Maritime historian Colin Grazules says the Tassie Too was a pivotal boat for Tasmania. It was also flashed on Hobart cinema screens. That boat won two more Forster Cups before Tassie Too was built.īy then, sailing culture had a grip on the Tasmanian public.ĭuring the 1927 cup, sailed in Perth, a crowd waited outside the Hobart Mercury office and cheered when Tassie's winning result was read out. 'Well, Skipper Batt and Tassie thrashed the pants off them.' 'They said it'll never win, it's been built very hurriedly … what are you bothering for, really?' he said. Maritime historian Colin Grazules said the original Tassie was finished barely a month before that year's Forster Cup, and most of the other entries scoffed at the fact it was even racing. A small boat, huge in Tasmania's sailing history

The boat was constructed with Huon and King Billy pine, Tasmanian timbers that are now rare. 'The underwater shape of Tassie Too, along with the seams and the way the boat was rigged gave it exceptional speeds upwind and crosswind and downwind - so it was able to, most of the time, easily beat the other boats.' 'There wasn't any caulking used at all so the timber sits on timber, which back then was probably a very new thing,' Ken Batt said of the design. FOTT project manager Greg Muir (L) and president Ken Batt.