Author Archives: Alan Houghton - waitematawoodys.com founder

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About Alan Houghton - waitematawoodys.com founder

What is Waitemata Woodys all about? We provide a meeting point for owners and devotees of classic wooden boat. We seek to capture the growing interest in old wooden boats and to encourage and bring together all those friendly people who are interested in the preservation of classic wooden vessels for whatever reason, be it their own lifestyle, passion for old boats or just their view of the world. We encourage the exchange of knowledge about the care and restoration of these old boats, and we facilitate gatherings of classic wooden boats via working together with traditionally-minded clubs and associations. Are you a Waitemata Woody? The Waitemata Woodies blog provides a virtual meeting point for lovers of classic and traditional wooden boats.
 If you are interested in our interests and activities become a follower to this blog. The Vessels Featured The boats on display here (yes there are some yachts included, some are just to drop dead stunning to over look) require patrons, people devoted to their care and up keep, financially and emotionally . The owners of these boats understand the importance of owning, restoring and keeping a part of the golden age of Kiwi boating alive. The boats are true Kiwi treasure to be preserved and appreciated.

DEEMS BOAT YARD – Help Needed + Restless 4sale

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DEEMS BOAT YARD – Help Needed

During the week I was contacted by master boatbuilder – Peter Murton regarding a craft currently in his workshop rafters. Peter has been told that the 14’ clinker won a NZ Outboard Cup race in the 1930’s.The very skinny craft was possibly built in 1932 by Deems boat yard and has all kauri planking, ribs, natural knees and stem all look like mangrove and pohutukawa. Ribs are 3/4″ x 1/4”, planking all 1/4”
Peter would like to confirm / uncover more of the boats provenance – can we help.

RESTLESS – Needs A New Home 


The 40’ yacht Restless has a wonderful back story – built by the Tercel Bros in 1920 to a Alden / Tercel design. She is constructed of kauri, her beam is 11’3” and she draws 6’ (lead keel). 

Amazingly Restless has had only one owner for the last 55 years, that gent being Tim Beattie, one of the Bay of Islands most respected guardians of classic craft. Sadly Tim has reached that stage in life when sailing Restless is starting to get too much for him, so he would like to find good home for her.A young family of maybe several mates looking for an affordable entry point into classic sailing. 
Link below to a WW story on her with more details and photos. Seriously interested parties to contact waitematawoodys re specs and price. https://waitematawoodys.com/2023/03/19/restless/

THE LINORA

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THE LINORA

Todays woody is the launch – Linora, built in Fairle, Canterbury, in the South Island by Guard & Cuthill. She was built for a R W Butcher of Auckland. In the above photo we see her being transported down Stafford St in Timaru, no doubt on route to launching.

The inland town of Faire may seem an odd place for a boatbuilding yard but in 1970 Dick Guard and Graham Cuthill commenced business there in an old ammunition factory. Initially building small row boats, at 60’ The Linora was the largest they built. In total the yard built 10 launches and over 130 row boats.

Thanks to Peter Grant for sending in the press clipping  / photo of the story that was penned by Dick Guard.

Do we know what became of the Linora – rather a large woody to ‘disappear’

INPUT ex NATHAN HERBERT – photo below from NH show that Linora sent time as a fishing charter boat out of Auckland, named Florence Kennedy II (images are from archives nz and akl libraries)

10-03-2024 UPDATE: I suspect that we have ‘merged’ two boats into one. Greg Philpott has advised that Florence Kennedy was built for Len Sowerty and named after his wife. 

The Lenora was built for a Mr. R W Butcher as mentioned in the article below.

ONE WEEK TO THE CLASSIC WOODY LUNCH CRUISE TO THE RIVERHEAD WATERFRONT TAVERN – RSVP TODAY

email baot name and approx. crew numbers to waitematawoodys@waitematawoodys

RSVP > waitematawoodys@gmail.com
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RANGIMARIE

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RANGIMARIE

Todays woody is Rangimarie, a 45’ motor sailer built in Paremata in 1959 by Saunders boatbuilders.

Construction is heart matai (black pine).

Forward propulsion is from a Gardner 6LX diesel. She appears to be very well spec’ed , as are most serious southern woodys. 

