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The launch of Albacora

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The launch of Albacora

Thanks to Hylton Edmonds there is a very detailed & accurate history of Albacore already on ww (link below). What we were missing was launch day images. Thanks also to Hylton Edmonds for the above photos showing her being splashed in 1954.
Albacora was a McGeady, which is surprising as she was rather pretty, she measured 38′ & was purpose built for big game fishing. Albacora spent the early part of her life in the Bay of Islands & was then freighted to Fiji in 1968. Sadly she was a victim of the 1983 Cyclone Oscar but prior to this she very neglected. Post the cyclone her fate was a bulldozer & a box of matches 😦

Full details here  https://waitematawoodys.com/2015/07/06/13148/

Signature (Beluga)

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SIGNATURE (Beluga)

When Ian McDonald found the above boat  for sale at Westhaven she was named “Beluga” as someone thought she looked like a little white whale.

Her history Ian was told is roughly this:  Strip plank built in 1990 as a spec, to be a work or fishing boat, over 2 or 3 years when the Miller & Tunnage yard was quiet in Port Chalmers, then sailed to Nelson in the hope of an easier sale. She was sold from Nelson to become a long-liner out of Leigh. How she got to Leigh, Ian doesn’t know, maybe sailed up, maybe trucked.

In Ian’s words a trendy city fella bought her, post fishing, named her Beluga, and then sold her after a brief ownership. Ian bought her in 1998 having done a lot of sketches of what he would like to do to her, Ian commented that if one imagines her without the wheelhouse door, and no extension to the coach-roof aft, she wasn’t a pretty boat at all.  Miller & Tunnage didn’t seem to go for topsides looks, but their hulls are beautiful.

Ian visited the Miller & Tunnage yard looking for a genuine bronze M & T name plate and was helped by the manager who sent the plate mould into Dunedin and had some cast, one of which should still be in the boat today. During the visit, the manager took Ian up to the mezzanine floor and showed him the frames still there, off which she was lofted. They had previously built the “Deborah” of the same frames, for the older, about to retire partner, which was moored just up the harbour at Deborah Bay. Ian showed them a photo of what he was doing and they said  “that’s Signature”  and, when Ian enquired as to how she was thus named, they told him that when any new build was about to begin, it required paperwork, description, who it was for etc, and, a signature, so that’s what she was called.

The extension to the cabin top, aft from the door to the stern was designed by Ian in conjunction with Mike German & Graeme Lyons ( German & Lyons Boat-builders), in 1998 and fitted by Mike & Graeme in the shed at Half Moon Bay hardstand, as was the wheel-house door which didn’t exist when Ian bought her. The teak cladding around the windows was also Ian’s idea.  She was then powered by a 4cyl Isuzu and had a fuel capacity of 1,000 litres

Ian kept her until 2003 & she went on Jacob’s boat-haulage to Mana Marina & was sailed to Waikawa where she remained for a few years before once again being trucked north to appear again on the Waitemata. Then she was sold and appeared in Nelson, which is where Ian took the marina photo above in 2015. The second photo (of someone who resembles Ian, doing an Arnold Schwarzenegger impression), was taken just entering Port Abercrombie a few summers ago now.
In January this year Ian was at Mana Marina and spotted her being prepared for another trucking north and, Ian believes she now resides in Kerikeri.
This boat has done a lot of road miles 🙂 Anyone able to confirm her current whereabouts?

Photos below ex Dean Wright of Signature at Doves Bay Marina. Looking a tad different 🙂

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Sailing Sunday Eye Candy – Kahurangi & Manitou

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Photo © Nico Martinez XXII REGATA ILLES BALEARS CLÀSSICS

Photo © Nico Martinez XXII REGATA ILLES BALEARS CLÀSSICS
Photo © Nico Martinez XXII REGATA ILLES BALEARS CLÀSSICS
Photo © Nico Martinez XXII REGATA ILLES BALEARS CLÀSSICS
Photo © Nico Martinez XXII REGATA ILLES BALEARS CLÀSSICS
Photo © Nico Martinez XXII REGATA ILLES BALEARS CLÀSSICS

Photo © Nico Martinez XXII REGATA ILLES BALEARS CLÀSSICS

Sailing Sunday Eye Candy – Kahurangi & Manitou

Baden Pascoe forwarded me the above photos of Kahurangi ex Pepe d Miguel. The ‘old’ girl is looking very sharp & looking very much at home on the Med. classic sailing circuit. She was built by Percy Vos in 1952 & would have to be one of the prettiest yacht to slide down the Vos slip.

MANITOU – JF Kennedy

 

Check out the link to the video clip below to view JFK’s old yacht, Manitou. Same bloodlines as Dorade & Stormy Weather i.e. a Sparkman & Stephens (Design #90), she is one of Olin Stephens finest. Launched in 1937, LO= 62′, LW= 44′, Beam+ 13’9″, draft= 8’6″. She carvel & made from mahogany on oak frames. Rumour has it that Aristotle Onassis tried to buy her once. The open fireplace is very me 🙂
If you are interested – 4sale in France for USD$1.3 million – makes the sale price of our Rawhiti the buy of the century.

