We are each inspired in our sailing journeys in different ways. For my family there has been a strong connection with history that has stirred us – following in the footsteps (or would that be wake?) of people like Matthew Flinders as we began our circumnavigation, being in places Joshua Slocum had anchored in his Spray…….and of course our own small Tall Ship – Argos - has been one of the reasons for that connection!
I fell in love with Argos – a Tops’l schooner, nearly four years ago and knew as soon as I saw her that she was the boat I would become a sailor on. She is a schooner designed by the amazing American boat designer, Jay Benford, with raked masts, gaff rigging and many features that are simply not present in the average modern yacht.
I bought her and (along with my then-husband) learned to sail. Little did I know that I would become part of a select group of people who not only sail and cruise but who love the Tall Ships of old!
Last spring along with my family, I spent several months in The Whitsunday Islands off the coast of tropical Queensland. There are few places that we have travelled since leaving Albany WA 3 years ago that I could say we have enjoyed more, but it has been more than just a fun time cruising spectacular Islands, we had the awesome opportunity of cruising there with fellow Tall Ship lovers Robin and Annie Cooke aboard the Tall Ship Joshua C!
Cruising in the Whitsundays has felt a little like taking Argos home. She seems to have met her family up there and we have delighted in meeting others who, like us, are intrigued and entranced by the magic of the old!
We first stumbled across The Joshua C Tall Ship at Airlie Beach and within a few days were cruising along beside her, anchoring side by side and soaking up all we could from her owners and builder.
It must have been quite a sight in Cid Harbour, to see the two schooners anchored, looking to all intents and purposes as if time had somehow been reversed and it was the 1800’s again! You could have been excused for thinking you had been transported back to a time where life was slow and adventure the realm of the few, back into an era where Tall Ships plied the coastal trades! The sight of dozens of other much more modern looking sailing boats would have made the scene even more surreal!
The Joshua C* is owned by her builder, Robin Cooke and his lovely wife Annie. Well known in the boating community and to those along the coast of Queensland, the Joshua C has been sailing these waters for close to eight years since she first slid down the mud banks of the Petrie Creek and into the Maroochy River. A boat builder by trade and former skipper of the Mudjimba ferry, builder for the Sunshine Coast Ferry company, Robin is a jovial, soft hearted character with a passion not just for boats but also for people.
Tall Ships, he says, have a mysticism. They do a work on you. They create a peace. And this thought remains at the heart of the purpose of the Joshua C – she was built with a plan in mind of using her to bring hope and the possibility of change to troubled youth.
We had just dropped anchor at Airlie Beach when we first met Robin, who had spied us across the harbour and came alongside smiling, welcoming us and telling us what a lovely boat Argos was. We quickly became friends – of course – you’ve got to love people who love Argos!!!
Sitting beside the Joshua C, Argos is somewhat dwarfed, looking every bit the younger sister! The Joshua C is 80 ft long, and 18 ft wide – black hulled and rigged like a Tall Ship she is loaded with room for its main cargo – people! She is like something out of a dream.
Alongside other more modern looking boats it looks every bit as if the pirates have arrived!
We have been anchored alongside her for days, our masts mirroring each other, our pennant flags flying, our yard arms almost waving hello and it has been amazing to learn about her story.
Robin began her in 1993 after being inspired by a salt trader that had been hauled in to Mooloolaba in questionable circumstances. Inspired by the design, Robin felt instinctively that this was something he could build. And so the idea for the Joshua C was born. Built without a plan, from the inner workings of Robin’s imagination, it took 13 years, a serious back and shoulder injury and many ups and downs to see the project through from its earliest beginnings in his Bli Bli boat shed where he laid down the fiberglass hull – not to mention the drama after launching her and trying to cross the Maroochydore Bar – but persistence pays off and The Joshua C was not only built and launched but fully fitted out and happily sailing – with the addition of Annie who married Robin on board just after she was launched!
