Category Archives: 1930’s

Ex 1930’s Pilot Boat

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Ex 1930’s PILOT BOAT 

Todays woody was built by L C Coulthard, Onehunga in 1931 for the New Plymouth Harbour Board. Not sure of her name, possibly still called – ‘Pilot’ 36’ in length, these days she resides in Houhora, at the top of the North Island.

Interested to learn more about her and what powers her these days, looks like she could get along with that hull.

Photo below as launched. The photos come to us from John Dawson ex Graeme Kearney fb.

INPUT ex Paul Nattrass –

“Launch Pilot ” was her surveyed name but even more simply “Pilot ^ call sign.
Back in the early to mid 90s I was working for Sea-Tow Ltd barging coal into New Plymouth and said to the senior pilot that I would like to buy her he said that I would never get the opportunity, someone from the port would get her. however couple years later in a tender I made sure that I did just to prove him wrong.
The late Graeme Wigg and I steamed her round the top to Houhora
Had a 4 cylinder ford that I later changed to a 6.
The Capital Gbox 2:1 bolted straight on.
Has been a great predictable little work vessel that has taken on the new role of game boat with distinction that “Sucks up the fish”

A TEASE RE SOME OF SATURDAYS TREASURE SHOWING UP AT THE SLIPWAY MILFORD WOODY BOAT BOOT SALE – 10AM @ 5 OMANA ROAD MILFORD – CASH ONLY

Mystery Miller & Tunnage – Tuatea

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TUATEA – Miller & Tunnage

If we believe her tme listing todays woody ws built in 1936 by Miller and Tunnage.

36’ in length she has a 60hp BMC diesel that gets her along at a top speed of 11.5 knots.

Home is Whangarei in the north and that woodys is all me know about her – can we put a name to her and expand on her past.

Heads up on Saturdays Woody Boat Boot Sale at The Slipway Milford yard – we have some serious collectors of marine ‘stuff’ dusting off their lockers so should be some treasure up for sale – remember CASH ONLY.

INPUT ex Paul Drake – The boat is TUATEA. Photos below of her on the Paremata Harbour in the 1980’s. I was told that she was Miller and Tunnage, about 1925. She was a Lyttelton boat, and went to Picton after I photographed her. Subsequently, while on her Ivy Bay (Paremata) mooring, she was struck by lightning and required extensive rebuilding. Whoever rebuilt her did a magnificent job. She re appeared at Seaview Marina, Wellington. Interesting that she is now in Whangarei.  She appeals to me because she is a straight stemmer (nearly), has a full length sweeping belting, is low wooded, has port holes, and has a mast! What more could you want. Note that she is clearly not a double ender.

25-11-2022 INPUT ex Harold Kidd – TUATEA was designed and built by Jas. McPhersoin of Dunedin for Jack Hudson of Cadbury, Fry, Hudson chocolate manufacturers in late 1930.Hudson moved to Christchurch and took TUATEA with him, basing TUATEA at Lyttelton. There were various statements that she was built by Miller & Tunnage and even by J. Miller Ltd of Lyttelton, but not so. Original engine a 30hp Thornycroft. In NAPS as Z124 1942-4 skipper Magnus Smith.

Woodys Classic Beach Picnic Review + Open Boat

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Woodys Classic Beach Picnic Review

On Sunday we held a woodys gathering ashore on Motuihe Island – trip down was commonly described as ‘lumpy’, except for the large woodys skippers who just smiled.

The bonus of a lumpy passage was almost zero trailer craft or pwc’s, so had the beach to ourselves. Very sheltered and sunny afternoon – always good to catch up with other woody owners and swap tales. Trip home was perfect with wind and tide assisting.

Nice to see both Lady Crossley and Pirate after there winter hibernation / haul outs.

My boat of the day was John Wright’s latest project the uber cool double-ender – Kiwa. That man has a wonderful eye for bringing the best out of any classic craft. Photo below when she was at Te Atatu Boating Club + links to previous WW stories on her 

2014  https://waitematawoodys.com/2014/09/30/boat-on-the-move-kiwa/

2021 https://waitematawoodys.com/2021/09/10/what-happened-to-kiwa/

KATHERINE  ON DISPLAY @ WESTHAVEN – THIS WEEKEND – INVITATION ONLY

Considering an upgrade or a boat for summer – the 38’ Conrad Robertson designed classic – KATHERINE, has been relocated to Westhaven Marina for one weekend only – inspection by invitation.

