Down on the Waterfront - Hobart's Wooden Boat Festival and other Nautical Events

 

A magnificent sight on Hobart's Waterfront on the weekend

Aye me Hearties! Before we go back to Germany again, I thought you might like a few glimpses of Hobart's Wooden Boat Festival which is held in Hobart every second year. It’s a wonderful sight to see the great tall ships lying at anchor in the harbour just as they might have two hundred years ago. Boats and visitors come from all over the world for this and this year there were some 60,000 visitors over the four days. Sadly, at least one ship didn’t quite make it. The Goondaloo, a historic pilot ship which used to ply Sydney Harbour, sank on the way here. 

Scrambling down Kelly's Steps from Battery Point

 I was a bit worried at first as I hurried down Kelly’s Steps - the sandstone stairway built by Captain James Kelly in about 1840, so that it wouldn’t take him as long to get to work. Not many of the usual cafés in Salamanca Place were open and Salamanca Square behind the sandstone warehouses also seemed rather deserted.

I'd never seen Salamanca Place as quiet as this

 

 The waterfront is only five minutes walk downhill from the CBD and is usually one of the livelier places in Hobart. There are all sorts of eclectic shops in the arcades within those sandstone walls, also a theatre, several galleries, loads of eateries and bars and an open air venue in the former quarry where bands play on Saturday nights. It’s also where the big Salamanca Market is held on Saturdays and where all kinds of ships come in – fishing boats, yachties, cruise ships, pleasure boats, Antarctic icebreakers and research vessels and occasionally freighters and military ships, but as I round the corner from Constitution Dock I can see that I needn’t have worried. 

The real action was along the several piers sprawled along the waterfront. I’ve always liked this area with its ship chandleries, foundries, the smell of the sea and its hint of far of places, but today it looked especially lovely with its tall sailing ships and the flotilla of yachts all decked out in colourful bunting. 

So that's where everyone is!

Today not one, but five glorious tall masted ships lay at anchor at Franklin Wharf and across the quay at Elizabeth Street Pier, there were several more. In between, there were other wooden boats aplenty from tiny handbuilt dinghies to historic yachts as well as the usual pleasure boats and large numbers of modern yachts flying colourful bunting. A Seaplane made an unexpected appearance from time to time and, because it was also Regatta Day (see below) there were many more watercraft, a variety of other water -related activities and even aerial stunt displays by the Air Force. The crowds were so thick you could hardly move along the Esplanade and there was so much going on, it was hard to take it all in. 

The Endeavour - largest of the Tall Ships and a Replica of the one Captain James Cook used on his voyage between 1768 and 1770 when he stumbled upon the East Coast of Australia on his way back from viewing the Transit of Venus in Tahiti. This version built in 1994 is used for historic and educational tours and is more or less a floating maritime museum

A bit of the detail on the Endeavour

People taking a closer look at the James Craig - James Craig was a worldwide trader and this ship was built in 1874

Close up of the James Craig - built 1874 - Romantic as it looks, it gives me nightmares just thinking about keeping all those ropes and winches from tangling 

Things look a bit more leisurely on the One and All, a South Australian sail training ship

Other ships include the Young Endeavour and the brigatine SØREN LARSEN built in Denmark in 1942 but now based in Australia. The Young Endeavour is part of the non - profit Young Endeavour Youth Scheme which is dedicated to providing challenging and inspiring experiences for 16 -23 year -olds. The SØREN LARSEN which pioneered sailing for the disabled, offers daily lunch and dinner cruises, so it isn't just about good looks. The Windwardbound on the other side is based in Hobart and is also a sail training and cruise vessel.   

At Franklin Pier, people – especially children, were climbing over the rigging and exploring the tall ships. At Brooke Street Pier which is a floating dock, people set sail on harbour cruises, interrupted now and then by a fast moving, barely camouflaged  Foma Roma catamaran, ploughing through on its way to MONA up the river. [MONA which stands for the Museum of Old and New Art is built underground and is guaranteed to shock and surprise].  

Things are just as busy  at Elizabeth Street Pier on the other side of the quay

The Foma Roma ready to take off again from Brooke Street Pier

The pace picks up as I head towards Hunter Street

There are smaller wooden vessels in between

There are nearly always yachts at Constitution Dock, but today they are decked out with their flags and there are many more of them

There's a feeding frenzy all the way to Hunter Street Pier

Naturally there's lots of seafood

You know it's fresh because the fishing boats pull up right beside the restaurants along the pier. The rest of the fleet must be out catching more fish

Along the water's edge there's a long tent for refreshments and possibly entertainment

I suspect this is the rowboat contest and somewhere there's a place where you can try out windsurfing but I haven't found that yet

 I couldn't even get close to the historic diving display taking place on the side of Brooke Street Pier. Further along the Esplanade in one of the tents, you could learn how to build your own wooden boat. Another venue showed the art of working with wood, sailmaking and ropework and inside Princess Wharf Shed No. 1 you could buy cruises and gear for your own nautical adventures. Further along the walkway, there's a demonstration of vintage steam driven machinery.

