Category Archives: 1940’s

Milford Creek 1940/50’s – My Girl’s Old Home

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My Girl was moored opposite white on road (top right of photo), Walter had a shed there

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Trevor Bowman steering with Walter on anchor – Waitangi
Days fishing – Gordon and Syd Brown
My Girl leaving Milford

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Elva and Trevor Bowman

Milford Cruising Club Yard

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MY GIRL’S OLD HOME – MILFORD CREEK IN THE LATE 1940’s> EARLY 1950’s

As I touched on the other day in relation to my own woody – RainDance, its very special when out of the blue you are contacted by someone with details and photos on your boat. It was woody Jason Prew’s turn recently to get the call regarding his 1925, Dick Lang built launch – My Girl.

As I’m sure you are aware WW has rather extensively followed the restoration > launch > cruising log of My Girl so all the exposure has rattled a few memories – this time from Greg Bowman whose grandfather, Walter Brunton used to own My Girl at end of the 1940’s to 1960.
Walter Brunton lived in Castor Bay, Auckland and moved to Russell, in the Bay of Islands in 1950, after Greg’s mother, Elva, married his Dad Trevor Bowman. Like all good relationships in those days – they meet on the water.

When Walter moved north he turned My Girl into a fishing boat (now I know where that smell is from – just kidding Jason). Walter sold fish to the open market and to feed guests in his guesthouse in Russell, named – Arcade Lodge.
Back in those days My Girl had a Gray marine engine, and most years she won the New Year launch race out of Russell.

Greg sent Jason the collection of b/w photos above of My Girl and the Milford Creek, where she was kept in the late 1940’s. The top photo gives you an idea of the amount of dredging required to accommodate the marina that exists today.

It’s a bit cheeky (excuse the pun) but the photo below shows the on-board sanitation methods on My Girl, before inbuilt heads. I know the bucket and chuck it was around but the old rope did the trick – off course helped by the lack of duckboards back then 🙂

WW link below to show the journey My Girl has been on in terms of apperance and the extent of Jason’s restoration. And a photo of her post re-launch heading into Milford Creek or as some of the MCC woodys call it – Wairau Cove 😉

The Restoration of My Girl

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HDML Manga > Haimoana

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HDML MANGA > HAIMOANA

In the interests of saving you from getting a sore neck from shaking your head – this boat ended up with a beehive restoration i.e. was put on the bonfire.

The HDML Manga was built by Madden & Lewis in Sausalito, California, USA during WWII and was sold by the NZ Navy in 1980. Her first owner post the Navy was Steve Hansen of Herne Bay, Auckland. When Hansen purchased her she had no engines. During his period of ownership she was kept on the outer side of the Auckland’s Viaduct Basin.
Hansen sold her to his friend Hans Van Duyn of Helensville in the early 1980’s, still with no engines. (Hansen also owned the HDML Black Watch).
Van Duyn stripped the coamings off her whilst she was at the Viaduct Basin and took her bare hull to Helensville on the West Coast, where they spent the next 2+ years rebuilding the vessel – including 16 single berths and 2 staterooms. In the mid 1980’s she was renamed Haimona after the owners late son.
The vessel was fitted with two Ruston Hornsby, 200hp diesel engines, with hydraulic gearboxes. Top speed was claimed to be 18 knots. The engines were ex the A.H.B. tug Manukau. Also fitted with a funnel & dry exhausts with silencers.
Van Duyn used her extensively, from the mid 1980s to c.1999. She was the largest pleasure boat in the Helensville Cruising Club fleet and was frequently mark boat and involved in many regattas and other club activities,  
She fell in to disuse around 1999 when Van Duyn sold his waters edge property, on the Kaipara Harbour. As there was nowhere else on the Kaipara that had a suitable facility to slip her, she deteriorated through lack of ability to maintain her and lack of use. Ultimately, she got  to the point, where her pumps were running 24/7 and despite attempts to provide her with better moorings, the end was near and they brought her ashore, stripped her engines out of her and saved what they could e.g. portholes and other useable fittings. In c.2006 they put a match to her.
Note: during this period Hans Van Duyn also owned HDML Kupara, which is now owned and restored Scott Perry, Whangarei. The story of Kupara has appeared on WW – link here   https://waitematawoodys.com/2018/10/04/hmnzs-kuparu-hdml/
Story assembled by Ken Ricketts with input from Steve Hansen, Rene Van Duyn and Bob Siegel. Edited extensively by Alan H.
Manga Navy Service ex Greg Philpott

