Events - Month View

Rex has had a lifelong interest in ships and the Port of Hobart, particularly in photographing them, which led to publication of the book “Ships of Hobart Harbour” in 2014.
This interest also prompted him to seek employment as a Customs Officer, working on the busy Hobart waterfront during the fruit export seasons in the late 1960s.
Joining the Maritime Museum of Tasmania in 1985, he has served as Secretary, President and committee member and has been granted Life Membership. His current involvement is as a tour guide and as a regular contributor of articles and photos to its quarterly journal Maritime Times.

FROM SMALL BEGINNINGS –MARITIME MUSEUM TASMANIA CELEBRATES 50 YEARS.
Rex‘s presentation will provide an overview of the Museum’s foundation, its opening at St. George’s Church in 1974 and continual development, particularly since relocation to the Carnegie Building, Argyle St. in 2000. From a yachting perspective, the Museum proudly counts the early Sydney-Hobart race winner WESTWARD, built by Jock Muir in 1947, as the largest item in its collection –maintained as a working vessel, with greatly appreciated assistance from the RYCT.

In this session Val will share and invite personal stories supporting cruising legend, Jimmy Cornell‘s assertion that Right Attitude is an essential, and often overlooked, component of successful cruising. this is a mini version of a presentation Val offered at the 2026 Women Who Sail Australia Gathering on the Bay.

At last I have a boat again! Please come and join me and my trusty new vessel Luthier on her first CYCT cruise.

Calling out to members, new and longstanding, to rug up and meet at the Quarantine Jetty about 4pm. We‘ll light a fire, crack open the Gluhwein Thermos, and gather to share nibbles, nautical yarns and friendship CYCT style.

Please register before August 14th.

Cruise Contact: Val Nicholls
0404825310

Our third and final Winter Forum for 2026 will be held on Thursday, 20 August at 6.30pm at the RYCT.

Annette Hesselmans will present Practical Navigation Skills and Passage Planning. Annette is an experienced and passionate offshore sailor, an RYA Yachtmaster Offshore (AMSA Sailing Master) and Instructor, and the founder of Paper Sailors Rock. She skippered Red Jacket in the 2018 Melbourne to Osaka double-handed non-stop yacht race, has sailed multiple Melbourne to Hobart Westcoasters, and completed the 2024 Sydney to Hobart and the 2025 Melbourne to Osaka double-handed aboard her Najad 490 Fika, with daughter Sophie Snijders as co-skipper. Annette and Fika are now based at the RYCT, where she offers classroom and practical sail training. The interactive session will run for approximately 90 minutes with ample opportunity for questions.

Pitched as a refresher and a workout for experienced navigators as much as a foundation for newer ones, the evening will explore:

PASSAGE PLANNING: the APEM approach — Appraise, Plan, Execute, Monitor
ELECTRONIC NAVIGATION: principles of operation and the limits of its use — accuracy and Horizontal Dilution of Precision, chart datum, satellite interference (jamming and spoofing), raster vs vector charts
THE BACK-UP: why a secondary means of position fixing matters, and how foundational methods complement the electronics
PAPER CHART WORK: fixes — three-point, running fix, contour lines and transits — and pilotage, including preparing a "mud map" for the places you can go bang: harbour entrances and exits
HANDS-ON: small-group work on training charts (provided), a quick quiz on buoyage, lights and the Collision Regulations, and two lively mini-debates — North Up vs Course Up on the chartplotter, and setting the depth sounder at the waterline vs under the keel

Please bring an HB pencil, an eraser, navigation dividers, a Portland course plotter and a hand bearing compass