标题: 澳大利亚木船节昨天开始了 [打印本页] 作者: Mao 时间: 2009-2-8 16:55 标题: 澳大利亚木船节昨天开始了
(, 下载次数: 0)
上传
点击文件名下载附件
Hobart's Kings Pier full of boats for the Australian Wooden Boat Festival. Picture: LEIGH WINBURN
MARIA RAE
February 07, 2009 12:00am
A PARADE of sail marked the spectacular opening of the eighth Australian Wooden Boat Festival.
Organisers -- and Hobart retailers -- are hoping the four-day festival will attract about 50,000 boat lovers from around the world.
This year, many of the 550 wooden boats taking part came from distant ports. About 28 per cent of the fleet is from other states and three boats are from New Zealand.
The model boat category has drawn 10 per cent of its exhibits from interstate.
And up to a quarter of participants are first-timers at the event.
The tall ships Endeavour, James Craig and Enterprize will be highlights of the festival, along with local brig Lady Nelson and the brigantine Windeward Bound.
The James Craig will celebrate its 135th year when it departs from Hobart on February 18. Its long association with Tasmania started when it was abandoned in Recherche Bay in 1925.
There will be action on the water, when historic 5.48m skiffs from Sydney race off Sullivan's Cove.
The Bounty Boat's owners will relive Captain Bligh's mutiny aboard their 7m replica open-timber whaleboat.
The brave adventurers hope to re-enact the 3000-nautical-mile journey with little food and water, no charts and no loo paper.
A dug-out canoe made specially for the festival has travelled all the way from the Tiwi Islands to be part of the indigenous watercraft section.
Premier David Bartlett said the patrons would provide a massive financial injection for waterfront shops and businesses.
"The tourists give a huge boost to accommodation places and eateries," he said.
Visitors to the festival also became advocates of the state, he said.
"They provide a valuable word-of-mouth endorsement to family and friends back home," he said.
An Events Tasmania survey in 2007 found 48.5 per cent of those questioned at the festival were from interstate or overseas, and 25 per cent were staying in paid accommodation within Hobart's suburbs.