Category Archives: 1950’s

 Calliope – 19′ Very Rare Chris Craft Runabout

Posted on by
1

CALLIOPE  – Chris Craft Runabout

Calliope was built in 1951 and is a rare breed – the Chris Craft company introduced the 19’ RR (Racing Runabout) model in 1948. They were powered by a big block M series engine, as is Calliope with her Hercules 336 cubic inch (5.5L) straight 6, 158hp MGL engine. They were and still are today highly desirable craft, the production ‘hotrods’ of the day. And in their day they were the fastest Chris Craft built. Calliope these days exceeds 70 kph.

Calliope, a two owner boat, was restored in 2006 having spent most of her life on Lake Weston, Connecticut, USA. In 2008 she was judged 2nd in her class at the prestigious Lake Tahoe Wooden Boat Festival.Calliope sits on a brand new alloy tandem trailer.
Imported into NZ by a serious collector who is running out of space so has made the call to pass Calliope onto a new owner.Interested parties, initially to contact waitematawoodys@gmail.com


What Would You Do If You Owned Calliope

You would attend events like this weekends classic and wooden boat parade at Lake Rotoiti (Nth Island) and I’m sure be judged best woody there. So woodys if you are anywhere near Lake Rotoiti this Saturday at 11am, park the car and take in the annual parade – over 75 classic boats will be mooching around the lake. Best viewing spot is the reserve (good parking and grass bank) just down from the Okere Falls Store, State Highway 33. Movie below from the 2021 Parade

Mahurangi Regatta 2022 – 150+ Classic Wooden Boat Photos

Posted on by
9

MAHURANGI REGATTA 2022 – 150+ CLASSIC WOODEN BOAT PHOTOS

2022 will be remembered as the no frills regatta – no small boats, no beach activity, no beach party (band, bbq’s), no prize giving – but woodys it still rocked. Great turn out of both launches and yachts, and the weather gods delivered a breeze that provided some of the best racing we have seen in a long time.

I was told by someone that should know – that the budget for previous regatta’s is knocking on the door of $50,000 – maybe CV-19 has been a relativity check and maybe – less is more 🙂

I’m told Peter Brookes has Rawhiti in the groove, she is smoking the rest of the fleet – well done skipper and the grey haired crew 😉 for taking out the A division + Little Jim backing up last years Logan Trophy win with another win.

Tomorrow we will have a look at Mondays launch drag race for the quicks – conditions were below average on the inner harbour – correction, bad everywhere, I had the 2nd worst passage back from Kawau yesterday – 4.5 hours of my life I’ll never get back 🙂 . If I ever see the prick in a very large Riviera that went past me at full chat less than 50m away in the Rangi Channel and almost rolled me – he will get a bottle of Thai Fish Sauce in his air-con intake. 

No real story today, just a photo gallery from the weekend – sit back and enjoy. Remember click photos to enlarge. No photos from the Scotts Landing casual gathering – no need for a record ;-).

Special thanks to Murray Deeble and Glen Keeper for sending in photos 🙂

Update 02-02-22 Mahurangi weekend photo gallery below sent in by Graeme Finch

In Case You Are Hiding At Home, Wearing 2 Masks And Wondering What You’re Missing This Weekend – Check Out the 2019 Mahurangi Regatta

Posted on by
10

MAHURANGI REGATTA  2019 – The biggest & best classic wooden boat regatta in NZ – 90+ photos

FRIDAY NIGHT

p1040788

SATURDAY – REGATTA DAY

p1040795

p1040798

p1040803

p1040839

p1040867

p1040869

p1040872

p1040899

p1040916

p1040940

p1040949

p1040965

SATURDAY NIGHT AT SCOTTS LANDING

p1040987

p1040989

p1040990

p1040988

SUNDAY MORNING

p1040994

MAHURANGI REGATTA  2019 – The biggest & best classic wooden boat regatta in NZ – 90+ photos

