In 1979 John Noakes, a well-known Sydney yachting identity set up a rigging business based out of his home in Balmain. By 1984 Noakes Rigging had become Sydney’s leading specialised rigging service and had moved to Artarmon.

In the same year ‘young’ Sean Langman was head rigger at Alspar but was keen to move on into his own business. He tendered for the crane service at the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia but was initially rejected for being ‘too young’. Not about to give in, Sean used John Noakes name, stating that he was in business with John. On this note, Sean’s application was readily accepted so he rushed into the CYCA bar to inform the more senior Noakes, whom he had never met, that they were, as of that time, in business together. John reacted with “Well then, you’d better come home and meet my wife”!

For the following 18 months John and Sean worked together building the business. Unfortunately in 1986, John, who had been fighting cancer for a number of years, was forced to retire from Noakes Rigging and Sean bought out his share. Luckily John survived the disease and he and Sean still regularly converse.

From 1986 until 1994 Sean developed architectural rigging and won awards for the design of shade structures. Noakes gained a reputation in the building industry for rigging unusual structures including hanging a Catalina flying boat from an atrium ceiling and building a bridge over the Nepean River without mobile cranage or roads! By this time Noakes was also Australia’s leading yacht rigging company.

In 1994 the operation shifted to its current state-of-the-art central location at Berrys Bay. The facility was then known as North Sydney Marine Centre and housed numerous marine based businesses. Becoming Noakes Boat and Shipyard in 1995, the company expanded to offer yacht refurbishment and powerboat refitting and servicing. Noakes well known background in rigging meant lifting large vessels, a task that requires substantial knowledge and finesse, was second nature and therefore made it the obvious choice for powerboats and yachts alike.

Naturally it followed that once the boats were out of the water it made sense for Noakes to provide all the services required for maintenance and repairs. These included the basics like antifouling and polishing through to shipwrighting and professional spray painting. Sean would only employ the most skilled people, a fact that quickly gained the yard a reputation for high quality workmanship. In 1997 the 90ft Italian Navy training ketch ‘Orsa Maggiore’ chose Noakes to conduct a major refit of the boat during her world training cruise. This required highly skilled shipwrights and riggers, readily available at the Sydney yard.

Gradually, as the other businesses departed from the North Sydney facility, Noakes took up more of the hardstand area and built new sheds to house the various developing departments. Noakes also took over the 160 tonne slipway in 1999.

With the Sydney yard being in such a convenient location and having an excellent reputation for quality, it has attracted a large amount of the Sydney to Hobart fleet including the line honours winning maxis Morning Glory, Brindabella and Sayonara for their pre-race maintenance.

Noakes has also completed major refits on a number of large luxury motor yachts, including the 90ft ‘Charade’ and has done the re-decking, full repaint and re-rig of the 120ft sail training ship ‘Young Endeavour’.

As the boat and shipyard side of the company grew, Noakes moved away from architectural rigging, preferring to concentrate on providing more quality service for the marine industry.

In March 2003, Noakes expanded further with the travel lift and hardstand next to the Newcastle Cruising Yacht Club on Newcastle Harbour. This meant taking on more skilled professionals. Finding them turned out to be relatively easy in a town with a surplus of exactly the hardworking individuals required to ensure the smooth running of a busy boatyard.

Buoyed by the success of the Newcastle yard in April 2004, Noakes took over the travel lift and hardstand at d’Albora Marinas in Nelson Bay. Home to some of the finest gamefishing vessels in Australia, Nelson Bay has long been a fantastic fishing and cruising destination. Noakes is now uniquely positioned to provide local and cruising vessels expert maintenance and repair services from their first class facilities in this tremendous location.

Continuing the expansion and association with d’Albora Marinas, Noakes opened a newly updated slipway at The Spit Marina, Mosman in November 2005. This enables us to cater to a larger, broader segment of the market and offer an additional site within Sydney Harbour to better serve our customers.

Future plans include yards from Port Huon, Tasmania through to Hamilton Island, Queensland. Noakes standard of consistency and quality is carried through at each of our respective locations, ensuring peace of mind for cruising sailors, powerboat owners and commercial operators covering virtually the entire eastern seaboard of Australia.