Your Short Stories
Tell us about your boating adventures.
These are your short stories: things that happened while cruising or interesting places you visited.
The Proposal
Seals and eagles witness Maatsuyker Island lighthouse keepers' engagement
On Maatsuyker Island the day begins at 5:30am when the caretakers brave the icy winds to check the weather. It's then time for a hot cup of tea and breakfast, before checking in with maritime radio and doing further weather tests. The island's lighthouse keepers Grant Ryan and Hannah Sutton have been living on the remote south-west Tasmanian island since the end of February.
Around Tasmania or bust
The adventures of Adam, Anna and Alibi,
the very small Compass Northerner 28.
by Adam Gittins RG1092, April 2019
The roots of our Tasmanian circumnavigation were solidly terrestrial. We spent two years volunteering for Tasmania Parks & Wildlife; Deal Island, Maatsuyker Island, Bruny Island, Maria Island, Schouten Island as well as Cockle Creek and Melaleuca on the “big” island. Well, if you spend that long staring at the sea and reporting on the weather, you HAVE to go sailing. At this time we got to know Coast Radio Hobart (as it was named back then). Barry invigilated our radio exam at the old base and, on Maatsuyker Island, the skeds and our chats with the operators were a real feature. We also honed our radio skills chatting to the fishermen who appeared and disappeared with the changing weather.
MV Eva Blanche
from David Conway RG289, March 2019
David Conway (RG289) is one of Tas Maritime Radio's newer members. In February he sailed his vessel, the MV Eva Blanche from Franklin to Constitution Dock in Hobart to participate in the Australian Wooden Boat Festival.
When we asked David to provide some history of this historic vessel for our website, he readily agreed and provided the following story.