MYSTERY LAUNCH 20-01-2024
Todays woody photo was sent in by Nathan Herbert, now we know the name of the boat – but today is a wee bit of a quiz to see how sharp some of you are.
Prize is a WW burgee – entry by email only to waitematawoodys@gmail.com Close off is 6pm today (20-01-2024)
QUESTION IS: Boats name, where was she built and what became of her.
uPDATE – A HINT – It isn’t a North Island built boat
Bay of Islands Summer Mooching + Anniversary Weekend Cruising
Todays gallery of classic wooden craft comes to us from the camera of Dean Wright, taken while he was cruising the bay on his woody – Arethusa.
From top to bottom the craft are:
• Ranoni – Army Bay
• Enterprise – Opunga Cove
• Arohanui – steaming past Cable Bay, Urupukapuka
• Arethusa – Whangamumu
• The Logan yacht – Iorangi – Whangamumu
• Alofa – Whangamumu
• Valhalla – Whangamumu
• Rampage – Whangmumu – an early 2000’s Robertson Boats sedan launch ( lengthened and repainted)
• Mary of York – Ben Tomb’s leeboarder
2024 MAHURANGI REGATTA – Classic Launch Parade & Sunday Gathering At KAWAU ISLAND
The countdown is on for one of the worlds best and biggest classic wooden boating events, the Mahurangi Regatta, organised by the Mahurangi Cruising Club.
Sadly due to the freakish weather the 2023 regatta was cancelled, but plans are in place to make 2024 on-the-water and ashore at Scotts Landing bigger and better.
The Classic Wooden Launch Parade is one of the highlights of the weekends activities – followed later in the day by a serious ‘old school’ boaty BBQ ashore at Scott’s – including a massive marquee for the 20 piece dance band.
On the Sunday, most woody launch skippers head to KAWAU ISLAND and the plan is to gather later in the day for a few sun-downers at the newly refurbished Kawau Boating Club.
MYSTERY LAUNCH QUIZ – Win A WW Cap – Kiwitea
After the mammoth stories the last two days, probably time for a hopefully straight forward quiz.
All correct answers via email only to waitematawoodys@gmail.com go into the draw for a WW cap.
Quiz closes at 7pm 10-01-2024.
THE QUESTION – name the launch and the location of the photo.
CLASSIC WOODYS CRUISING THE HAURAKI GULF – SUMMER 2023/24
Now todays post is the one you have been waiting on – the classic wooden (mostly) craft that I spotted around the Hauraki Gulf over the Dec 27 > Jan 5th period.
Probably the best turn out of woodys that I have seen – seems it just wasn’t me suffering from cabin fever 🙂
As always some photos are good, some not so good – direction of sun and distance dictates that. Mostly I’m taking photos as a visual account.
Enjoy the gallery – broken into locations – I have endeavoured to list the craft in the tagged section.
AS ALWAYS CLICK ON PHOTOS TO ENLARGE
If you have any good photos, send them in to waitematawoodys@gmail.com
RAKINO ISLAND
KAWAU ISLAND
WAIHEKE ISLAND
OUT & ABOUT – on route
PATIO BAY CLASSIC WOODEN BOAT WEEKEND – 2023
Todays story wasn’t meant to happen, the 2023 Patio Bay Weekend was not on the radar but several woody skippers told me late in the week that they were going so I shuffled the plans around.
Saturday mornings weather and sea state was average but sometimes you just have to make the call and head out. I was also suffering from serious cabin fever, so little boating in the last year.
As the day unfolded the weather improved but from the fireside chat post race, the classic yachts racing down did not have a pleasant trip.
CYA numbers were down significantly from previous years , in fact I was the only launch in the bay.
The venue hosts, the Mahoney family, ensured a great time was had by all, with the emphasis on an old-school / retro boating gathering e.g. open fire / bbq, Pohutukawa and driftwood smoke and the legendary barrel of rum……….. on that subject most were amused when the yacht “Prize” won her division – part of the winning is having to re-fill the rum barrel the following year – I was told Prize’s skipper historically has gone to great lengths to sidestep the expensive.