There is an authenticity here that isn’t about show. It’s about connecting with the tried and true, the heart of the sailor, the old time sea-dog. Like Argos, The Joshua C is built like an old school boat. Her hull is constructed with design and detail. There are hanked-on sails, belay pins, hand-made wooden blocks, rope work like on the old-time boats – baggy wrinkles and enough knots and splices to sink a battleship! The magnificent timber wheel is hand constructed – it not only looks authentic but makes you feel as if you are actually at the helm of a vessel from days long passed!
It’s a nautical delight but it’s real. This is not a boat built to impress and yet it does exactly that. Everything you see – all the rope work and details are not done for decoration to make a pretty replica, but to be practical and useful. There is a powerful connection with the old and a sense of pride about the old ways of doing things - a profound bringing back of the past as more than a memory – it’s like a mark of respect – and there is not a hint of plastic in sight!
We read of our Argos’ designer (Jay Benford) once that his boats are so salty they make your eyes rust! We come away from the Joshua C inspired to unleash our inner old-sailor, to let go of the constraints of the modern and allow ourselves to be reconnected with the sailing past on board our own boat and to enhance her own saltiness!
We can read stories about our sailing past – about the Tall Ships that brought many of our ancestors to these amazing shores, we can go to museums and see replica vessels, but there is something transcendent about walking on board a ship someone has made their home and their life and seeing the elements of historical accuracy that are a part of their everyday living.
The Joshua C is a boat with purpose and a mission. Robin was once a troubled kid and has a passion for giving back. The Joshua C has seen more than its fair share of difficult kids on board and may well continue to in the future. She was built with not only the desire to see the emergence of a new Tall Ship, but with the hope that she could be useful. Named for Joshua, the renowned leader in the Bible who led the people of Israel despite their weakness, and Jesus Christ which is what the ‘C’ is about – men who inspire Robin in his personal journey, she is his way of finding a place to bring hope and healing into the lives of others.
Life sometimes gets in the way of our dreams, a heart attack will set anyone back a bit, but has barely slowed Robin down! Who knows how the original dream for The Joshua C will grow and develop and what form Robin’s passion will take in the future!
The popularity of the Wooden Boat Show in Hobart is testament to how many others also love this sense of connection with history. Indeed - the fact that there are many older style boats still working on the waterways of Australia – laden often with tourists wanting that Tall Ship experience – shows that our sense of love of history is in no way unique to my family! How lucky are we that this has become our every-day life!
I fell in love with Argos – a Tops’l schooner, nearly four years ago and knew as soon as I saw her that she was the boat I would become a sailor on. She is a schooner designed by the amazing American boat designer, Jay Benford, with raked masts, gaff rigging and many features that are simply not present in the average modern yacht.
I bought her and (along with my then-husband) learned to sail. Little did I know that I would become part of a select group of people who not only sail and cruise but who love the Tall Ships of old!
Last spring along with my family, I spent several months in The Whitsunday Islands off the coast of tropical Queensland. There are few places that we have travelled since leaving Albany WA 3 years ago that I could say we have enjoyed more, but it has been more than just a fun time cruising spectacular Islands, we had the awesome opportunity of cruising there with fellow Tall Ship lovers Robin and Annie Cooke aboard the Tall Ship Joshua C!
Cruising in the Whitsundays has felt a little like taking Argos home. She seems to have met her family up there and we have delighted in meeting others who, like us, are intrigued and entranced by the magic of the old!
We first stumbled across The Joshua C Tall Ship at Airlie Beach and within a few days were cruising along beside her, anchoring side by side and soaking up all we could from her owners and builder.
It must have been quite a sight in Cid Harbour, to see the two schooners anchored, looking to all intents and purposes as if time had somehow been reversed and it was the 1800’s again! You could have been excused for thinking you had been transported back to a time where life was slow and adventure the realm of the few, back into an era where Tall Ships plied the coastal trades! The sight of dozens of other much more modern looking sailing boats would have made the scene even more surreal!
The Joshua C* is owned by her builder, Robin Cooke and his lovely wife Annie. Well known in the boating community and to those along the coast of Queensland, the Joshua C has been sailing these waters for close to eight years since she first slid down the mud banks of the Petrie Creek and into the Maroochy River. A boat builder by trade and former skipper of the Mudjimba ferry, builder for the Sunshine Coast Ferry company, Robin is a jovial, soft hearted character with a passion not just for boats but also for people.
