Hobart winner Westward gifted to Maritime Museum in Hobart

by Peter Campbell on 22 Jun 2010
The cutter Westward, the only Tasmanian yacht to have twice won the Sydney Hobart Yacht Race on handicap, today made an historic return to Constitution Dock on Hobart’s waterfront more than 60 years after winning the bluewater classic in 1947 and 1948.

The entry in the Dock, the traditional berth from yachts finishing the Sydney Hobart Race, ended a long sea voyage from Maryborough, Queensland, down the East Coast of Australia, across Bass Strait and on to Hobart over the past five weeks.

The yacht’s owner for the past 55 years, Mr Stan Field, has gifted the historic yacht to the Maritime Museum of Tasmania which plans to have her as part of its exhibition of historic Tasmanian boats in Constitution Dock but also sailing regularly on the River Derwent.

The Lord Mayor of Hobart, Alderman Rob Valentine, officially welcomed Captain Mike Webb and the delivery crew of Westward, a Huon pine 42-footer, designed, built and co-skippered by the famous Hobart shipwright and yachtsman, the late Jock Muir, as she berthed in Constitution Dock.

Muir designed and built Westward for Hobart yachtsman George Gibson and was sailing master in her Sydney Hobart Race wins in 1947 and 1948.

Muir had another victory when Waltzing Matilda, skippered jointly by himself and owner Phil Davenport, took line honours in the 628 nautical mile race in 1950.

'This is a most significant gift to the Museum, as a living example of the traditions of yacht racing, including their design and construction from our wonderful Tasmanian timbers,' Maritime Museum Vice-President Captain Mike Webb said today.

'Mr Field has owned Westward for more than 55 years, sailing the yacht extensively, including a 15 year cruise, mainly in the Pacific, but also visiting the Panama Canal,' Captain Webb added. 'He is now quite elderly and told us he would like the yacht to return to her original home port as part of the Museum’s collection of significant Tasmanian-built craft, such as the trading ketch May Queen.'

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Among the large crowd at Constitution Dock today to greet the Westward today were the last two surviving crew members of her first win 1947, Don Colbourn and Kevin Garrod, along with Bill Foster, who helped Jock Muir build the boat in 1947 as a 14-year-old apprentice shipwright.

Muir originally designed Westward as a fishing cruiser for a Sydney buyer soon after Word War II. The sale fell through when the hull was only partly completed and he sold the boat to George Gibson, his former mainsheet hand in Kittiwake from Cadet dinghy racing days on the Derwent.

'Westward was designed…and built as a fishing cruiser, but she raced with the fishing-well sealed over and her propeller removed,' the Muir recalled in his book ‘Maritime Reflections’, adding' 'I like to remember that she must be the only yacht with a fish-well to win the big race.'

Westward was launched in 1947 with an overall length of 41 feet 9 inches, a beam of 12 feet and a draft of 6 feet 6 inches. She is heavily constructed of one and one-eighth inch celery top pine planking on laminated blue gum frames with eight inch centres, and has heavy stringers and deck beams. She has a roomy deckhouse which almost covers her self-draining cockpit.

Describing Westward in his book, Muir wrote: 'She was a lovely boat and I still can’t fault her. She has a fairly long keel and stern-hung rudder and I remember in one race she carried a spinnaker across Bass Strait when other competitors were dragging sea anchors and warps. She rated very low under the RORC rating and revelled in gale conditions – as indeed I did.'

Among other well-known yachts that followed Westward from Muir’s Shipyard at Hobart’s historic Battery Point included Lass O’Luss, Waltzing Matilda, Patsy of Island Bay, Lahara, Van Diemen, Wild Wave (she was disqualified from first place in the 1953 Sydney Hobart for an alleged racing rules infringement on the starting line), Maris, Salacia, Balandra, Trevassa and Astrolabe.

Westward made the return voyage from the Mary River in Queensland with stopovers at Coffs Harbour, Sydney and Eden before making the Bass Strait crossing and a further stopover at St Helens before the final three day sail to Hobart.

'She is a beautiful boat to sail, and while she does not need some work, she will regularly grace the waters of the River Derwent,' Captain Webb added.

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