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 From The Coastal Passage, issue #38

Anyone who can have that much fun with a sander in her hands... loves her boat. Jill crewed on Cooee from 1982 and took over ownership in 88 in the Philippines.
Since then Jill and Cooee have sailed around the world a bit, just living life, and sometimes writing about it, and I was reading it! There are very few sailors that have added as much to the cruising culture in Australia as Jill and she isn’t done yet.
Cooee was built in 1895 and Jill reckons she’s good for “infinity” and the way Jill looks after her... Cooee has many more miles under her keel alright.
When Cooee does need a little work to keep her healthy, where does Jill take her? To Terry Herons shed at the Mary River where these photos were taken. As I was asking about some details of construction Jill advised she was triple skin of Kauri, she spelled it out K-A-U-R-I.... “ I notice you aren’t great at spelling Bob”!
Shit, everyone’s a critic!
  Terry Heron loves good timber and boats.. and especially good boats built of timber! Not that he is against combining timber with modern materials.
The part finished cat with no name (yet) is strip plank and the mast is timber composite and decks are Polycore! The bridge deck layout is interesting in that it extends right to the davits creating a luxuriously large living area.
To best understand Terry’s love of fine timber you have to go below and see some of the fitout detail. I think there would be few that could replicate the work, if they had the ambition. But it takes more than love of the material. Terry has a lifetime of experience. From the 32 “Paper Tigers” built down in Melbourne to an endless list of other small craft and perhaps 7 larger vessels between years of cruising the South Pacific.
Whilst the 44 footer (slowly) takes shape, there may be another boat already on the mind...

 

Anyone who has spent time at the Great Sandy Straits Marina, Hervey Bay, will remember Nicky; always a smile and happy to help in any way. We asked Helen a bit about Nicky and here is her reply:

“Nicky has been here for over 10 years. She is headed for Cairns to work on the barge that travels to the islands making deliveries. Nicky recently completed her Master 5 & MED 2 at Australia Maritime College in Tassie. She is in need of open sea time to have an unrestricted ticket. We will all miss her terribly!”

Wes & Helen Fielding
Managers, Great Sandy Straits Marina

TCP wishes you success with your future endeavours!