Category Archives: 1910’s

Woodys Classic Clevedon Cruise Report – Sept 2022 – 50+ Photos

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6.45am – The Start
The magic hour for boat photography
Heading up the river
Dave Giddens – Auctioneer Supremo

WOODYS CLASSIC CLEVEDON CRUISE REPORT – Sept 2022

Just back from a near perfect weekend cruising with a great bunch of classic wooden boat enthusiasts, up the Wairoa River to the Clevedon Cruising Club for an overnight shindig. 

The weekend had all the right ingredients – great weather, cool boats, nice people + mouth-watering food, that always = a winner. Todays photo gallery comes to us from my cameras and Jason Prew’s new out of the box iPhone 14 Pro (I need one, I’m buying one).

By now regular WW readers will be familiar with the format of the weekend – we meet off the entrance to the Wairoa River and then weave our way up river to the Clevedon Cruising Club. The flotilla berths at the CCC dock, in front of their clubhouse, then we ‘open’ the boats for club member to view. Happy hour tends to start early up the river, and this weekend it was even earlier. Later in the day we retire to the clubrooms for a shared BBQ dinner, and live music.

This year the club organised a number of raffles and a mystery auction – the club and Woodys collectively raised over $3,500 for the new fuel jetty. Well done to everyone involved – I indirectly won a new bilge pump (my cabin boy, bid on a mystery package and one of the included items was the pump – and my bonus – he doesn’t own a boat)

Boats participating in the cruise were – Allergy, Awariki, Lady Clare, Lady Ellen, Merita, Mokoia, My Girl, Ngaio, Ngarimu, Raindance, Smooth Operator, Trinidad, Waikaro.

I’ll let the photos tell the story. Below are two videos which highlight the two extremes of classic wooden craft – Raindance at 7.5 knots and Jason Prew’s – My Girl, doing est. 24 knots 🙂 Thanks to Jason and Ant Smit for the footage.

As always – click on photos to enlarge 😉 ENJOY. Details on more Woodys Classic events below.

Ps that dessert plate wasn’t mine and I’m too nice a person to name the owner…… and equally no story as to why there is a photo of a skipper dipping wet on his duck board 🙂

Raindance
My Girl

Alberta – A Peek Down Below

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ALBERTA – A Peek Down Below

During my annual jaunt to the Lake Rotoiti Classic & Wooden Boat Parade one of the woodys that always catches my eye is the 28’6” classic launch – Alberta, designed and built in 1913 by HN Burgess in Parnell, Auckland.

I have featured her on WW twice, WW links below, there is lots of older photos and details there.

Now thanks to Ian McDonald and a tme listing we get to see down below.

WW 2014 Story https://waitematawoodys.com/2014/05/30/alberta/

WW 2016 Story https://waitematawoodys.com/2016/08/28/kiakoa-alberta-1923-summer-cruise/

Lapwing

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LAPWING

Todays woody is the Bailey & Lowe 1915 built launch – Lapwing. Her specs are 26’ x 6’6” and in the above b/w photo she was powered by a 17-25hp Sterling engine that gave her a very impressive speed of 12 knots. Her original owner was Capt. J Davies and the photo comes to us from a supplement to The NZ Yachtsman – May 22, 1915 via Lew Redwood’s fb.

Lapwood is my marina ’neibour’ and I took the bottom photo on Sunday, sadly she very rarely leaves her berth.

Below is a link to a WW story on her from March 2013.

Lapwing

INPUT EX PAUL DRAKE – LAPWING was a Taupo ‘hire’ boat for a number of years from1929. She was brought to the lake from Rotorua by Englishman Donald Hunt, who had arrived in Taupo in the early 1920’s. He was a mechanic who also had dinghies for hire, and who became the agent for Johnson outboards – he supplied a Johnson Sea Horse to our grandfather in 1928, an outboard which we still have and which is still operational. Later he was also the agent for Gray Marine and supplied the engines for PIRI PONO when she was returned to Taupo with a damaged engine after WW2, when she saw service with the RNZAF at Hobsonville, Auckland. LAPWING was renamed PANDORA after an incident which left her reputation a little tarnished. With bow pushed up on a beach in typical Taupo style, a number of passengers proceeded to move towards the bow on the same side, whereupon LAPWING took a severe list and deposited said passengers overboard. Reputation being everything, LAPWING was no more, but PANDORA went on to be a popular hire boat! Donald Hunt eventually progressed to SUNBEAM (now in Tauranga as SEA BREEZE). PANDORA continued at Taupo for some years as a private boat, before disappearing from view.

Norana

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NORANA

The 40’ launch Norana was designed by Joseph Gillanders and built in 1913 by Miller Bros at Port Chalmers for Charles William Sundstrum. She had a beam of 9’ and draw 3’6″.

Sundstrum was a Dunedin dentist who was a key figure in Dunedin yachting circles for many years. His first launch was the 31’ clinker double-ender Valmai of 1910 which had a Dunedin-built 5hp Viking engine. He raced her with the Otago Yacht Club including one of their Ocean races to Timaru.

He replaced Valmai in 1913 with Norana, which had a 16-18hp Jersey Standard marine engine, that gave Norma a cruising speed of 8 3/4 knots. He sold her to Arthur Brett of Auckland in 1927. During WWII she was taken over by the RNZAF and sent to Fiji for towing work.

