ROWENA
POPEYE
Input & photos ex Ken Ricketts – she is 18 feet long & is powered by a small Yanmar diesel. Pictured below under going a restoration at Colin Brown’s yard.
29-08-2018 Update from Bruce Whillans
Just received the photo below of the 72′ HDML sinking of Bayswater marine, early this morning. She has been moored there for the last 10+ years. Will not be an easy salvage, & sadly I suspect this will be the end of her. (photo ex T Foh)
Earlier (2014) photo included.
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22-08-2018 Update – Donna Lewis sent in the 2 photos below of Blackwatch. She took the photos of Blackwatch from our then home when her home was also Schoolhouse Bay, Kawau Island and she was in immaculate condition from a very attentive owner.
TEAL
My Westpark Marina spotter John Wicks sent in the photos above of Teal, the 1948, 38’ Lidgard Bros yacht on the hard ready for launching.
John commented “she was small and pretty spartan inside, and that, coupled with a very long and large cockpit marks her out as primarily a day sailer. The rudder is almost certainly a modification as from the configuration of her keel the original rudder was hung at the aft end of it in the old way. Even though the stern doesn’t really match with the bow, she’s quite an elegant thing, and with a tall fractional rig, deep draught and fairly narrow beam, I’d bet on her going like the proverbial cut cat”
So I do a little google search & it turns out she is one of Tony Stevenson’s yachts & in the Tino Rawa Trust fleet. The YDL van in the photos suggests Teal may have been promoted from the ‘warehouse’ to the boat yard for the final touches 😉
The photos below (ex TRT > CYA forum) show her at the start of the project back in 2013.
Harold Kidd advised that she was built for William Goodfellow and L.H. Clarke and launched 22/12/1948. Original registration was A5 but later relegated to B6. Her specs are – 38’9″x 30′ x 7’4″ x5’8″. Later owners include Sir Keith Park, Mark Williams, T.L. Elliott.
Looks like the CYA B division could be in for a shake up this coming season 🙂
Input from Robin Elliott –
The 2007 NZYF register had her as a Cox design. today they have hedged their bets and call her a ‘Lidgard/Cox’ design. Not sure where the Cox design info would have come from. I record her designer as “J. Lidgard” but once again, I have no idea where I got that from. She could well be a modified Cox design.
Good old Sir Keith Park, the Hero of the Battle of Britain owned her 1957/58, possibly up to 1959
Mystery Launch 12-07-2018
Lady Margaret A Peek Down Below
Working Waterfront Boatbuilders Shed – 50 photos
As I’ve send many times before, if your want a stunning day weather wise, schedule a Classic Yacht Association event – the hit rate must be 9/10.
Over 100 CYA members & friends made the trip north to Lees Boatbuilders at Sandspit – our host for the day, Greg Lees, turned on a brilliant woody event – we had everything – woody projects underway, the best collection of 1/2 models I seen outside of the RNZYS walls, a photo montage recording the history of the yard & the vessels built over the years.
Center stage was Jenny & Angus Rogers – Mahanui, in the shed for a new deck, alongside her was a very original Chris Craft that was getting a restoration.
The varnish guru Dale has already applied 23 coats, with 6 more to come. Compared to our old girls, these American woodys are very lightly built, amazing that so many have survived.
Outside we had Anna & Nic Davidson’s – Juanita, on one slip & Barbara & David Cooke’s woody flagship – Trinidad, alongside the wharf. In midstream was Yvonne, waiting her turn in the shed.
On the hard was a selection of small craft built by either Greg, his father Tim or other local craftsman. Not woodys but certainly classic were Greg’s two English built, aluminium Albatross runabouts – the very rare 4 seater is next on Greg’s to-do list. Included are a few photos of other woodys in or out of the water.
Greg gave an articulate talk on his families boatbuilding history & how they came to be situated on the Sandspit foreshore. At the end he announced the official launch of the 2018 Rudder Cup launch race to be run on Friday 14th December to Sail Rock & back. See flyer below, I encourage all woody owners to consider participating. At this stage we (I’m on the race committee, along with Jason Prew, Nathan Herbert, Baden Pascoe & Barbara & David Cooke) are calling for expressions of interest in racing – entry to the race is by invitation, as per the original race format in 1908.
Big ups to Greg & family + staff for turning on the day, including BBQ. Special thanks also to the CYA committee members that pulled it all together.
Lastly a little something below for the petrol heads – Greg had on display his Jesser BSA 500cc twin, hill climb racer. Built in 1962 by Les Jesser, she is a 2 time Australian class champion.
TASMANAIR
The above photo is of the TEAL motorboat – Tasmanair on the Auckland Harbour & is dated January 1948. (photo ex Lew Redwood’s FB)
Do we know what became of the launch e.g. converted to pleasure craft ? renamed?
18-06-2018 Harold Kidd Input
TASMANAIR was built by Colin Wild for Tasman Empire Airways Ltd and launched on 24th July 1941. She was built to carry TEAL personnel at 20knots between Mechanics Bay and Hobsonville where overhaul work was done on TEAL’s Short flying boats. The Scott-Paine boats had been taken over by the RNZAF. TASMANAIR cost 2000 pounds, a small fortune in 1941.
She went to Lauthala Bay to service flying boats there, then to the Chathams to service the traffic there. Donaldson Bros of Owenga, Chatham Is, bought her and covered her in completely and then renamed her TASMANIA. She was 37’6″ x 9’4″ x 4′ and had a single 200hp Kermath. Don’t know what happened to her after the Donaldsons owned her.
photo below ex Ken Rickets
MISTRAL
Mistral’s trademe listing does not tell us much other than she was built in 1947, measures approx. 23’, is powered by a LD 28 diesel engine (is that a Lombardini?).
She was refitted 5 years ago at an approx. cost of $30k. Home is Dunedin & there is a trailer, so would make a cool lake boat.
Any southern woodys able to tell us some more about Mistral?
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