Tawe Nunnugah 2013

In late January 2013 I joined a fantastic group of people to take part in the Tawe Nunnugah, a raid of 197 kms over 9 days, from Cockle Creek in Recherche Bay to Hobart in time for the Australian Wooden Boat Festival.

It was an experience of a lifetime not just because we travelled through one of my favourite parts of Tasmania, but because of the way we travelled, the boats, the places we saw and stayed at and above all the people we travelled with.

There are better descriptions on the official Tawe Nunnugah 2013 website - take a look here!

My boat wasn't ready so I was very happy to be invited as crew. This ended up being on the Capricornia a 31 foot whaleboat, owned and loaned by Piet Lunstedt. The crew varied a bit initially* but by the time we sailed into Hobart we were Sarah, Denise, Colin, Rick, Graeme and Gary. Denise was our skipper & had us tacking, reefing and sailing like a well oiled machine ( OK maybe not that well - but pretty well!).

The Capricornia on a broad reach to Allonah - before the wind got up :-) 
Thanks for the photo Col!

Some of the Capricornia crew at the Yukon's "Cocktail Party" at Cygnet (L to R - Gary, Rick, Denise, Col and Graeme - Photo by Graeme)

 After the official ceremonies, the Capricornia Crew sang a shanty to the rest of our fellow raiders. Hopefully the ireverent phrases captured the spirit of the Capricornia & how we felt about our (loaned but well loved) boat and the whole Tawe Nunnugah experience. (see below) 

The Song Of the Capricornia

 

*Over the Raid Capricornia's crew included The Laidlaws - Peter, Nicka, Euwen and Billie, Rick, Will, Gary, Aaron, Eva, Piet Lunstedt, Meg, Denise, Furgus, Chris, Sarah, Col and Graeme. (Note: two of the crew listed are the dogs Billie and Meg - both noted and experienced seadogs who set a fine example to the humans).

Thanks again to all the participants be they fellow raiders, organisers and hard working ground crew, safety boaters and the inimitable cooks Bob & Jamie - not to mention their dreaded "Crying Tiger". None to be forgotten!