Tall Ships, he says, have a mysticism. They do a work on you. They create a peace. And this thought remains at the heart of the purpose of the Joshua C – she was built with a plan in mind of using her to bring hope and the possibility of change to troubled youth.
We had just dropped anchor at Airlie Beach when we first met Robin, who had spied us across the harbour and came alongside smiling, welcoming us and telling us what a lovely boat Argos was. We quickly became friends – of course – you’ve got to love people who love Argos!!!
Sitting beside the Joshua C, Argos is somewhat dwarfed, looking every bit the younger sister! The Joshua C is 80 ft long, and 18 ft wide – black hulled and rigged like a Tall Ship she is loaded with room for its main cargo – people! She is like something out of a dream.
Alongside other more modern looking boats it looks every bit as if the pirates have arrived!
We have been anchored alongside her for days, our masts mirroring each other, our pennant flags flying, our yard arms almost waving hello and it has been amazing to learn about her story.
Robin began her in 1993 after being inspired by a salt trader that had been hauled in to Mooloolaba in questionable circumstances. Inspired by the design, Robin felt instinctively that this was something he could build. And so the idea for the Joshua C was born. Built without a plan, from the inner workings of Robin’s imagination, it took 13 years, a serious back and shoulder injury and many ups and downs to see the project through from its earliest beginnings in his Bli Bli boat shed where he laid down the fiberglass hull – not to mention the drama after launching her and trying to cross the Maroochydore Bar – but persistence pays off and The Joshua C was not only built and launched but fully fitted out and happily sailing – with the addition of Annie who married Robin on board just after she was launched!
There is an authenticity here that isn’t about show. It’s about connecting with the tried and true, the heart of the sailor, the old time sea-dog. Like Argos, The Joshua C is built like an old school boat. Her hull is constructed with design and detail. There are hanked-on sails, belay pins, hand-made wooden blocks, rope work like on the old-time boats – baggy wrinkles and enough knots and splices to sink a battleship! The magnificent timber wheel is hand constructed – it not only looks authentic but makes you feel as if you are actually at the helm of a vessel from days long passed!
It’s a nautical delight but it’s real. This is not a boat built to impress and yet it does exactly that. Everything you see – all the rope work and details are not done for decoration to make a pretty replica, but to be practical and useful. There is a powerful connection with the old and a sense of pride about the old ways of doing things - a profound bringing back of the past as more than a memory – it’s like a mark of respect – and there is not a hint of plastic in sight!
We read of our Argos’ designer (Jay Benford) once that his boats are so salty they make your eyes rust! We come away from the Joshua C inspired to unleash our inner old-sailor, to let go of the constraints of the modern and allow ourselves to be reconnected with the sailing past on board our own boat and to enhance her own saltiness!
We can read stories about our sailing past – about the Tall Ships that brought many of our ancestors to these amazing shores, we can go to museums and see replica vessels, but there is something transcendent about walking on board a ship someone has made their home and their life and seeing the elements of historical accuracy that are a part of their everyday living.
The Joshua C is a boat with purpose and a mission. Robin was once a troubled kid and has a passion for giving back. The Joshua C has seen more than its fair share of difficult kids on board and may well continue to in the future. She was built with not only the desire to see the emergence of a new Tall Ship, but with the hope that she could be useful. Named for Joshua, the renowned leader in the Bible who led the people of Israel despite their weakness, and Jesus Christ which is what the ‘C’ is about – men who inspire Robin in his personal journey, she is his way of finding a place to bring hope and healing into the lives of others.
Life sometimes gets in the way of our dreams, a heart attack will set anyone back a bit, but has barely slowed Robin down! Who knows how the original dream for The Joshua C will grow and develop and what form Robin’s passion will take in the future!
The popularity of the Wooden Boat Show in Hobart is testament to how many others also love this sense of connection with history. Indeed - the fact that there are many older style boats still working on the waterways of Australia – laden often with tourists wanting that Tall Ship experience – shows that our sense of love of history is in no way unique to my family! How lucky are we that this has become our every-day life!
Proudly powered by Weebly