On Boxing Day 1951 at, the Katwinchar set sail from Sydney Harbour; destined for Hobart’s Derwent River with the ship’s crew aiming to outperform thirteen other boats in the seventh Sydney To Hobart Yacht Race.
At the time, the boat was already close to four decades old and earlier in the year it had transported the Mossop family from England to start life anew in Australia. And, while 1951 wouldn’t be the Katwincher’s year in the race, 2019 might well be.
At the ripe old age of 114, the Katwinchar is once again heading from Sydney to Hobart and, this time, it’s flying the flag of Black Hops, following an unlikely string of events.
Katwinchar is owned by Bill Barry-Cotter, from Gold Coast luxury boat company Maritimo, who also happens to be the landlord at Black Hops’ Biggera Waters brewery.
“When we told him we were putting a brewery in the shed he thought it was very strange, because these are old and dusty manufacturing sheds,” Black Hops co-founder Dan Norris says. “Once we showed him around and he could see what we were doing, he started to understand the whole thing.”
Dan says Bill felt getting Black Hops’ logo on the spinnaker felt too perfect an opportunity to pass up since the boat was built in 1905 by coopers at Watneys Brewery in London. The name Katwinchar stems from the three Watney children, Katherine, Winifred and Charles.
“It’s a passion project for Bill, it’s not a money-making exercise and he’s poured so much into restoring the boat,” Dan says. “So, he just thought it would make it a cooler story, the fact it was built in a brewery and had a brewery on the spinnaker.”
Passion project couldn’t be more fitting considering Bill’s long association with Katwinchar. His father and some friends found the boat in the 1960s in Tasmania and sailed it back to Sydney. The boat was eventually lost but, in 2017, one of Bill’s eagle-eyed mates spotted it on an ad on Gumtree and, since then, three full-time employees have spent a total of 10,000 hours restoring the boat to its former glory.
“We took a look at it once they’d restored it - it looks like a brand new boat,” Dan says.
The partnership will also see Black Hops brew a beer for the event, a pale ale to be called KatWinChar.
“We’ll go down and give them some beer when they finish the race … and get it on tap in a few venues,” Dan says.
As for how a yacht older than the Titanic is likely to do in this year’s race, Katwinchar apparently does stand a chance. Being a handicapped race, the size and dimension of competitors are taken into account in declaring the overall winner.
“It’s got every chance," Dan says. "I think it’s the smallest boat in the field and, from what Bill tells us, it’s a really well designed boat and it’s quick.”
Will Ziebell is a history graduate who knows more about The Wire than he does about beer. He was awarded the AIBA Best Media trophy for 2018; HBO have told him to please send his fan mail elsewhere. He can be found on Instagram, Twitter and TikTok.
The beer(s) or moment(s) that turned you on to good beer:
Spending time living in the UK (and backpacking across Europe) when I was 21 certainly gave me a better understanding of the beer and different styles of the world. But I'd say it was a holiday to the High Country a little while later when lunch and a tasting paddle at Bridge Road Brewers created an obsession with Australian breweries and locally made beer.
You've got three beers to turn someone else on to good beer; what are they and why?
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Boatrocker's Miss Pinky: It's a raspberry-packed Berliner Weisse that neither looks or tastes the way many people conceive of beer.
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Bad Shepherd Hazelnut Brown: A luscious mix of chocolate and hazelnut that can appeal to the sweet tooth within us all.
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Stone & Wood Pacific Ale: As the father of my oldest friend once said to me: "It's the perfect refreshing pint that smells like they've loaded it with the God's herb."
The last beer you enjoyed:
Garage Project's DFA while sitting at the bar at Miss Moses as the sounds of The Rolling Stone drifting in the background.
Three things that represent you:
- Bruce Springsteen
- Ken Burns
- The State Library of Victoria
