Category Archives: 1910’s

A Woody 100th Birthday

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A Woody 100th Birthday

I mentioned last Friday that on Sunday, Sierra the 1917 Joseph Fell designed & built motorboat would be celebrating her 100th birthday at the Panmure Motor Boat & Yacht Club.
Sierra’s owner Dennis Christopher (photo above) must have bribed the weather gods because the weekend was probably the best this year for classic motor boats. We made the decision to head to the Waiheke Island area on Saturday & then head over to Panmure on Sunday afternoon for the birthday party. Never made the party – see below.
Thanks to Baden Pascoe for the above photos & after speaking with Baden I can report that nearly 100 people turned up to celebrate the occasion, including members of the Fell family & the Andrews family (previous owners).
Its great to see these old work boats still being actively used & presented so well – I love the ‘beard’ on Sierra in the photo above.

Now the reason I didn’t make the party was Raindance had a mechanical oops, the 1st in 10 years that I have not been able to fix & we had to call Coast Guard for a tow. Hats off to the CC crew from Matiatia, Waiheke Island – they were on the scene pronto & had us back at Bayswater faster than I could have under her on steam 🙂 In fact the bottom probably got a good clean 😉
I spent Sunday morning cleaning 10+L of oil from the bilge – not my idea of a fun day.
A call to James Mobberley at Moon Engines will be top of the to-do list today.

(too many other classics out on the harbour to keep this below the radar – thanks guys for the txt’s 🙂  )

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There is always a silver lining – after we got home, decided to have a bbq & put a match to the lounge fire, first of the year.

Lane ‘Bridge-decker’

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LANES BRIDGEDECK LAUNCH

Given the recent debate on ww as to what constitutes a bridge-decker, today’s boat has the potential to have a major identity crisis 🙂 But if we park the owners trademe description & just take the boat on face value, she a pretty looking classic wooden launch.

Built by Lanes Boatbuilders in 1915, she is 30′ in length & built with carvel kauri planks & her decks are plyed / glassed.
Her owner has had her for 20 years & uses her regularly. Back in 2000>2003 she had a total refit (refer above photos).
Zoom zoom is via a Standard 23C engine, which is an early (1958) 35hp Massey Fergusson 4 cylinder, 2200cc. This easily sees her cruising at her hull speed & 7 knots is a comfortable speed without pushing anything too hard.
I like this classic & at $26k she would make a very affordable entry into classic wooden boating. Spend a few dollars & she could be made very special.

Sorry no name – so the question, as always 😉 woodys is, who is she & what do we know about her?

Lady Eva

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LADY EVA
or the continuing saga of ODIN / OVODIN

In yesterdays post there was considerable debate around the name of the stranded motor boat. Woody, Baden Pascoe strongly debated the case that the vessel was Odin. He commented
“It is easy to see many features of Odin that mirror those of Lady Eva (both built at Whangarei) e.g. side deck rails, shear chocks, towing hook mast mounted, wheel house. Why would you not copy the greatest towing launch of her time? I would. When Lady Eva was launched in 1913, she was the talk of New Zealand, she had a modern 120 English diesel of 120 h.p and many good features of towing launches of the time. The towing hook mounted on the missen mast was what they did in those days, but having a towing point so high is a lethal thing – great way to “gurt” a tug (tow comes along side, pulls and over goes the tug).”

In the above photo we see a scale model of the Lady Eva, built by the hands of master craftsman Bruce Tantrum (love the calendar in the background Bruce 😉 )- to view more of Bruce’s work here https://waitematawoodys.com/2013/03/27/bruce-tantrum-artisan-model-boatbuilder/  and here  http://www.btmodelboats.com/
For comparison I have included below (again) a Odin/Ovodin photo. What do we think woodys? , scroll down to yesterdays posts, read the comments & tell us your thoughts.

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Alwyn – A peek down below

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ALWYN – A Peek Down Below
I’m told Alwyn was built by Arch Logan in c.1911/12. These days she is moored in Picton & owned by Derek Stocks, who bought her about 6 months ago at Taupo, & took her to Wellington by road, & sailed her to Picton. She may have spent less than 2 years on the lake. (photos were sourced by ken ricketts)

You can see more of her exterior / read more about her provenance at the link below  – unlike a lot of classics that claim Logan DNA , this one is the real deal 🙂   https://waitematawoodys.com/2013/11/23/severn/

MV Mavis

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M.V. MAVIS

Mavis started life back 1918 as a Lanes 40′ trawler. Fast forward to 2004 when she had a  major refit that included –  hull refastened and splined, new decks and cabin, new  John Deere 150HP engine and re-wired. Given that she was recently in MNZ survey, she is very highly spec’ed and looks like she could handle just about anything that mother nature could throw at her. Thanks to Ian McDonald for the heads up re the trademe listing.

Do we know anything more about her past?

09-04-2023 Update ex Alistair Rowe – I spotted Mavis on a mooring in Whatamango Bay – roughly 8km East from Waikawa.- looks to have found a good home.

Yesterdays story on the Classic Launch Parade just got better – more photos ex Jason Prew added, scroll down to view.

Aussie 18′ Racing Woodys – Sailing Sunday

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Aussie 18′ Racing Woodys – Sailing Sunday

Robin Elliott sent me the above link to a very cool video that Australian Ian Smith has just put up on-line of how he built a replica of the 1919 traditional seam-batten Sydney 18 footer – Britannia in 2001-2002. Its approx 15min long & covers from lofting to launch > sailing. Great footage & a good commentary.

