PARADE OF SAIL – 2025 AUSTRALIAN WOODEN BOAT FESTIVAL
One of the big events during the Australian Wooden Boat Festival in Hobart, Tasmania is the ‘Parade of Sail’ – the offical opening event. Conditions allowing they get 11 Tall Sailing Ships and over 200 craft sailing up the Derwent River and into Sullivan Cove to mark the start of the festival.
Today you get to experience the spectacle from about the media boat – a rather large twin hulled motorboat that was perfect for the task. Conditions were a tad challenging for the smaller craft but everyone was well behaved and followed the marshals instructions.
Enjoy the gallery – only a selection – could only capture what the skipper deemed of most interest 🙂
LOOKING FOR HELP IDENTIFYING THIS CLASSIC WOODEN BOAT
Todays woody photo comes to us from the Auckland Libraries Heritage Collection via Nathan Herbert. All we know is that the ship is the ‘GOTHIC and at the time had a very well known passenger on board – Queen Elizabeth II, during her 1953 visit to New Zealand.
So woodys can we ID the launch – I’m sure HDK knows the answer 😉
We return to the AWBF tomorrow for a gallery of images from the opening day – Parade of Sail.
ONLY TWO THROTTLE SETTING ON MY GIRL – IDLE AND FULL CHAT
Some woodys are pure speed demons eg MY GIRL (#51) below and others with the help of a heart transplant can still lift up their skirts and show a good turn of speed – NGAIO (blue boat) and PACIFIC (white) two good example below.
TUGBOAT RACE START
2025 ANNIVERSARY DAY INNER HARBOUR MOTORBOAT RACING
Due to the weather on the weekend I was able to attend the anniversary day regatta motor boat events on board Jason Prew’s launch – MY GIRL.
The two gigs are the Tug & Workboat Race and the Classic Launch Race – known around the waterfront as as the Tug Off and the Drag Race.
The commercial boats were first away and are always a sight to behold – so much horse power – and great to a mix of very old – WILLIAM C DALBY and current working waterfront tugs.
The main event for me is the launch race, pulled together each year by Jason Prew – it is a handicap race but the adrenalin kicks in and the launch skippers are going at full throttle most of the race. Race results below.
I wouldn’t be true to my DNA if I didn’t comment about the continuing demise of the regatta – each year less and less vessels turning out – aside from small beach launched yachts, the motor boats would have to be the two biggest categories in the regatta. And a very concerning sign – no Navy ship in the harbour as the VIP grandstand………. just saying.
Enjoy the photo / video gallery.
NOTE – AFTER A TECH ISSUE UPLOADING VIDEOS YESTERDAY – WE HAVE RESOLVED THE FAULT AND HAVE ADDED SOME GREAT SAILING FOOTAGE TO YESTERDAYS MAHURANGI REGATTA STORY – SCROLL DOWN TO VIEW.
Well that wasn’t the woody weekend I‘m sure we all planned, but it was still a magic weekend and just goes too prove that classic wooden boat enthusiasts don’t let a lot of wind and rain get in the way of a good time.
The trip up on Friday afternoon / evening as uneventful (unless your woodys named – TAWERA, who ‘lost’ 2.5m off the top of her mast) and most anchored in and around Scott’s Landing.
Then it went down hill on Saturday morning – confusion around the start time for the launch parade – 1/2 the boats thought 10am, now I’m told it did say 9.30 in the classic yacht club newsletter, but……. the % of launches there that were members would have been less than 20%, so the parade was very patchy with skippers joining at different times. Numbers were down and the loop of Sullivan’s Bay was embarrassing- less than 20 people on the beach and I suspect they had no idea what was going on. BUT – still good to get together. Parade aside there was an impressive number of classic wooden launches in the harbour, in terms of pure classic craft , launches would have out numbered yachts by 4:1Most turning up to just enjoy the weekends activity on the water.
As the morning wore on the wind and seas picked up – resulting in some spectacular sailing in the Mahurangi Regatta yacht race. Amazing that they was no carnage, that I’m aware of.
Below is a selection of photos that Jason Prew took from his launch – MY GIRL. I have several videos put have tech issues with uploading – will sort and add asap. I’m sure there will be more fleet coverage on social media.
Post the boating activities the weather turned ugly and the smart people left Scott’s Landing for Pukapuka Inlet. The shore based activities would have been dampened down by the weather but the true blue woodys partied on. Big ups to Nick Atkinson and mates who entertained the revellers from the back of a truck. The normal 20+ piece jazz band was absent this year but from everyone I spoke to – I think Nick has a permeant gig.
The forecast for Sunday was evil, anything that has 50 knots in it is a big red flag. Then the heavens opened up and we had everything- wind , rain, lightening all night. Not a lot of sleep was had that night. Woke to no rain and wind down a little but forecast wasn’t good so made the call to cancel heading to Kawau and waited in Pukapuka for the weather to improve enough for a dash (not sure 8 knts is worthy of that term on RAINDANCE) home. Which we did.
