The passage of life sometimes is a tad scary – recently I have been doing several stories based around Whangaroa Harbour in the Far North and yesterday the phone rings and one of the last standing relatives has passed on – and where is the funeral – Whangaroa, so tomorrow the car will be pointing north. These events are never good but in her mid 90’s, it will be a celebration of life.
Anyway moving on to todays story – thanks to a Lew Redwood fb post we get to see a c.1931 photo gallery of the launch – Ethel in / around Whangaroa Harbour, in her big game fishing heyday. Regular WW readers will known my personal views on this heinous practice – one photo is tagged ‘Mako shark being killed with a spade’. Ok its not a spade, but seriously how barbaric is that.
(Photos ex The British Museum collection)
Get a Wee Bit Excited About The Upcoming Mahurangi Regatta – next weekend – Jan 28th.
In the above March 1932 photo we see the launch Valhalla alongside the wharf at the Whangaroa Swordfish and Big Gamefish Club in Northland.
Two very impressive Mako sharks are being weighed in – must have been a hell of a battle to land that pair in a boat the size of Valhalla 🙂
I’m a bit light on intel on Valhalla – can we learn more on her?
(Photo ex Lew Redwood fb)
INPUT ex Greg Philpott – below press clippings. I wonder if she survived the fire i.e. rebuilt.
WEDNESDAY WOODY QUIZ – Win WW t-shirt + a Lake Rotoiti Classic & Wooden Boat Calendar
⎈ Name the boat yard and location (approx) in the photo below – and your are in the draw for a WW t-shirt + LRC&WB calendar. ENTRY ONLY VIA EMAIL TO THE ADDRESS BELOW (entries close 6pm 18-01-2023
Todays photo, dated 1938 by Tudor Collins ex the Auckland Museum via Glen Ngapuhi and Len Redwood fb shows several launch off the wharf at the Whangaroa Swordfish & Big GameFish Club.
Can we attempt to name the boats L>R? My contributions – I think of the two dark hulled craft, stern in, the one on the right (middle) is Ethel.
INPUT EX NATHAN HERBERT – These game fishers are the Marlin, the Rosemary and the Wanderer II
Woody On Wheels
Last year on fb John Bertenshaw posted the photo below of a 1963 woody MGB , photo taken at the 60th anniversary of the MGB model.
Classic Woody Summer Cruising – A Game Of Two Halves
Happy New Year Woodys – WW is back ‘live’ so no more oops boating photos 🙂
On Saturday when I was reviewing and editing the above photos I struggled to believe that we had a xmas/ny cruise, but as they say the truth is in the photos 🙂
I decided to break todays story into two parts:
1. Raindance related
2. Woodys Out & About
Mostly from my camera but assisted by Barbara Cooke (Bay of Islands), Mark Edmonds (Waiheke), Russell Ward, Jason Prew (upper harbour) and Alan Gilder (Woody Bay Rakino)
Raindance’s cruise / tiki tour mainly consisted of bouncing between Rakino Island and Waiheke Island. Left on 27 Dec and the weather was just stunning with crystal clear, warm water. On 01 Jan the forecast was starting to look very average and most concerning was all 3 weather platforms that I follow were saying the same thing. So early morning on 02 Jan we made the call to up anchor and head home. Turns out that was a good call because for the next 5+ days if it wasn’t raining it was drizzling non-stop + ugly seas and high winds.
So woodys the second half of our planned cruise was sent at home enjoying good food, wine, movies and watching almost every wooden / classic boating video on YouTube.
Very grateful we had 6 days of great weather before we pulled the pin. As an old salt told me once – when it comes to happy family boating – better to have a handful of fabulous days than an abundance of average days – very sage advise.
Enjoy the gallery.
UPCOMING ON-THE-WATER WOODY EVENTS
Circle the calendar:
28 January – Mahurangi Regatta launch parade – more details closer to the day
25 February – Stillwater Picnic + Dockside Raft-Up – more details closer to the day
Sometimes its faith based, sometimes its via loved ones and other times its from friends – what ever activated the aha moment, let’s just be grateful it happened.
