CLASSIC LAUNCH – FREYA – A Peek Down Below
Launch FREYA was built in 1963 is sits on the fence between a classic and spirit of tradition.
It has been commented that she is a ‘Banshee’ design (but shortened to 30’) from the yard of Alan Williams in Milford, Auckland.
30’ in length and powered by a 60hp Ford Parsons engine ( I suspect the word Parsons refers to the gearbox). Home is Nelson, South Island.
There is a fb page titled – ’Sitting there rotting, help save me’ which has a NZ version. Recently a gent named Bill Webb posted seeking anyone that might be interested in his 30’ mullity named RONAKI (note – boat most likely 28’ in length)
Bill states that RONAKI was built in 1903 and is still a solid boat thats has a lot of history behind her.
Bill also commented that she needs a new home asap and its his view that it wouldn’t take a great deal of work to get her looking beautiful again.
RONAKI has been out of the water about 3 years.
There is no mention of price – its not ‘free to a good home’, so being located in Waihi it will be a big ask to find a buyer.
There is some colourful chat on the fb page – worth a visit 😉
Photo below c.1990’s when owned by Jason Kinghorn.
19-06-2026 UPDATE ex HAROLD KIDD – built in 1908 by Collings & Matin, 26′ in length
CLASSIC WOODEN LAUNCH – RAINDANCE – Saved, Restored and Ready For The Next 100 Years
One of the better kept secrets in the classic boating community is that approx. 6 weeks ago the classic wooden launch RAINDACE while entering the Wairua Creek (Milford Marina) had a mishap, best described as a stroke of bad luck, or as a race car enthusiast friend commented “just like black ice on the road”.
Having passed the two marked navigation hazards and entering the actual creek , a rogue wave picked RAINDANCE up and deposited her on the rock bank under the cliffs (northern side).
When the wave died – the stern came down with a wallop and later discovered – damaged most things bolted / fastened on. Primary issue was the rubber shoe was bent up and stopping the prop turning + rudder and shaft weren’t functioning. End result no power and no steering.
The two things that stopped her sinking was (1) the rocks are boulders, so round versus sharp (2) The quick response of the lads at The Slipway Milford and the marina maintenance crew who arrived within 10 minutes to tow her off.
I’m only interested in the end result, the past is the past , but she was out for 6 weeks and all the talents / services of The Slipway Milford were utilised – advice, boatbuilding, engineering & painting + Moon Engines rebuilt the gearbox. A few sad photos below.
Also ook the opportunity to refresh a lot of other ares, still working on the interior.
Thanks to a supportive insurance company – IAG – RAINDANCE lives on to celebrate her 100th birthday in 18 months.
Been a stressful 6 weeks, apologise for any slow replies to WW, to be honest there were days I lacked the motivation to write about someone elses boat, so we got there 🙂
1908 CLASSIC WORKBOAT WOODYS PICNIC
Todays woody photograph was taken by A. J. Watson and originally published in the Auckland Weekly News in February 1908.
The photo captures the Thames fishing fleet departing for a community picnic ‘up the river’, which usually refers to a trip toward Kopu or further up the Waihou River, a common tradition for the local heritage groups and fishing families to celebrate a successful season.
While the full names of every vessel in the 1908 fleet are not all documented in a single public list, we can identify several based on the registration numbers visible in the high-resolution original:
Identified Vessels
T 547 (Left): This is the DREADNOUGHT. It was a well-known launch in the Thames fleet during this era.
TS 35 (Right, background): This vessel is the VIKING The “TS” prefix was common for Thames-based sailing or auxiliary vessels.
T 514 (Right, foreground): This is the MIZPAH.
Historical Context- The fleet shown here represents the early motorisation of the Thames fishing industry. At this time, many of these launches were owned by local families (such as the Judd, Maxwell, or Mears families) or by the growing Dalmatian fishing community that revolutionised the Hauraki Gulf fishing trade.
FRIDAY FLASH BACK – CLASSIC WOODY BOATING CLUB LIFE
Todays woody story comes to us from the Shelly Park Cruising Club (East Auckland) via woody owner James Dreyer (MV LAUGHING LADY) . James sent in the above video that was pulled together by one of the club members from the clubs archives and with the help of AI (image retouching and historical data input) we get to have a flash back to how the boating club scene snowballed in the 1970’s > early 1980’s.
After the first minute we get to see some amazing craft, a lot of which are still very active in the classic wooden boating movement today.
The film is less than 5 minutes so make yourself a cup of your poison and sit back and enjoy the film.
CLASSIC WOODEN BOATING FRIDAY FLASH BACK – BANDIT
Todays photos appeared recently on social media and in the two photos we see a young Sir Peter Blake sailing the yacht BANDIT that Peter and his brother Tony built in 1966 on the family’s front lawn in Belmont, Auckland.
