Product Description
Couta Boat Wall Art Prints
Couta Boat Wall Art Prints
A couta boat is a type of boat sailed in Victoria, Australia, around Sorrento and Queens cliff and along Victoria's west coast as far west as Portland. It was originally used as a traditional fishing boat around the coast there from around 1870 until the 1930s, although it survived as a commercial fishing vessel until the 1950s. The couta boat developed for the coastal fishing industry over the later part of 19th century. Fishermen chased such sought-after fish often incorrectly identified with the larger ocean species Barracuda. Couta boats caught the species but fishing co-operatives established quotas to control prices, and it was this that led to the added requirement of speed in a good fishing boat. So while load carrying capacity was important, the need for speed under sail was also a sought-after characteristic. The typical couta boat carried a gaff sail and jib set out on a long bowsprit, although the main sail developed into more of a gunter sail, as it had a very high peaked gaff or yard. In fact, a rig peculiar to the couta boat evolved, which allowed for sail to be carried a lot higher than was usual at the time, and included the distinctive curved down bowsprit. Regretting the apparent inevitability that these distinctive boats would be relegated to the status of a forgotten footnote to Australia’s seafaring history and vanish into obscurity, a few dedicated people sought out and restored, from the late 1970s onwards, the remaining original couta boats that were either still afloat or propped up in backyards along the coast.