The 1930, LC Coulthard built launch Lucinda was recently hauled out at the Slipway Milford for some annual TLC, which included a new paint colour for the coamings. I was asked by the owner last week for my view of the colour – I was honest and polite and relied
1. It’s your boat, paint it what ever colour you want
2. Its only paint, change it next time if you go off it
3. Are you prepared to be that boat e.g. when someone asks another boatie where in the bay they are moored , the answer will always be ‘ to the left of that red boat and 2 back’.
Well there was an intervention and we have another colour scheme – each to their own opinion but it gets my tick 😉
Well done Jason D for making the decision to order more paint 🙂
Woody John Dawson recently saw the launch – Wakaiti advertised on tme and she popped on a search on fb and John sent in the above photos.John commented that he believes she was built c.1922 by Dick Lang. The look of her hull supports this, but in the photos above ex Mark Powell we see her being relaunched post a rebuild at the Chas Bailey & Son yard in Auckland. The work was done for Mark’s father Bill Powell.
Rumour has it she may have started life as a work boat in the Mahurangi area, would like confirmation of this and if anyone can add to her life story that would be great.
Make Sure You Grab A Copy Of NZ Life & Leisure magazine (Jan/Feb issue) Impressive 8 page article on the 1935, Arch Logan / Colin Wild built classic yacht – TAWERA.
Stunning photos and stellar words from Mike Mahoney e.g. ’There’s a joy and purity in sailing these boats that is hard to explain. Perhaps it is being at one with nature , on the water, driven just by the wind.’ At $12.50 it will be the most inexpensive, feel good moment you have this summer 🙂
Todays woody story features the Dick Lang built launch – Lady Margaret. And comes to us from Bruce Papworth – I’ll let Bruce tell the story (minor edits) The photos are from the Ted Clark photo album, taken by Tudor Collins
“I was a personal friend of William A Clark (Ted ). Ted had this boat built in 1938 at a cost of 13,000 Pounds, a lot of money in those days. I have written this to fill in a number of gaps in the history of the Lady Margaret named after his wife.
Like Johnny Birch I had a number of trips away on this boat with his grandfather Joe Birch and Ted and can still remember them well. Up until Ted sold the boat due to poor health at the time to Jim & Nancy Francises. Nancy France as young girl and pre marriage to Jimmy would also go away for weekend with Ted & Margaret as they had no children of their own, they enjoyed having young people aboard. Even though more than once the odd tea pot got lost over board when helping out.
Lady Margaret was loaned to Navy (NAPS # Q08) for the duration of the war and Ted joined the Navy as its Captain. Margaret his wife ran his business, Clark Potteries, which manufactured earthenware Clay pipes for sewage systems. He told me that they never refused an order to sail even though other boats did due to the weather. Not every day was a calm day over that period you just go. Based In Whangarei they would cover the area between Whangarei and Leigh out as far as Great barrier with trips often to the radar station on the Mokohinau Islands he told me.
The boat had two Fairbanks morse engines fitted when new, later being replaced by two Foden’s in the early 1960’s. She was armed with a Bren gun on pedestal on the roof of the wheel house and on the stern where two depth charges. The Bren gun was often test fired at the goats on the cliffs of miner’s head Great Barrier. Ted said he had the fuses for the depth charges set to maximum as if we rolled one off the stern we would not be far enough away if it went off.
At the end of the war the Navy returned the Lady Margaret having restored her back to her pre war state. New paint and varnish job top and bottom as its colour was a grey colour like Many of the Navy vessels of the time.
The interior of the boat has changed since the sale from Jimmy Frances – in the bow were 4 bunks, then a bulk head to a toilet and wash room (no shower ) either side and another bulk head up a couple of steps to the wheel house beneath where the twin Foden’s and to one side a Stewart Turner generator.
