IT may be a little boat, but to Campbell Wood, this was a big moment in local sailing. The quarter-size replica of the 1983 America’s Cup-winning yacht, Australia II, which he and three others bought off the internet earlier this year, was to finally touch Newcastle Harbour on Friday.
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“I’m a bit nervous, excited,” said Mr Wood. “The winged keel thing is a lost art!”
After being restored at Midcoast Boatyard & Marine, the 4.9 metre boat, complete with a winged keel, was lifted into the water by a 40-tonne capacity travel lift. The boat itself weighed about 200 kilograms – and that was after 140 kg of lead had been packed into the keel.
“It’s probably the smallest boat we’ve had in the travel lift,” observed one shipwright.
Despite a north-westerly gusting up to 20 knots, Mr Wood took the dinghy for the first sail on the harbour.
“I felt some positive lift I’ve never felt before in a monohull, and that is the keel,” said Mr Wood, smiling and dry. “But that might have been my imagination.”
Fellow owner John Beach, who watched the mini-Australia II being put through its paces, was delighted, declaring “we’re making history”. But he decided to delay his turn in the dinghy.
“I’ll wait to the wind dies off to the faintest of zephyrs,” he said.
The four owners, who paid $1038.50 for the dinghy, are donating the replica to Newcastle Maritime Museum, as a tribute to the original yacht’s designer, Ben Lexcen, who went to school in the city.