Rangimarie has called Riverton home for the last 18 years and thanks to a tme listing (ex Lan McDonald) we get to have peek onboard. On face value good buying at $100k.

Do we know anything about her early years.

IDOLON – Where Is She

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IDOLON – Where Is She

A by the name of Brad McDermit yesterday posted on the ‘Old North Auckland – Northland Photos & Stories ‘fb asking if anyone knew the status / whereabouts of a launch named – IDOLON that his uncle, Francis Arlidge built in Russell for this other uncle Fred Baker.

Can you help Brad out re the boat.

RSVP – waitematawoodys@gmail.com

KIRIKIRIROA – A Peek Down Below

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KIRIKIRIROA – A Peek Down Below

Well after two days of ‘wall2wall’ classic woody porn it was always going to be a big challenge to back up with a run-of-the-mill story, so I thought its Wednesday so must be time for a Work Boat Wednesday story.

Todays woody is the Terry Bailey built 1983, 36′ ex workboat – Kirikiriroa , a woody thats been on my top 10 list ever since I first spotted her at Gulf Harbour marina many years ago. Built from strip plank kauri.

She was originally built for the mussel industry on Great Barrier Island and later used for various fright and cargo transportation. While not currently in survey (on hold), she is still capable of carrying 5 ton of cargo.

AND – down below is a 70hp 4LW Gardner…………….

Kirikiriroa recently popped up on tm , thanks Ian McDonald. I could own her but I’d have to stop churning out WW everyday, I’d be too busy polishing that engine 🙂

Link here to the previous WW story  April 2016 Story https://waitematawoodys.com/2016/04/15/kirikiriroa/

2016 photo ex K Ricketts

07-03-2024 Input ex Russell Ward – Kirikiriroa was ashore at Gulf Harbour for a tidy up when I had Hinemoa’s Boat up for the same several years back.
The sign in the wheelhouse appealed to me somehow.
She was looking a bit tidier back then, but she’s an appealing wee boat for a real man.

HAVE YOU RSVP’ed FOR THE WOODY CRUISE TO RIVERHEAD TAVERN – SATURDAY 16 MARCH

RSVP > waitematawoodys@gmail.com

AUCKLAND WOODEN BOAT FESTIVAL – Off The Water Gallery – Part 2

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AUCKLAND WOODEN BOAT FESTIVAL – Off The Water Gallery – 70+ Classic Woody Photos

Today we focus on the spectacular collection of smaller woody craft that were displayed in and around the viaduct events centre – to a large % of the shows audience that had some salt in their veins this was a trip down memory lane.

Just so much care and attention has been furnished on these wooden craft. Sadly I suspect that a lot are now in the ‘display’ category. And as we all know with wooden boats you have got to use them or else they deteriorate quickly and then the cost to bring back is just too steep.

The minders / owners of the craft on display were overrun with people wanting to rely their own experiences and memories of the boats. Hopefully the show has ignited some interest in finding the craft that they enjoyed in a past life. The was certainly no shortage of owners looking for new blood to take over their artefact.

Enjoy the gallery and remember you can enlarge the photos if you click on them and the link to the other half of the festival – the classic woodys berthed dockside is below. https://waitematawoodys.com/2024/03/04/77770/

RSVP – waitematawoodys@gmail.com

AUCKLAND WOODEN BOAT FESTIVAL – Dockside Gallery – 75+ Classic Woody Photos – Part 1

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AUCKLAND WOODEN BOAT FESTIVAL – Dockside Gallery – 75+ Classic Woody Photos

Slight change of format today. Normally we do one big gallery of event photos, but the 2024 Auckland Wooden Boat Festival deserves two stories – why? Well in the eyes os of the woodys I spoke to, the off-the-water (in the shed) exhibition was on equal footing to the exhibition afloat. So woodys come back tomorrow to see the off-the-water gallery, you won’t be disappointed.

From my mooching the #1 feedback I got was ‘where do they all come from’ i.e. people have never seen this number of classic wooden boats together #2 (from owners) was ‘it is so great to meet all the owners / caretakers’. I think a lot of people were quietly hoping their partners were thinking “there are other zany people out there, my partner isn’t the only eccentric old boat nut in town”.