HMNZS Manga (Q1185) was one of 16 Harbour Defence Motor Launches (HDML) to be delivered to the RNZN in 1943. She was commissioned on 6 April 1943 and joined the 124th. ML Flotilla at Auckland. She was used in anti-submarine patrols in the port approaches and the Hauraki Gulf northwards to Cape Brett. On 11 October 1945 she paid off in Auckland and was placed in reserve. In early 1946 she was converted for army use, fitted with a towing bitt and transferred ‘on loan’ to the Army. She was renamed Bombardier and used by the RNZ Artillery for target towing and general transport duties for over 10 years. In 1948 she was reclassified as a Seaward Defence Motor Launch (SDML) and renumbered P3567. In November 1959 she was transferred back to the RNZN. In 1960 she was commissioned as HMNZS Manga (call sign ZMBJ) and joined the fishery squadron where she served until 1967. After a refit she was assigned to Wellington RNZNVR until 1973, and then re-joined the fishery squadron briefly, returning to Wellington in 1974. In 1977 Manga was restricted to sheltered waters and returned to Auckland in 1977. During the period from 1977 to 1981 she was attached to HMNZS Ngapona. She was withdrawn from service and sold in 1982 to Takapuna Contractors Ltd., and was later sold again and transported to Helensville for rebuilding.

 

Great story tomorrow (Monday) – I’ll make good for today’s work-boat / military OTT story 🙂
Don’t Be Embarrassed If You Emailed Yesterday Asking For Chris McMullen’s Berthing Tips – 178 people did 🙂
Something For The Yachties – photo below sent in be Nathan Herbert – looking to ID to the two yachts seen here berthed at Whangarei.
Mystery Yachts Whangrei

Woodys On Tour – Halls Boat Yard, New York

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Woodys On Tour – Halls Boat Yard, New York

A few years ago, woodys Jim and Karin Lott were ‘parked up’ with the masts on deck in their kauri ketch – Victoria, on the Hudson River. More specifically in the middle of New York State in a city called Albany. The Lott’s waited there for three weeks for the Erie Canal to open. Jim commented that Albany definitely does not feature on anyone’s ‘place to go’ list. They were not alone as Wellington old salt Richard Watt and his wife Enid anchored alongside them in their launch (photo below of both boats), as well as dozens of other impatient US and Canadian sailors.

To while away the time they hired a car and headed to Lake George to look at woodies at Halls Boatyard, one of the many inland homes of wooden boats in New York. Jim commented  that floating boat garages are common in North America and they spent several hours admiring a sea of varnished ash, cedar, spruce and mahogany. There was a slipway and boatyard all under cover inside the shed complex. The yard specialises in rebuilding and restoring classic motor-launches but a few yachts were getting the same TLC.

After the long wait, the canal stayed closed so they had to forgo the Great Lakes and continued up the Hudson. Eventually they locked into Lake Champlain and down the Richelieu River to the St Lawrence near Montreal in Canada.

01 Kiwis up the creek

Taranui (Gailene > Masquerade > Taranui) 

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TARANUI (Gaylene > Masquerade > Taranui) 
 
Today’s woody story comes to us via the collective input of many people – Harold Kidd, Grant Faber, Barry and Christine Johnston, Grant Richards – under the guiding hand of Ken Ricketts and edited (a lot) by Alan H.
Some basic facts – 
Taranui is 30’ in length with a beam of 9’ 7”. 
She was built in 1948 as an internally ballasted 350 sq. ft. sail area Bermudan ketch (D28). There is speculation that Taranui was built either on the Hobsonville Air Force Base, or nearby, of kauri.
Her current owner is Grant Richards, who supplied all the above photos, and she is kept at Gulf Harbour marina.
 
Her provenance (with a few holes) goes like this – 
 
She was built by G Neville in 1948, her first registered  owner is D.H. McMillan of Ellerslie, Auckland – she was kept at St Heliers Bay.
Her second registered (15-09-1951) owner was W. (Bill?) Ridley of Pakuranga who kept her at Panmure.
She passed to D Wintle in 1961 & then Ron Faber on 13-10-67.
Grant Faber (son of Ron) has commented that when she was owned by Don Wintle, she was kept at Northcote Point, where she was moored when Faber Snr. bought her. Faber Snr. continued to keep off Northcote but later secured a mooring for her in Westhaven. 
By the 1960’s one mast had been removed and later both masts & rigging were removed by the owner from whom Barry Johnston bought her off. That owner still had them & offered them to Johnston, but he declined, as it was his intention to retain her in launch mode. Barry Johnston made her present mast during her major 1996 -2000 refit.
Johnston bought her off a private advertisement in trademe in the 1990’s and cannot recall who from. He owned her for about 15 years and kept her at Westhaven.
When Johnston bought her, she was called Gaylene (changed by an unknown previous owner) and in a very sad state, with lots of rot in the coamings and decks, and other much deferred maintenance, which he spent the next 4 years getting her up to pristine condition.The work all being done, on a family member’s private slip, in the Whau River. In view of all the work he undertook, Johnson changed her name to Masquerade.
One day when Johnston was on a cruise, Grant Faber rowed over to Masquerade and asked Johnston if he could have a look aboard, as he believed his father Commander Ron Faber RNZVR OBE VRD, may have owned her in the period c.1964 -79. After an inspection, he confirmed it was indeed his father’s old boat. After being informed that her original name was Taranui, during her 4 year re-fit, Johnston changed her name back to her original name, which she still has today.
According to the APYMBA records (ex Harold Kidd) – her original engine was a 28 hp petrol engine, with a 17 x 10, 3 blade prop. 
Grant Faber has commented that when his father bought her, she had a marine converted, 6 cyl. petrol Chev car engine, most probably her original engine, this engine gave a lot of trouble so Faber Snr. replaced it with a brand new, 6 cyl Holden petrol car engine.
By the time  she arrived in the hands of Johnston, she had acquired an old 4 cyl. slanting Ford diesel c.60hp, which during his 4 year refurbish, he replaced with a Moon Engines converted Isuzu 4 cyl. diesel c.60hp – which she still has today.
 
