LatLong12° 26’ S 130° 49’ E
BEARINGS: MINDIL
BEACH, DARWIN
Formerly named: Darwin World Cup
Beer Can Regatta
Record holder: Darwin’s Dean Wakley won five
times straight, lost, then won the cup back
Fundraising tally since 1974: $1,470,000
2016 event raised: $49,000
Fee: Gold-coin donation
Next regatta: Sunday 9 July 2017
More information: http://www.beercanregatta.org.au122 Australian Geographic
An original image of Can-tiki, built by Lutz Frankenfeld. It
won the 1980 regatta on a 200hp Evinrude motor.
AGa course to see what it could do and reached six knots.
So we upgraded to 40 horsepower and she flew.”
On 16 June 1974 – six months before Cyclone Tracy
devastated Darwin – 22,000 people lined Vesteys Beach
to watch 60-plus steel-can boats, some with outboards,
race in the first Darwin World Cup Beer Can Regatta.
“It was and still is such an original event,” Lutz says.
“People picked up cans littered across Darwin, which
ignited the first Keep Australia Beautiful campaign, so
we cleaned up the city, turned a by-product into boats,
created a carnival-atmosphere festival and captured
Australia and the world’s imagination.”
NT News promotions and postcards of regatta mas-
terpieces helped spread the word. So too did a fancy-
dress ball and Lutz’s interstate lectures on beer-can boat-
building. He even included details about constructing
a Viking ship commissioned by the Australian National
Maritime Museum in Sydney. Beer-can boats made
world headlines but the real buzz was about to unfold.
“Clem Jones, who was the post-Tracy reconstruction
chairman appointed by [former prime minister] Gough
Whitlam, asked if I could build a beer-can boat that
could travel from Darwin to Singapore,” Lutz remem-
bers. “So I did, and on 3 September 1977 Can-tiki set
sail with Clem as captain, me as builder-mechanic and
Paul Harding navigating by compass and the stars. Inter-
national media followed our 12-day voyage, which
became one of the greatest PR exercises Australia had
ever undertaken.”
Lutz says it highlighted Darwin’s close proximity to
overseas trading partners and showcased the rebuilt city
as being open for business.
Committed to the Can-tiki project, Back To Darwin
festival and Darwin Rebirth, Lutz invited Darwin’s Lions
Clubs to take over the regatta in 1978, when it was
moved to Mindil Beach. The other major change came
in the mid-’80s when steel cans were replaced by the
aluminium variety, which crush at high speeds, leading
to the abolition of the powered boat category.
“We’ve seen some extraordinary sights over the years
and ‘thou shalt compete and have a bloody good time’
has always been one of our 10 CanMandments,” says
William ‘Spud’ Murphy, Lions regatta commentator.
Other CanMandments, he says, include: “‘Thou shalt
build thy craft of cans’, which must be drink cans, open,
emptied and in more or less original state. Any attempts
to enter a submarine [a craft made of full cans] will
result in confiscation and disposal by the Committee.”
“‘Thy craft shall float by cans alone’ is another Can-
Mandment,” says William, explaining that cans must
provide at least 51 per cent of a craft’s flotation. They
can be stuck together with anything as long as this rule
isn’t broken. The outer hull must also be made of cans,
two-thirds of which have to be uncovered and visible.
The finish of the 2016 race is imminent, and William
returns to his mic, yelling, “Crikey, folks, Laser has just
taken the lead and look at it speed home!” The Mindil
foreshore erupts.
The ecstatic crew from the 2000-beer-can craft
launch themselves onto the sand and the boat’s builder,
Jeff Ottway, is beaming. “She just flies,” he says. The
electrical store worker and his team of co-workers spent
30-plus hours constructing the 3m speedster. “It comes
down to design and the correct weight ratio, which is
two cans per pound for flotation. She weighs more now
though ’cos we took on water,” Jeff says. “But we’re
darn proud to win and the trophy’s going on the front
counter at work.” Once more the Territorians have held
fast to those esteemed beer-can bragging rights.
AUSTRALIAN GEOGRAPHIC thanks Lutz Frankenfeld
and the Lions Club of Darwin for their assistance. HISTORICAL IMAGE: LUTZ FRANKENFELD