WoW what a woody weekend – simply stunning on all fronts –  sun > wind > location > people & of course the boats. On my estimate, the biggest turnout of classic wooden craft ever. Record numbers for Saturday mornings launch parade.
I’ll go out on a limb & repeat a comment made to me on the deck of Lidgard House, Kawau Island on Sunday night by one of our most prominent & influential classic wooden boat people – “Mahurangi is the real Auckland Anniversary Weekend Regatta” & after cruising back into Auckland today, & not seeing a lot of yachts, I would have to agree.
On Saturday between Jason Prew on My Girl & myself with Raindance we hosted three of the wooden boating world’s superstars – if you read or follow the WoodenBoat magazine, Classic Boat & the hottest property on the block – the vblog, https://www.offcenterharbor.com
then the names Maynard Bray, Benjamin Mendlowitz & Steve Stone will be very familiar to you. These gents were motored around the harbour & very selectively photographed / filmed our beautiful woodys. When I mentioned that I had cancelled my trip to next months Hobart Wooden Boat Festival, one commented “why would you go – it’s all here” & woodys – it was.
I have never attempted to understand the ‘politics’ / issues between the Mahurangi Cruising Club & The Friends of Mahurangi people – but between them they turn on a wonderful day, that equals anything on the world classic wooden boat calendar. As with anything, a few wee niggles e.g. crap PA sound system at the beach prize giving meant most people didn’t know the results – but I can tell you that Tony Blake & the crew on Thelma gave all the other A division skippers as master class in regatta sailing. It was wonderful to see the big 5 Arch Logan yachts – Thelma (1897), Rainbow (1898), Ariki (1904), Rawhiti (1905) & Rawene (1908) all on the same race track together, for the first time ever (I think I’m right – Harold?) The results were:
Thelma, followed by Rawhiti, followed by Ariki, then Rainbow & Rawene.
As a result of playing driver for the overseas crew – I’m a little light on sailing photos, but you can see from the gallery above that it was a special day.
Well done MCC and F. of M. for another magic weekend.
If anyone else had the camera out & captured some goodies, email them to   waitematawoodys@gmail.com
We bailed out of Mahurangi on Sunday morning & headed to Kawau Island for some family R&R – photos below.
Question – what do you do when there is no shotgun to signal sunset & the lowering of the burgee? – well a few lads decided to bang some pots together, then drop the flags at Lidgard House – me thinks there might be a letter in the mail to certain members 🙂
_1050003
A WEE BIT OF PR GOING ON HERE – WW T’s & OFF CENTER HARBOUR CAPS 🙂
THERE ALWAYS HAS TO BE A FOOD SHOT – KAWAU BOATING LUB, DINNER SUNDAY NIGHT.
img_0612

Check out the video below of Rawhiti – sent in from Benjamin Mendlowitz from Off Center Harbour

http://offcenterharbor.com

Update – due to not all launches completing 2 laps of the launch parade – I missed photographing a few boats – photos below ex Justine Ricketts (edited by myself)

AND MORE – link below to the Off Center Harbour video of the 2017 regatta, featuring Steve Horsley’s stunning 1904 Chas Bailey Jnr – Ngatira

New Zealand’s Mahurangi Regatta – Featuring Chas Bailey’s NGATIRA

UPDATE ex Graeme Finch of the A Class fleet racing Saturday + one of Raindance showing myself & Steve Stone from Off Center Harbour filming / clicking away 🙂

As always – click photos to enlarge 😉

rd @ mr2019

Also from Graeme – one of Bruce Tantrum’s pride & joy – Paramour + Graemes stunning ship – Te Arahi 🙂

dsc_0139

dsc_0034

UPDATE – An early Saturday morning drone fly-by over Sullivans Bay, Mahurangi. Filmed by Neil Lawton, heads up on the movie from Ian Gavin.

30-01-2019 Update – photos of Laughing Lady ex Jason Prew

Update 11-02-2019 photos below ex Angus Rogers.

