BACK TO SCHOOL

he Wooden Boat Centre was founded in 1992 in Franklin on the banks of Tasmania’s Huon River. It is primarily a boatbuilding school but it also carries out commercial work to help its financial viability. The school caters for people who wish to gain a “recreational experience” of wooden boatbuilding, also those who hope to become professional boatbuilders. The seven-or eight-week clinker dinghy course is one of the most popular, in in 2002 which now operates as a charter vessel in nearby Kettering – and there are plans to establish a similar, but two-year, course. “There is certainly scope for us to develop something along those lines in the future,” said Mike Johnson, the centre’s senior instructor, who has worked there for five years, "so we can keep the old skills alive but also teach things which are relevant to the current industry.” Although courses are attended by a few Tasmanians, more come from mainland Australia and from the rest of the world. At the time of my visit, a Percy 11ft 5in clinker dinghy was being built by retired husband and wife Wendy and Paul from New South Wales – who were sponsoring the dinghy, in other words paying for the materials, and would own her when she was finished – and Jacob, a cabinet maker from Denmark. On average, there are about six students per month at the centre.