Wanda , Wanda II

Posted on by
Wanda II
Wanda II (Lady Norma)
Wanda II (Lady Norma)
WANDA & WANDA II 

Photos & story below from Ken Ricketts, photos taken in the mid to late 1940’s

Wanda was built for Fred Porter, by Garth Lane on the Tamaki River in 1948 & later finished in the same year at the Mason & Porter (Masport) factory. She had 2 x 6cyl Scripps engines circa 90 hp.

WANDA II as christened* by Fred, as Fred’s first boat (above) was Wanda, *actually launched by his wife, Joan. Ken Ricketts father, Ralph Ricketts, worked for Mason & Porter for 35 Years as machine shop manager & Fred, who was the founder was Ruben Porter’s son. Ken’s late father had his staff make virtually all her engineering & underwater requirements.
Ps. The pic of WANDA was taken from 8mm movie footage & hence poor quality
WANDA II UPDATE – 14/05/13
The Gordon Cole Family, the 2 LADYS NORMA & COLMANA.
Last night (13.5.13), I was talking to Malcolm Cole, (Gordon’s son) & his sister Adrienne, whom I’ve known since the 1950s, & herewith a synopsis of the conversations is respect of the above. —
Had some great social moments with them on WANDA II (during her time as the second LADY NORMA), in the early sixties, which we had much joy last night, in recalling, on the phone. G.C. changed her name to LADY NORMA (no “II” or anything), & had her for a number of years & bought her in the 50s & sold her still with the Scripps petrol engines in the earlier 60s according to Malcolm, & had the COLMAMA, a Vindex, built.
Malcolm told me, his father sold the WANDA II, to a Syd Handysides, who did the right thing, & changed her name back to her “real name,” of WANDA II, which as far as I know, she still is today, (but perhaps somebody may have dropped of the “II” unfortunately, somewhere along the way).
I digress, Gordon Cole bought the first LADY NORMA, in very poor condition, as BLACK WATCH, off the estate of the late Reverend Jasper Calder, an Anglican Vicar, who was a fascinating & colourful person, whom I will endeavour to throw a little light on, in a separate writing at a later date, which hopefully will make a good read, especially if we get input from others who can add to it. I also intend to do a full story on the BLACK WATCH, (the first LADY NORMA),  when I get the pics. — I first saw her under construction at Leigh, in the later 40s The Coles spent much time & money  having Garth Lane, (Lane Motor Boat Co),  refurbish & repair her for them, at his slipway & shed, in Riverview Rd Panmure, whilst the whole family pitched in as well, & did much work themselves, according to Adrienne, who recalls it all very vividly.
I have arranged to get pics of the first LADY NORMA, (BLACK WATCH), WANDA II, & COLMANA, & will do a full story on these boats, when I receive the photos, which will be when Adrienne returns from a trip overseas she is about to commence, & will it be towards the end of August when she returns.
She tells me she has inherited a massive number of boating pics from her father, which are stored away in her garage, & she is going to go through these, & share some of them with us all. — I can hardly wait.
We are all gong to have a lovely social reunion, when she returns & relive all these things together, —  FAB!!!

Discover more from waitematawoodys.com #1 for classic wooden boat stories, info, advice & news - updated daily - 14+ million views

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.

10 thoughts on “Wanda , Wanda II”

  1. Hi. We have previously emailed each other re Wanda II. My parents owner her from about 1972 to 2004 (there about). At the moment she is berthed in westhaven just along from sitting ducks cafe on the sales berth! Just thought you may be interested to know! She has had a paint job and unfortunately all the varnish has been removed to make way for paint which in my opinion is a shame and the solid teak decks have been removed. Give me a call if you wish 021500269

    Cheers Bill C Phone 021 500 269

    Like

  4. Wanda is indeed up the river just down from the panmure bridge and at present undergoing some fairly major refurbishment before the painting and varnish work are attacked. She was redecked by the maritime restoration school at Haruru falls.

