The 17th Narooma Boats Afloat Festival starts on Friday 8 November. Photo: Supplied.
A flotilla of gleaming timber boats will soon grace the sparkling waters of Wagonga Inlet. Now in its 17th year, the Narooma Boats Afloat Festival will bring a crowd of boating enthusiasts and their meticulously restored vessels to the marina on Friday 8 November.
What makes these boats so special that their owners happily spend so much time every year sanding and painting their beloved boats?
Narooma Boats Afloat president Graham Peachey said the boats were handmade labours of love requiring unique skills, patience and a lot of hard yakka. Some of the boats are 100 years old.
Regardless of their age, all have a history, and many have fascinating tall stories of adventure attached to them.
Bob Davis being presented the Malcolm McKay Best Boat Award last year by Narooma Boats Afloat president Graham Peachey. Photo: Supplied.
Tasmanian-built motor launch Dulcena, for example, was built in the 1920s by the renowned Harold McKay. For a time, Dulcena was a licensed fishing boat, so it could be moored in Hobart’s Victoria Dock at cheaper rates. In 1981 Dulcena starred in the Tasmanian Film Corporation’s production of The Mesmerist. In the 1980s it acted as a patrol boat at the Royal Hobart Regattas, as well as the official vessel of the Bellevue Yacht Club in a prestigious Tasmanian boat race.
Narooma Boats Afloat secretary and treasurer Garry Ebbeling said the boat festival brought together like-minded people who couldn’t stop talking about boats and painting and restoring. “They are typically very helpful and there is an esprit de corps,” he said.
The three-day festival is packed with social events where the boaters will revel in the camaraderie.
That said, there is always fierce competition for the Malcolm McKay Best Boat Award. Mr Peachey said it was quite a prestigious award. The winner will be announced at the Gala Dinner on Saturday.
Eleanor, the replica of a gentleman’s runabout, that won the Malcolm McKay Best Boat Award in 2023. Photo: Supplied.
Last year Bob Davis from the ACT took the trophy with Eleanor. It took six years to build it in a garage in Canberra. Made from hoop pine and jarrah, Eleanor is a 1950s replica of a gentleman’s runabout, a bit like a speedboat.
It is easy to imagine Eleanor in an early James Bond film with a tuxedo-clad Sean Connery speeding down the canals of Venice in pursuit of villains or evading would-be captors off the coast of Monte Carlo.
Another highlight of the Gala Dinner will be a talk by guest speaker Peter Ottesen. The famed marine scientist and ocean-faring sailor will regale guests with tales of his adventures on the high seas.
The biggest spectacle that everyone can enjoy is the Grand Parade on Sunday when all the boats cruise around Mill Bay for around 30 minutes at 10 am, depending on the timing of the tide. “That is the opportunity for the community to get involved and we always get a very good turnout,” Mr Peachey said.
People watching the Grand Parade of the Narooma Boats Afloat Festival from Narooma Bridge. Photo: Supplied.
On the Saturday and Sunday afternoons, members of the public may drop by the marina for a closer look at the boats while enjoying live jazz music by renowned local band Jazz Alley.
As the old joke goes, the two best days in a boat owner’s life are the day they buy a boat and the day they sell it. That is not the case for owners of traditional wooden boats.
Mr Ebbeling said after you had built the boat and put it in the water, it never looked as good.
Mr Peachey’s best day was when he bought his boat. The second-best day was when he salvaged it from the bottom of his jetty after it had sunk due to worm infestation. It has since been painstakingly restored.
There is a special camaraderie among the owners of traditional wooden boats. They are a very social bunch. Photo: Supplied.
As many as 60 boats join the festival. Some boaters come from as far as Victoria, Canberra and Newcastle, eager to catch up and compare notes on the highs and lows of restoring their treasures.
Narooma Boats Afloat is an incorporated not-for-profit with some 20 to 30 members. Mr Peachey would love to see some younger people join them.
It is an opportunity to learn skills that are increasingly hard to find these days and to enjoy that special camaraderie traditional wooden boat owners share. There is plenty of lively banter too, not necessarily all boat-related.
The Narooma Boats Afloat Festival will run from Friday 8 November until Sunday 10 November. For more information, visit the Narooma Boats Afloat website.
Original Article published by Marion Williams on About Regional.
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