Category Archives: 1910’s

100 YEARS AGO –  CLASSIC WOODEN CRAFT AT DEVONPORT YACHT CLUB

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100 YEARS AGO –  CLASSIC WOODEN CRAFT AT DEVONPORT YACHT CLUB

Todays classic woody photo popped up on ’Timespanner’ fb , we see the Devonport Yacht Club, Auckland and a mix of yachts and launches hauled out on King Edward Parade yard in front of the clubrooms. The photo originated from Auckland Libraries heritage collection and has been tagged 1930 > 1940.

At first I thought we had seen the image on WW before but a search slowed no match.The motor vehicles should help with the appox. date.

Keen to put names to some of the motor boats. Have enlarged that section below.

INPUT EX RUSSELL WARD – The big workboat with the oveized funnel and wheelhouse morphed into the ketch Waihau under the guidance of Raph Sewell and long-suffering wife Allison in the ’50s. I have a pic of her in 1972 below). She was taken for work at one of the Speedy family’s places in Stanley Point, Last heard of 10 years back rotting away on a farm at Puhoi.

THE NEXT BIG CLASSIC WOODYS EVENT – Clevedon River Overnight BBQ Cruise Nov 14>15

RSVP NOW – BOAT NAME AND APPX CREW #’s – Note dock space is limited

EMAIL waitematawoodys@gmail.com

CAN WE LEARN MORE ABOUT THE 28’ CLASSIC WOODEN LAUNCH – KORORA

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CAN WE LEARN MORE ABOUT THE 28’ CLASSIC WOODEN LAUNCH – KORORA

Yesterday WW was contacted by Chris Read regarding a 28’ double-ender named KORORA that Chris bought approx. 20 years ago.

The sellers name was Mike (surname forgotten ). He was a vintage car enthusiast and had done a rebuild on the boat with his brother.

The story goes that Mike’s wife was not so keen on boating so KORORA was promptly put up for sale 😦

Chris commented that when he bought KORORA he was told she was built by Joseph Fell in 1905. The accuracy of that intel has since been questioned, as the only boat Joe Fell built that fits her size was built in 1917.When purchased she was moored at Waipapa Landing, Kerikeri, Northland and powered by a 50hp Perkins.

As visible from the photos KORORA is at the tail end of an extensive refit, with the plan to get her in the water for Christmas. Chris has re-powered her with  a  new 25hp Beta engine.

Chrisr is keen to learn more about KORORA, and a possible clue  to her past is when the hull was taken back to bare timber the final topcoat colour was a bottle green.Post launching home will most likely be Milford Creek marina – we like that, another woody for the Auckland waitematawoodys group.

Photos below when the gun whale had been removed as it was too far gone.

UPDATE – Photo before she went into the shed “ to address a couple of loose planks “.

HAVE YOU RSVP’ed

KAWAU SPRING SPLASH CLASSIC PARADE – 25 WOODYS + A BAY FULL OF BOATS

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KAWAU SPRING SPLASH CLASSIC PARADE – 25 WOODYS + A BAY FULL OF BOATS

If you were thinking about buying a classic wooden boat but weren’t quite sure which style floated your boat, a visit to the 2026 Kawau Boating Club Spring Splash over Labour Weekend would have gone a long way towards answering that question!

Over the last two days, I’ve shared a series of semi-random Waitemata Woodys posts to give you a taste of the action, both ashore at the KBC and out on the water.

Aside from New Year’s Eve, I can’t recall seeing so many boats anchored in Bon Accord Harbour. Now, I know that’s not everyone’s scene – some skippers will do a U-turn if they’re not the only boat in the bay! But for most, the fleet, the atmosphere and the chance to catch up with fellow boating enthusiasts are all part of the magic.

There were a few new systems to navigate and the inevitable operational speed bumps, but none of that stopped the good times rolling. Each evening, the dining and partying got underway, with music perfectly matched to the crowd. The food gets an 8/10 from me, which is high praise indeed!

So, a big tick to the team behind the weekend. If you enjoyed this year’s gathering, do yourself a favour and circle Labour Weekend 2027 in your diary now.

Today, I’m sharing a photo gallery focusing on Sunday’s WaitemataWoodys Classic Wooden Boat Parade. We had a fantastic turnout, with 25 classic craft joining the parade. I have include a few photos that show the ambience of the KBC (thanks to Beth Houlbrook from KBC for her photos). When I cover these big events, my objective is to try and give the WW readers a taste / feel for what it was like, so enjoy the gallery and remember if you click on a photo it enlarges.

And it wasn’t just the parade. I’ve never seen so many classic wooden motorboats out on the water at one time, the bay was absolutely teeming with woodys, my count was 41 classic craft.

Enjoy the gallery, and remember, clicking on any photo will enlarge it. Scroll down to view the two previous weekend posts.