Sad I missed hanging out at the Kawau Boating Club on Sunday night, but the upside was I scored a ride on Jason Prew’s – MY GIRL in the anniversary day launch race – full report tomorrow. Enjoy the photo gallery 🙂 And remember to click on photos to enlarge.
CAN WE ID THESE WOODEN CRAFT WASHED ASHORE AT BROWNS BAY
Todays images come to us from a fb post by Mungo Lloyd via Chris Leech.
Mungo commented that they came from his grandfathers photo album and showed the boats washed ashore on Browns Bay beach after breaking their moorings during a severe easterly storm in the 1950’s.
Todays woody comes to us tme via Ian McDonald and is the 34’4” motor sailer -SAFARI. What we know is she was built in 1950 by Cox and has undergone a recent refit inside and out. Powered by a 52hp 3 cyl. Fordson diesel engine.
Home is Lyttleton, South island.
Keen to learn more about this very salty looking woody.
LA PALOMA recently appeared on tme and sold rather quickly – probably based on the lowish asking price and her interior presentation. A little too much happening up top for my taste. We learnt from Ian McDonald’s hawk eyes that she is powered by a Ford 130hp 6 cyl diesel engine that gets her along at a 7>8.5 cruising speed. With a beam 13’8” she is a FBG ;- )In the b/w photo below, from a Oct 2019 Nathan Herbert WW story we get to see her as designed and built. Enjoy the peek down below.
LAKE ROTOITI CLASSIC & WOODEN BOAT PARADE 2025 CALENDAR WINNERS The competition the other day that offered up a LRCBP calendar to the first 3 woodys that emailed in the correct date of the 2025 parade was proof that the early bird catches the worm. I had recieved 5 correct answers be 5am – the winners were:-D. Holmes / G. Logan / J. McConnell
Recently the very stunning classic wooden launch – LADY ELLEN popped up on a fb page titled Mangawhat and the Mudflats’ , the poster was Carol Forsyth and the above photos were sent to WW by John Dawson. The photos were tagged ‘Doug’s Boatyard, Opua’ – will woodys whoever Doug is, he has a very smart yard.
We have featured LE on WW several times, following her restoration in the 2018 – 2019 period, in fact I attend the relaunch in December 2019 at Opua, Northland.- link below https://waitematawoodys.com/2019/12/16/the-launching-of-lady-ellen/ also on this page is links to all the WW restoration stories.
Its believed she was build in the late 1950’s by Supreme Craft in Auckland. At one stage she was spending her winters in Auckland as a floating office and escaping to the Bay of Islands for summer. But recently her Auckland berth has been occupied by another vessel so maybe she has retired to the north.
INPUT ex DENIS O’CALLAHAN – I remember Doug’s boatyard very well. We hauled Tasman there in May 2004.As I recall there was no road access and we walked around a track from the Opua wharf.There was talk at that time that Doug might be forced to close the yard.However looking at the flash shed in the background he must have resolved the issues. Photo below of Tasman at Doug’s yard.
Saturday was a great day for the classic wooden boating community – 13 classic craft (twelve launches and one yacht) made the journey up the river to the waterfront Riverhead Tavern for lunch.
In addition to the 13 woodys we were joined by 5 skippers and partners who made the trip by car.
As seems to always be the case – the weather and sea conditions was perfect for the trip and everyone had a great time.
Nice to welcome several newbies to the flock – these gathering are ideal for meeting fellow classic boating enthusiasts – the anchoring, coming ashore to the wharf and dining make it a shared experience and helps break the ice with ’strangers’. These days people seem loath to row up to another woody in a bay and say hi, some anything that grows the classic woody community is to be encouraged.
Saturdays cruise was the last event on the Classic Woody Calendar for the year, we will be back to you in the new year with details on more events. As always click on photos to enlarge – photos thanks to Margo Hudson & yours truely.
NEWSFLASH – as I have told anyone and everyone, the Mahurangi Regatta in late January is not to be missed. PLUS – details soon on an exciting new activity for the Sunday – the heads up – old school yachting and launch race/cruise to Kawau Island and a party at Kawau Boating Club on Sunday night. Perfect for those wanting to enjoy Mahurangi / Kawau longer eg not heading back to Auckland on Sunday morning.
A sad reminder that we were missing one of our family awaited us on the tables at the tavern – RIP David Cooke 😦
I spotted todays woody – MERA last week while at the Sandspit marina. MERA last appeared on WW back in May 2015, link below to that story with lots of details and photos.
It is always cool to find a classic craft has been so well cared for – well done her current owners.
MERA was built in 1957 by the Algies brothers, rumoured to a Colin Wild design. Her specs are 36’ x 10’6” x 2’9″
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