Harriet C125

Early Years
Harriet was built by Higgs Brothers in Geelong, Victoria, 1938. She bears a strong resemblance in shape and size to Fiona C81, another Couta Boat built by Higgs Brothers in the same era. Being a Higgs’ boat, it is likely that she fished out of Lorne on the south-west coast of Victoria.

In addition to being used for commercial fishing out of Lorne, reliable sources believe that Harriet spent the last 20 years as a recreational fishing boat further along the Victorian coast, in Portland and Apollo Bay.

Harriet was previously known as Birgitta E and in her earlier years she was possibly called Arjay, as her tiller handle has the name ‘Arjay’ inscribed on it. On the other hand, the owners are well aware that the tiller could have been borrowed from another Couta Boat.

Custodians: Malcolm Bamford and Ian Beattie; 2001 – 2013
Birgitta E was renamed Harriet by her new custodians Malcolm Bamford and Ian Beattie who purchased her in Apollo Bay in 2001. Their version is that Birgitta E was in a sorry state of disrepair: in Malcolm’s words, a broken down family putt putt. They had been looking for a Couta Boat that was in need of some care and that could be their development project.

In early 2001, after being alerted to a ‘For Sale’ notice advertising a ‘Huon Pine Couta Boat hull’ in Apollo Bay, Malcolm, his wife and young daughter travelled to inspect it, on a hot 40 degree day. Birgitta E was on a swing mooring in the Apollo Bay Boat Harbour and Malcolm clearly recalls his initial sighting.

She was not a pretty sight with about 20 mm of bird poo on the deck, the motor with bits rusting in the bilge and quite a stench!

His interest quickly waned when his camera went to the bottom of the harbour and he scored a speeding ticket on the return journey. For Malcolm, the idea of a transaction was lukewarm at best, until his young daughter proclaimed that it had been a pretty expensive day!

At that point, my interest in the boat rose; I may as well salvage something!

After some negotiation, the interested party agreed to pay $3,500 if the hull was of Huon Pine or $3,000 if it wasn’t built of this sought after Tasmanian timber. The Wooden Boat Shop (WBS) in Sorrento gave a final verdict; it was not built of Huon Pine!

The boat was transported by the WBS to Ian’s garage in Sorrento, Victoria. Most of the restoration work was done by Len Dodson, a well-known local tradie and fisherman, with the owners assisting on the weekends. The boat was stripped back to her ribs and planks and rebuilt; even the gunwales were replaced. And in the process, the owners found a treasure of iron screws and nails in her, suggesting that she had been owned and repaired by someone other than a boat builder. After six months of work, their $30,000 to $35,000 budget was comfortably exceeded!

Once relaunched, Ian and Malcolm sailed Harriet in the Division 2 fleet out of the Sorrento Sailing Couta Boat Club (SSCBC), commencing in the 2002 season through to 2014 when Ian sold his share.

Custodians: Andrew Bamford, Malcolm Bamford, Shaun Chalmers, Andrew Cramer, David Vial, Alister Wright (2020), Richard Wright (2020) and Rollo Wright; 2014 – 2025
At the initiation of Malcolm’s son, Andrew; Ian’s 50% interest was sold to Andrew and three of his mates: Andrew Cramer, Dave Vial and Rollo Wright.

None of us had any sailing experience so we had some fairly interesting outings!

It was time to conscript another mate, an experienced sailor, Shaun Chalmers, to take control of the helm. After about 18 months of helming Harriet, the boys decided to ‘gift’ Shaun a share in the syndicate as a wedding gift: they chipped in 2.5% each and the five of them were then custodians of 10% each.

Since 2014, Harriet has been successfully campaigned out of SSCBC. In the 2019 season, she was declared the Division 2 Handicap winner of the prestigious Portsea Cup.

In December 2020, the Harriet syndicate had a further change with the addition of Richard Wright and Alister Wright; shares were adjusted so that the syndicate now comprises eight equal shareholders. However, two of the syndicate have since moved beyond Victoria, so getting a crew together to campaign Harriet remains a constant challenge.

Malcolm, a Life Member of SSCBC, died suddenly on 29th March, 2021. The Harriet crew will continue to race her at SSCBC in honour and memory of Malcolm.