More details on this immaculately presented, ready for immediate delivery craft – click here https://waitematawoodys.com/2022/06/13/katherine-a-peek-down-below/

To book a viewing time email waitematawoodys@waitematawoodys

LADY KARITA + KATOA AT NELSON MARINA

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LADY KARITA + KATOA AT NELSON MARINA

The refit / restoration of the 1938 Sam Ford built 43’ brigedecker Lady Karita would have to be a contender for the longest ‘rolling restoration’. I’m sure there are a lot of projects that have gone longer but most likely have been stalled for a number of years. Lady Karita on the other hand has been a labour of love for her Nelson based owner and the level of workmanship is wonderful.

The boat has made numerous appearances on WW – in fact too many to list the individual links – the below one will take you to a summary of all the stories. https://waitematawoodys.com/?s=lady+karita&submit=Search

The photos above were taken by woody Mark Dixon, owner of the two classic launches – Echo + Awarua. Yes you read correctly – two ! Mark has drunk the cool-aid. 

Mark was in Nelson over Labour weekend and as you do was walking the docks. 

20-11-2022 Update – photo below ex owner, from I suspect the camera of John Burland

Mark also spotted the launch Katoa that back in June 2021 we asked the question on WW of her status – and were advised by her new owners that she was scheduled for some serious TCL that winter – reviewing Marks photos below – she certainly got her share of the love – looking very impressive.


Rata Revisted

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RATA REVISITED

Last month (Oct 16th) we dd a story on the launch – Rata based around a Lew Redwood fb photo, then Ray Morey came on and embellished the story with lots more details  – link below to that story.

Next up Mark McLaughlin drops a note advising he had found the above photos in his late father’s collection, which Marks thinks would be from the 1950’s. He wondered if it could be the same boat? and commented that whether or not the boat is Rata, he was 99% certain it will be one of the Johnson’s mail boat fleet of which Rata also belonged to, operating from Havelock. Mark had heard his Dad mention Rata many times. I’ll let Mark tell the rest of the story – 

“The forward bulwark and twin masts are obviously missing here but the hull is a good match and the end of the aft lower belting lines up with the aft cabin porthole in the same location. The forward cabin appears shorter though in the Rata photos in the original post. 

Regardless, the photo underway is a great look back in time at how the commercial boys used to roll. The safety police would be having heart attacks if they saw that now. As per most of the Johnson’s mail boats of the time though, she looks like she has a good turn of speed (and nobody fell off).

Most of the clinker dinghies in Havelock at the time (like the one in the photo) where built there by Tom Hutchison out of Kahikatea. They were large and heavy but could take a good beating in day to day use.”

Mark also did a google search and uncovered the photo below of Rata from the ‘Johnson’s Barge Service’ website, showing her well laden with logs. This is an earlier photo of Rata but appears to support her being the same boat in Marks photos. The photo is tagged ‘1930’s – Rata was built by Eric and his brother Frank in Havelock. White pine for the construction was cut in the Nydia Bay by the Wells family’ 

LINK to Johnson Barge Service websitehttps://www.johnsonsbargeservice.co.nz/about-us/

So the question today that would be nice to confirm – is boat above the same boat that appeared in the Oct. 16th WW story https://waitematawoodys.com/2022/10/16/rata-3/

Classic Woody Boating Long Weekend Cruise

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Moturekareka Island
Sunset – Smelting House Bay, Bon Accord Harbour, Kawau Island
Sunrise – Smelting House Bay, Bon Accord Harbour, Kawau Island
Lady Adelaide
Vivian Bay, Kawau Island
Ngaio
Meola & Whio

Classic Woody Boating Cruise

For all the wrong reasons I didn’t do a lot of boating (on my boat) this past winter, so the looming long Labour weekend was always going to see me leaving the dock even if the weather was ‘inclement’. Luckily it wasn’t and I slid away early Friday afternoon with the ultimate destination being Kawau Island. The boredom of mostly straight line motoring was broken up by Team NZ cutting up the gulf in their AC40, so so quick.