For a three day outdoor event in Auckland we were gifted to have two (Fri/Sat) days of amazing weather, Sunday was a on/off rain day but it didn’t seem to slow down the people. I believe over 8,000 people were counted thru the dock-gate (it was free entry).

The photos tell the story today – its takes a lot of people to pull something like this off, so well done to all those that rubbed up against the show and well done Tony and team for pulling it all together.

PART TWO – THE OFF-THE-WATER SECTION – LINK BELOW https://waitematawoodys.com/2024/03/05/auckland-wooden-boat-festival-off-the-water-gallery/

AS ALWAYS – CLICK ON PHOTOS TO ENLARGE

AND YES I DID BUY THE T-SHIRT 🙂

RSVP – waitematawoodys@gmail.com

Probably The Best Classic Cruising Story Ever

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Probably The Best Classic Cruising Story Ever

Over the last 2+ years I have religiously followed a YouTube series put out by Madison Boatworks. Sounds very corporate but its the total opposite – a youngish couple named Jonathan & Whitney who refurbished a 1960 37’5” (on deck) ‘Ingrid’ ketch designed by William Atkin named Julia. After 4 years of working on the boat they left Seattle, Washington, USA and pointed the bow towards Mexico. After this the big call was made and they were off to the Pacific. There are 21 videos in the series that have clocked up over six million views and each one is gold. 

The cinematography and narrative is just outstanding. Jonathan is a wonderful storyteller and one follower commented that his voice is semi tranquillising – it is, the man should do sleep videos 🙂

I have featured their latest – ‘Exploring the islands of Fiji, Vanua Levu and Taveuni’ below. And also a link to the master YouTube collection

LINK TO MASTER LIBARAY COLLECTION https://www.youtube.com/c/MadisonBoatworks

RSVP > waitematawoodys@gmail.com

INEAWA (White Lady) On Lake Taupo 

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INEAWA (White Lady) On Lake Taupo 
One of the gems of the WW site is its ability to spark connections between past and present boat owners and crew. Recently a gent named Rob Harvey commented on a previous WW story (links below) on the 1930 34’6” launch – Ineawa (White Lady) that he was now the owner and were we interested in some photos. I obviously relied ‘Yes please’ and got back a note from Rob saying that he was currently undertaking some renovations / updates to her interior and photos would follow when she wasn’t looking like a bomb site 🙂 Ineawa was built in 1930 by Jimmy McLaren in Onehunga, Auckland
This chat on the site prompted Karin Newrick to advise that they had owned Ineawa in the late 1990’s. Karin also sent in the above photos of her on Lake Taupo, along with some old documentation, which sadly is very faded, hopefully you can read, click images to enlarge.

WW SEPT 2023 https://waitematawoodys.com/2023/09/25/ineawa-a-peek-down-below/
WW APRIL 2014 https://waitematawoodys.com/2014/04/03/6721/

AUCKLAND WOODEN BOAT FESTIVAL – I popped down yesterday, most impressive. If you are thinking of attending, a tip – go today – Jellicoe Harbour, Viaduct.. Sunday could be a zoo – its the annual Round-The-Bays waterfront race. Full story + photos on Monday.

RSVP – waitematawoodys@gmail.com

IT’S A BIG WOODY MONTH

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RSVP – waitematawoodys@gmail.com

Big Woody Month

Lots happening around the country this month – kicking of this weekend we have Auckland’s new event tagged ‘Moana Auckland – NZ’s Ocean Festival’ in full swing in and around the waterfront. Part of of the event is the inaugural Auckland Wooden Boat Festival – details below.

Further South this weekend (Sat & Sunday) we have the New Zealand Antique & Classic Boat Show which is always a blast so if you are around the top of the South Island this weekend head to Lake Rotoiti, Nelson Lakes.

Then mid March (14 > 17th) is the Auckland (on-the-water) Boat Show , same venue as the AWBF, you just need a bigger cheque book 😉

Then on Saturday 16th March we have the annual Classic Woodys Launch Cruise to the Riverhead Tavern for a waterfront lunch.

AUCKLAND WOODEN BOAT SHOW