CAROLINE STRAINIG catches up with event organisers of the Moreton Bay Classic, which celebrates our maritime history.
The fun event promoted as “The event that stops Moreton Bay” will be back again next year – promising to be an even bigger celebration of classic timber cruisers and all things boating.
The inaugural Moreton Bay Classic, held off Manly in June, was so successful the organisers are planning an even bigger follow-up event in 2023.
Owners of classic timber cruisers from as far afield as Sydney have already expressed interest in attending the next classic, with a large fleet of spectator boats also expected to join in the fun again.
And even though the event is almost a year away the banter is flowing freely between the owners and skippers of the two boats who came up with the idea.
Paul Crowther, owner of Mohokoi, recalls how the event started.
“We were waiting for South Pacific, skippered by Jacob Oxlade, to catch up with us at an anchorage,” Paul said.
“We took a film as they went past. And I just happened to post it and had a go at Jacob, asking why he considered everything a race, which started some banter.
“He claimed he was quicker, so I threw down the gauntlet and said, ‘Well, let’s have a race and see who is quicker,’ and Jacob and his owner Robert Siganto accepted the challenge.”
Both the boats in question are from the Moreton Bay area. The South Pacific 11 is a 72-foot vessel built by the famous Norman R Wright & Son in 1962. Paul Crowther’s Mohokoi, skippered by Hudson King, is a 70-foot vessel built by Wayne Tipper in 1995. South Pacific skipper Jacob Oxlade also had inside knowledge of Mohokoi, as he was a previous skipper, which made the challenge even more fun.
The idea of a day out on the bay, with the extra frisson of excitement a “race” would provide, quickly expanded to include an invitation to all the other timber cruisers in the area, many of which were built locally using local timbers. The idea was for the bay to come alive with classic timber vessels, recreating scenes similar to those in the Brisbane River for the Bicentenary.
Thirty-five boats competed in the inaugural 10.9 nautical mile fun event, with boats motoring from Green Island near Manly to Peel Island, with another 71 classics registering as spectators. It is hoped all classic boats will compete as entrants next year now that owners have seen how safe and fun the event is, run with the approval of Maritime Safety Queensland and the Water Police.
More than 200 people attended the free barbecue at Horseshoe Bay on Peel Island afterwards, dancing the afternoon away to the sounds of a live band and turning the sleepy island into a hive of activity.
This year the classic was a handicap event with each boat receiving a start time based on its waterline length, horsepower and top speed, and the plan is for this system to continue. There was no formal betting, but a fun Calcutta was run during which people could “buy” a boat.
Mohokoi owner Paul Crowther said jokingly he wanted to have a bet on the outcome this year with South Pacific’s connections and the loser would have to pay for the bar, but his opposition wouldn’t take the bet “because they were too nervous!”.
In reality that was lucky because the Mohokoi had engine problems during the race, and Paul would have lost. Her engine is being repaired with unconfirmed rumours it might have some extra “oomph” added so they can beat South Pacific next year.
Because this year’s event happened at such short notice the organisers, owners of South Pacific and Mohokoi, have decided to hold the classic again next year to allow all those who missed the inaugural event to attend. Thereafter, it will be held biennially, in the same year as the Tasmanian Wooden Boat Festival, so boats that head north after the festival can join in.
The 2023 classic will be on Saturday, June 24, the first Saturday of the school holidays, to take advantage of the beautiful winter conditions on Moreton Bay. However, in the event of bad weather, the fun may move to the Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron’s Canaipa campus.
For the 2023 event the connections would like all classic vessels registered as participants, but non-classic spectator boats are welcome to register in the spectator division. With sponsorship and merchandise sales, it is hoped to keep the after-cruise fun on the beach free, but registration will be required pre-event to assist with planning. Registration will open a few weeks before the event.
And who won this year? One of the smallest boats in the fleet. But the result is immaterial.
“For me, it was really about encouraging people to leave the dock,” Mohokoi owner Paul Crowther said. “Every day I see boats sitting in marinas and they never leave. We wanted people just to get out. We also want to encourage the next generation of people to love timber boats because so many oldies own them now and we need the next generation to love them too.”
You can keep abreast of developments if you look up the Moreton Bay Classic on Facebook. Enquiries to Jacob Oxlade on Facebook Messenger or email him at joxlade@live.com
Published in print October-December 2022
