REELEMIN II – BUILT BY DON NORTON C.1957- AS BUILT
REELEMIN II – 1 YEAR LATER c.1958 – WITH DODGER
CHALLENGER – BUILT BY McGEADY – LAUNCHING DAY c.1962
COMMANDER ONE AS BUILT BY ALAN WILLIAMS c.1962
TEMPEST – BUILT BY McGEADY C.1964
COMMANDER ONE LENGTHENED c.1969-70
THE NORM FAIRLIE WOODEN BOAT FLOTILLA
Todays woody story follows on from yesterdays story on the classic wooden launch TEMPEST, which we identified as being built by McGeady’s for Norm Fairlie.
We learnt that Fairlie commissioned several wooden launches in the 1950’s > 1970’s period. Ken Rickets expanded on them and who built them, then sent in reference photos of the Fairlie boats, as we see above today.
Norm Fairlie would have had to be one of Auckland’s boatbuilding yards best customers.
Nice to see the ‘fleet’ all together for reference.
DOCKSIDE WITH THE WOODYS – Auckland’s Wooden Boat Festival 2026
(CLICK PHOTOS TO ENLARGE)
Yesterday’s WW post focused on the undercover displays and the surrounding shore-side activity (scroll down if you missed it). Today’s instalment is a gallery from two days spent wandering the floating docks. Why two days?
The simple answer — there were just too many woody folk to catch up with for a quick chat. Every few metres another familiar face appeared, and before you knew it ten minutes had disappeared talking boats, projects and plans.
On the weather front the forecasters got it spot-on. Sunday turned out to be the pick of the two-and-a-half day festival, with warm sunshine and a welcome cooling breeze.
Between dockside wanderings I managed to sneak into a couple of the speaking seminars. One featured designer supremo John Welsford, the other Paul Stephanus, director of the Australian Wooden Boat Festival in Hobart. Both presentations were knowledgeable, insightful and — most importantly — highly entertaining.
Because Auckland’s greater boating community is spread across a wide geography — marinas, rivers and estuaries scattered from the inner harbour to the outer reaches — the public rarely gets to see our classic wooden boat fleet gathered together in one place. That’s what makes an event like this so special. Seeing so many woodys together is a reminder of just how strong and diverse the fleet really is.
Of course none of it happens without the owners. They put an enormous amount of time — and more than a few dollars — into getting their boats “show ready”. Beyond the camaraderie shared with fellow woody owners, the real reward comes from the reactions of the public. Owners might shrug off the compliments, but the praise, smiles and pats on the back certainly help offset the many hours spent sanding, polishing and crawling around the bilge.
Now, I know it’s not a beauty contest… but if I had to pick a few personal favourites from the docks they would be:
SAIL — RANUI The 1936 ex-workboat designed by Korinius Larsen. Looking at her today, the standard of presentation is closer to a superyacht than a working boat.
MOTOR — REHIA The 1938 Colin Wild designed and built motor launch. Over the last five years she’s been undergoing a rolling restoration, and every time I see her she looks better than the last.
TRAILER BOAT — LADY MAREE A circa-1950 Cresta Craft classic runabout — pure period charm on a trailer.
TRAILER YACHT – I missed the detailers, has the look of a John Welsford design – can someone supply details ✔️ thanks. ‘Mystery’ solved – its a Welsford Navigator ✔️
As mentioned yesterday, events of this size don’t just happen. They require the efforts of hundreds of volunteers, organisers, exhibitors and supporters.
So a big salute to everyone involved in bringing the 2026 Auckland Wooden Boat Festival together. It was an impressive celebration of our classic wooden boating movement.
AUCKLAND’S 2026 WOODEN BOAT FESTIVAL – Show Tour Part #1
Currently underway down on Auckland’s waterfront is the 2026 Auckland wooden boat festival. The event kicked off late Friday afternoon and runs through until 5pm Sunday.
I dropped down on Friday hoping to grab a few photos before the predicted weather turned sour. Thankfully we were treated to a few welcome bursts of sunshine, which made for some great viewing and photography. As it turns out, today (Sunday) is shaping up as the best day to get along and soak it all in.
Today’s woody story focuses on the undercover displays and surrounding shore-side areas. Tomorrow we’ll bring you Part #2 — a full dockside walk-through featuring the boats afloat.
The festival is a visually stunning showcase, with around 80+ classic woodencraft on display along the docks. In an era where most marinas are locked away from the public 24/7, events like this provide a rare opportunity to get up close to these beautiful wooden boats and chat with the passionate owners and crews who keep them alive.
Pulling together an event of this scale doesn’t happen by accident. It takes hundreds of volunteers, organisers, exhibitors and supporters working behind the scenes to make it all happen.
Hats off to everyone involved — it’s a fantastic celebration of our wooden boating heritage.
In the first weekend of March we have one on NZ’s coolest wooden boating events – the NZ Antique & Classic Boatshow, hosted in Kerr Bay, Lake Rotoiti, Nelson Lakes National Park.
Todays coverage of the event is a perfect example of how the WW community works – I get an email from a friend (John Burland) living in Germany informing me a friend of his (Cam Rodgers) is attending the show this year and would I like some photos – short answer – YES.
So thanks to Cam today we get to have a gander at the show. Looks like the weather gods were smiling.
Remember – click to enlarge photos and enjoy the gallery 🙂
Todays woody is the 38’ launch TALISMAN, designed and built by Max Carter and launched in 1961. Her original owner was R. Jordan. TALISMAN had a 11’6” beam so there was shortage of room down below.
