Halvorsen’s Race To The Finish Line Across Australia for 2023

We recently put a call out for stories on restoration projects around Australia and we received an email about not one, but two Halvorsen restorations racing to be completed for the AWBF 2023. 

Sam McCarthy from Taren Point, New South Wales is currently restoring a 1953 63ft wooden boat. Sam came across the vessel named Margordel in Port Hacking needing some serious love. The vessel is believed to have been built in Melbourne by an eccentric inventor/engineer gent, from a Halvorsen design (so Sam is told) and was started in 1947. It is believed to be one of four built by the same gent. Although not built by Halvorsen or in Sydney, Sam has been told Margordel is from a Halvorsen design due to its shape, but Sam is still researching. The vessel was salvaged by Richard Winning from a paddock in Liverpool, Sydney in 1992 and has undergone extensive restoration work ever since.

Sam is aiming to have Margordel completed in the next year, to bring her down to Tasmania for the 2023 Australian Wooden Boat Festival. If you have any information on the vessel, please feel free to send us an email so we can pass onto Sam.

The second reply we received was from Kobi Simmat, in Newport, New South Wales. Kobi is also on a restoration journey with his 65ft Halvorsen named Silver Cloud II. The project started two years ago and Kobi hopes to have her completed by the end of 2022 in order to cruise south for the AWBF 2023. He has carried out a major overhaul on both engines, a complete electrical rewire and has carried out major structural repairs on the vessel’s hull. He is also in the process of building a new flybridge replica which will be imported from Canada. The vessel was once owned by Alan Bond and was used as the starter boat in the America’s Cup races. 

AND, while we are on the topic of wooden vessels scrubbing up for the 2023 festival, although not Halvorsen, we’ve heard whispers from a gent in Darwin that is hoping to have his brand new wooden boat finished to sail south to the next AWBF. We have also had enquiries from NSW, QLD and even the ACT. Are you planning on bringing your boat to the 2023 Australian Wooden Boat Festival? We would love to hear from you if you are! Perhaps we might get a wooden boat from each state at the 2023 festival?