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Australian Wooden Boat Festival

Coordinates: 42°53′07″S 147°20′04″E / 42.88528°S 147.33444°E / -42.88528; 147.33444
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Australian Wooden Boat Festival
Hobart 2013
StatusActive
GenreFestivals
FrequencyBi-annual
Founded1994[1]
Websiteaustralianwoodenboatfestival.com.au

The Australian Wooden Boat Festival (AWBF) is a biennial event held in Hobart, Tasmania, celebrating wooden boats. AWBF is held concurrently with the Royal Hobart Regatta. The festival welcomes wooden boats of all sizes including wooden canoes, kayaks and dinghies as well as yachts and tall ships.[2]

About

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The festival is a celebration of Australia's maritime heritage and also showcases Tasmania's rich history of food and wines. It has a major economic benefit to the island state of Tasmania, with accommodation fully booked during the event.

AWBF is open only to boats constructed from timber*, and is widely regarded as the largest event of its type in the southern hemisphere. Indeed, it may be the world's largest boat festival open to wooden boats only.[3]

History

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The first Australian Wooden Boat Festival was held in 1994 (180 boats).

  • 2005 – 40,000 visitors (450 boats)
  • 2011 – 160,000 visitors (550 boats)
  • 2013 – 200,000 visitors (550 boats)
  • 2015 – 200,000+ visitors (550 boats)
  • 2017 – 200,000+ visitors (550 boats)

The 2021 festival was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia and was deferred to 2023.[4]

Notes

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* An exception is tall ships, as some large tall ships that visit during the festival have steel or iron hulls.

2017 ships

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The Sail Training Vessel Tenacious was scheduled to be a feature vessel at AWBF 2017.[5]

HM Bark Endeavour Replica is a major feature of each festival, though it did not attend in 2017.[6] Other vessels that attend include the Julie Burgess, the last blue-gum fishing ketch,[7] the HMS Lady Nelson replica, Windeward Bound and the James Craig.[8]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Tim (29 September 2018). "Wooden Boat Festival: 5 reasons to visit Tasmania". ReviewMarineProducts.com.
  2. ^ http://www.australianwoodenboatfestival.com.au/ Australian Wooden Boat Festival Web site
  3. ^ Linacre, Bob. "Wooden Boat Festivals – which is the biggest?". MarineDirectory.net. Archived from the original on 7 August 2016.
  4. ^ "Australian Wooden Boat Festival cancelled owing to pandemic". www.mysailing.com.au. 14 August 2020. Retrieved 3 February 2021.
  5. ^ "SV Tenacious Is On the Way"
  6. ^ Mounster, Bruce (14 January 2015). "Endeavour replica bound for Hobart for Wooden Boat Festival". The Mercury. Retrieved 14 January 2015.
  7. ^ "Heading set for Hobart". The Advocate. 12 January 2015. Retrieved 14 January 2015.
  8. ^ "FEATURE VESSELS". australianwoodenboatfestival.com.au. Australian Wooden Boat Festival. Retrieved 14 January 2015.
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42°53′07″S 147°20′04″E / 42.88528°S 147.33444°E / -42.88528; 147.33444