About 3000 people attended the second edition of the Moama Boatarama at Brick Alley Oval on Saturday, as the event continues to bring together local ski racing and boating enthusiasts in place of the Southern 80.
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This year’s show was expanded to include a whole range of boats, such as party barges, social boats, tin boats, offshore boats and locally-manufactured timber boats, alongside many ski racing boats, several of which have raced previously.
There were a total of about 100 boats for attendees to view across the day, the peak period being from noon to 3pm, with Moama Water Sports Club president Steve Shipp being encouraged by another successful show.
“I spoke to a lot of people there and the committee were talking to them as well and everyone was really happy with the day, how it went, and they really enjoyed catching up to each other and looking at all the different boats,” he said.
“I had a few comments from people that it was so much better having different boats than just racing boats.”
A part of the new offering on display were timber boats built by local John Bowman of RiverCraft Boats, with Cloud 9, manufactured based on a drawing of a tritone boat from Italy, and Misfire, with a 383 stroker engine, catching the eye.
Misfire had a particularly interesting story behind its journey to this year’s show, as owner Adam Woodward explained.
“So that one Johnny built in 1997 and it's been sat in a shed just empty, never had a hole drilled, and then bought it about 18 months ago and built it up, and over January was the first time it's been in the water,” he said.
Bowman, who started his boat building journey with a shipwright apprenticeship in 1974 at the Harbour Trust in Melbourne, has built more than 40 boats, with seven he crafted being displayed at the show, some of which he designed himself.
He explained the background behind his love for boating.
“My family was always into boats, I grew up at Lakes Entrance, Dad was a fisherman,” Bowman said.
“We used to have hire boats and that when I was a kid, so we always had boats, and it grew from there, I suppose.”
Bowman also pointed out some other notable boats at the show, such as Cinders, a six-litre boat that had raced in the Southern 80 since the 1970s, and has had multiple editions built by Bowman over the years.
Six-litre, 18-foot Steel Roots is another boat that used to be a Cinders, and has a barrel engine, while Rumours is also an older boat that featured in the Southern 80, with a six-litre engine, and was built in 1992.
Another boat of interest on the day was Sapphire, a 21-foot force boat that is a two-time previous winner of the Southern 80, running in the super class.
While still welcomed, events such as the boat show can be bittersweet for racing enthusiasts like Tim Pickford, the owner of Sapphire.
“There’s definitely going to be no substitute for racing a boat, but it's good for the locals to come around and support it,” Pickford said.
An air of despair about the Southern 80 still being on hiatus was prevalent when speaking to various people across the day, with Shipp confirming many came up to him asking for updates on when racing will return.
There’s not only an emotional impact, but an economic reality the Water Sports Club continues to grapple with, as the Boatarama is not only put on as a Southern 80 alternative, but to make some money to ensure the club soldiers on.
Vice-president Dean Johns explained how the money made from the boat show was only a blip on the radar comparatively to a Southern 80, as the local economy misses out on the ripple effect of hundreds of racers and their families and friends all coming to town for a weekend.
Nonetheless, the boat show still shares a similarity to the Southern 80 in the social benefits it provides.
“Just to keep people interested and get boats out of sheds because obviously people have spent a lot of time and, like myself, I've been water ski racing for the majority of my life, I was born into a ski racing family, so it's extremely sad for it not to be up and running,” Johns said.
“So to get the boats out of the sheds and at least catch up with everyone is good in itself, but clearly we want to try and get a race back on the water.”
Some boat owners were able to make a weekend out of the event, being able to take their boats down the river on Sunday to at least enjoy a more holistic boating experience across the two days.