Recently, Grant Faber sent Ken Ricketts the note below:
 “Of nautical interest, the ensign staff shown in one of the photos, and the ensign, was passed to Dad, from my grandfather (Roy Drummond). It came from his launch Te Whara. He purchased it and fitted it to Te Whara in 1921 specifically for the visit of the Governor General visiting Whangarei in his ship Tutanikai. The launches of the day formed a guard of honour in the harbour. This ensign which is of real bunting made by Le Roy’s (the noted marine canvas makers) flew on Te Whara until Pa sold her, then on Taranui, then on my launch Te Whara 11). It is currently framed and hanging in my library showing remarkably little wear for an ensign coming up to 100 years old.” (edited)
 

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Northern Star

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NORTHERN STAR
Its not often we see an Australian designed / built Halvorsen in NZ waters, they are the darlings of Sydney Harbour. Its even rarer to see an ex WW II one.
Northern Star was built in 1944 by Lars Halvorsen & Sons for the Royal Australian Air Force as a air-sea rescue boat.
She measures 38’x10’x4’. Current power is from a 306hp Volvo TAMD61A diesel that gets her along at 12>13 knots.
Her owner has had her for 45 years and she is  now 4sale on tme – a few rot issues to her plywood stern area and fore deck but I’m sure easily fixed. Rather a smart boat for the current price ($20+k)
Anyone know how she came to be in NZ ?
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2020 New Zealand Classic Yacht Regatta Photo Gallery – 100+ photos and videos

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A7 – Thelma / A2 – Rawhiti

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2020 New Zealand Classic Yacht Regatta Photo Gallery – 100+ photos and videos

As I have mentioned in the last two WW stories, the Classic Yacht Association of New Zealand have over the last 3 days been running its annual classic yachting event on Auckland’s Waitemata Harbour.
The near perfect conditions on all three days made for happy skippers and a relieved race organisers. I was on the water for two of the three days and had a blast. The gallery above is a mix of Races 1/2/3. If your boat doesn’t make an appearance, I apologize, I was only a passenger, so captured those that were within range.
On the second day, James Dreyer and myself hosted the world acclaimed marine photographer Benjamin Mendlowitz onboard Jame’s motorboat – Laughing Lady, the perfect platform for recording the on the water activities.
For me it was a master class in boat positioning and photography angles, I tried to keep out of Ben’s way and took the above photos / videos when I could without being in Ben’s line of sight.
These days the CYA run the regatta using the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron as Race HQ and entertainment hub, it is the perfect venue and as always the service and staff were 10/10.
 Scroll down for the official regatta results below
As always – click on photos to enlarge.
Race Course Videos Below (Races 2/3)
RANGER

PRIZE

A DIVISION

ARIKI

RAWHITI

CORONA

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 Classic Wooden Launches + Classic Sailing Regatta Photos

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Help Needed Identifying Classic Wooden Launches

The above photo shows three launches (+ a peek on a 4th on the far left) moored in Hobson Bay, Auckland. The photo is from the Edward Double Collection (1930-1940), and comes to us via Maurice Sharp’s fb.
Can we ID the boats?
2020 CYA Classic Yacht Regatta
The annual 3 day sailing regatta is in progress and yesterday I crewed on Jason Prew’s 1904, Logan built gaffer – Wairiki in Race 1.
Now I have always heard dock chat that Wairiki was a wet boat, well folks I can confirm thats an understatement,
I think you would be dryer on a sail board 🙂 Water aside (it was warm) it was a great afternoon with nice people – Jason Prew, Steve Horsley, Micheal O’Dwyer and Joyce Talbot.
In-between waves and spray I managed to snap a few photos – a taste below – more tomorrow. Enjoy.
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Ariki – 1904 Logan

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Windhaven II – Colin Wild

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Wairiki – Onboard foot spa

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Jason Prew & Steve Horsley (L>R)

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Race HQ @ RNZYS

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Mike O’Dywer, Steve Horsley, Alan Houghton

Kotare – 4sale

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KOTARE
 
Over the Xmas / NY (2020) period Barbara and David Cooke were cruising aboard their launch – Trinidad and anchored near the ex work boat Kotare and as you do, introduced themselves to her owner, Laurence Ryan.
The photo gallery is a mix of photos from Barbara Cooke and her owners.  
The story below was sent to Barbara by Laurence and is reproduced unedited.
 
