Dinghy on Spirit of Mystery
|
Carmen Bell, Wednesday, 16 December 2009 How many degrees of separation would that be? Dinghy was in the water for 5.5 months and traveled 350 miles When the Spirit of Mystery approached Australia in early-March 2009, she was caught in a significant storm which ended up rolling her by 90 degrees. This resulted in one crew member suffering a broken leg as he was on watch on deck, and the loss of equipment. I remember how Pete and Andy Goss bemoaned the fact, that the little wooden clinker dinghy was ripped off its mounting on deck and lost at that time.
The Spirit of Mystery spent some time at Queenscliff Harbour to undertake repairs and, when setting off to Tasmania, had young boatbuilder Jeremy Clowes as one of her crew.
Amazingly, the lost dinghy which has now been named the Intrepid Tacker was washed up on a beach in King Island. The kids who found her happen to be the Stone Haven Cup holders, which links them to the King Island Sail Cub. They mentioned that they had found a dinghy to the Commodore, John Hiscock, who had welcomed the Spirit of Mystery on her stopover. Andy Goss had given a talk at the Club at that time and made a joke about the lost dinghy, saying "If you find one washed up, give us a call or make good use of it." Amazingly, out of the blue - 4 months later - Pete Goss received an email with some photos attached asking if this was his dinghy!
Tacker was made from the off-cuts of the Spirit of Mystery and had her own sail, rudder, dagger board and oars - a true tender. All of her parts were found with her, except for the sail.
Andy and Pete Goss felt that it was only fitting that Jeremy Clowes fix her up, as he is so entwined in the King Island aspect of the story. His boat yard is Peninsula Wooden Boats in Rosebud (just behind Rosebud Engineering) and his email is jwclowes@iprimus.com.au . He has made a start on the dinghy already, and sent some photos. He pulled the dinghy back into shape and had to remove the top four planks which need replacing. Sailmaker Col Anderson (Doyle-Fraser) donated some grown knees from his yacht Acrospire, and I believe that there will be a contribution of materials from the Alma Doepel as well. It is nice to see that the wooden boat family is joining in this project.
| 
