Category Archives: 1960’s

Cruise To The Riverhead Hotel

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CRUISE TO THE RIVERHEAD HOTEL
If you have not visited the Riverhead Hotel by water, its time you did. The Classic Yacht Association (CYA) has an afternoon cruise to the pub next Sunday (18th). These events are a lot of fun – we head up the river / creek on mass & anchor / raft-up before going ashore for a drink & a catch-up. If you have concerns about the route, just follow the boat in front of you & anchor with the others. There will be plenty of ‘old-hands’ to show you the ropes.
High tide is 16:24pm & so we aim to be heading up the ‘creek’ 2hrs b4 HW, its a small tide at 2.8m so I would imagine we will be meeting up in the Herald Island / Lucus Creek area around 2.00pm, so leaving Westhaven area around 1pm. ETA at pub is 2.30pm & departure from the pub approx 5.30pm.
If you are not a CYA member (yet) come along & see what you have been missing out on.
The photo gallery above is a snap shot of past trips – enjoy.
Ps – Wear your WW shirt 🙂
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Taranui

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TARANUI

Taranui was built in 1963, so just slips into the classic category, helped by the Strongman design & built with a pitched pine carvel by Sam Ford in Lyttleton.

She measures 32’ 9”, with 11’ beam & 3’6” draft. Power comes from a 80hp Toyota B4 light truck diesel, converted to marine.

Taranui is for sale on trade (thanks Ian McDonald) & currently called Havelock Marina home.

Do we know any more about where Taranui has been for the rest of her life?

Woody Has Lucky Escape in Milford Marina

Woody Murray Deeble, keeps his lovely ‘spirit of tradition’ woody – Waikiore (pictured below at Riverhead Pub) , berth at Milford Marina on Auckland’s North Shore. I have been ribbing Murray that Waikiore is long over-due some TLC (5 years between haul-outs) so out of the blue he hauls her out at the Milford Cruising Club slip. Next day a ‘new New Zealander’ has a wee parking oops & ends up in the water in Waikiore’s berth.

Some would say Murray was very lucky – others would say bad luck i.e. would have been a nice insurance claim 😉

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Tide In

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Tide Out

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Waitemata Woodys hits 4,000,000 views and celebrates with a gallery of over 100 classic wooden boat photos

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If you think being passionate about wooden boats is niche – think again, there are a lot of us out there. Waitemata Woodys has just passed 4 MILLION views and we celebrate with over 100 classic wooden boating photos

Never in a blue moon when I started this site could I have seen it becoming as popular as it has. Along the way the site has morphed to also become an awesome information source for just about anything connected to wooden boating. Some facts:
4,000,000 views
370,000 people have visited the site, most of them come back – some daily, some weekly, some just when they need to know something
2,469 stories
20,000+ photos published
A 50,000+ photo library
It wouldn’t have happened without in the early days a few fireside chats from people way more worldly in the wooden boating community than myself. The list of people that have shared their family photo albums, stories and knowledge with us is huge and  the site just wouldn’t be what it is today without these people.
I’ve made so many friends, and been fortunate to rub shoulders with a lot of you in person.
So where to from here?, I would be a lier if I said I had not considered pulling the pin a few times, its a big ask publishing a wooden boating story 365 days of the year, but for every one dark day when I’m questioning why I do it – I have 100 days where someone tells me that the first thing they do every every morning is check out Waitemata Woodys, or that they print the stories and once a week when they visit grandad they read them to him, because he is nearly blind, or when we uncover the provenance of someones boat, or when we find someones long lost family boat etc etc
Aside from thanking you all for your support and asking you to keep following Waitemata Woodys – I only have one request – please keep sending us your stories & photos – you may be thinking they won’t mean much to us, but at some stage, someone will send in something and SNAP, they match & we have the makings of a great story. Email them to   waitematawoodys@gmail.com
The following link takes you to a Waitemata Woodys story that epitomises all that’s good about the site – you wouldn’t find content like this anywhere else – it’s gold
And in answer to all the emails re when I will be doing another Waitemata Woodys t-shirt run – the answer is before Christmas, so start saving your pennies. I’ll do another post soon re taking orders 🙂
Again many thanks to everyone. I hope you all still enjoy the site as much as I do pulling it all together. Shortly I will be sharing with you some exciting news on how WW will become even more relevant to wooden boat owners, but for now I have pulled together a random selection of 101 woody photos that have appeared on the site – enjoy 🙂
Alan Houghton – founder
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Beverlene

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BEVERLENE

Beverlene was built in 1968 by Owen Wolley & measures 39’, has a 11’9” beam & draws 3’3”,  & has a kauri planked hull.

