AFTER almost a year of hard work by a team of about 20 boat builders, Warrnambool now has its own St Ayles skiff.
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Unveiled on Sunday at Flagstaff Hill Maritime Museum, the skiff named Fast Messenger is only the seventh to be built in Australia.
Warrnambool St Ayles Skiff Club secretary Patrick Groot said work had already begun on a second skiff in the boat workshop at the museum.
“It’s a real phenomenon worldwide, and Australia is following on what’s already been done in the UK and other countries,” Mr Groot said.
There have been more than 200 skiff kits sold and over 140 built in the UK, he said.
“Communities all over the coast in Scotland and UK are building these things,” Mr Groot said.
“It’s drawing people together that haven’t had boat-building experience.
“They’re building these boats and then going out and rowing them at regattas just about any given weekend during spring and summer in Scotland.”
An informal ‘light-hearted” regatta will be held on the Hopkins River tomorrow from 10.30am.
It will feature the newly launched Fast Messenger, along with two other skiffs from Melbourne and Goolwa in South Australia.
Mr Groot said he was working with other people involved in skiff building to create a St Ayles Skiff Association in Australia.
He said the aim was to eventually host a structured regatta series.
Mr Groot said there were about five other skiffs being built in Australia, including a second one under construction at Flagstaff Hill Maritime Museum.
“I’d imagine that we’ll have 20 St Ayles skiffs either being built or launched by the end of next year, so it’s really taking off,” he said.
Work on the Fast Messenger skiff began last December and the finishing touches were added during the week.
About 20 people were involved in the project and involved up to eight hours of work a week.
Mr Groot, who is a stroke liaison nurse at Warrnambool’s South West Healthcare, said everyone in the group had taken up the challenge to promote stroke awareness.
“That’s why it has the F.A.S.T acronym on the front and that’s why it’s called Fast Messenger,” he said.
Over three years, the group was able to raise $25,000 to cover the cost the two skiffs, life jackets and trailer.
