RANGI RUA (Rangi II)
I was recently contacted by Terry Hall in regard to his ex yacht Ranginui Rua, Terry commented that when he bought her she was named Rangi II (as seen in the sailing photo above) but when he tried to register her with Lloyds – London the name was refused as there was a passenger ship with that name, Terry had a Maori friend, a chief in Northland who suggested trying Rangi Rua – Rua being #2 in Maori, he sent this off and it was accepted. Thence the ‘different’ name on the hauled out photos.
Rangi Rua was built by Mark Anthony in Freeman’s Bay and is a Woollacott 42′, Terry believes it was extended with extra frames. Her and a gaff rigged boat called Marpu were probably the last kauri boats to be built in Freemans Bay. Bad luck followed both yachts – Rangi Rua was lost in the Trans Tasman race in 1948 and Marpu was lost in the Pacific on its way home from Japan.
Terry owned Rangi Rua for many years and had her moored in the Town Basin in Whangarei in front of the wharf shed. He still has the log book which he kept when he sold her. In the photos of her on the slip, Terry is in the white overalls with his boatbuilder son, Frank and crew.
SUNDAY QUIZ
Yesterday Angus Rogers was doing what most of us were doing i.e. nothing 🙂 so he took an old photo out of its frame to clean the glass. Do we think Angus has ID’ed the yachts correctly ? Sail numbers starting with A17 Ngatoa on right working left are A11 Ida, A5 Rawene, A3? Ariki and A16? Little Jim. Some of the anoraks may be able to identify the last two from their sails and shape and the yacht on the right with no numbers showing.

Re-posted comment – Could anybody tell me were i could get in touch of the owner of rangi rua, she was sold to a person from devonport was a member of devonport yatch club, and owned a business in devonport making camping gear, he had rangi in a shed somewhere near there doing a rebuild, last i heard she was moored at bayswater mariner, why i used to own her and have the logs, should be with her, cheers terry
tekaye2305@gmail.com
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Rangi ii.
I think now called Spirit of Rangi
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I’m reasonably familiar with the word RUA meaning TWO, having learnt to count in maori at three years old with a fluent te reo-speaking father, but RANGI RUA means “”TWO SKIES”, not RANGI No.2 or RANGI the second or ANOTHER RANGI. The better words would be “RANGI KA RUA”, “the second RANGI” …………crawls back into nerd cave.
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it appears the Maori friend enjoyed a pun. nothing wrong with that. There was a launch here called Rewa Nui, which my partner delighted in calling the Big Potato
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Harold, RUA translation to Maori is two. go to google it will give you it. also the Maori dictionary,.
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Not sure about that translation, but anyway, RANGIRUA means “confused”!
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Making hammocks etc and he has had rangi rua for sometime , on the hard at west park recently and in Kevin Johnsons shed for a big refit a year or two back.
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yes you are correct it was the photo i sent of B16 that was lost at Norfolk, i believe Rangi Rua is at Bayswater marina, i did send a paper cutting 1942 of the death article of Mark Anthoney, which mention B16, but was not put in this article. I believe she is now owned by somebody from Devonport who is a member of the yatch club, he had it in a shed and was rebuilding it, i think he had a business in Devonport making i think camping or outdoor gear. cheers.
Well I somehow got that wrong – I’ll blame the man-flu 🙂 AH
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Rangi Rua lost? I think not. She was on the hardstand here about a month ago. While passing I commented to her current owner that she looked like a Woollacott except for the stern, and he agreed that the stern wasn’t as per the original plans.
IIRC it was Rangi B16 in the top left that was lost at Norfolk Island, but I’m sure HDK will have better info.
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