Category Archives: 1910’s

Woodys Enjoying Their Boats

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Korowai
Silens
Manuroa

Woodys Enjoying Their Boats

We ran a story on the Owen Woolley designed and built launch – Korowai earlier in the week, then ping the inbox sends an alert and Angus Rogers has ‘found’ another photo – its a stunner – great angle, well done Mr Rogers.

Also above from Angus is a photo of the 1912 Harvey & Lang built launch – Silens on route to Te Kouma. Read / see more on Silens here https://waitematawoodys.com/2019/04/22/the-evolution-of-silens/

Lastly we see Manuroa already at Te Kouma – doing what we would all like to do – just hanging out doing nothing. A previous owner of Manuroa believed it may have been built by Bailey & Lowe c.1912, is anyone able to confirm ?

Scotts Landing – photo ex Roger Mills


UPCOMING LONG WOODY WEEKEND

It is less than 2 weeks until Mahurangi weekend – the biggest on-the-water woody event in New Zealand – just check out Rogers Mills drone photo above to get an idea of the turn-out. Almost all of those dinghies are from a wooden boat anchored in the bay. The occasion is the regatta prize giving / BBQ on the Saturday night at Scotts Landing – all welcome, remember to bring a $20 note to buy a copy of the Mahurangi Cruising Club’s brilliant year book – its one of the best boating reads and great value.

On Saturday (30th) morning we have the classic launch parade – more details re times etc closer to the day but please make life easy for the organisers by emailing your name, boat name, and brief description your woody – design, age, length etc to  admin@classicyacht.org.nz
If you’re in Auckland on the Monday (1st) – as part of the Anniversary Day Regatta there will be a classic launch race. Entries for this are now open and you can enter at www.regatta.org.nz It is a handicapped race so everyone has a fair chance of winning some of the great regatta prizes 

Bay of Islands – 2021 Tall Ships Regatta

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BAY OF ISLANDS – 2021 TALL SHIPS TROPHY RACE

The above photo essay from the 2021 (Jan 9th) Russell Boating Club’s Tall Ships regatta were sent in by Dean Wright, as always stunning camera work. Dean commented that there wasn’t much breeze on race day so it was a bit of a dawdle. I’m sure that didn’t dampen the legendary post race festivities ashore.

Dean is a good lad and always tries to include a few launches in the mix, even if its a sailing event. #e like that
The photos of the Colin Wild launch – Wirihana, just go to show that if you are a looker, no matter what you hang off her (SUP/Sailing Dinghy/RIB) – you’ll always be a looker 😉
As always – click on the smaller photos to enlarge.

Phyllis M Goes Topless

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Phyllis M Goes Topless
Back in June 2016, I posted a photo of the launch Phyllis M with rather a large addition to her dog-house, photo below, at the time it created interesting chat re the +/-’s of the addition. Link below https://waitematawoodys.com/2016/06/25/phyllis-m/


Woody Angus Rogers on his summer cruise aboard Centaurus, snapped the above photos of her in Man O War Bay, Waiheke Island. As you can see she is now minus the addition – if the owner contacts me, I’ll drop a WW t-shirt in the post as a thank you 🙂 waitematawoodys@gmail.com


In the previous WW story Harold Kidd advised that Phyllis M was built by Fred Mann at John Street, Ponsonby in December 1919 for himself. After Fred died in 1945 she was sold to Clive Power who renamed her Wainunu. I understand many years later Keith Munro, changed her name back to as launched.


In the second photo below, Angus captured a stunning sunset at MoW – shot with an iPhone 😉

Woody Summer Boating Cruise

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Rakino Island (West Bay on left – Woody Bay on right)
Raindance & Morgana
West Bay, Rakino Island
Marise
Woody Bay Pizzeria – Rakino Island

LIVE ENTERTAINMENT ON RAKINO ISLAND – click to play – the singer, Jennie Cruse is Auckland based and available for hire – 021 266 4330

Liberty
Windhaven II
Marise
Manuroa
Waiari
Raindance @ Garden Cove

GARDEN COVE – 360 deg Video – click to play

WOODY SUMMER BOATING CRUISE
The WW story today is a photo gallery from the 2020/21 holiday period cruise on Raindance, the photos are not always that sharp, it was more like “look there’s one” and I would grab the camera and snap a photo. Click on the smaller photos to enlarge 😉


We mostly mooched around Waiheke and Rakino Islands – had 11 great days afloat, a little blowie at times but tucking away in the right spot with a good book was just what the doctor ordered. Only had 2 hours rain on one day, so can not complain. General observation was that it was quiet in most of the bays. I understand Great Barrier Island was very popular.As always there are a few food pix to break things up. The discovery of a pop-up pizzeria in Woody Bay, Rakino was the culinary highlight of the cruise 🙂


Thanks to help from several woodys sending in photos, we were able to continue the WW stories everyday over the holiday period and the viewing / reading numbers were strong thru-out. I think that one of the few positives from CV-19 is that a lot more people have either upgraded their digital devices or are now more tech savvy and are on-line more often.

