Putt-Putt regatta full of colour and atmosphere

Pirates on Brisbane WatePirates on Brisbane Wate

Pirates, canons and dragon boats came together at the Davistown annual Putt-Putt regatta and wooden boat festival on Sunday, October 23.

The foreshore was packed with spectators, live entertainment, food stalls, and even the NSW Corps of Marines re-enactment group lent colour and atmosphere to the scores of boats that took part in the event. A project of the Green Point Avoca Lions Club, the waterways were alive with the distinctive puttputt sounds for which the little wooden water craft are known. The regattas have been a part of the community at Davistown since early last century, and the modern event was reintroduced in the mid-1990s by a group of enthusiasts. Brisbane Water is home to many of these fi nely crafted vessels, with over 30 moored in the Davistown area alone, but participants came from further afi eld to join in on the day. Not all the boats on show relied on motors, some, including the Deepwater Dragon Boat Club boats, needed human power.

Report, Nov 1, 2016 Noel Fisher, Photo journalist