IMG_0153

IMG_0123

The Endless Summer

Posted on by
6
Tasman
Tasman & Viveen
Viveen
Waiari
Juanita
Pacific

Peter Loughlin Photos Below

Lady Margaret

The Endless Summer 

I know I’m tempting fate with the headline, but who can remember when it last rained? Todays gallery of woodys comes to us from the camera of Nathan Herbert (Pacific) as he mooched around the Hauraki Gulf last week. The last 5, are from Peter Loughlin (Lady Margaret -CW) doing the same thing.

We see Tasman, Viveen, Pacific, Arihi, Escape, Chandos, Zoe, Motunau, Waiari, Juanita, Pacific, Lady Margaret (CW), Rehia, Ngaro and a few that I can’t put a name to.

A question – did Colin Wild ever design / build an ugly boat? 

It was a pretty wild and woolly weekend in some parts of the north and reviewing the news and photos, Tutukaka took the brunt of it – sad to see the carnage. Angus Rogers sent in the photo below from Russell last night – tagged ‘After the Wind’ showing the Russell ferry and the launch Miss Brett, bottom right closer in.

A Pot-Pourri Of Woodys

Posted on by
3
Viveen @ Te Komua 
Raira @ Te Kouma
Tamure
Altair
Olive Rose @ Waiheke Island
Alma G @ Russel Wharf 

A Pot-Pourri Of Woodys

Today’s collection of classic launches come to use from a collective of woodys photographers that are cruising the Hauraki Gulf and outer waters – thanks to Angus Rogers, Murray Deeble, Colin Pawson and Lindsay McMorran.

And if you need a reminder of the cleverness of Chris McMullen, check out the link below to the story of his Herreshoff steam launch – just updated with shed photos post her ‘pretend’ (waterline check) launching.  https://waitematawoodys.com/2021/04/26/chris-mcmullens-herreshoff-steam-launch-2/

Lady Margaret – Lady Mary – Happy Wanderer Update

Posted on by
6

Lady Margaret – Lady Mary – Happy Wanderer Update

We featured Lady Margaret on WW when she relocated north to Whangarei , now in the talented hands of Alistair McRae, Lady Margaret is looking very smart after some lock-down maintenance and recently getting her top sides painted and new antifoul – all set for summer cruising.

The 38′ Lady Margaret was built in 1955 by L. Beacon of Mt Albert.
Lady Margaret has had more name changes than most woodys and shares the LM tag with a lot of classic woodys – so a little birdie tells me another could be on the way – hopefully they won’t stray too far from the previous – maybe Happy Lady, second thoughts maybe not – sounds like a ‘lady of the night 🙂
Lots more to read and view here https://waitematawoodys.com/2020/10/31/lady-margaret-happy-wanderer-lady-mary-gets-some-tlc/

Aquarius Is Back

Posted on by
7

AQUARIUS IS BACK 

The 1955, 38’ Supreme Craft built, ex game fishing classic launch Aquarius first appeared on WW back in Sept 2018, at the time she was hauled out on Waiheke Island and in a very sad state and we were reaching out to find a passionate woody that would take her under their wing – see that story here https://waitematawoodys.com/2018/09/01/aquarius-sos/ In April 2019 we reported that someone had stepped up to the mark and Aquarius was being transported back to the mainland and hopefully restored – see that story here  https://waitematawoodys.com/2019/04/16/aquarius-saved/ Then in June 2020 we got to have a gander at the scope of the project, lots of photos here https://waitematawoodys.com/2020/06/10/aquarius-restoration-update/

Now thanks to a tme listing we get a peek at the almost finished job, the listing tells us the interior need finishing and a final coat of paint to the exterior. I understand a lot of work has gone into the project – could be an easy entry into woody boating for someone prepared to roll their sleeves up.Her forward motion is via twin Ford 85hp diesel engines.  Below is a peek at her journey 🙂

UPDATE 22-12-21 – photos below from the past sent in by Shamus

30-10-2022 UPDATE – Recently popped up for sale on tme. Still a work-in-progree but some bling being assembled to go on her 🙂

RESULTS OF YESTERDAYS CYA HERITAGE BASIN POLL – 85% BACKING FOR OPEN TO ALL CYA VESSELS – Over 1000 votes cast. Very high number of individual people visiting the site yesterday, 2nd only to a Mahurangi Regatta weekend story. Thanks also to all the emails and calls – I understand peoples hesitancy to comment ‘publicly’ on the site 😉

I had an email from a long term CYA launch owner “Greetings Alan, In my anger I voted thumb down when I wanted to vote for all wooden boats in the marina. Anyway to change it?”