Zoom zoom is from a 120*hp Commer diesel engine that sees her cruising at a comfortable 8 knots.

* trademe listing (thanx Ian McDonald) also states 140hp

Home is Tauranga so she is off the WW radar – can anyone tell us more about here?

 

22-06-23 UPDATE – photo below ex tme listing June 2023

Aries

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ARIES

Aries is a 26’ Roy Parris launch, launched in 1962. She has a kauri hull & mahogany topsides.

Her zoom zoom comes via a Perkins 4-108 diesel.
She is listed on trademe (thanks Ian McDonald) & while she has recently had some TCL to the cabin sides she stills require finishing off.
Her reserve (starting bid) is $500, so there could be a bargain entry level woody to be had here 🙂

Mystery Whangarei Launch

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Mystery Whangarei Launch

Today’s launch, if you believe the trademe listing (thx Ian McDonald) is a 26’ ‘Bayee Low’, built in 1960. He rhull is kauri carvel.

Zoom zoom is from a 60hp Isuzu diesel.

Do we know any more about her?

 

Estevan

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ESTEVAN
The above photo of Estevan was sent in by Juliana Cooke, Estevan was her families launch in very late 1969 > early 1970. Juliana was very young back then but she recalls it was hand (home) built either by or for a doctor, probably in 1969. Juliana’s family acquired her in late 1969 & had their first trip away starting on Friday 26th December to Motuihe > Waiheke > Ponui, this cruise went into Jan 1970. Juliana recalls her brothers sailed a Flying Fifteen to Ponui Island and slept there in a tent because Estevan was too small, or thats what they claimed 😉
While the family altered the layout from the original design, it soon became apparent that Estevan was too small for the family, so they bought the launch Robyn Gae, which they owned until very recently.
So woodys does anyone know what happened to Estevan?
(As a side issue, I understand that Robyn Gae, that was being sold by Tom Nesbitt, has been sold. Will be interesting to to find out what the buyer paid, relative to the buy price……. I’m not against a fair profit but there is fair & fair 😉
Harold Kidd Input – All I have is that ESTEVAN was owned by Dr J.E.R Edgar of Orakei Road in 1966 and by R.G. Shaw of Dominion Road in 1973. The Turnwalds owned her in between those two.

Wooden Boating VIP On The Waitemata

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Wooden Boating VIP On The Waitemata

Today I hosted Ben Mendlowitz on Raindance, Ben is the number one wooden boat photographer in the world & shoots for just about every boating magazine there is & produces the world famous “Calendar of WoodenBoats’ + has authored dozens of books on the subject.
While in New Zealand Ben was keen to photograph some of our classic fleet, so we headed out yesterday to catch the classic division of the RNZYS Winter Series race.
Ben will have some stunning photos, I was just the driver today so only took a few, very average photos – I did however capture 2 rare events:
1. Thelma going a ground off Stanley Point – some very red faces
2. Jason Prew venturing forward of the mast on Rawene – he didn’t look comfortable 🙂
Photos below – enjoy
THE NEW ZEALAND SAILING DINGHY EXHIBITION
In case you missed it – in 2 weeks (Oct 5>7th) is the annual Classic Yacht & Launch Exhibition at the Viaduct – this year the theme is ‘The New Zealand Sailing Dinghy’ – I’ll post more on the event during the week – but right now Tony Stevenson is doing a call out to anybody interested in displaying their classic NZ designed and built sailing dinghy, yacht class information or memorabilia.
Please contact Tony Stevenson tonys@nwv.co.nz  or 021 977 456
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Whitianga Mystery Launch + Akarana Launch Day ‘Home’ Movie

