Category Archives: 1950’s

LITTLE HONEY – 1955 CLASSIC WOODEN RUNABOUT.

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LITTLE HONEY – 1955 CLASSIC WOODEN RUNABOUT.

Back inlet Dec 2024 James McConnell won one of the WW quiz’s and in correspondence commented that he owned a 1955 17’ Mason Marlin, named LITTLE HONEY (not her original name). 

He also mentioned that he was restoring her for the 2nd time in 12mths, now that pricked my ears up, there had to be a good (or sad) story there – so woodys it goes like this, told by James –

“I’ll send a link to some pics of ‘Little Honey’.  No indication of her original name. I believe. I bought the runabout in secret as a surprise for my wife and family in Feb 2024 and had put hundreds of hours into a functional referb to make her a family run about for delivery at Christmas.

It’s not a boat builder quality job but a labour of love with a hard timeline and a fantastic learning curve assisted by the professional English and American wooden boat builders on youtube. It’s all International Yacht Paint products, 5 coats of colour on the hull and roof + 1 coat of varnish and every other varnished surface has 8 coats of Gold Spar original. At some stage in her past life she was converted to outboard power.

All was going well until on her 2nd voyage on the Rangataiki River I hit a submerged log and dislodged the transom.  Good news is I get to tinker for longer and can now engage my 3 boys in the task.

We’ll refresh the engine (Johnson 90 V4 2 stroke), glass the hull and repaint now that I can flip it over and work in daylight and change the prop to suit her better.”

We look forward to seeing photos of the repaired woody.

CLASSIC WORKBOAT – L’AVENIR TO GET A 2ND LIFE

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As launched – photo coloured by Dean Wright
March 2025 Dove Bay
Conceptual Rendering ex Dean Wright

CLASSIC WORKBOAT – L’AVENIR TO GET A 2ND LIFE

Over the weekend I received a repot from Dean Wright (owner of MV ARETHUSA) that he had spotted the fishing boat – L’AVENIR moored in Doves Bay for a few days.

L”AVENIR was designed and built by Roger Carey and launched in 1958. Her spec’s are 50’ with a 14’ beam.

Dean had a quick chat to the new owner Dan, who advised they were on route to her new home port in Whangaroa. 

Dan has plans is to take the fishing gear off her. Now Dean Wright is a very clever chap so he did a before and after shot of what she might look like for Dan.

Dean also ‘coloured’ an old photo of her when she was new. 

Fingers crossed that Dan follows Dean’s suggestions and we end up with another stunning workboat conversion.

Anyone of the workboat group able to tell us more about L’AVENIR.

Observation – workboats are probably the most active sales category in the classic wooden boat movement at the moment – seems everyone wants something they can live aboard and have the ability to do laps of NZ.

LAKE ROTOITI 2025 CLASSIC & WOODEN BOAT PARADE – PART #1 THE PARADE

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LAKE ROTOITI 2025 CLASSIC & WOODEN BOAT PARADE – PART #1 THE PARADE

Today thanks to Scott Johnson we get a look at the 2025 Lake Rotoiti Classic & Wooden Boat Parade — stunning, weather and photos that matched the wooden craft.

The day began with the traditional three cannon blasts, signaling the start of a flotilla of 80 classic and wooden boats gliding across the lake – lead out by Teheka Whaka.

Spectators gathered along the Okere arm shore, enjoying a live commentary from the commodore, who shared insights into the history and craftsmanship of these beautiful vessels. The weather was perfect, making for a truly memorable day on the water.

The parade concluded with a picnic and games at Wairau Bay, where the skippers and crew relaxed and celebrated another fantastic year of this cherished tradition.

Enjoy the gallery of photos & remember – click on photos to enlarge ;-)- On Wednesday we will have part two – the lake side picnic.

MYSTERY NORTH AUCKLAND WOODEN BOAT

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MYSTERY NORTH AUCKLAND WOODEN BOAT

Todays photo comes to us from the ‘Old North Auckland – Northland Photos & Stories fb via Lew Redwood.

The photo was captioned “Steve Bignall and his crane truck, an American war surplus Diamont T putting a launch back into the water, Whangarei, 1940-50’. The location is where the swimming pool car park is now.

Any one with a good memory able to put a name to the launch. 

PARADE OF SAIL – 2025 AUSTRALIAN WOODEN BOAT FESTIVAL

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©️AWBF2025

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

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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.

2025 ANNIVERSARY DAY INNER HARBOUR MOTORBOAT RACING

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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.

2025 MAHURANGI REGATTA WEEKEND – 75+ Classic Wooden Boat Photos

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2025 MAHURANGI REGATTA WEEKEND – 75+ Classic Wooden Boat Photos

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

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Unknown 1
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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.

Particularly interested in ID’ing the launch.

CLASSIC MOTOR SAILOR – SAFARI

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CLASSIC MOTOR SAILOR – SAFARI

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.