AWBF: Crowds convene across entire Hobart waterfront to celebrate the long weekend
by Australian Wooden Boat Festival 13 Feb 2023 00:03 PST
10-13 February 2023
The Australian Wooden Boat Festival has come to a close, after a fabulous four days of celebrations. The sun was out for most of the weekend and the sea breezes were perfect for the sailing events out on the River Derwent.
From exhibitions, to the Vintage Machinery, small model boats, to Tall Ships, there has been an activity for people of all ages. With the newest addition of City Hall which housed the Classic Dinghy Display, the festival site had increased which resulted in a better flow for foot traffic.
The Clennett's Mitre 10 Quick and Dirty race will commence at 2:30pm today in Constitution Dock, celebrating the younger generations of boat builders and the Admiral's Sail will see the close of the Festival at 4pm, off Sullivan's Cove. Over 300 boats afloat will depart for their home ports, with many interstate vessels staying on to explore the shores of Tasmania.
AWBF Festival Organisers suspect numbers will be larger than ever before, but will be able to provide definitive numbers in a few weeks time. With the Royal Hobart Regatta and the Hobart Cup on, Hobart has seen thousands of tourists filling the hotel rooms.
AWBF General Manager Paul Stephanus said "The event was such a success, we are all very tired but happy. We certainly couldn't do it without our 350 plus volunteers, and our core crew. So I'd like to congratulate the team, we have a few more days of wrap up, then we can rest. I'd also like to thank all the boat owners too, as clearly it cannot happen without them too. It has been great to see families out learning about our rich maritime culture and heritage, and to see Hobart once again thriving."
The Australian Wooden Boat Festival will be back again in 2025, on the Regatta long weekend.
For more information please visit the AWBF website - www.awbf.org.au.