Mystery Lidgard Launch
A question – why are so many mystery launches, Lidgards?
Todays woody is double diagonal kauri with f/glass on outside, and is 26′ in length with a beam of 8’ and draws 2’. The engine is a Ford 60hp diesel. Thanks to Ian McDonald for the tme heads up. WW would like help to uncover more on her past.
ARAHI – Update
The 34’ ex workboat Arahi last appeared on WW back in May 2020, link below. Now thanks to tme we get to have a better look at her. Arahi started life in 1940 as a survey boat for the Auckland Harbour Board,finishes up c.mid 1970’s. We know she spent time at Great Barrier Island. After a refit in Auckland she was transported to the Wanganui River in 2019, where she still resides but is looking for a new owner.
A very sweet wee ship and topped off with a 4 cylinder Gardner (4LW) diesel engine, that sips approx. 4L an hour.
There must be a buyer out there for such a salty classic vessel.
Link to 2020 WW story. https://waitematawoodys.com/2020/05/27/arahi-2/
Heading north today on a delivery – to Russell, hopefully I’ll snap a few photos on-route.
GAZA (Astra)
Todays woody is a wee bit of a mystery, and I’m confidant that when she was launched she wasn’t named – Gaza 🙂 Ian McDonald gave me the heads up on her tme listing, where it states that the 30’ launch is a McGeedy (I assume McGeady) build with a 10’ beam and draws 4’. The forward motion is via a 75hp Ford diesel. Gaza calls Sandspit home, previously on WW it was identified that in another life the launch was called most likely Astra
Anyone able to confirm the design and the original name?
UPDATE 04-07-2023 – we learnt in the comments section she was built by McGeady and previously named – Astra. The photos below (ex Ant Smit) show her residing in the Whangarei Town Basin, where she now lives after being sold.
ROGUE – Whats 15 Years When You’re 130 Years Old
Rather a special afternoon yesterday, got to have a sneak peek at Rogue, the 1892 Chas Bailey Jnr. built gaffer. She slipped out of Wayne Olsen’s shed and headed to the Pier 21 yard at Westhaven, with the intention being to step the mast and do a quick waterline sighting before hauling out for the final coats of paint and commissioning.
As seems to always be the case with woodys – things took a little longer than expected and she missed her launch slot – that will now be today. Rogue was last in the water 15 years ago and is without equal in terms of the total restoration – every object aboard Rogue is 100% fit for purpose and of the highest spec. As an admirer of attention to detail I was blown away. The day was about stepping back and seeing her outside of the shed after all those years, we will be back to showcase the finished project.
Enjoy the gallery – its not often we see pieces of art of this size. As always click on the photos to enlarge.
View and read more on the project here – https://waitematawoodys.com/2021/09/07/the-restoration-of-rogue/
This link to the yachts blog page will stun you – pour a coffee, find a comfortable chair and click then keep scrolling down https://rogue1892.com/rogues-restoration/
And just because you’re 130 years old doesn’t mean you can not have a few toys – check out the wind vane below, solar powered, wireless connection to your iPhone 🙂
18-03-2022 UPDATE – On 15-03-22 Rogue was popped back in the water with 750kgs more ballast added. Floating perfectly to her lines – owner very happy. A few last chores and she will be out there chasing down a few of the A-Class fleet 🙂
Peter Loughlin Photos Below
The Endless Summer
I know I’m tempting fate with the headline, but who can remember when it last rained? Todays gallery of woodys comes to us from the camera of Nathan Herbert (Pacific) as he mooched around the Hauraki Gulf last week. The last 5, are from Peter Loughlin (Lady Margaret -CW) doing the same thing.
We see Tasman, Viveen, Pacific, Arihi, Escape, Chandos, Zoe, Motunau, Waiari, Juanita, Pacific, Lady Margaret (CW), Rehia, Ngaro and a few that I can’t put a name to.
A question – did Colin Wild ever design / build an ugly boat?
It was a pretty wild and woolly weekend in some parts of the north and reviewing the news and photos, Tutukaka took the brunt of it – sad to see the carnage. Angus Rogers sent in the photo below from Russell last night – tagged ‘After the Wind’ showing the Russell ferry and the launch Miss Brett, bottom right closer in.
OLWEN – Sailing Sunday
The above yacht caught my eye recently on Lew Redwood’s fb. Olwen was designed by Claude Smith and built in 1960 by Smiths Boat Yard in Whangarei. At 33’ there is a lot of usable cabin and cockpit space, very few yacht designers manage to include good sized windows and retain a classic look.In the photo she looks like some TLC is overdue, but with those ‘good bones’ I’m sure Olwen will get the attention she deserves.