P.S. If you were there and we missed your boat, apologies. With so many classics on the water, keeping track of everyone was always going to be a challenge.

CLASSIC 1914 WOODEN LAUNCH – MAKORA 

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CLASSIC 1914 WOODEN LAUNCH – MAKORA 

The classic launch MAKORA made an a appearance on WW back in Dec 2024, thanks to a 4sale listing. There was a lot of intel at the time but thanks to Harold Kidd we learnt that MAKORA was built by in 1914 Chas Bailey Jr in 1914 for Fred Alison of the Devonport Steam Ferry Co.

Her original power was twin 9hp Andersons (Christchurch built) for which Bailey was the Auckland agent. These days she is powered by a 40hp, 3 cyl. Fordson Dexter engine that gets her along nicely at 7 knots at 1600rpm.Her specs are 35’x9’6″x4′.

Link to 2024 WW story here https://waitematawoodys.com/2024/12/17/classic-1916-wooden-craft-makora/

Todays photos of MAKORA where sent in one of my woody spotters and we see her hauled out at DOCK5 for some TLC.
Keen to learn if she changed hands in 2024 and where she has been since.

THE MIGHTY KAURI — A WOODEN BOATBUILDER’S BEST FRIEND

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THE MIGHTY KAURI — A WOODEN BOATBUILDER’S BEST FRIEND

Todays woody photos were sent in by Andrew Molloy and give us peek back in time when there was more of the magnificent kauri than the boatbuilders of the day needed. Hell we were exported it to Australia and I’m told 1/2 of San Franciso, USA, was rebuilt with NZ Kauri after the 1906 earthquakes there.

In the top photo, dated 1963, we see a halved Kauri log at the Helensville rail siding, it was used for building a fishing boat and a keeler and then some left over. Of note – we have 2nd from left Percy Vos and Sam Mason 3rd from left left. The log was 43 ‘and had a girth of 21’. From the log they milled 14,800 superficial feet of lumber.

Second photo is of the Goldie’s Timber Mill, St Mary’s Bay, Auckland. There is an impressive block – stack weathering there. Keen to learn the indignity of the launch seen in the bottom right hand corner – refer close up below.

In the 3rd photo we see a clinker dinghy taking shape at one of Auckland’s boat yards c.1910 . Has the look of the Percy Vos yard about it.

CLASSIC WOODYS ON THE WAITEMATA

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A8 VICTORY
A3 ARIKI
A13 HEARTSEASE

CLASSIC WOODYS ON THE WAITEMATA

Todays photos are from my wife’s side of the family, who had a higher % of salt in their veins than my side. Her grandfather John (Jack) Bonner was a co-owner of the yacht  ALEXA C7 colourised photo below), built by T. Le Huquet in 1904. Later in life he was a very accomplished painter, several of his works grace my walls. When you factor in that he had (medical records speak) an ‘arm removed via field amputation i.e. no general anaesthesia in France WW!, the paintings were well done.

There were 3 random photos in the album , as seen above but no names, dates, or captions.

The top photo, carries the sale # A8 is VICTORY the 1907 Logan built A-Class yacht. Last I heard she was tucked away in boatbuilder Marco Scuderi’s shed in Helensville.

Second photo has the sail # A3, making her ARIKI – Ariki the 1904 yacht designed by Arch Logan and built by the Logan Brothers.

In the last photo the yacht centre stage has sail # A13, now I could be very know but my search has come up with this intel – HEARTSEASE (A13) was a historic 51-foot classic wooden cutter designed in Auckland by J.G. Trevithick, which raced locally before embarking on an international world cruise in 1932.

Just realised there has been a little too much B/W photos this week so promise some colour on Monday 😉

COMMENT ex ANGUS ROGERS – Angus has pointed out the spelling of the yachy above – blowning the photo up it appears to read ALXER. Every piece of intel I have seen on the boathas her named ALEXA, so I’m confused – anyone able to help out.

INPUT ex OWEN ASPDEN – I saw Heartsease posted on WW today below is a photo of her with sail number 141. According to my grandmothers diary Tom Aspden bought the Ida in 1921 and the Heartsease in 1919. FYI she now for sale in Sydney for $450k.

INPUT ex ROBIN ELLIOTT – HEARTSEASE carried number 141 in the 1913 Anniversary Regatta

CLASSIC WOODEN DICK LANG LAUNCH – RUBY II

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CLASSIC WOODEN DICK LANG LAUNCH – RUBY II

This great photo and tale popped up recently on a post that Dennis Mansfield made on the NZ – Our Past Our Present fb page. Its a cracker read so I’ll hand thetiller over to Dennis today –

 “My grandfather, Edward Mansfield, who was born in Napier in 1878 , came to Auckland about 125 years ago. In due course he commissioned Dick Lang, one of St Mary’s Bay’s boat builders to construct the Ruby 2 for longlining. She was built of end to end kauri and I believe she was 34ft in length. Grandad paid £150 deposit, £150 at the halfway stage and £150 on completion.