The assorted collection of photos above is simply to give you a glimpse of the weekend, and showcase the magic of Aucklands woody fleet and Patio Bay. Enjoy (passage photos B15 Frances & dark hulled yacht ex Dennis & Sue Rule) – (some photos below average in definition – long lens the camera).
Xmas Boat Reading – 10+ years ago I asked at my local 2nd hand book store, about an out of print copy of a book titled “Hemingway’s Boat’ by Paul Hendrickson – out of the blue last week I got a call telling me one had turned up – I started to read over the weekend and after just 10 pages put it down, just a gem, to be saved for the summer xmas /ny trip. Best $15 I have spent. If you see one for sale, grab it.
SCHOOLHOUSE BAY KAWAU ISLAND – XMAS 1959 – BOATS & OWNERS
In todays photo Ken Ricketts has tagged as may launches as he can confidently ID and provided us with details of who owned the boat at the time of the photo + details on each craft. Hopeful Ken’s memory from 64 years ago is better than mine 😉 Photo by Palmer ex Lew Redwood fb. Engines are listed as on that day, a number had had other preceding engines, some mentioned and most have had other engines since.
I think I have ID’ed REHAI , the 1938 Colin Wild built launch on the right, last launch – see below.
03-12-2023 ADDITIONAL INPUT EX KEN RICKETTS – below is additional data ex KR, the accuracy of which is un proven so view as ‘maybe/could be 🙂
Some engine history & installation details of the above where known.
1. MARGARET S original or early days Twigg petrol engine.
2.HUKARERE original Less ( Ford?) marine petrol engine
3.ROTUI – original
4. VARLENE – original
5. APACHE – original
6.GAY DAWN original single flathead Studebaker petrol converted truck engine ex ROYAL FALCON painted bottle green.
7. MENAI – original 8 cyl Lycoming petrol engine
LADY MARGARET – original twin Fairbanks Morse diesels. These were side exhausted, out each side, below the bridgedeck, about 6 inches above the waterline, & were left in place for many years blanked off, after the Fodens were installed.
Her Fodens to me, had a unique exhaust system, with 2 short stacks, one out each side of the cockpit cabintop, & were identical to those installed in Fred Porter’s MARNINE, during the building of her, for him, by Lane Motor Boat Co.
Ted C. & Fred P. were very close friends, for much of their lives, & shared the same shed for the 2 boats, in Wakatakataka Bay, for a great many years, & both sets of engines were purchased & installed at the same time.
Fred P. was the M.D. of Mason & Porter Ltd, ( Masport), the huge engineering organization, & my father, Ralph Ricketts, was manager of the machine shop for about 30 years, & Fred asked my father to design, & for dad & his staff, to manufacture, the 4 exhaust/muffler units, for the 2 boats, which were a wonderful feat of engineering design, & a great success, as he was able to make the exhausts on both boats, almost completely silent, something that with those engines, was almost impossible, as exhaust back pressure, can be a real issue with all 2 cycle engines, which is what Fodens, GM Detroits, Commer TS3s, & others are also. —
You never heard either of these 2 boats leave the bay, (Compare with original Police launch DEODAR I, which had 2 similar engines, or the navy HDMLs, you could hear them coming around North Head, from Mansion House Bay Kawau Island, — well almost anyway!!).
REHIA – still had her original engine, but the installation had a number of unusual special features about it & its installation. It was a Buda 6 cyl flathead, painted grey, with dual ignition (12 spark plugs), with a single 12 position distributor, with double sided rotor, which to me, seems inappropriate, as one benefit of dual ignition system, is the safety factor of having a separate back up, in event of failure of 1 system. She also had a Bendix reverse control system on the manual gearbox, which was operated by a little 6 inch lever, in a dual reverse lever/throttle control, console mounted unit, with an emergency long lever, for a manual linkage control alternative, poking through the floor, by the helm, that could be quickly connected, in event of failure of the Bendix system. I knew the boat & Ryans so very well, & in all the years I knew them, I never knew the Bendix system to fail. The Buda remained for a great many years, during their very long stewardship & was eventually replaced by a 6 cyl Ford Diesel, as I recall, around 1980ish. — KEN R
When You Sell On-Line You Have Little Control Over Who Buys Your Gear 🙂
Looking For A Project – Venture > Regardette
The woody market currently seems to be very crowded with project boats that need finishing / saving, most have a price tag best describe by the somewhat famous line from the 1997 Australian movie The Castle – “Tell Him He’s Dreaming’. Well todays woody isn’t a dream, its good value at $500 ono.