The Wooden Boat School has a display

Working with wood

A new Figurehead perhaps?

Lost Arts all

And what about all those sails?

The swivel bridge that lets the fishing boats through into the sheltered side of the harbour

This is the winch that drives it

At last I make it to Hunter Street Pier at the far end of the Waterfront. This area used to be rather industrial with big factories and a foundry, but these days it houses the University's Fine Arts Precinct and a number of restaurants and hotels. Henry Jones and Co for example, used to be a big Jam Factory serving the Empire and supplying all the troops with jam. Now it's an upmarket Art Hotel with original artwork and decor in every room. Like Salamanca Place, this area looks surprisingly quiet today.

I didn’t make it as far as the Domain – where our Botanic Gardens and the Governor’s residence are, though it was only a few minutes further on. Usually a circus sets up there on Regatta Day, but it took so long to navigate the section between Salamanca Place and Hunter Street that I now had to rush back before I got a parking ticket. As I head back, a seaplane zooms in alongside and you could see the distinctive shape of the RV Investigator, -our scientific research organisation’s research vessel, in the background and, far out on the horizon, a few freighters, keeping a healthy distance from all that activity. 

 At least the weather had been kind – not sunny – a blessing in my view, and not raining or blazing hot either. There was music too. Bands, a choir and buskers filled the air with song and sound from sea shanties to rock music and there was one little boy with a violin, tucked away in a corner near the swing bridge, hoping to raise enough to buy a kayak. I'm sorry I didn't catch the names of these young women. I didn't want to interrupt their singing and no longer had time to wait until they finished.

Other Waterfront Events

Regatta Day

Usually Regatta Day - a Public Holiday in Southern Tasmania and held on the second Monday in February every year, also brings in a Navy ship or two. Many years ago, I enjoyed a very long  party on a submarine - not timewise, but spacewise, because we all had to stand in single file. 

Royal Regatta Day as it's known, has been going a lot longer than the Wooden Boat Festival - itself over thirty years old. Begun in 1838 by Governor Franklin - yes, the one of Baffin Bay fame - this is was his job before that, to celebrate Abel Janszoon Tasman's' discovery' of Tasmania in 1642. Abel Tasman went on to 'discover' the West Coast of New Zealand too but ran into a spot of bother with the Maori.

It is Australia’s oldest Public Holiday and remains the biggest Aquatic Festival in Australia. Usual activities include boatraces of various kinds – sailing, rowing and kayaking, windsurfing, powerboat displays, military displays, woodchopping competitions – a very Tasmanian tradition, a swim across the River Derwent and a fireworks display.

In keeping with Governor Franklin’s tradition, entry to all these events remains free though the free food and drink are no longer supplied.

 The Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race

Another popular international event that takes place on the Waterfront is the Annual Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race, now named the Rolex Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race. This starts in Sydney on Boxing Day (26th December) and finishes up at Constitution Dock in Hobart in time for New Year. From small beginnings in 1945 it now includes hundreds of maxi yachts from around the world. As soon as yachts begin to appear at the mouth of the Derwent, Hobart's fleet of small boats and yachts turns out to greet them and accopany them up the river to the Port. Onlookers crowd the riverbanks to watch or head up to Mt. Nelson Signal Station to get a better view. Not just the winners are cheered. Any yacht that makes it to the finish line, has already proven that its crew have exceptional stamina and skill.

 

The journey of 630 Nautical Miles (1,170 km) down the East Coast of mainland Australia, across Bass Strait and then down the East Coast of Tasmania is considered to be one of the most challenging competitions in the world, with bad weather making it even more difficult. In the 1998 Race for example, of 115 starters only 44 made it to the finish line, 5 boats sank and six people lost their lives. Despite much stricter safety protocols, two more sailors lost their lives in last year's race. It does make you appreciate the achievements of early explorers such as Bass and Flinders who did much of their work of mapping the coastline of Australia and discovering that Tasmania was an island, in tiny open whaleboats. Bass Strait is reputed to 100ft (30m) waves. 

 

When the yachts do make it to Hobart, they have the chance to try some of Hobart's finest fare at the Taste of Summer Festival, which takes place on Constitution Dock at the same time. 

Antarctic explorer, scientist and photographer, Louis Bernacchi and his dog Joe wave goodbye as I leave the waterfront

PS There’s a Facebook group for Tall Ship Tragics here.