Todays woody is a John Spencer Rocket and was built in the 1950’s and has only ever had fresh water use (Lake Taupo), and shed stored.
She is 14’ in length and powered by a Johnson 25hp outboard (1985) and if you believe tme it has only done 30 hours.
Anyone looking for an entry level woody fir the lakes or at the bach?
WOODYS CLASSICS CLEVEDON BBQ CRUISE – I will be sending out details on NEXT weekends (21-22/05) overnight cruise via email tomorrow to the skippers that have RSVP’ed – keep an eye on you email inbox 😉
The last we heard of the Roger Carey 1959 built woody – Quest was back in August 2020 in a report from John Gander who being prompt by a WW story on Quest II, sent in photos dated 2008 of Quest berthed at Waikawa Marina, Picton. In these 2000 photos she looked very smart. Sadly John also included a photo taken in 2013 of her hauled out in Picton looking very un-loved and her planks crying out for a life afloat again.
Then yesterday Bay of Islands woody Dean Wright sent in the above photos taken on Monday. Dean had been at Waipapa Landing, Northland to see Quest being put back in the water after a huge amount of work by owners Eric and Win Sanderson to get her back in the water again after spending so long on the hard in Picton. In my eyes there is a lot to like about this boat – while she started life as Roger Carey’s private boat, she was later sold and converted to a work-boat. She measures 33’ x 9’9” x 4’6”, has a canoe stern and best of all down below is a Gardner 5LW 🙂 Mondays splash was brief to check a few systems and caulking, we look forward to getting a peek-down-below when she is finally ship-shape.
You have to love the EBH (Exclusive Boat Haulage – JJ & Shelley ) rig, that is the way to transport your pride and joy 🙂
Over the CV-19 lockdowns Serene’s owner Tom Lindesay gave the launch a birthday, work included new flooring, whilst ‘new’ to the boat, the wood is actually ‘young’ totara aged between 80 and 100 years. Tom commented that the trees were cut on a sustainable basis and that you are allowed to harvest 10% of a stand mainly on farming land. There has been a lot of totata planted over the last 20 years. The wooden boat business is going to need it, because there will be nothing else left. It would best used for inside work.
Tom made the two back hatches from sheep grating recycled from under a woodshed, the wood is heart matai and totara. The steering device is made from bits of the old flooring and turned on the lathe.
Great to see that Serene is going well and the old 6-354 Perkins is still doing the job 🙂
The top photo was taken by Dean Wright in the Bay of Islands in Jan 2021
Bottom end of Waiheke Island Chamberlains BaySummer WineSea Fever
Tuna
Isle of ArranAwarikiLucille
Summer Wine & Takahoa
Chamberlains Bay Classic Launches – Golden Hour
The truely talented boating photographers talk about the ‘golden hour’, the period just before sunset and just after dawn. Rarely in a bay is it an hour, sometimes it is 10>15 minutes before the sun disappears behind the hills or clouds.
On the Thursday before Easter, this average photographer (me) arrived in Chamberlains Bay, Ponui Island at just the right time and captured some special photos of the woody launches gathering for the Woody Classics Weekend cruise the next day up the Waihou River to Paeroa.
Woodys Classic Launch Easter River Cruise To Paeroa
The Easter weekend cruise was always going to be a biggie – with most launches having to travel upwards of 10 hours to reach the final destination – the ‘waterfront’ Historical Maritime Museum & Park in Paeroa. Most of the woody fleet gathered Thursday evening in Chamberlain Bay, Ponui Island in anticipation of an early start across the Firth of Thames, to rendezvous with the launches arriving from Thames and to collect our guide / navigator for the trip up the Waihou River. I’d have to say that the straight line trip across the Firth of Thames was 4 hours of my life I’ll never get back 🙂
We meet just off the old Kopu Swing Bridge which was opened specially for us to pass thru – and the welcome / turn out on the old bridge was outstanding. Must have been a quiet day in Thames, maybe it was that it was Good Friday and most things (pubs etc) were closed 😉
We shot thru the gap and 10 minutes later our lead boat, with navigator on board, found a mud bank and were ‘stationary’ for over an hour. Once moving again the remainder of the 4+ hour journey was fun to travel together in close proximity, but the scenery got very repetitive and at 5 knots max – the going was slow. The skippers were kept awake by lots of locals who had gathered at wharfs and in paddocks to wave as we went past. The dodging of the occasional ‘grassberg’ (floating mid-stream) also kept skippers on their toes.