She was converted to Danish seining eventually to make her more commercially viable but lost her visual appeal in the process. She was my dad’s first place of work when he was taken from school at the age of thirteen to become a full time fisherman. Grandad compensated Dad for limiting his formal education by presenting him with a brand new clinker built kauri sailing dinghy for his next birthday. Dad was certainly diligent. When they had unloaded the Ruby he would take the dinghy and row around to the Kauri Timber Company. The logs were held in a boom and would often break out if the sea got up. Dad got two bob a log to retrieve them. I thought it was quite a lot of money for those days but the size of the logs and the tide meant it could take an hour or two to effect a recovery. No wonder he was so damn strong.

In later years Dad was Master of an 86ft tugboat called the Odin. He would take a bit over seven hours to steam to the Blackjacks on the Eastern side of the Coromandel. The bulldozers would push the kauri logs down onto the beach and Dad would give his mate a leg up so he could run an auger through the log and chain it to the herringbone raft they were building out of the logs. In one raft they brought three quarters of a million feet of timber back to Auckland. It took them three and a half days to steam home.

During the war years dad would tow a scow up the Wairoa river to Clevedon. It was laden with McCallum’s red chip which was used as base metal for the airstrip at Ardmore, built primarily at the request of the US Air Force. The old man said the shrouds would twang like guitar strings as they got caught up in the the willows that overhung the riverbanks.”

CLASSIC WOODEN LAUNCH STERLING GIRL RISES IN PRICE

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CLASSIC WOODEN LAUNCH STERLING GIRL RISES IN PRICE 

It seems the southern woodys haven’t quite received the memo about the classic wooden boat market reset.

Back in 2018, while wandering the Picton waterfront, I had to be practically dragged away from the 1913 bridge-decker STERLING GIRL.

Back then, she ticked just about every box for me — 35 feet, Bailey & Lowe, ex-workboat, a wood fire and, best of all, a Ford Model T steering wheel/helm. (Yes, I know… I’m shallow.)

And in my eyes – absolutely drop-dead gorgeous.

At the time, STERLING GIRL was priced at 26k, which seemed pretty fair value. Fast-forward seven years and she’s apparently still looking for a new custodian — but the asking price has risen to 29k

Perhaps she has been re-powered or received some serious TLC along the way. Or perhaps there’s simply now a broker involved and a commission to accommodate…

The real challenge may simply be geography. For a northern-based woody enthusiast, getting STERLING GIRL relocated could add a significant chunk to the purchase price.

Seven years later, I still think she’s a stunner.

113 YEAR-OLD CLASSIC WOODEN LAUNCH GETS SOME WELL DESERVED TLC

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113 YEAR-OLD CLASSIC WOODEN LAUNCH GETS SOME WELL DESERVED TLC – LEITNER

Back in September 2013, classic wooden launch – LEITNER made an appearance on WW and the story over the next couple of years generated a raft of intel on her past and photos.  We learnt that she was built in 1913 by Harvey & Lang.

Forward motion these days is via a Perkins 6-354 diesel engine.

When launched she was very smart flat top launch and over the years there have been several additions , all visible in 2913 WW story  https://waitematawoodys.com/2013/09/21/leitner/

Robin Elliott commented re her restyling in a very kindly way saying – ‘at some time she was converted to a sort of bridge-decker type’. As seen in the above photos I took this week at DOCK5 in Whangarei.

Nice to see she is getting the TLC she deserves.

1912 EARLY SETTLER LAUNCH – SEABIRD

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1912 EARLY SETTLER LAUNCH – SEABIRD

Todays classic woody is named SEABIRD,  a very popular name on WW. This one made a brief appearance on WW back in December 2020. At the time we learnt from Harold Kidd that she was built at Motukaraka, Hokianga by Kelsey Bros to their own design for their own use in April 1912 with a 6hp Automatic engine. The last photo above was from the 2020 story. 

SEABIRD has recently popped up on tme (thanks Ian McDonald) where we are told  she is 27’ in length, double skin kauri hull, powered by a 80hp Hino diesel. SEABIRD has spent most of its life on the Hokianga and was built for the sheltered but demanding waters of this harbour. 

Her owner commented that she was “looking a tad shabby right now but the bones are there to get this back into great vintage condition”. She served originally as the Kelsey family launch, as well as a Butter Boat and School Boat.

WW hopes a new passionate owner is found for SEABIRD – her location, condition and style/configuration will be challenging but these earlier settler launches need preserving.