Custodian: Will Jones; 2025 – Present
Since spending time as a young boy in the Gippsland Lakes, Will has always had a strong passion for wooden boats and the water. Moving back to Victoria in 2025 and seeking a challenge, a hunt commenced for the right boat. Will studied Marine Engineering at the Maritime College in Launceston and felt that he couldn’t really call himself a Marine Engineer if he couldn’t fix a wooden boat. Inspired by the crossing of Bass Strait by Nick Jaffe in C36 Huia, Will began searching for a Couta Boat.

Harriet had been on the market for some time and after some discussion with Rollo Wright, Will travelled to the Wooden Boat Shop (WBS) in Sorrento to view the boat. She had been on the hardstand for a number of years however still looked rather sharp and it was clear to see the love that had been poured into her over a long period of time by the previous custodians. She was looking a bit tired under the waterline though, with a series of weak ribs on the port side potentially cracked or parted with planks separated from the ribs. After a thorough inspection and some negotiation, Harriet was secured as the challenge.

Sam Phillips from the WBS expertly delivered Harriet to Newry in Gippsland where the restoration commenced. The first concern was to confirm the extent of the damage to the ribs beneath decking and lining boards. There was always a bit of unknown with this as it couldn’t be confirmed upon inspection at the WBS without pulling the boat apart. However, some luck prevailed and the ribs were actually reasonably sound, especially considering they are nearly 90 years old. Between kids, work commitments and farm duties, work on Harriet progressed, slowing over the next few months. Her engine was removed to allow space for the rib work, planks were refixed to her ribs and her shape came together well.

With sound advice from another lifelong wooden boat enthusiast Ken Cross, Harriet was recaulked; hull and transom repaired where required, and engine and gear box rust removed and recoated.

The next challenge was how to get Harriet back to water. The Port of Sale was chosen as the destination given the excellent facilities and wonderful club members. A second hand large catamaran trailer was purchased from San Remo and heavily restored and modified to suit Harriet. The fully extendable drawbar was key feature once it was persuaded with great effort to extend once more after being seized in place for many years. Harriet needed to be lifted inside the shed to put her on her new trailer, so a scaffold was built over her inside the shed from which she was easily lifted under the direction of Will’s father Chris.
But after nearly five years out of water, Harriet had opened up and dried out quite a bit so after a week of soaking her under sprinklers she was transported to Sale to be launched. Will recalls the nerves of the day.

There were a number of concerns on the day. Firstly the road journey from Newry to Sale where I was worried I would be pulled over for being over width however, despite being followed by the highway patrol for some time, no lights and sirens where observed. That was the first lucky break. Secondly, I was more than a bit worried that there wasn’t enough water depth at the ramp to float Harriet free from the trailer. Luckily, as Harriet was launched without her ballast, spars or rigging she floated off freely well above her lines. However, as expected she leaked like a sieve due to being so dry and not wanting to over caulk her. The advice to leave her engine out during the launch was solid gold as she took on a lot of water immediately following the launch. There were some nervous moments as I paddled the short distance between the ramp and the slipway where I thought she might be lost!

After pumping her out for a few hours, Harriet was slipped and the major leaks were dealt with. She went back in the water and was purposely sunk on the slip trolley for a few days to advance the soak up.

Three weeks followed of refitting the engine, progressively dealing with leaks and refitting the lining boards and floors. Harriet went back on the slip for antifouling, refitting the jib boom and a topsides coat in her signature Tigers Eye colour, before being prepared for the journey out of Sale and through the lakes to Paynesville. Harriet’s mast couldn’t pass under the bridges on the way out of Sale so her mast was stepped by hand just beyond the Swing Bridge.

Harriet made the seven hour journey to Paynesville in stunning weather on the Kings Birthday long weekend and now calls Newlands Arm home where she will be enjoyed immensely by Will, his wife Emma and two young boys.

A special thanks to Ken Cross for all his assistance, advice and enthusiasm. Thanks also to the Port of Sale Boat Club without which repairing Harriet would have been much more difficult, to Chris Jones for his rigging skills and Emma Jones for the support to take on Harriet as a project.