| Australian Wooden Boat Festival | |
|---|---|
 Hobart 2013 | |
| Status | Active |
| Genre | Festivals |
| Frequency | Biennial |
| Founded | 1994[1] |
| Website | australianwoodenboatfestival |
TheAustralian Wooden Boat Festival (AWBF) is a biennial event held inHobart,Tasmania, celebratingwooden boats. AWBF is held concurrently with theRoyal Hobart Regatta. The festival welcomes wooden boats of all sizes including woodencanoes,kayaks anddinghies as well asyachts andtall ships.[2]
The festival is a celebration of Australia's maritime heritage and also showcases Tasmania's rich history of food and wines. It has a major economic benefit to the island state of Tasmania, with accommodation fully booked during the event.
AWBF is open only to boats constructed from timber*, and is widely regarded as the largest event of its type in the southern hemisphere. Indeed, it may be the world's largest boat festival open to wooden boats only.[3]
The first Australian Wooden Boat Festival was held in 1994 (180 boats).
The 2021 festival was cancelled due to theCOVID-19 pandemic in Australia and was deferred to 2023.[4]
* An exception is tall ships, as some large tall ships that visit during the festival have steel or iron hulls.
The Sail Training VesselTenacious was scheduled to be a feature vessel at AWBF 2017.[5]
HM BarkEndeavour Replica is a major feature of each festival, though it did not attend in 2017.[6] Other vessels that attend include theJulie Burgess, the last blue-gum fishingketch,[7] theHMSLady Nelson replica,Windeward Bound and theJames Craig.[8]
42°53′07″S147°20′04″E / 42.88528°S 147.33444°E /-42.88528; 147.33444