Now there’s no motor but the tme story (thanks Ian McDonald) says there is one available for $3k but given its a Volvo 130hp to match the stern drive unit in the boat, you would probably be best to ditch both and start again 🙂
The launch is approx. 30’ and currently in the Taupo area and the trailer isn’t included in the price.
It stated that previously it was an icon of Lake Taupo so fingers crossed the Drake brothers can jump in with some more details.:-)
INPUT ex PAUL DRAKE – This is REGARDETTE, formerly VENTURE, understood to be ex-Airforce. She has been at Taupo since the early 50’s I would say, or even earlier – possibly arriving soon after the finish of WW2. She had a Chrysler Crown which now lives in brother Michael’s shed. The Crown gearbox is now firmly bolted to the back of ROMANCE’s Chrysler Ace, where it is doing excellent service. Little else is known.
The Launching of Wynona
Todays story is on the launch – Wynona, in the top photo above ex fb via K Ricketts we see Wynona being launched at Ohinemutu on the shores of Lake Rotorua in the North Island of NZ.
From previous WW stories we have learnt (thanks Harold Kidd) that Wynona was built in 1948 by Sam Ford for the Rotorua Lake Service Ltd., who used her for tourist trips to Mokoia Island in the middle of Lake Rotorua. The colour photo of her c.1950’s is from the front cover of a brochure promoting the trips.
A comment was recently made on WW that Wynona was being restored at Tarakohe marina, in Golden Bay – would love details / photos, so if this is a happening thing and someone knows the owner – I’ll reward a report with a WW burgee.
And remember to RSVP to waitematawoodys@gmail.com for the Riverhead waterfront Tavern lunch cruise – 0n Sunday November 19th
WHANGAREI MARITIME FESTIVAL TRIP REPORT
A little late posting todays story – its been rather a full on weekend – on Saturday we had our general election, which resulted in a change of government (very happy with that). Then early Sunday morning the All Blacks had a do or die clash with Ireland in the Rugby world Cup which resulted in a well deserved win for the AB’s.
After the final whistle I was in the car and heading north to Whangarei to check out the Whangarei Maritime Festival. The temptation to stay in Auckland and enjoy a celebratory breakfast was very strong but wow I’m so glad I didn’t – I was rewarded with a most enjoyable day out.
I’ll start by thanking Druce Dunlop for alerting me to the upcoming weekend and also say that the organisers did an great job promoting the event on social member. Anyone contemplating hosting a similar event could learn a lot from mirroring the WMF. It ticked all the boxes and was rewarded with a huge turnout.
A wonderful collection of mostly wooden craft on display that given the location / layout of the dockside, allowed the public to get up close and experience the vessels.
Well done to everyone involved – both on and off the water. Enjoy the gallery of images. As always – click photos to enlarge 😉
GALE
Back in June 2022 WW was contacted by the owner of the 1949 36’ yacht – Gale C4
Her story goes something like this – Gale was designed by Charles Bailey Jnr., but not built till 40>50 years later, possibly in Titirangi West Auckland, builder unknown. Construction is two skin kauri on Oregon stringer.
At the time WW was contacted her owner was going thru the ‘do I – dont I’ stage in regard to either a restoration or selling Gale as-is-where-is.
Do we know what happened – hopefully it was a ‘I Do’ decision and Gale is tucked away in a shed somewhere.
HEADS UP – OCT 7TH – STILLWATER WATERFRONT WOODY PICNIC – ASAP TO waitematawoodys@gmail.com
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