In 2019 we celebrated the Club's 30th anniversary. Click here to listen to Founding Member Colin Hunt recall the early days of the WBA at the 30th Anniversary celebrations in July 2019.

The WBA weekend away in Paynesville was a mostly friendly and relaxed affair but it turned out there were two contenders for this year’s Broken Oar Award, and the competition was on!

Paynesville is a great venue for boating, but sometimes things don’t go according to plan. The first contender, a certain Mr G Carroll, went for an untimely swim, courtesy of Kibbee, and the less said about the subsequent phone-rescue-related events the better. As he is not here to defend himself, we won’t say any more…

The annual WBA weekend away was in Paynesville this year. It was a weekend packed with activity both on and off the water. There were 17 WBA members who participated, with six boats owned by members hitting the water.

First to arrive on Tuesday were Gary and Anne Hardy with their Core Sound 17 and Blue Heeler “Ozzie”. Ozzie preferred to stay in the comfort of a pet friendly house at Eagle Bay. Jim and Penny arrived on Wednesday with their Drascombe Lugger and settled in at Allawah. So did David and Margaret O’Dempsey with their Welsford designed Rifleman runabout, setting up camp at Allawah in the comfort of their tent. 

A group of six boats and nine travellers set off from Tocumwal to travel downstream to Echuca and Torrumbarry. The trip was planned to coincide with the Cape Horn winery trip up from Echuca, and we were going to meet the fleet of paddle steamers coming up from Echuca at Cape Horn.  

  Many of us who grew up, or at least got older, around Port Phillip in the ‘60’s and ‘70’s, will have been familiar with the Australian Sailfish. Large fleets sailed at a number of clubs here in Victoria and were a regular sight at regattas around the State. From Victoria the class spread to Queensland, PNG and New South Wales but then numbers dwindled in the 1980’s and by the late ‘80’s they were gone.

However, their small size and shallow draft meant that many of them survived, down the side of the holiday house, up in the rafters of the garage, and some even spent time as tabletops in antique stores (true)! I still remember walking into a store in Sorrento and looking up to see an Australian Sailfish hull resting on the beams.

What a night you stay-at-home lot missed out on!

We arrived to find tables strewn with maps and measuring apparatus (rulers and divider type things), and were sat down to an informative session on tide level calculation, interpretation of buoy light meanings, true and magnetic bearings, distance scales, latitude and longitude ….. etc. etc.. 

It was at about this time that some crew members started to display the first signs of nervousness.

A few WBA members made it to the Cobdogla ‘Cobby Capers’ event.

For those that don’t know, Cobdogla is a small village on the Murray River in South Australia close to Berri. It was setup as a major pumping station supporting agriculture irrigation. It is the home of an unusual but very high capacity pump, the Humphrey pump.  For me, I had visited Cobdogla before, during my long trip through the Murray River in 2014 / 2015.

Hanh and I started our road trip to Cobdogla on the Tuesday before the weekend event, stopping overnight at Inglewood and Murrayville.
Our early arrival saw us see the other boats arrive and launch. We also launched Mars and made ready for the weekend.

This was our second Goolwa visit, and once again we stayed at the Hindmarsh Island caravan park. Sure it’s a few kilometres from the action, but is very close to a “non pressure” launching beach, and is quiet and rustic - I don’t mean it has bush showers and long drop toilets – just quiet. We stayed 3 nights there before heading off to Nelson on the way home, and just took it easy.

Yes, we walked across the bridge, looked at the boats and displays, bought souvenirs, chatted to our fellow members, and had a relaxing time.

Did I say fellow members? What a list! There was a much greater turnout at Goolwa than we expect at an event at home! Maybe we should only arrange outings to places at least 800 kilometres from Melbourne! Now, I didn’t get to speak to everybody, but I believe that apart from Margaret and myself, we had Jim Stockton, Penny Braybrook, Chris Kelly, Andrew Cohen, Andrew and Hahn Campbell, David and Brenda Ayers, Alex Pigdon and family, Roderick Smith and friend Steve, David Stott .. and maybe more that I have forgotten (brain getting older!).

Some Goolwa background.

My Tennessee (Jessie II) was built by Duck Flat, Mt Barker, SA; the first owner had it on display at Goolwa (as Janoralee). I have felt morally obliged to exhibit in every rally since I bought the boat: 2005-19, with only 2017 missed (I was overseas). I have had troubles with moorings in Goolwa wind, and one year the grand parade organisation failed.  Hence I went without a boat once, and displayed on the trailer once.

In 2011, a friend crossed the lake solo in a similar Tennessee (Moonshine). In 2013, I crossed in Jessie II with a Goolwa friend as deckie, part of a fleet of about eight vessels accompanying paddlesteamer Marion. It was an uneventful crossing, and a great achievement.  Hence, I won't repeat it in my boat (a possible anticlimax), although I have skirted the lake when in a rally circumnavigating Hindmarsh Island. This year was the best of my seven: organisation has been improved, and pier repairs have been undertaken.  The weather was kind for Saturday and Sunday.

Stage one was a River Murray Boat Owners Association rally in February. 
I trailed across from Mildura (my summer base this year), then launched early.  On Thurs.21.2.19, I went up Currency Creek to the head of navigation. On Fri.22.2.19, I went up Finniss River to the head of navigation. About eight boats assembled at the pumpout jetty (a floating concrete one,offering shelter).

The Wooden Boat Association is pleased to announce that Russell Hurren is the recipient of the inaugural Alan Chinn Award for excellence in boatbuilding.

This is a new award for a member of the Association who has completed a boatbuilding project that shows excellence in the skills of boatbuilding. The award recognizes the contribution made by Alan Chinn to the formation of the WBA and the example he set in the skills of boatbuilding and in assisting members in their boatbuilding projects. 

 The 2019 panel, consisting of Graham Signorini (WBA Committee), Greg Blunt and Peter Batchelor, judged the completed projects of four nominees - Jimmie Baillie, Jack Ellis, Russ Hurren and David O'Dempsey - and interviewed the builders about their work. The winner was announced at the AGM in July. 

The perpetual trophy made by Graham Signorini will be inscribed with the winner's name, and Russ also received a plate to affix to his boat Maude. You can read more about Russ, Maude and the other finalists here and read the judges'comments here.