W1 Junior

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W1 JUNIOR

If you are a regular follower of the ww stories you will know that there are a several ‘woody nutters’ out there that have a thing for the ex WWII RNZAF coastal cruiser – W1.
John Bullivant is one of them. John has been building a model of W1 & its very close to completion. The photos above show some of the build process.
John reports that he has purchased some cowl vents from the UK, (made them all rotatable)  fitted new water cooled motors, made rudders, masts, windows, rubbing strips and fitted LED lighting (courtesy of cheap solar garden lights). He has also made a decal pattern for the bow insignia to print out (see bow photo above). John has even bought a miniature water pump so he can have water running from the water outlets when the boat is stopped. This will sit where the centre engine usually sits. He is currently looking for an engine sound module. Thanks to Ken Ricketts for fowarding John’s email to ww.
Details on the ‘real deal’ here https://waitematawoodys.com/2013/09/11/the-story-of-w1-one-of-fastest-boats-ever-on-the-waitemata/

REAL BOATS

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The Classic Yacht Association is holding one of its launch cruises to the Riverhead Hotel on Sunday – we are expecting approx. 20 classics to make the trip. so it should be a cracker of a day. If the sun shines, there will be lots of photos on Monday 🙂

Update below & photos from John Bullivant on his progress  (emailed in by Ken Ricketts)
“I have also re-done the lighting using LEDs from Xmas string lights which are smaller and can be made to fit better. Getting there slowly but it’s almost like building a full sized boat as you can spend hours making the smallest things. The lighting alone took about 3 days, as it’s hard to hide any sort of bulb in a small model and get it shining in a reasonably scale manner, eg trying to get the nav lights shining in the correct arc takes a lot of fiddling and painting but they look the part when they are on so that’s good enough for me. I’m not being too fanatical about the detail as long as it looks ok on the water.
I have a theory about the location of the real W1 in the photo of her with the survivors on board and where she was headed which I am working on with the help of Google Earth and some info I read on the rescue effort. This was regarding the position the survivors were picked up from. I am trying to find the info again but it was in an obscure site (to do with recovering the gold I think) which gave the co-ordinates of the ship and the lifeboats positions before rescue and the crews communications. Just a bit of a fun challenge to see if I can pinpoint the exact spot.”

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Ranui

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RANUI
Ranui was built in 1948 by Lidgard Bros. following a Chris Craft design. She measures 48′ & is made of kauri. The  zoom zoom comes from twin 120hp Fords. She recently returned to Auckland & has just had some TLC at Gulf Harbour that included her coamings being re-varnished.
Check out the link below to a 29 page PDF file that show cases renovation a few years ago & also the history of Lidgards & the Chris Craft marque .

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The photos below ex Ken Ricketts show the recent Gulf Harbour work.

24-02-2017 Update – Photos below ex Robin Elliott of Ranui berthed in Dove Cove Marina, early Jan 2017

Susan Jane – Sailing Sunday

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SUSAN JANE – Sailing Sunday

With Omaha boat builder Colin Brown having just re-launched the Colin Wild built launch – Little Tasman, we have been wondering what was next into the shed. The answer is the yacht Susan Jane, built by Chris Robertson c1950. Colin is not sure whether or not he designed her so is looking for any more info the woodys can supply.

Susan Jane is having  a major rebuild as a result of rot issues. Colin has taken the project over from a friend of his, who due to poor health is unable to complete the project. The above photos are by Colin, emailed to me via Ken Ricketts.

01-07-2017 REFIT UPDATE
The Brown family – Colin, son Dylan & son-in-law Josh have been hard at work on the refit.
All exterior hull work done by Dylan & the interior ex the hands of Josh.
Photos below, ex Colin, emailed to me by Ken Ricketts.

20-10-2017 Refit Update – photo ex Colin Brown via Ken Ricketts.

06-11-2017 Refit Update – photos ex Colin Brown via Ken Ricketts

She is going to be powered by a 38 Hp 3 cyl Nani Diesel

10-04-2018 Update – More photo ex Colin Brown via Ken R

And more

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24-04-2018 Update – Susan Jane & her restorer Colin Brown had a special yard visit (23/04) from the original builder Chris Robertson, aged 91 years. Chris was accompanied by his son Martin & grandson Aaron – all 3 boatbuilders.

Photo below shows Susan Jane getting the royal inspection from the Robertson family. I understand Colin was very honoured. Photo ex Colin , via Ken Ricketts.

SUSAN JANE 23.4.18

Cockpit Table

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Finished Project

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Romance II – the inspiration

The project

The old trademe table

Cockpit Table Project
As I tend to do I had been admiring & gathering ideas for a cockpit table for Raindance for a long time. Then one day I was aboard Harold Kidd’s launch Romance II & I spied his set up. He had the table ‘hanging’ of the stern & a drop down leg. This was enough inspiration to start me off.