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Whitianga Mystery Launch + Akarana Launch Day ‘Home’ Movie
Great photo above dated December 1950 of a lot of pleasure craft at Whitianga – the question is can we ID the white launch in the middle of the photo? Baden Pascoe will chip in, I’m sure 🙂
The Launching of Akarana

I was sent the above 2 minute ‘home’ movie by Ngairene Rogers of the launching of the 1960 Auckland pilot boat Akarana, designed by A.J. Collings & built by W.G. Lowe. Ngairene promised me the a copy of the movie approx. 8 months ago & I was pleasantly surprised when it arrived in the post. I’m sure Dick & Colleen Fisher, owners of Akarana, will be rapt to view it. So thank you Ngarene for sharing it with us.
(sorry about the ‘tattoo’s the middle off the screen – the price you pay for free hosting)
Ngairene’s brother Wade worked on Akarana when he was an apprentice in the early 1960s. He also did all the interior and detail work on Deodar (the harbour police launch), Ngairene commented that Wade was such a good boatbuilder that all the wealthy “yachties” used to ask that he be the one to work on their precious yachts, even though he was an apprentice.
The movie is in two parts, one section in black and white and the other in colour. There are also a few of bits of the boatbuilders clowning around (or working?), such as putting a plank of wood into a steamer.
Ngairene occasionally is in contact with one of the apprentices (Ross MacIntosh) featured in the movie, Ross lives in the Auckland suburb of Mt Roskill. In the movie Ross is the one wearing a pale short sleeved shirt and (short) brown shorts with a hammer sticking out of the belt on the left side – he walks away from the camera at one point then looks back over his shoulder and bends his left arm backwards as if waving.
You can view/read more on Dick Fisher’s restoration of Akarana here

Looking for a Woody + Stop Auckland Council Stealing More of OUR Harbour

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Looking For A Woody?

Two classic woodys have recently come on the market – one best described as a ‘rolling restoration’ & the other a ‘turn-key’ craft. The asking prices reflect their for presentation.

Lady Noeleen is a 32’, 1952 Dick Lang built bridge decker that now sports a small-is flying bridge. I nice boat for someone looking for a not to hard project. If I bought her I’d be borrowing Jason Prew’s tungsten tipped chainsaw & removing you know what 😉

You can view more on her at this WW link.

Lady Noelene

Waiari is a 36’, 1962 Owen Woolley seden cruiser, just screaming out for someone looking to go classic boating – now ! Her owner has moved up to a much bigger woody.

Again more on her at this WW link.

Waiari – Gets A Top Chop

Auckland Council Stealing More Of OUR Harbour

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Woodys – read below & please take the time to send a submission, we all need to record our concern at this intrusion of our water space – its very simple – see blue section below. Submissions close 8 October 2018,

In accordance with the Resource Management Act 1991 the above-mentioned application will be advertised in the New Zealand Herald on Monday 10 September 2018 and the submission period closing on Monday 8 October 2018.

For full details of the resource consent application, including plans and supporting documents, please refer to the Council webpage: www.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/resourceconsentsubmissions.

How to lodge a submission:

Should you wish, you may lodge a submission in support, neutral or opposition to any part of the application. If you make a submission, you must serve a copy of it, as soon as reasonably practical, on the applicant at the address for service stated above.

The submission must be dated, signed by you and include the following information:

  1. Your name, contact address, telephone number and email address (if applicable);
  2. Details of the application in respect of which you are making the submission, including location and consent application numbers;
  3. Your reasons for your submission;
  4. The decision you wish the consent authority to make; and
  5. Whether you wish to be heard in support of your submission.

Viewing the full application:

For full details of the resource consent application, including plans showing the exact location of the work may be viewed:

  • on the Auckland Council website: www.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz in search field type in ‘notified resource consent applications open for submission’ and in results select this heading and then look through list which is by location.
  • at Auckland Council Service Centre, 35 Graham Street, Auckland Central
  • at Auckland Central Library at 44-46 Lorne Street, Auckland City

If you have any queries regarding these applications, please contact 09 353 9356 (planning helpdesk number) or email mooringdolphin@aucklandcouncil.govt.nz