    Like

  5. I have just found this great web site in the latest boating NZ magazine, so I thought I would have a look and woe and behold the first boat to pop up was Wanda II. My father Roger Cartwright brought her off Mr Handysides in about 1972 and owned her up until about 2002. Dad kept her in pristine condition and much of her interior was still unchanged, she has two forward cabins, then a galley to starboard, head to port, up the stars to the main saloon and out to the cockpit, the helm station was on the starboard side. When dad brought her she had a pair of BMC Commodore diesels of 55 HP each. These were both fully reco before he sold her. Dad built a fly bridge on the cabin top in the early 1980,s as was the fashion at the time. I understand that the owner, to whom dad sold has since removed this. Mum and Dad cruised the gulf extensively for 30 years on Wanda (and no she was only Wanda, not Wanda II). I was in my late teens when dad brought her and me and my mates had many happy weeks away with mum and dad at xmas times (from what we can remember!). Dad died in 2011 however mum is still alive and I can source a lot more information such as who she was sold to etc. along with photos. The last I heard (couple years ago) was that she was in the Tamaki river and had been re decked at McMullan and Wing, to the best of my knowledge she is still moored near the old Panmure bridge. Wanda was a great boat (no doubt still is) and a source of great memories. As a matter of interest has any one heard of where Manurere is, she is/was a 1900,s 32 foot launch and was the first launch that our family owned, dad then built a 32 Woolacott yacht called Wayward and she was followed by Wanda, if anyone has heard of where she is it would also be great to hear. If any one wants to contact me please do so at bill@guardianhousing.co.nz

    Like

  6. Interested Woodyboaters….Time to step back and think about what we have here. We have developed here a fantastic new site [Thanks Alan], that unfortunately is full of the usual errors we all are aware of.
    What is our common sense of purpose?
    That is to foster interest and knowledge based around the fabulous resource of classic boats we have inherited in New Zealand. We must encourage more entries but we must seek accuracy. Unfortunately when we seek and receive knowledge from fading memories we gain heresay and conjecture.
    Please let us encourage more input and once gained let us separate fact from fiction.

    Like

  8. But the standards HAVE dropped. But I see you haven’t edited this one off like my CYA posting.
    Let me tell you next time about Adriennne McTavish, because I’m sure that’s more interesting than old boats and the questions of truth, relative truth, multiple truths and in the end NO TRUTH AT ALL. That’s a really comfortable place to be.

    Like

  9. Harold – sarcasm is the lowest form of wit, and you are above that, I thought 😦 Alan H
    It is interesting that Ken has pointed out that WANDA II was built by GARTH LANE; and there’s an interesting story here. Of course it may not be true but it’s such a great yarn I am busting to tell it.
    Lane Motor Boat Company employed a large staff but Garth insisted that he do all the boatbuilding PERSONALLY, even the high volume of clinker work. There were boatbuilders on the staff of course, up to 20 at times, but Garth would not let them touch the tools. Instead, he divided them into two watches, Port and Starboard, and set them to useful works such as selling poppies for the RSA and encouraged then in contact sports like Bullrush, Kingoseeny and chasing rats up drainpipes. The Lanes Starboard Watch Rugby Team played 2nd grade. I well remember a match at Stafford Park Northcote against the Bailey & Lowe Senior Reserve team. Garth was captain and played fullback. He scored four tries, converted them all, kicked 9 penalties and 2 drop goals. He slipped away from the aftermatch function to row back to Mechanics Bay in the 20ft Whitehall that he’d knocked up after breakfast. He had to get WANDA II into the water on the top of the spring tide. He’d spent 2 full weeks building her, all by himself. What a man!
    The only jobs Garth would let his tradesmen do was send the apprentices on silly errands and pose for the launching photographs. The apprentice thing got out of control when a charge hand (who shall remain nameless, but I’ll tell you if you like and what he got up to in the bikeshed at Devonport School with the busty Adrienne McTavish) sent a new apprentice off to get a 40 gallon tin of McGregor tartan paint from Two Buck Tim at the Timbuctoo branch of Hill & Plummer. He was eaten by a leopard.
    So, if you have a Lane launch (and be very aware that Lane is the default position for launches) then you can glow with pride that it was personally built for you by the great man, Garth Lane himself……or was it Bill Slattery?

    Like

Leave a comment