Home made craft

With a passion for travel, Wolfgang Landzberg has turned his hand to building the means to freedom.

The Baldivis retiree spent seven years travelling around Australia in a old bus converted into a mobile home until he yearned for a new way to explore the world.

‘‘I have done it on land,now it’s time to do it on the ocean,’’ he said

For the retired civil engineer, building a sailing boat seemed a natural progression.

‘‘I have been building things all my life, it’s what I do,’’ Mr Landzberg said.

Gaining inspiration by watching replicas of sailing ships the Endeavour and Duyfken being built in Fremantle in the late 1980s and ’90s respectively, he built three scale models before he started work on his own sailing ship in December 2009.

‘‘I watched them build the Duyfken and Endeavour and loved it, but did not have the time to do anything.

"NowI’m retired, I have time to build,’’ he said.

Mr Landzberg’s boat has been hand built from three different types of wood: karri from a salvage yard, wandoo he cut himself from the south of the State, and treated pine, from which the majority of the boat is built.

It has old-style rope steering and features a winged keel to help with stability. The boat is 19mlong and 4.3m wide.

MrLandzberg plans to launch it Kwinana Beach. It is almost finished and will be ready to set sail in a few weeks.

‘‘It just needs a few touch ups, but I might wait for longer to launch it, it’s a little cold now,’’ he said.

He will finish the interior once it is launched and will do several ocean trials before he sets off on his journey with his companion Anke, his doberman.

‘‘The sea trials will be for the boat and also for me,’’ he said.

‘‘I have never sailed a boat this size before—about 35ft (10m)was the biggest.’’

If all goes well,Mr Landzberg hopes to dock in Tasmania for a few months and will then literally go where the wind takes him.