The final short leg from the main river to the Museum dock again saw the lead boat aground and a wait for more tide.
We sneaked in just before dusk, a very long 10 hour day.
Jason Prew and Peter Vandersloot oversaw the shoehorning of the 10 woodys into the docking area. Then it was ashore to stretch the legs and a BBQ dinner/ catch up. The Museum had set up an impressive and most appreciated dining / BBQ area for the crews to enjoy. Post dinner most returned to the boats for an early night.
Observation- it’s bloody cold up a creek in the middle of the Waikato, thank god for hot water bottles.
Saturday was another cracker autumn day. The crews enjoyed a trip on the classic launch – Ariana (skippered by Peter Vandersloot) to the Paeroa township for morning tea at the local RSA – hot scones and pastries – always a winner. To balance out the catering, the river trip was split in two – with 1/2 the crew travelling by bus and boating back and same same in reverse for the other 1/2.
The day saw a great turn-out of locals visiting the Museum and walking the docks. I would encourage you to search the following words Kopu Bridge / Waihou River / Maritime Museum & Park on Facebook – the weekend was covered by so many people – lots more photos and videos to see.
Special mention must be made to Peter Vandersloot who masterminded the weekend and was on hand to provide so many insights into the heritage of the area, vessels and personalities. The Museum’s Chairperson Colin James and partner Gloria (a trustee) who were everywhere when needed and helped the weekend run smoothly.
Lastly none of this would have happened without woodys Jason Prew from The Slipway Milford, and Kerry Lilley for pulling everything together – well done guys.
The return trip back down the river had its challenges, very complicated tide table – but to the best of my knowledge no one is still there 🙂
The Museum and their boat trips are a must do if you are passing thru or around Paeroa. And big ups to the local council and business association – Paeroa is a healthy, well presented town, and a credit to everyone living there.
Over the next week I’ll do additional WW stories on the Museum, the river trip to Paeroa on board Ariana and a few of the launches that made the trip.
(Woodys who attended – My Girl, Raindance, Awariki, Lucille, Summer Wine, Ngarimu, Lucinda, Maroro, Cindy Jane, Kaikoura, and guest appearance by Ariana – refer photos below)
(Photo credits to – Jason Prew, Linus Fleming, Andre Thomas, Andrew & Mechaela Dobbs and yours truly)
THE FLEET
AWARIKI – 1967 – Owen WoolleyMARORO – c.1905 – tbaNGARIMU – 1945 – Fred GoldboroKAIKOURA – 1951 – Percy VosSUMMER WINE- Noel May – 1992CINDY JANE – 1975 – Pelin EmpressMY GIRL – 1925- W H Hand JrRAINDANCE – 1928 – Lane Motor Boat CompanyLUCILLE – Logan 33LUCINDA – 1930 – L Coulthard
While mooching around up north last week I spotted 45’ Collings & Bell built – Tamaroa, the berthed in Doves Bays at the Kerikeri Cruising Club marina.
I was subsequently contacted by John Bullivant who supplied the above photos of Meteor III. John advised that his research uncovered that all of the Metero’s (1 / II / III) were owned by Frank Haworth, who ran a very successful tourism business in Queenstown in the 1950’s>1960’s.
It is believed that Meteor III was NZ’s first hydrofoil , but built in the UK. Meteor III cruised at 55 kph and topped out at over 70kph.
I understand that she operated on the lake until the mid 1990’s, but these days is run by a charitable trust and occasionally comes out of retirement.
When she first hit the lake in the 1950’s, based on the photos it must have been an impressive sight.
At the recent CYA round Rangitoto race > cake day > BBQ one of the participating launches was the c.1953 Bill Waters built 34′ bridge decker – Gay Dawn. Gay Dawn has made several appearances on WW, links below, but today we get to also see her underway. Gay Dawn is built like a brick outhouse – carvel planked kauri, hardwood ribs and a pohutukawa stem.