Rarangi – A Peek Down Below

Posted on by
4

RARANGI – A Peek Down Below

The bridge – decker Rarangi was built in 1951 by the Lanes Motor Boat Company using kauri planking. She is 39’ in length, with a beam of 12’5”, and draws 3’11”.

The forward motion is via twin Ford 80hp diesel engines, reconditioned 100 hrs ago by Moon Engines. Being a Southern boat (Nelson) Rarangi is very well spec’ed. Thanks to Ian McDonald for the tme heads up, Ian commented that Rarangi had been quite a famous Mayor Island game fishing launch. Run for many years by Bob Gray and then his daughter Jill. A photo of Rarangi at Mayor Island at the WW link below – https://waitematawoodys.com/2020/04/21/classic-launches-at-opo-bay-mayor-island/

NOT MANY POSTAGE DAYS LEFT ON THE CALENDAR IF YOU ARE WANTING WW GEAR FOR THE SANTA SACK

Ordering details here https://waitematawoodys.com/2021/11/11/58095/

Maybelle

Posted on by
4

MAYBELLE 

The classic launch – Maybelle recently appeared on tme, so  thanks to the listing and Ian McDonald we get to have a good look at Maybelle.  Her tme listing has her from the Collings and Bell stable and 32’ 10” in length. She is powered by a Ford Lees 6 cyl. diesel engine that gets her along at 7>8 knots. Appears to be very well maintained and appointed. 
Can anyone confirm the parentage and where she has been  for the last 70+ years?

Help Wanted Locating A Vire Inboard Engine

Woody, Simon Smith has asked for help locating a Vire 7 hp, petrol, single cylinder inboard engine similar to the photograph below. The engines are made in Finland. Any help, even a suggestion as to where to look on line would be greatly appreciated.

Valezina – Ready To Sail Away This Christmas

Posted on by
9

VALEZINA – Christmas Afloat For $34,500

The owners of Valezina acquired her as a 2020 post lock-down project and sent 6 mths full time restoring the yacht to a better than new standard.
Valezina is a 1939 Colin Wild design, known as the ‘Val Class’, most of the sister ships sported ‘Val’ names e.g. Valkyrie, Valderon and Valhalla. She was built in 1957 at the Salthouse yard in Bayswater, Auckland.

At 27’ she comfortably fits into the big little category – everything about her – looks, volume, sailing performance says Valezina is a serious classic yacht from one of the best combinations (Wild / Salthouse) we had. And she is built of gold – double skinned kauri, carvel planked.For when the wind is absent, a 10hp Yanmar inboard is there to help out.

Of course she is for sale, you will have worked that out by now 🙂 her owners are now oversea reconnecting with another of their passions. So the instructions are – sell the yacht.

In addition to the shiny stuff (sanding, painting and varnishing) Valezina is the recipient of – new mast & boom etc. / all new standing & running rigging / new tracks, blocks & winches  / new electrical including batteries and lighting / new safety gear / new plumbing including head and holding tank / new galley / new Raymarine auto heim and a lot more.And as an added bonus – her Westhaven marina may be available to rent.


To learn more about Valezina’s  – email waitematawoodys@gmail.com
Below is a selection of photos from her early days + details on the Val Class and some interesting event entry paperwork. Click on the blue link at the bottom to view.

Hobson Bay dinghy lockers 1959
Skipper looking into sun
History Of ValezinaDownload