Lady Margaret was fitted in those days with an auto- pilot (Bendix brand), around the spokes of the helm, Ted had fitted a stainless band around the outside of wheel, this was to stop you getting thrown to the floor when the auto pilot was engaged as if a spoke grabbed you in the pocket of your pants you would end up on the floor. In those days the helm had an electric motor driving the chain to the shaft of the rudder
From the bulk head of the wheel house you went down two steps and the galley on one side where the sink and small oven sat. Across from the galley on the opposite side was a large heat absorption refrigerator then another bulk head into the main cabin and in the middle of the main cabin sat a folding island table, underneath the table were the biscuit tins. The seating either side could sleep four, moving towards the stern two cupboards one either side that contained the wet weather gear and the outboard motor for the dinghy, on the stern there where two davits .
There was no landing tuck on the stern in those day Jimmy Frances added that in his time .
Memories are made from the people you have known and the things you do together.”
Recent photos below of Lady Margaret – looking very regal
UPDATE 26-07-2023 LADY MARGARET – NAVAL REQUISITION 2.2.1942 EX FACEBOOK P. BUDDLE via K Ricketts
Following on from last Mondays story where we shared Dean Wright’s recent Southern trip and a gallery of photos from the Havelock marina todays photo gallery comes to us from the Waikawa marina. Some stunning woodys and remember – click on photos to enlarge 😉
A lot of woodys that are new to WW and they will morph into WW stories in their own right.
Enjoy 🙂
13-12-2022 INPUT EX MARK MCLAUGHLIN
The big bridgedecker with 4 ports is RAHEMO (launched as Strathmore), built by Dick Lang.
Others I can positively identify are (from the top):
VECA (Arthur Sang)
VAGABOND (Joe Jukes)
?
?
?
RAHEMO/STRATHMORE (Dick Lang)
HUNTRESS (possibly McManaway designed/built?)
VARUA (Bob Swanson)
OSPREY (Harold Saunders)
PALOMINO (Bob Swanson)
TOANUI (Roger Carey)
Yacht ANNA JANE (?)
NUKUMEA (American “Bartender” design by George Calkins)
YVONNE (Bob Swanson)
PEARL (?)
Unknown fishing boat
KATOOMBA (Dorman Engineering, Nelson – not wood, built in Corten Steel!!)
Unknown (possibly Bruce Askew?)
CORYLUS (Bruce Askew)
TAREPO (launched TAREPA)
ARCTURUS (McGeady)
? (looks like a McManaway or Morgan fishing boat design?)
? (under the covers)
CRISTINA (Athol Burns)
PURUATANGA (launched as MARIANJO)
Most of these have featured previously on WW, so a quick look in the search bar will glean more details if interested.
Back in late October 2022 Dean Wright was in Blenheim attending John Gander’s significant birthday, all birthdays are significant but the ones with ‘0’s’ in them are more significant.
While down south Dean did some marina mooching and todays photo gallery comes to us from the Havelock marina. Nice to see a couple of our bigger northern woodys now safely tucked way down south – Turongo and Durville. Sad to lose them from the Waitemata but if we were keeping score I think we win more than we lose 🙂
A lot of craft unknown to WW and will probably morph into WW stories in their own right. As always click on photos to enlarge.
One of my southern woody spies – John Burland, has just has returned to NZ after summering over in Germany (he lives there, well at least in the northern summer).
Not long after unpacking the bags he was heading down to the Riwaka riverside marina, close to Motueka, Tasman. As the photos show the area is seriously tidal and John’s visit was at low water.
While John commented that the photos were of the usual suspects, it always good to see what’s normally hidden.
In the photos we see Varlene getting some TLC, as an aside looking at the finish on Varlene’s rail and the tin – it looks like at last Cetol is an ok finish – used to be a horrendous orange/yellow colour, similar to what actor George Hamilton used to use as fake tan (photo below)
13-12-2022 UPDATE – ex John Burland – more photos below, and yes the tides still out 🙂
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