I first saw BANDIT back in May 2013 when I accompanied a team for the NZ Classic Yacht Charitable Trust on a road trip to Warkwork to scope out extracting the yacht from an old farm shed. Story below – WW May 2013 https://waitematawoodys.com/2017/05/21/sir-peter-blake-bandit/
Fast forward to May 2017 and we were all celebrating the yacht eventually being placed on permeant display in Auckland’s maritime museum on the waterfront, after a restoration by the Classic Yacht Charitable Trust , led by Bruce Tantrunm. Story below – WW May 2017 https://waitematawoodys.com/2017/05/21/sir-peter-blake-bandit/
In the original post ut was commented that Peter was approx. 18 years old in the photo and the location was Auckland’s Hauraki Gulf, possibly the bottom end of Waiheke Island.
Todays question of the day – we anyone ID the launch on the left go BANDIT, closer to the shore, in the top photo.
INPUT ex NATHAN HERBERT – the launch is AURORA.
THE WOODY WEEKEND THAT GOT AWAY (sorry this is Mondays story, bloody set the wrong date 🙃
Ever have one of those weekends when you thought long and hard about slipping the lines and decided against it and then missed one of the best boating weekends of the season. And it was a long holiday weekend……….. Well that was me.
First up Angus Rogers sent in two great photos of MAITA I – the 30’, 1928 Collings & Bell built launch anchored in Sandy Bay, Waiheke.
Then a Waiheke resident sent in the three photos of Oneroa, the most crowed I have seen it in a long time.
Then Rob Griffin was mooching around the Waiheke Marina and spotted a new arrival – KERERU – the 35’, 1911 Chas Bailey Jnr built double ender launch. We learnt last Wednesday that she had recently relocated to Auckland from Picton. Looks like Waiheke Island will be her new home. Link below to Wednesday story https://waitematawoodys.com/2026/04/22/classic-wooden-launch-kereru-arrives-in-auckland/
A ROAD TRIP TO WARKWORTH + CEMENT WORKS BOAT YARD
I had a good reason last week to head north and so took the chance to mooch around the woodys berthed or hauled out in the upper reaches of the Mahurangi / Warkworth River.
The excuse for the trip was to delivery a model of the coastal cruiser VANESSA to the vessel before she heads south to her new Wellinton owner.
VANESSA was out for a serious service before the delivery crew headed away down south.
Sad to see such a salty looking woody leaving our area but we tend to win more than we lose eg more coming north ✔️
In varying stages of repair were – NEPTUNE, LADY JANE AND WAIONE. The yard was very busy but I started to itch as I got close to most of the other craft hauled out.
I also popped down to the river and spotted – RIPPLE,JANE GIFFORD, ANAM CARA (L33), and NOW .
150 YEARS OF NZ SHIPBUILDING – Reference Guide
Released in 2012 as a compact disc (CD), by Miles Hughes and covering the period 1795 > 1945, this booklet is of epic proportions – topping out at 837 pages. For easy of reading in todays digital world the ‘book’ is below in PDF format.
The publication contains more than 1,200 NZ shipbuilders, shipwrights and boatbuilders and includes their biographies and the names, specs and first owners of over 5,600 craft.
HEADS UP: WW can not vouch for the accuracy of the content and when reviewing the list of contributors , several stood out as ‘being fond of interviewing their typewriter’ i.e. they make up what they either do not know or are unsure of. So woodys best treat it as a guide 😉
WW would be interested in feed back on this guide – maybe chose a designer/builder well known to you and review the content.
As an example below is the listing on my boat RAINDANCE, some of the content is correct and some unknown or speculation that I have been told over the last 18 years of ownership, but it is very close her provenance.
So the question of the day – is this an amazing reference tool or to use that old school english saying ‘A Load Of Pants’ ?
UPDATE – Still available in print version at Boat Books in Westhaven, Auckland.
EASTER ON THE WATER – Classic Wooden Boat Cruising
Just back from three days on RD , Friday was one out of the box, simply stunning. Saturday was another goody and Sunday a tad overcast but still warm. Very happy with the number of classic woodys at Rakino Island over the weekend. I managed to catch up with a lot of the skippers, general consensus was ‘grabbing a few days afloat before winter kicks in’.
The white bridge-decker above was a mystery to me, short 4 letter name – Nathan what say you?
On Saturday I caught up with Bill Brown whose family (Corrine & James Brown) owned my launch in the late 1960’s. Back then she was named LADY GAY. Bill works off shore but keeps a very smart woody yacht (SusanJane) at Westhaven for when back in NZ.
We meet a few years ago via a mutual friend and the WW site, the penny dropped re the boat link and Bill sent me a great album of b/w photos from back in the late 1960’s.
I spend a lot of time matching other people and boats from the past so it was extra special to have an ‘own goal’.
One of Bill’s photos below of LADY GAY (RAINDANCE). For those interested more on RD’s past here https://waitematawoodys.com/2020/04/23/lady-gay/
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