Enjoy the photos – the next big woody event will be the Auckland Anniversary long weekend at Mahurangi.

https://waitematawoodys.com/2019/12/01/wooden-boat-bureau-advice-for-buyers-and-sellers/

Summer Boating in the Bay of Islands – Part 2

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Marline
Galerina
Orari II
Serene
Active

Summer Boating in the Bay of Islands – Part 2


Our resident B.O.I. woody – Dean Wright is a star, above is another batch of photos from the Bay of Islands. I was especially rapped to get the top two of Marline, WW readers will know that she spent several months at the end of last year I the shed at The Slipway Milford getting a top-chop. You can read / see more on that at the WW link below. Wonderful to see her back in the bay and with Ken Warne at the helm.

https://waitematawoodys.com/2020/09/14/marline-gets-a-top-chop/

https://waitematawoodys.com/2020/11/25/marline-back-in-the-water/

The very large – Galerina, is looking the sharpest in many a year – well done to whoever is caring for her. Can anyone put a name to the last photo, the launch with the game poles – its something like ‘Hattele’

I have been getting weather reports from back in the city that its been very wet – my garden will be very happy. But I can report that other than 2 hours of light rain on 01-01-2021, its as dry as a crisp. Photo below from Rakino – West Bay on the left and Woody Bay on the right. 
As always if you spot anyone or thing that might appeal to the WW readers, pull the phone out and snap a photo and send in to waitematawoodys@gmail.com

Classic Woody Weekend At Patio Bay – 60+ Classic Wooden Boat Photos

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The Big Winner On The Day – the Duder Family on Spray – 1st Across the Line
A visitor from Hawkes Bay

Classic Woody Weekend At Patio Bay – 60+ Classic Wooden Boat Photos


As you will have come to expect, the first weekend in December sees the CYA hosting the annual Patio Bay weekend, for some reason in recent years its morphed into a potpourri of events – these days its – the CYA Xmas party, a cake competition, a motor boat poker rally and what it always was – a yacht race down to the bay for a old school waterfront BBQ. A little busy these days but it seems to work 🙂

This year was the first visit since the ownership of the property changed hands from the Woolicott family (100+ years) to Mike Mahoney. It was comforting to hear Mike talk of their feature plans that include continuing the event.


New to the programme this year was a poker run rally for the CYA launches. Skippers collect a playing card from 5 collection on route and then play a round of poker ashore to determine the winner. The event was sponsored by The Slipway Milford. Winners below:

First Across The Line – Gay Dawn – Mark & Pricilla MacDuff – Burnsco voucher + wine

Poker Run Winner- Kumi – Hayden & Linda Afford – COMPLIMENTARY SLIPWAY MILFORD HAULOUT + 4L ANTIFOUL PAINT + WW T-SHIRT

Biggest Oops (involuntary swim) – Lucinda – Jason Davies – WW T-shirt

Shoddy Boat Handling Skills – Lucille – Alan Good (wife name withheld as she was innocent) WW T-shirt
A great time was had by all and special thanks must go to everyone that helps pull the weekend together. To me it always signals the start of summer boating.

Yacht Race Results https://classicyacht.org.nz/patio-bay-mark-foy-race-results-2020/


Mahurangi Cruising Club Year Book

Most WW readers will be very familiar with the annual Mahurangi Regatta – the biggest gathering of wooden boats in NZ. The MCC also put together a year book that is a one of the best boating reads each year and perfect for on the boat over xmas. So woodys, if your looking for a self present (always the best) or being asked what you want from the kids – at $20 for 108 pages it’s a steal.

Pre-order a copy here  ngairehopwood@gmail.com Or pick up a copy in store or on-line at BoatBooks

Out With The Old – In With The New

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Out With The Old In With The New

Nathan Herbert’s 1917 Joe Slattery built launch – Pacific, had a serious Jenny Craig session yesterday at Milford – out came the 2758 Ib. Lister (Freedom range) diesel engine, to be replaced with a brand new 992 Ib. 100hp FPT / Iveco (Italian) 4 cylinder diesel. That is a saving of over 800kg, thats like asking the All Black forward pack to get off your boat. I suspect the waterline will need an adjustment 🙂 

As always Jason Prew and The Slipway gang were on hand to help, with expertise and the loan of their Hiab truck to collect the new engine. We look forward to seeing the completed installation and relaid wheelhouse. I suspect we will not see Pacific at the Woody Stillwater picnic next Saturday (26th).

Around The Yards – The Slipway Milford

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L>R Marline, Connie V
Disturber
Lucinda
L>R Lucinda, Disturber
  • Gweneviere
  • Lonestar

Around The Yards – The Slipway Milford


I was passing thru Milford last week, so took the opportunity to drop in on the team at The Slipway (Geoff Bagnall’s yard in a previous life).I can report that I was pleasantly pleased to see so many woodys hauled out and in various stages of repair – from the annual bum clean right thru to major refits.The one that caught my eye the most was the 35’ Leone Warne built launch – Marline, more on her on Monday, I now have so many cool photos from her past.
The woodys below are at the yard, where possible I have included a WW link to see / read more on each one.