In the top photo that appeared in a supplement to The NZ Yachtsman, June 5th, 1915, ex Lew Redwood fb, Sundstrum was the then Rear Commodore of the Otago Yacht & Motor Boat Club.

In the bottom photo which appeared on WW back in Sept 2015 as part of a story on the launch Thetis. Sundstrum sold Norana and had J McPherson, Dunedin, build Thetis for him. Thetis measured 35’1” x 8’1” x 2’9” and was launched in 1929. A serious speed machine – as launched she was good for 18 knots. During the war years with a bigger engine, that speed increased to 26+ knots – read / see more at this link https://waitematawoodys.com/2015/09/07/thetis/

Thanks to Harold Kidd for the back story 🙂

Balaena – 110 Year Old Ex Whale Chaser

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Balaena – 110 Year Old Ex Whale Chaser

Last Sundays Country Calendar programme on TV1 featured an amazing Marlborough family that have owned the 1912 built – Balaena for 62 years. These days Balaena has two lives – family cruiser and work boat servicing the families mussel farm. It is a great story going back to when they farmed Forsyth Island and then almost by default became mussel farmers. 

Enjoy the programme, amazing scenery and inspirational people – thanks to John Burland for sending in the video.

LAST CALL FOR WOODYS WANTING TO ATTEND THE CLEVEDON OVERNIGHT CRUISE ON SEET 17>18 – Limit On Numbers – Details below RSVP TO waitematawoodys@gmail.com

Woody Classic Gatherings

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WOODY CLASSIC BOATING 2022 – 2023 CALENDAR
Time to get the pencil out and circle a few dates in the calendar. Our 2022 > 2023 classic woody events focus equally on the boats and the people – its all about getting off the marina and meeting up with like minded people.
As always, some dates may change and the weather is always a factor – but as the dates approach we will be in touch with more details.

Please feel free to share the calendar with your classic friendly boating enthusiasts. Where tide and draft permits – woody cruising yachts are always welcome to join in, so also share with the stick and rag woodys 🙂

AND TO ENSURE YOU GET A WOODY FIX TODAY – CLICK THE LINK BELOW  Video footage from the 2022 Moreton Bay Classic (thank you Andrew Christie)

1912 Kauri Launch – Dreadnaught

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1912 Kauri Launch – Dreadnaught

We all know the correct answer when some asks “does my behind look big in these jeans” well in the same vein someone needs to tell the owner of the above launch not to use a wide angle lens for the hero shot 🙂

Putting that aside today’s woody according to her tme listing (thanks Ian McDonald) has a great back story – built in 1912 by the daughter of John Geard, the Geard family were early pioneers in the South Island. In fact the mother was the first English woman settler in the South Island. The family were whalers in the Marlborough area.

The launch is 46’ in length and built from kauri. Her engine is a 1950, 60hp Cummings diesel.

An interesting mix of design styles on display – it states that she s a ‘dreadnought’ design, not sure what that means – dreadnought is mostly connected to early 1900 battleships and more modern day submarines. 

The challenge would be to keep as is or get the tungsten tipped chainsaw out and start again. 

Can we put a name to the boat and learn more about her?

INPUT EX CAMERON POLLARD – Named Dreadnaught. Owned by the Gaurd family for most of the century. 43 ft long, 4cyl Ford engine. Largely original – photos below

Raiona – A Peek Down Below

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RAIONA – A Peek Down Below

Last week we featured the relaunch of the 48’, 1919, Joe Slattery built launch – Raiona, after a 2 year refit at the Colin Brown / Josh Hawke yard. Today thanks to her owners we get to have a gander down below. Launching story link below – https://waitematawoodys.com/2022/07/09/raiona-relaunch/

The ’new’ decor (can I use the word when describing a classic woody?) really lightens the interior up and the varnished woodwork is magnificent. Well done to everyone that rubbed up against her during the last two years – below is a shot of Raiona leaving the yard, on-route to relaunching.

Norman R Wright & Sons – Boatbuilders

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Norman R Wright & Sons – Boatbuilders

The Norman R Wright & Sons began building boats in Brisbane Australia in 1916 and are still operational today – building almost anything that floats – tenders to Superyachts.

To celebrate the 110th anniversary the yard launched a very cool interactive website that allows you to select the vessels that most interest you eg motor boats / timber – you can then slide across a time line to narrow the search to a particular period  – then if you click on a vessel, it opens up to display more info on it . Link Below – have a play, its slightly addictive 🙂 https://www.wrightsons.com.au/archives/app/

Raiona Relaunch

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July 2020
July 2022

RAIONA RELAUNCHED

The double-ender Raiona or Alcestis as see was called when launched in 1919 , was built by Joe Slattery. She would have to be a contender for the most appearances on WW, mainly due to the wonderful photographic collection ex the H.D. Guthrie collection from the early 1900’s. Search both boat names in the WW Search Box to read and see more.

Almost exactly two years ago (July 2020) the new owner of Raiona hauled her out and trucked her off to Colin Brown and Josh Hawke’s – ‘Kauri Classics’ boat yard for a birthday. 

We will cover the extent of the work in another story – today is about celebrating the relaunch of Raiona and to step back and admire the craftsmanship of Colin and Josh.

Photo below taken in 2018 prior to Raiona changing hands – it was never a dull day when Raiona was in your bay 🙂

B/W photo below ex Graham Guthrie shows Alcestis in the 1920>30’s period when owned by the Guthrie Family