“Kotare was designed and built by John Miller who was a boat builder who worked for Miller and Tunnage in Dunedin. However, I am told he is not one of the Millers, as such. She was built in 1940. Solid oregon plank construction, hull and decks. 15 m OA, 13.8 m on the waterline, 2 m draft, 31 tonnes fully laden. Beam 3.66 m. She was built as a trawler and fished out of Dunedin and possibly Lyttleton. She fished at the Chathams and features in the book “Shipwrecks of New Zealand”. She was in a convoy of some six fishing boats making the trip to the Chathams in extremely bad weather. Two of the vessels were lost with all hands – Kotare made it!
 
She was first converted into a pleasure boat in 1987 by the owner, John Liddell, from whom I bought her. The conversion was undertaken by Careys in Picton. A further variation was completed in 2000 where the final configuration occured.  John Liddell had her in SSM and she spent most of her new life in the Marlborough Sounds doing some fishing charters. John took her to the Chathams, Stewart Island, Fiordland and she circumnavigated NZ twice.
 
She is powered by a Detroit GM 6/71 2 stroke diesel, 225 hp de-rated to 195 hp, Alison 3:1 gearbox.  The whole engine was rebuilt in 2006.
 
I purchased her in September 2016 and we sailed her up the east coast from Mana that Labour weekend, 72 hours non-stop!”
 
Below is a photo of Kotare, before the alterations – trolling off the Otago coast.
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Mystery Launch At Waiheke Island

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Mystery Launch At Waiheke Island

Mooching around Sandy Bay I spotted the above woody – it looks familiar. Not anchored, on a mooring so maybe she is an Island boat.
I’m sure someone smarter than me can ID her.
Woodys Classics Waiheke BBQ & Pizza Lunch – Trip Report
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Another great turn out for Saturdays gathering at Little Oneroa – I counted 16 woodys in the bay, rowing past a couple I may have detected a whiff of PVC but they were lookers and all had a healthy mix of timber and bronze. Attending boats tagged in the story.
Most people decided to order lunch from the wood-fired pizza caravan and were not disappointed – very yum.
The timing seemed to work for everyone – several boat travelled long distances to participate and 1/2 the fleet were just there for the day. Also dog friendly venues are appreciated – again 1/2 the boats had pooches aboard. Perfect weather and very low numbers of what the islanders call ‘day trippers’.
As proof that all you need to be welcomed at a Woody Classics event, is a passion for wooden boats – my boat of the day was Allan and Pam Hooper’s – Katherine. Her dinghy (built by Allan) gets her a 10/10 tick in my book.   You can read more about Katherine here https://waitematawoodys.com/2020/02/03/katherine/
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Katherine

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Little Oneroa – Waiheke Island

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I spotted Allan’s dinghy ashore on Sunday morning  at Oneroa – now Allan is a perfectionist, so his score drops to 9.9/10 – he left the stickers on the oars 🙂
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2020 Lake Rotoiti Classic & Wooden Boat Parade – 150+ photos

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THE PARADE

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THE PICNIC

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2020 LAKE ROTOITI CLASSIC & WOODEN BOAT PARADE – 150+ Photos

From my eyes, this years parade was the best I have been to – brilliant on-the-water marshalling in terms of herding the ducklings into the right order and the skippers kept the boats moving thru at the right speed + an entertaining and informative commentary from ex commodore Grant Cossey. As always the event would grind to a halt without the services of Rachel Jamieson, to call her the club secretary would be a joke, everyone one involved with the parade that excels in their individual roles does so because of Rachel – well done again.
For most of the parade the sun and the clouds behaved, so only a few ‘average’ photos.
Several new boats and a lot had been given some TLC over winter.
Enjoy the gallery of photos from the day, it was a cracker and made the 7 hours of driving yesterday worth while.
As always, if you like on a photo, click on it and it will enlarge, if you are a boat owner and would like a high res copy of your boat photo, just drop me an email and I’ll send it to you.   waitematawoodys@gmail.com
Below are the links that allows you to view a summary of the boats participating in this years parade – check out the number card displayed on the boat and look it up for details 😉

 

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