CLASSIC WOODY CRUISING AT WHANGAROA
Recently Bay of Islands woody Dean Wright had headed up the coast to Whangaroa Harbour and being a professional photographer by trade his camera was never far from hand. So today we get to enjoy more of the B.O.I.’s woody fleet at play.
The ex workboat looking craft has done a few laps, anyone know her name / history.
And of course the magnificent 1920 built LUANA………the best looking boat to come out of the MT Lane shed 🙂
WHAT DO ALL THESE CLASSIC WOODEN CRAFT HAVE IN COMMON
As I have noted recently on WW the classic wooden boating scene in the Bay of Islands is experiencing a re-birth. Seems one in three woodys the Wooden Boat Bureau has sold in the last 2 years has headed north. And recently the woody skippers have been organising events to show case the woody movement in the B.O.I. – we like that.
At the recent Russell Tall Ships Regatta on the Friday prior to the sailing regatta there was a Classic Launch Parade that had 13 woodys participating. Post the parade one of the skippers pointed out the % of woody craft that owed their good looks to time spent at the CMC Design – Boatbuilders Opua yard. So I did a count and in recent times and in no particular order the following woodys have been under the care of the talented crew at CMC Design – LADY CROSSLEY, KORAWAI, OTEHEI, MARLINE and ALMA G II.
Now they aren’t the only boatbuilders up north but they seem to get the cream of the work. When you factor in haul-out yard costs in the greater Auckland area, a wee road trip on one of the specialist boat haulage trucks isn’t the budget stumbling block it once was.
If todays WW story reads like an ad, I suppose it is, I’m passionate about seeing our classic fleet get the TLC they deserve.
Check out the CMC website – some great work-in-process photos on their work + its not all boats, some stunning architectural and commercial wood work. https://www.cmcdesign.co.nz/marine
CLASSIC WOODEN LAUNCH NGAHI GETS SOME TLC
Dropped into the Slipway Milford earlier in the week and the timing was perfect – the Dick Lang built launch NGAHI was being hauled out for some TLC and system improvements.
In previous WW stories there has been a lot of debate re the boats provenance, would be nice to confirm the builder and put a year to launching.
The Slipway Milford had a full quota of woodys on the yard – the JB Brooke designed and built yacht – GLEAM, now back in the Brooke family armada.
Along side NGAHI is the 35’6” Lane Motor Boat Co. 1945 launch – HANI (Wanda II) getting some serious TLC.
Both GLEAM and HANI are on display at next months Auckland Wooden Boat Festival, no doubt the marine chandlers are doing a good trade in varnish at the moment 🙂
SERIOUSLY……………… During a peek down below on NGAHI I spotted some VERY dodgy fittings – refer below. No seacocks and single jubilee clips the only thing between floating and joining the submariners club……………. you’d like to think this wasn’t a ‘professional’ installation.
UPDATE – That was quick, looking more fitting of an ocean going craft 😉
BAY of ISLANDS CLASSIC WOODYS – KERIKERI INLET RAID
Last weekend a few of the B.O.I.’s classic launch skippers gathered for a cruise up the Kerikeri Inlet to raft up at the Stone Store for a catch up. The real reason was a session at the Plough & Feather waterfront pub.
One of the WW cub reporters – Grant Gibbs was aboard KORAWAI to record the event.
I note from the photos that a couple of ‘visitors from Hawkes Bay’ managed to tag along, but we will turn a blind eye to that.
I’ll comment more on the Bay of Islands woody scene in Mondays upcoming story.
PARADE 🔻
PICNIC 🔻
2026 LAKE ROTOITI CLASSIC & WOODEN BOAT PARADE + PICNIC – Report. 140 photos
As the photos will quickly confirm, Saturday 7 February delivered near-perfect conditions for the Lake Rotoiti Classic & Wooden Boat Association’s annual gathering. While the event unfolds over four days, it’s the Saturday on-the-water get-together that remains the undisputed highlight.
From a photographer’s point of view, wall-to-wall sunshine and tricky angles don’t always play nicely with timber and varnish. So, if I’ve missed your boat or the images aren’t quite showroom-perfect, my apologies — I was doing my best to keep up with a lot of very good-looking boats.
The day naturally divides into two acts: the Parade, followed by the Picnic. A few familiar regulars were absent this year, but they were more than ably replaced by some truly stunning “new” additions to the fleet, making for an impressive and varied lineup on the water.
Sit back, enjoy the gallery, and soak up a little Lake Rotoiti magic. As always click photos to enlarge.
Special thanks to David & Glenys Wilson for the generous loan of a boat for the day 🙂
THE PARADE
CLASSIC WOODEN MOTORBOAT RACING ON THE WAITEMATA HARBOUR – Auckland Anniversary Regatta
After the disappointment of a cancelled Mahurangi Regatta weekend I was chafing at the bit to get out on the water.
