The International Tin Canoe Regatta

20th March 2010. I learnt later that  the International Tin Canoe Regatta is always held close to the Ides of March. I was thrilled that Jill Trevillion had invited me to the 8th regatta to support "Team Sheelas". In a strange way it felt quite appropriate as when Cathy Jones, Nicky Greenlaws, Lee Fenton and I launched Little Dragon we were immediately dubbed "The Four Shielas!" (see blog 12 April 08).

My plan was to launch Little Dragon at Harwood and sail down the river to Iluka with Cathy as crew, after all Cathy was one of the original Shielas as well as a friend of Jill Trevillian. We are all Stingray Ocean Swimmers - another informal, unincorporated and uninsured group of which we are proudly "Non Members" as stated on our Tshirts. Unfortunately there was very little wind at all for ages and the occasional puff was easterly meaning that we had to tack all the way (with a bit of motoring) when it died away completely). Eventually we reached Iluka and anchored for the night near the Tin Canoe Club House. We had to leave again the following day before noon to catch the end of the flood tide back to Harwood.

The regatta is held in the picture perfect setting of Iluka Harbour. It is amazing that this private event has been able to continue under the radar of officialdom, sponsorship, tourist event calenders etc. The participants certainly do not adhere to the neo-liberal growth paradigm. At the prize giving there was an award for "maintaining the tradition". I hope that in years to come this gathering of friends/sailors/tin canoe builders will be allowed to continue to "maintain the tradition". So please readers of my blog - don't spread the word! As a child in England I grew up sailing with my parents at the local yacht club (that I will not name). By the time I was a teenager I rejected its overt sexism, snobbishness and anti-Sematism but I still enjoyed sailing. The "traditions" of this event were the antithesis of all that I had rejected so many years ago.

I witnessed one of the "traditions" at the Saturday night BBQ. With great ceremony I was given the task of unscrewing the base of the main trophy (a galleon that had to be a spoof on mainstream yachting trophies). Inside was the only only copy of The Rules. The Commodore read The Rules out to the assembled company and then they were screwed back into the trophy for another year. I don't remember many of The Rules as I was laughing too much and had drunk two glasses of wine. One rule was no protests which seemed to be contradicted by the rule that any disputes had to be presented by a dog on a specific date which I don't think exists.

Jill Trevillion is proudly posing in front of Team Sheelas splendid tin canoe. Jill and her partner Will Banks were two of the founding group and Jill has sailed in all 8 regattas. Sadly, her partner Will died in a tragic accident 4 years ago.

Jill was handing David a life jacket for his practice sail. David was going to become Daveena, Team Sheelas skipper, for the races the following day. I was a bit sad to yet again find that there are so few women sailors willing and able to be skippers. If you look carefully you can see Little Dragon anchored on the left.

There were 4 members of Team Sheela, from left to right Lucille, Victoria, Daveena and Jill.

I couldn't resist a close up of Team Shielas tin canoe. The only design rule for the canoes is that they must be made our of one sheet of roofing iron. As far as I could see most of them now had more wood and bamboo than iron. Part of the ethos of the event is that the canoes should be affordable. The original tin canoes only cost around $50 and had features such as an old shower curtain for a jib. Now they are more sophisticated and some have "real" sails and rigging, but there is a trophy awarded to the canoe with the greatest ratio of tin to wood.