TALISMAN graced the cover of the Oct 1962 issue of Sea Spray magazine.
When launched TALISMAN was powered by twin Fordson diesels that were marine converted by the Ford dealer – John Andrew & Sons. The engines gave her a comfortable cruising speed of 10 knots. For the ‘petrol heads’ there are lots of details in the article above.
Question of the day – what became of TALISMAN, name change?.
Recently, woody Angus Rogers sent in the top photos of HOTSPUR , a recently restored 24’ Mason Clipper that calls the Outdoor Boating Centre (OBC) in Auckland home.
Angus pointed her owner – Fraser Elder in the direction WW and Fraser sent in the gallery of photos of HOTSPUR.
This wasn’t a fast project, in fact Fraser commented that from start to finish it was 9 years, fitting it between work and family commitments.
Some background – HOTSPUR was built c.1968/1969 and during the restoration, several bits of the timber in the boat were numbered (as in the photo with H15 on the inside of the instrument panel) and they are numbered H15, H16 and H17. Fraser reinstalled these parts to keep the numbers in the boat. Puzzled about the presence of three numbers, Fraser spoke to Anne Mason about this, and was told ‘Oh that’s to be expected, we built the boats in threes’, so there was always an amount of cross pollination between the boats.
HOTSPUR was built with a fibreglass hull, after the first tranche of builds with a timber hull, but there is a lot of mahogany in her. During the restoration Fraser needed to replace a high percentage of that timber, using sapele, as real mahogany is no longer allowed to be sold because of the CITES agreement.
Before the restoration, she had a BMW D150 (around 140HP) diesel engine. However, this had several parts that were too corroded or rusted too be used and very hard, or impossible to replace because of the age of the engine. So Fraser installed the BMW D190 (around 180HP) that he had purchased along with the boat. It was also newer and had, he was told had been rebuilt, although this is later questioned. It is this engine that you see running in the boat after he had figured out the few issues he had getting the engine started.
The restoration was mainly completed around August 2022 after nine years but as with any of these restorations, there are still (mainly small) tasks to do, and things that Fraser will eventually get around to, including replacing some of the work he did in the early days, as he says he is now more skilled 🙂 and more knowledgeable about some the techniques to use.
Todays woody gets to be on WW because its just so cute – as Harold told me once re classic wooden boats “dear boy do not be under any illusion, it is a beauty contest” .
What we learn from her recent tme appearance is – designed by John Spencer, launched in 1960, 16’ 5” in length powered by a40hp Mercury outboard. I wonder who built her, most likely a home / DIY project.
Home is Kaitaia, Northland so hopefully someone in the BOI buys her.
BUDGET BOAT BLING
There is a secret to buying well on trade me , I have bought ace clinker dinghies for $200 and an embarrassing amount of bronze hardware for next to nothing.
The waitematawoodys Slipway Milford car boot sales are also legendary.
Aside from the clinkers I think this weeks buy is the best to date. A pair of bronze/chrome 1/2 vents for $25. A quick clean up with a scotch pad and WD40 and almost like new. Have I a need for them ? – of course not, but better in my glory box than sold for scrap.
The reason for the bottle of wine in the photo below (size comparison) is when I told Jason Prew what I’d bought and the price, his reply was “I bet they are 1” high and from a model boat kit” if I’m honest I was concerned when the seller wouldn’t answer my question re what size they were (post buying) 🙂
Back in November 2016 we ran a story on the 1962 Snow Waters built classic launch – TARATA that Alan Sexton’s father, Howard, owned back in the 1970’s. Alan was trying to locate TARATA and after some great detective work we got a great insight into TARATA’s provenance – link here https://waitematawoodys.com/2016/11/21/tarata/
Fast forward to earlier in the week and Alan sent in the above photos of TARATA that Mark McLaughlin took last year of the launch at the Evans Bay Marina , Wellington. Alan commented that it was good to she her so well maintained.` Lots of details on TARATA in the WW link above.
Back in 2016 Robert Brooke commented that Snow Waters built TARATA to a modified MAPUNA design of Robert’s father John (Jack) Brooke. FYI – these days MAPUNA is owned by Mark McLaughlin.
This 23′ woody recently popped up on tme and immediately caught my eye — helped in no small part by the great photography and those postcard-perfect backdrops.
Built in 1966, RAROA presents as a very well-sorted example of the Mason Sports Clipper style. She’s beautifully finished and comes with one very practical bonus – she’s trailerable. That means no marina fees and the freedom to tow her to wherever the water (and weather) looks best.
At 23’ she strikes that sweet spot between classic elegance and modern usability.
Power comes from a Chevrolet blueprint 383 V8, pushing out a serious 405hp. Top speed would have to be well and truly off the dial. The engine alone reportedly cost around $50k, which tells you straight away this is not an entry-level woody.
This is a complete packagethat has the woody wow-factor.
BAY of ISLANDS CLASSIC WOODYS – KERIKERI INLET RAID
Last weekend a few of the B.O.I.’s classic launch skippers gathered for a cruise up the Kerikeri Inlet to raft up at the Stone Store for a catch up. The real reason was a session at the Plough & Feather waterfront pub.
One of the WW cub reporters – Grant Gibbs was aboard KORAWAI to record the event.
I note from the photos that a couple of ‘visitors from Hawkes Bay’ managed to tag along, but we will turn a blind eye to that.
I’ll comment more on the Bay of Islands woody scene in Mondays upcoming story.
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