Forward motion comes via a Ford 120hp diesel engine, that delivers an impressive turn of speed.
After a spell in the Bay of Plenty (Tauranga) GD is back home in Auckland.
Update 11-04-2022 Please to see that Gay Dawn has lost the bow rail (ex a Haines Hunter?) – looks very cool nude. Fingers crossed its a permanent thing 🙂
WOODYS RIVERHEAD TAVERN LAUNCH CRUISE – THIS SATURDAY (26th)
Last week I was contacted by Phil Vining re the 2nd Feb WW story ‘Wellington Woodys’ in it the lead photo showed several launches on the hard at Evans Bay, Wellington. In the background was a motorsailer that John “twodogs’ commented was either – Sunquest or another built to that Alden design. Phil confirmed it was indeed Sunquest and dived into the WW archives – and found nothing, so felt maybe it was time there was – I’ll let Phil tell the story 🙂 “Sunquest is a beautiful motorsailer that is much admired in this area. She was built by Wally Steer in Nelson and launched in 1959. I remember our family joining others on a Vining & Scott Christmas outing to Kaiteriteri with Wally during the early 1960’s – probably my first outing on a keeler out on the open sea. In those days she was a real looker with light blue hull and the proud timber rope work around the stern painted in a gold colour…still a great looking motorsailer with lovely Alden lines. A shame there were not more built in NZ to this design as they would have been very popular I think. After Wally sold her she went to Mana .. not sure of the various owners but hopefully someone will fill in the gaps and provide some history on this lovely vessel. After checking through the archives in the Vining Marine Office Phil came up with a listing from 2009 when they sold her for Paul Robinson to John Mansell. The 2020 listing is from when John listed her (refer below) .. he went on to sell her and now owns the well known Auckland yacht Trojan Eagle. You will see from the listings that she originally had wheel steering inside & out .. the outer wheel was removed at some stage.”
Phil commented that it would be great if someone can add a photo of Sunquest in her early days with light blue hull and gold scrolling around the stern – evidently she really was a picture.
Phil mentioned that there is probably a good WW story around Wally Steer as well. Phil believes he built Sunquest at his home at Monaco, Nelson. After selling her he built a 60-70’ Herreshoff ketch which he called Sunquest II. This was another magnificent timber yacht and Phil had the pleasure of sailing on her with a subsequent owner. Following Sunquest II he had Malcolm Dickson design and build Sunquest III which Phil saw in Westhaven last year – Wally also put a lot into this build as well. A remarkable man. Fingers crossed Phil is motivated to write the Wally Steer story 😉 The photos above are supplied by the Vinings Office (as always click photos to enlarge)
Regular visitors to this site will be familiar with my enthusiasm for the uber cool website – offcenterharbor.com (screen grab above), last year the crew behind OCH during CV-19 lock down pulled together a world first, an online virtual woody boat show and today I can advise that its on again in 2022. With a slight twist – this year access is complimentary thanks to the generosity of the OCH founders. Details below
And because I couldn’t not give you a woody treat today – check out this link to a great OCH video, it is one of my favorite videos, I’d be a little embarrassed if I told you how many times I’ve watched it 🙂 Its titled ‘Live Well: The Cruising Smack STORM BAY with Tim Phillips‘
The Show is a completely online event from February 18th-27th, which means you can enjoy this gathering of the world’s best classic boats from wherever you are (without leaving the comfort of your favorite chair).
Our friends at Off Center Harbor have used the power of the internet to put nearly everything in the world related to classic/wooden boats on one big interactive Google map…
WHAT’S “ON THE MAP” AT THE SHOW?
The Map – Everything related to classic boats is on one interactive Google map
Boats – Over 1,000 of the world’s best classic boats (with photos and details)
Organizations – Explore festivals, boatbuilders, clubs, museums, schools, etc.
Live Presentations – Inspiring presentations featuring experts on a variety of topics
People – Connect with other attendees anywhere in the world (right on the map)
YOUR BOAT COULD BE IN THE SHOW:
You can submit your own classic/wooden boat to be in the Show! Again, the Show is entirely virtual/online and will be open February 18th to 27th at ClassicBoatShow.com, and…