I bought an old table on trademe for $30 (horrible yellow formica top & a bloody big drop down leg) & I started playing around with how I could adapt it to fit on Raindance. Being a bit of a wood butcher, I was lucky to discover a wonderful wooden craftsman, a perfectionist, by the name of Lional Barkle & we started the project.
I already had the bronze stern mounts, bought in Germany from the marine chandlery ‘Toplicht’. I striped the table & had custom-made s/s brackets that fit the bronze mounts.
Lional being much cleverer than me came up with the idea of an arched / cantilevered leg/support. It’s almost like a tiller & slots into a foot. Makes the area so much more open & frees up the space underneath.

Lional made the leg from 116-year-old kauri timber I discovered underneath my grandparents home in Herne Bay, actually ceiling boards. These (x8) were cleaned up & steam bent & laminated together. The leg fits into a teak & kauri base with pins to hold it in place. It took an unbelievable number of hours, as everything had to be tailor made – measure, make, dry fit, adjust, dry fit, adjust etc. We had to rebuild in the stern locker to take the strain of the leg set up. I love the suspended look & its just so practical. The leg also sits in a ‘boot’ under the table to secure it more.
The finished unit is perfect & has so much more Lional B in it than Alan H 😉  he is just so talented. Also makes other wooden products – toys, chopping boards etc – his website is http://www.woodspark.co.nz & on facebook as well, reach search woodspark.

Almitra

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A Mystery Launch – Almitra

Anchored in Little Oneroa last Saturday, if I hadn’t  just dropped by polarized Ray Bans over the side 😦  I would have mooched closer & got a better photo so that we could read the name.
It looks like N or H _ _ tra. I’m sure one of the woodys can supply the details on her.

That was easy – its Almitra https://waitematawoodys.com/2015/12/23/almitra/

Deodar

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DEODAR

Mooching into Man o War Bay on Sunday I spied the 52′ Deodar at anchor, looking very smart. She was built by Millar & Tunnage in 1960 & is an ex Auckland Police launch.
In 1996 she was converted for pleasure use & recently underwent further work – more details & photos here https://waitematawoodys.com/2013/12/29/deodar/

A Lap of Waiheke

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A Lap of Waiheke

Over Labour weekend we did a lap of Waiheke Island in Raindance – bumped into a few classic’s, some will appear on ww in the next few days.
As we approached Oneroa mid afternoon on Saturday the weather was doing exactly as predicated  & the southerly was starting to pick up, coming around the point & it was blowing dogs off chains. Headed over to Little Oneroa & it was almost a mill pond, dropped the pick between James Mobberley (Moon Engines)  & Dan Ranell’s stunning N. Herreshoff designed yacht – Jonquil, pictured above with George Ranell ‘on watch’. Potentially it could have been a disaster i.e. 3 kids under 5 between the 2 boats – but good parenting saved the day. A few late afternoon coldies on Jame’s launch ‘Cartel’ was the perfect lead in to dinner – a wood fired pizza on the beach from the resident pizza caravan. Saturday was a cracker of a day on all fronts. Nice weather, people & boats.

For the first time (that I can remember) we had a peaceful night in Little Oneroa & woke to a stunning day (Sunday), one out of the bag. A quick breakfast ashore at ‘Wai’ & a few provisions from the ‘new’  store on the roundabout, called ‘The Island Grocer’ – its where the old general store (fruit & veg focus was) used to be. Less hairy armpits on display these days & a great hole in the wall coffee operation. Perfect spot to people watch.

Headed down the north side to the bottom end, very pleasant trip & a lot of people both fishing & catching fish. Mooched around a few bays & anchored in Man ‘o’ War Bay. The vineyard operation was a zoo with Island day trippers, so held off going ashore until late afternoon for a drink. Quiet night in the bay, except for 2 sets of very young children doing laps of the bay in dinghies with 2hp outboards – I do not lie when I say it went from 6pm to 10pm, if I had had a gun – I would have popped the tubes.

Slow start in the morning, had to wait for the tide, appears I had discovered a wee mud bank, never went a ground but I draw 2’3″ & the depth sounder was showing 0.700m (27.5″) 😦 So it was a leisurely breakfast 🙂 Th day was overcast & forecast to rain later on, so we headed home at lunch time. As we were leaving MoW, W1 was coming in – first time I had seen her ‘live’ on the water – way more narrow than I expected given her length, but still an impressive sight & a credit to the owner, who under took a lengthy restoration in his driveway in Herne Bay.
Saw Deodar (#1) in MoW looking very smart – photos tomorrow on ww.

A fantastic weekend, only takes a few days of good weather & one quickly forgets all the cursing & swearing over winter about bloody old wooden boats.

Below are a couple of photos from Rod Marler of the classic’s –  Arohanui, Trinidad, Lady Crossley & Nereides (looking none the worse for her oops at the Whangateau boat yard) at Kawau over the weekend. I hear the Kawau Boating Club was going off on Saturday night for the All Blacks v Aust rugby test.

Photo below of Wairangi at West Bay, Rakino Island on Sunday, taken by her owner & emailed in by Ken Ricketts.

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