The Slipway yard is one of Auckland’s very few ‘railway’ hail out facilities and both deserves and needs the support of the wooden boating community. If we lose yards like this we will be forced to use yards that tend to have equipment designed for big while plastic boats and that are not wooden boat friendly in terms of planked boats. So woodys support the guys that support us. Contact Jason Prew for details on haul out rates and on-site services. jason@slipway.co.nz

Connie V – https://waitematawoodys.com/2019/12/23/connie-v-saved/
Lucinda – https://waitematawoodys.com/2018/09/30/lucinda-4sale/
Disturber – https://waitematawoodys.com/2013/04/19/disturber/
Marline – https://waitematawoodys.com/2013/04/16/marline/
Lonestar – a visitor from Hawkes Bay 😉 more on this project later.
Gweneviere – another visitor from Hawkes Bay and possibly a project.

Arethusa’s New Woody Wheelhouse

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ARETHUSA’s NEW WOODY WHEELHOUSE


Back in late 2019 Arethusa’s Bay of Islands owner Dean Wright, a professional photographer by trade, and well known to WW readers gave me the heads up that the 1917, 33’ Bob Brown built, ex gaff rigged cutter, was in for a treat – a new wheelhouse. Since then I have been pestering Dean on a regular basis for photos, even threatened to drive up and take them myself 🙂 Problem was, the mans a perfectionist and didn’t want to send anything in to WW until it was all shipshape. Well woodys as you can see from the above, its very shipshape, in fact in my eyes – perfect. Well done to the team. I asked Dean to tell use about the project, so I’ll hand over to him. Remember you can enlarge the photos by clicking on them – Enjoy 🙂


“Over the years we’ve got keen on changing Arethusa’s wheelhouse to be more in keeping with her age, so at 102 she’s undergone some cosmetic surgery 🙂

We lost 8″ inches of headroom in wheelhouse when we installed the Gardner, so we’ve gone up in height 6 inches and forward 8 inches and gone for more traditional upright windows fw’d.

Boat builder John Gander did the job in his Waipiro Bay workshop. He started by taking patterns off the existing wheelhouse and fw’d cabin top. He replicated the curve of the fw’d cabin top in ply and built the new wheelhouse around that in six sections. He also laminated the new wheelhouse roof, allowing for a good eyebrow fw’d and a smaller one aft.

John learned his trade at Roger Carey’s yard in Picton in the 60’s and 70’s, where beautiful work boats with great looking wheelhouses were the order of the day. John built one of my favorite Carey designs, Hinewai for his own boat and we’ve replicated her fw’d opening half window on Arethusa. 

Once the wheelhouse was complete, we hauled Arethusa at Ashby’s in Opua and got to work with the skill-saw. In no time we’d reduced her to a convertible. We were lucky for Northland’s drought everything stayed reasonably dry and also that we got everything closed in and back in the water before Covid shut the yard down.

I’m in awe of how boat builders can build something like this away from the boat, then fit the pieces with a minimum of shaping. Fitting and gluing the six sections to the existing house went really smoothly.

The wheelhouse is built from 2″ Iroko. This is the first outside varnish we’ve had on Arethusa, we hand brushed 2 coats of Cetol as a base and six coats of Schooner Yacht Varnish.

Over lock-down, the apprentice made new interior joinery, gone are the Warehouse plastic drawers and chipboard frame 🙂 Moved the batteries under the new bench unit so we can now stand at the wheel. John laminated me up some lovely curved trim for the front of the oven unit. Our old manky plywood dash got an upgrade to kauri and the old wheel got a fright with a good scrub and a varnish.

Outside we made nav light boxes and dorade boxes.  We had to move the aluminium framed front hatch fw’d, a more traditional looking one in Iroko is on the to-do list. The liferings also got a birthday.

Here’s some before and after pics and also some that I hope will give some idea of the process. Thanks John for all your incredibly skilled design and build work, we’re really stoked with it.

We’re always keen to learn more of Arethusa’s history, especially the 1955-2000 period in the South Island. If you have any stories we’d love to hear them.”

Links to previous WW stories on Arethusa
https://waitematawoodys.com/2019/12/11/arethusa-new-wheelhouse-project/
https://waitematawoodys.com/2017/12/31/restoring-installing-a-gardner-in-arethusa-revisited/
https://waitematawoodys.com/2013/11/01/arethusa-winsome/

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Nautilus

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NAUTILUS


Today’s woody story features the launch Nautilus, and the above photo of her on the Avon- Heath Estuary and details come to us via Lew Redwood.  She was built in Auckland c.1912 for Frederick  Horace  Edwin Chester. It is alleged the boat was involved in war work  during WW1 and then sold to a Harry Nelson Hawker who established a passenger service from the Seaview Road Bridge to Pleasant Point, Canterbury, which lasted 10 years.

There is a large void in her history from the late 1920’s until she was acquired by Allan Williams in 1994 and under went a rolling restoration over 17 years before being donated to Auckland’s maritime museum in 2011, where she now earns her keep doing inner harbour tourist cruises, photo below. 

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Read more here https://waitematawoodys.com/2016/08/11/nautilus-2/