Sylvia – Sailing Sunday

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SYLVIA
photo & details ex Juliana Cooke (nee Turnwald)

Sylvia the mullet boat (L33) pictured above on the Waitemata harbour, c.1950/51, was owned by John Turnwald, John & Juliana would be interested to hear if anyone knows what became of her.

Input from Harold Kidd
SYLVIA was built by Harvey & Lang in November 1912 for Horace Parker and W Shraffe. She spent many years on the Manukau in the 20s. John Turnwald owned her with Sumich 1945-51 at least. She was being restored in Kawhia in 1989 and was in Raglan in 1992. I suspect that her bones may still be in that area.
Input from Robin Elliott
Not sure where she went after the Turnwalds owned her. I have them owning her from around 1946 to 1954 at least. After 1954, no mention of her at all until she crops up in the Taranaki area and is offered for sale in Sea Spray October 1964 by K. Risch of Waitara.
I also have a note taken from one of the Panmure Boating Club committee records around 1946 that she had a stove fire alongside Panmure Wharf while burning off, and 3 children were killed.
Papers Past haven’t got up to 1946 yet so I can’t provide any more details.
In the 1945/46 lists she is ‘unregistered’ but appears under J.B. Turnwald’s name in the 1946/47 AYMBA registration book.
Also…… I suspect that photograph may be older than the 1950’s. I’m not sure who the sail maker was but that style of applying the registration numbers on a piece of cloth that was sewn onto the mainsail was quite common on photographs I have seen from the 1920’s to early 1930’s. Separately applied letters and numbers were, I guess, a bit more expensive but were pretty much the norm from the 1930’s onwards.
Either that or its a very old mainsail.

Update 15-06-2015 ex Barry Davis
The  photo below was taken 2012 in the Henderson Creek off Te Atatu. She was still on this mooring at least 12 months later.

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Photo below ex Nathan Herbert – same Sylvia?

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15 thoughts on “Sylvia – Sailing Sunday”

  1. Hello
    The Sylvia was owned by my father Bill Lyon when the fire killed Blanche Daphne and Charles Lyon
    My mother Blanche Lyon and Father survived he died a few years later.
    My mother was treated at Auckland hospital as she was the worst burnt but with some experimental treatment and a great determination she survived

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  3. Manukau boats were tricky, Pam. The two clubs were not all that co-operative in the early days and ran separate registration lists. The Manukau Cruising Club used letters, A, B, C etc for each boat on its register, while the Manuaku Yacht & Motor Boat Club used numbers, 1, 2, 3, etc.

    Sylvia was a Cruising Club boat with letter V.

    Consequently, those boats that belonged to both clubs threw up some rather confusing combinations – to us 90 years later. For example the Y-class, Sea Gnome shown on the Norma thread, was ‘Y’ with the Cruising Club, and ’14’ with the Yacht Club.

    We tended to see them as a single sail number ‘Y14’ when in fact they were two separate identifiers.

    All this silliness was done away with eventually and they became just as confusing as the Waitemata lists. 🙂

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  5. The “V” on her sail was her Manukau Cruising Club boat identification letter NOT her class letter.

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  8. Sylvia in the foreground, Tere Kanae, a 22 ft Dave Jackson design from the 70s in the background.

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  11. Sylvia is alive and well, she was in the water and sailing up to a few years ago. She sailed in the 75th and the 90th Lipton cup which was 4 years ago. She is owned by R and V Lyndon of Te Atatu Peninsula . I believe she is in his shed.

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  14. Not sure where she went after the Turnwalds owned her. I have them owning her from around 1946 to 1954 at least. After 1954, no mention of her at all until she crops up in the Taranaki area and is offered for sale in Sea Spray October 1964 by K. Risch of Waitara.

    I also have a note taken from one of the Panmure Boating Club committee records around 1946 that she had a stove fire alongside Panmure Wharf while burning off, and 3 children were killed.
    Papers Past haven’t got up to 1946 yet so I can’t provide any more details.

    In the 1945/46 lists she is ‘unregistered’ but appears under J.B. Turnwald’s name in the 1946/47 AYMBA registration book.

    Also…… I suspect that photograph may be older than the 1950’s. I’m not sure who the sail maker was but that style of applying the registration numbers on a piece of cloth that was sewn onto the mainsail was quite common on photographs I have seen from the 1920’s to early 1930’s. Separately applied letters and numbers were, I guess, a bit more expensive but were pretty much the norm from the 1930’s onwards.

    Either that or its a very old mainsail.

    Like

  15. SYLVIA was built by Harvey & Lang in November 1912 for Horace Parker and W Shraffe. She spent many years on the Manukau in the 20s. John Turnwald owned her with Sumich 1945-51 at least. She was being restored in Kawhia in 1989 and was in Raglan in 1992. I suspect that her bones may still be in that area.

    Like

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