Do we know any more about Olwen?
Input ex Robin Elliott – Olwen won line honours in her first race, Dec 3 1960 in the Onerahi YC 100 mile Moko Hinau Ocean Race from a fleet of 13. Conditions were tough with a strong SE wind and gusts up to 35 knots, and set a new course record of 15 hours 15 minutes.
A HEADS UP – THE ADMINISTRATOR CONTROLLING THE WHANGTEAU TRADITIONAL BOATING CLUB facebook page HAS DECIDED THAT LINKS TO waitematawoody STORIES ARE NOT SUITABLE CONTENT. SO WW STORIES AND EVEN MYSELF ARE BARRED. This means that if you have linked a WTBC fb post to an existing WW story to provide more details on a vessel, your link has been deleted. Very narrow minded and introverted thinking – and clearly a low understanding of how social media communities co-exist and facilitate the creation and sharing of information, ideas, and interests through virtual networks. I would have thought ‘holding hands’ with a site that has just passed 7,500,000 views would have been a good thing for WTBC. Never mind, we will find new friends to play with 🙂
Woody Cruising In The Bay of Islands #3
In todays gallery we get a peek at a few more woodys cruising the far north, complements of BOI woody and pro photographer Dean Wright’s camera. The boats photographed above are – Florence, W1, Joleen and the yacht Nomad V. Links below to the boats that have appeared on WW before, the trawler style launch is Joleen, is I believe a 37’ Jackson design.
Florence https://waitematawoodys.com/2014/10/29/florence-3/
W1 https://waitematawoodys.com/2014/01/20/w1-caroma-goes-the-full-circle/
KING ORRY
For a plastic boat to appear on WW it has to be a tad special – the f/glass replica Logan33 launch – King Orry falls into that special category. In the past I have featured several of these boats and commented that they we years ahead of the trend and if still made today, there would be a ready market for them. They just tick so many boxes and also cater to the old salts that need to move on from their yacht, but still want a degree of stick and rag in their boating life.
There are a lot of ‘woody’ features on King Orry e.g. bronze fittings, timber bow rail, crafted t&g kauri interior, kauri mast with steadying sail etc. Like most of these launches the forward motion comes from a 40hp Lombardini engine, mounted very far forward, the drive shaft is almost as long as the boat. She has a cruising speed of 6-7 knots and tops out at 9 knots.Big (for her size) tanks (both water and fuel are 250L) give her a serious cruising range, I believe she sips 2L an hour.
Mooching Around The Gulf #2
Todays gallery of woodys comes to us from Barrie Abel taken last week while mooching around the bottom end of Waiheke Island and Kawakawa Bay, the ‘home’ of his armada of classic woodys. We have Trinidad, Pleasure Lady, Spindrift, Rehia and Gytha. Below are links to Spindrift and Gytha – one day we will befriend the owners of Pleasure Lady and get a peek down below of this very smart Roy Paris design, Monty Rae built launch.
GYTHA https://waitematawoodys.com/2021/07/05/gytha/
SPINDRIFT https://waitematawoodys.com/2020/08/08/spindrift-2/
SEA PRINCE
Long overdue for a b/w photo – todays woody is – Sea Prince. The top photo comes to us via Lew Redwood. The ‘coloured’ one was sent to me a longtime ago but I couldn’t ID the boat, which now in my eyes is the same as in the b/w one. The caption on the b/w photo reads M.C. “Sea Prince”, Lake Manapouri, N.Z. and that folks is all we know of this very fine looking launch. Initially looking at the b/w photo and given the lack of obvious safety gear, I assumed she was probably in private ownership. But in the colour photo there’s a fair crowd on-board – maybe health & safety rules didn’t apply on Lake Manapouri 😉
Can anyone help enlighten us around who designed / built her and what became of her.
16-01-2022 Harold Kidd Input – SEA PRINCE was built at Fairlie in 1947 by Jones Motors’ boat building division under S J Guard. She was built for the Wanaka tourist trade as MALIBU. She was a 30 foot hard chine vessel with a Kermath Sea Prince 100hp engine. She was sold in 1956 and renamed (then or perhaps earlier) as SEA PRINCE after her engine. An advertisement for her sale in 1956 calls her “hard chine”. I agree she doesn’t look it. Perhaps the chine was well-guarded (dreadful pun).
16-01-2022 Input from Scott Barnsdale – Sea Prince ended up as a fishing boat at Stewart Island, looking very different to the photos. Unfortunately, she disappeared from her mooring during a severe gale in 1987, never to be seen again.