Decided to spend Friday night anchored at Moturekareka Island, the resting place of the wreck REWA (unsuccessfully scuttled as a breakwater) , not the most settled of spots but the sunset and the bird song made up for it.

Moved on earlier Saturday to Smelting House Bay and picked up a pre-booked mooring, now before you all call me a softy, we had the new dog onboard for its 1st trip and wanted to be close to shore – didn’t want an oops on board. I can report she was an angel – woke me at 5.30am for a row ashore. Sadly she also seems to think the #1 bunk is hers 🙂 The bonus of the dog pee row ashore is catching the sunrise, almost as fine as the sunset.

Mostly just relaxed mooching around, had a drink and dinner catch up with the crews off Meloa, Ngaio, Lady Adelaide and Golandrina at the Kawau Boating Club, which had just taken the shutters down after the annual winter hibernation. Food and service was first rate – if you are not a member – join, they need good support to keep doing what they do so well. The next day we dropped the pick in Vivian Bay – very quiet and later in the day several woodys arrived – seems to be the go-to destination for the Sandspit marina crowd.

I spied a stunning villa on the waterfront in Vivian Bay – photos below, will need to keep buying Lotto 🙂

Trip home on Monday was just about perfect for a straight stemmer e.g. wind and tide on the nose – 3 hours 45 min from KBC > Bayswater, that’s a good clip for my 94 year old girl.

UPDATE 03-11-2022 – Photo below of Rewa as scuttled (incorrectly). Comes to us from Auckland War Memorial Museum libray via Maurice Sharp fb.

SUNDAYS MYSTERY LAUNCH QUIZ WINNER

Well done Ken Ricketts, the winner from the many woodys that correctly ID’ed the launch as Sobrine. The pool was reduced significantly by a large number spelling the boats name – Sabrine. Link to a previous WW Sobrine story below https://waitematawoodys.com/2016/05/31/sobrine/

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

Westshore 1931 Regatta

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Westshore 1931 Regatta

Now I might be losing my marbles, but I’m pretty sure I haven’t run this story before.

Back in early 2019 an old friend – Greg Fenwick, sent me the above photo of the motor boat – Heather, participating in the Westshore Regatta in Napier on Jan 31st 1931.

In the photo Greg’s dad John, is on the helm, aged 12 years at the time.

Four days later the Napier Earthquake hit and the waterway in the photo was no more. The location is now close to the site of the current Napier Airport. The houses still exist and are next to the main highway north in to Napier. 

Any info on what became of Heather would be most welcome.

Job Opportunity At Auckland Boat Yard

Todays a shout out to anyone that is this person or knows someone that is – looking for a work-life change. If you have a CV you’re probably not who we are looking for 🙂

In no particular order does this sound like you –

• Good practical hands on general skills

• Not afraid to roll your sleeves up and just get the job done

• Sense of humour

• Looking for full time / part time / flexible hours

• Age open – young > old, its all about attitude

We offer – 

• Small passionate team

• Central Auckland location

• Working railway slip – one of few left in Auckland

• Wide variety of work

• Plenty of parking

INTERESTED? In the first instance email cam@slipway.co.nz

Nereides Makes A Splash

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NEREIDES MAKES A SPLASH

In between lock-downs in June 2021 I had cause to do a trip to Tauranga and took up Doug Owens invitation to visit the yard to get a peek at the refit of his 1937 Colin Wild built 55’ yacht – Nereides. The project was well underway and the commitment to best in class and standard of workmanship was already on display.

Yesterday Doug made contact to let me know that Nereides was back in the water and aside from some final interior work the refit was complete.

The gallery of photos above says it all, the pilot house just glows – well done to Doug and son Mohi. We will keep you updated as the final items are ticked off the to-do list. 

Link to 2021 story https://waitematawoodys.com/2021/06/13/nereides-gets-a-facelift/

Photo below at haul out – post refit

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)