Robin also shared the link below to the ‘The Open Boat’ website which is a treasure trove of videos on the Australian small wooden sailing world. Do not blame me if your still watching it hours later 🙂

http://www.openboat.com.au/videos.html

CYA 2017 Classic Regatta
I snapped a few quick photos, below, yesterday while I was heading over to Westhaven to fuel up & then decided to pop in at Regatta HQ for a cleansing ale. More photos tomorrow from the Regatta’s classic woody launch parade &  lunch cruise to Riverhead Hotel. If you are out & about this morning & want to see the fine collection of classic woody launches, we will be passing in front of the RNZYS at approx. 10.30am.

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Mananui

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MANANUI

I was contacted recently by Greg McNabb looking for info / photos on his & wife Maria’s ex pilot boat Mananui. From what Greg knows / has been told – she was built in 1913 by Harvey & Lang. Greg’s grandfather & father bought her (ex Whitianga) in 1973. She is powered by a 120hp D series Ford and has been for the last 50 years or so, although rebuilt.
The ‘old’ photo of her sitting on the grid was taken in Whitianga on the day the family purchased her. She was originally commissioned by Edward Parish and back then named ‘Heare Mai’.

From the above photos we can see that Greg has done a wonderful  refit on her. These days her home port is Tauranga.
So woodys can we shed any light on her life pre. 1973?

Photo below at Sulphur Point Marina, Tauranga ex Paul Drake

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Marangi – Sailing Sunday + CYA Events Update

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MARANGI – Sailing Sunday
The photo above of Marangi is ex the September 1910 edition of the NZ Yachtsman magazine, sent to me by Ken Ricketts.
The photo (9/10/1910)is just prior to her launch in Auckland, where she was built at the Le Huquet yard. She possibly went to Wellington. Can any of the woodys enlighten us on her details & history?

A Little Boat Porn
Check out this video of Rosemary III, designed by William Fife III & built in 1925 by William Fife Fairlie. waterline length is 25′ (38’6″ overall) with a 8’6″ beam. The video shows hr sailing in Falmouth, UK in early December 2017, post a very sympathetic restoration by a relative of William Fife III. For sale for NZD$520k – makes the Logan – Little Jim, a steal for around 25% that price – enter Little Jim in the ww search box for details.
Enjoy 🙂

CYA Event Updates – Update Your Diaries

Don’t always believe what you read – 🙂 there have been several changes to the CYA launch / cruising calendar.

  1. Firstly next Saturdays (18/02) lunch cruise to the Riverhead hotel has been cancelled. But there is a replacement event – an overnight raft-up at Fairway Bay (Gulf Harbour), we did this once before & it was a lot of fun. Note there is a tight window for entering & leaving the basin (gate/boom) so refer copy of CYA newsletter below for details.
  2. March 3>5 is the dates for the CYA Yacht Regatta, this year on the final day (5th) there will be a Launch Parade, just prior to a cruise to the Riverhead hotel.Full details in the newsletter below.

RSVP for these events to    admin@classicyacht.org.nz

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Lake Rotoiti Classic & Wooden Boat Parade 2017 – 160+ photos

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Lake Rotoiti Classic & Wooden Boat Parade 2017 – 160+ photos

Another stunning long weekend weather wise & also on the woody front – this weekend I was down at Lake Rotoiti (Nth Island) for the annual classic & wooden boat parade. Holding hands again on the trip with Chris Miller. For the last few years we have positioned our selves in one shore based spot & snapped the boats as they have passed, this year we were very kindly offered the use of a RHIB to get out on the water & get amongst the fleet. The RHIB was provided by LRC&WB Association Rear Commodore Fraser Wilson, Fraser deserves a lot of credit for the above photos 🙂 . Given that CM is a professional photographer we decided that I would be the boat boy & helm the boat & CM would snap the photos, that was a good call because he is rather good 🙂
Being afloat meant that we could get a lot closer to the boats & the crews. So woodys the photos above are CM’s & below are a few of mine + a collection that I took while ashore for the post parade picnic.
I was asked to judge the awards for 7 categories, these awards are highly contested as they are only handed out every 5 years. The winners are featured at the end of todays story.
I would also like to like thank LRC&WB Commodore Grant Cossey for his help & support & as always the LRC&WB Secretary & event registrar – Rachel Jamieson, who is the real hero of this event & the association.
You can also view more on the event at CM’s blog – http://www.buggeritweareoff.com
Remember to click on photos to enlarge. Enjoy – we did 😉
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20th Lake Rotoiti Classic & Wooden Boat Parade 2017 Winners
BEST ORIGINAL WOODEN BOOT – CARVEL
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BEST ORIGINAL CLASSIC BOAT – WILD HORSES
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BEST CONVERSION – PIKO
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BEST DECORATED BOAT – HAUMOANA
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BEST DRESS CREW – ALBERTO
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BEST REPRODUCTION – SUZY Q
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MOST QUIRKY – MAGGIE
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Rosemary M – A peek down below

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Rosemary M – A peak down below

Rosemary M has appeared numerous times on ww in various ‘states’, in todays photos she is looking very smart, possibly the best she has in her 102 year life.
She was built in 1915 by Lanes & named Rothesay, which became Maude T, that became Speedwell, that became Jean, that became Rosemary M. No wonder we get confused on the provenance of these classic motor boats 🙂

As a result of her trademe listing we get to have a peek down below, again very impressive.  Enjoy the tour 🙂

If the weekend has gone to plan, tomorrow there will be coverage from the Mahurangi Regatta – the biggest on-the-water classic boating event in NZ.
I promise lots & lots of photos.

If anyone has photos from either Mahurangi or yesterdays Auckland Anniversary Day Regatta – email in to waitematawoodys@gmail.com.

New photos added 16-11-2017

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