Being Auckland Anniversary Day yesterday , I secured a spot aboard Jason Prew’s classic launch MY GIRL – WW readers will be aware that MY GIRL holds the title of fastest classic wooden launch on the Waitemata.
So at 11am we were on the start line for the classic launch inner harbour race – start off RNZYS > down to Orakei Bouy > across to Devonport area > back up the harbour to the finish line (aka the start line). Conditions were best described as ok, certainly better than the previous 4 days, overcast, the occasional shower and westerly >20 knots.
This year we were lacking a few of real quick woodys so Mr Prew had the race in hand after 10 seconds. Some close racing with the ‘recently’ re-powered woodies – NGAIO and LUCINDA. Do not have the handicap results but line honours went to MY GIRL / NGAIO / LUCINDA. All serviced at The Slipway Milford yard so a nice trifecta.
Earlier in the morning the tug/workboats put on their normal spectacular performance – see below.
The parade of sail was bolstered by several classic woodys that did not race – parade photos second group above.
Enjoy the photo gallery, light on the winning boat, always is when the bloke with the camera is aboard the favourite 😉
As always – photos can be enlarged by clicking on them.
RACE RESULTS – MY GIRL collects line and handicap honours
TUGBOAT RACE
1942 EX OTAGO HB CLASSIC WOODEN WORKBOAT – MARORO
When I get an email that has the boat name MARORO in the subject panel, it gets opened straight away – lots of classic boating history surrounding that name. Turns out todays woody is an ex Otago Harbour Board workboat, that started life as a tender to a OHB dredge.
MARORO was launched c.1942 and she is 30’ x 9’3” x 3’ and built from kauri carvel planks and rebuilt in 1990 and still owned by the family that rebuilt her. Powered by a Mazda 4cyl HA 76hp diesel engine, she has a cruising speed of 7>8 knots.
Home is still Dunedin and she looks like she could handle a sporty weather day + very well fitted out.
Each to there own but the mahogany interior doesn’t get a tick from me – a tad too perfect for an 80 yr old classic. (Thanks Ian McDonald for the tme heads up)
Remember – if you are at a loose end tomorrow (Monday), head down to Westhaven / waterfront to watch the Auckland Ann. Day Regatta – Classic MotorBoat Inner Harbour Racing.
2026 RUSSELL CLASSIC TALL SHIPS SAILING REGATTA
Following on from the weekends story on the Russell Boating Club’s classic wooden launch parade (link below), today thanks to BOI photographer – Dean Wright we get to enjoy some stunning photos from the race.
Classic launch parade https://waitematawoodys.com/2026/01/10/bay-of-island-russell-classic-launch-parade/
Later in the week you will be able to view the just of the race fleet here https://russellboatingclub.org.nz/tall-ships.html
To view the full race results click here https://russellboatingclub.org.nz/results/tall_ships_2026.htm
Below is the recently re-launched – MARLINE, the 1949/50’s Leon Warne built classic launch – out following the fleet.
A few of the zoom zommers watching the yacht race
CHRISTMAS 2025 – NEW YEAR 2026 CLASSIC WOODYS CRUISE
I have talked previously about the weather that we all experienced at the start of the annual cruise, so I’ll skip that other than to quote Billy Connolly – “ There’s no such thing as bad weather, only the wrong clothes”.
Life on a small launch with a wife, dog and a paddle board can be challenging – normally takes us 2>3 days to get used to living in close proximity, but we have managed this for 18+ years. The bad weather days / nights that include having to take the pooch ashore for a pee in 40+ knots at 6am are quickly replaced with good food, good books and good booze 🙂 One of the positives of evil weather forecasts is low boat numbers, when things improved and we moved to Oneroa for a supply stop, the only other craft in the bay was a yacht and that was ‘washed up’ on the beach.
Today is a bit of a photo bomb from the 10 days – anchorages visited, food, boats we saw, boats we nearly bumped into and general good times afloat.
Hopefully the lucky ones are still out there enjoying the weather.
ps check out the woody champagne flute in the last photo – I have the bug bad 🙂
CLASSIC WOODEN LAUNCH – LORNA – WHAT BECAME OF HER
Back in Oct 2025 WW was contacted by John Vague in regard to a a launch name the LORNA that when John was very young was owned by his uncle R.W. Hutchinson.It was on one of the five moorings at St Hellers Bay., Auckland, approx. year 1948. John recalls she was about 28’ long. Back on Oct John was hoping one of the WW readers would be able to supply more intel on the vessel. I was for some photos and John took on the task of tracking some down.
Fast forward to this week and John advised the son of Reg Hutchinson uncovered and sent in the two photos above.
So woodys can we help John out.
UPCOMING EVENTS – CIRCLE THE CALENDAR
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