AOMA – 30′ Halvorsen ‘Special’

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AOMA – 30′ Halvorsen ‘Special’

Aoma was launched in May 1963 & was build # 1185 for the Halvorsen company, in fact the last special built.
Aoma is in fact unlike most of these Australian woodys in that her hull was splined & the helm was on the starboard side rather than port.

The photos above of Aoma are ex Peter Arnold & show case the classic Halvorsen design, you either love or dislike these Australian classics, me ? I love them. They have a very strong class association & most are presented in a similar standard to Aoma. Most do not see much blue water, to be found cruising the inner & protected upper harbours. I believe the A-Cup man Iain Murray owns the largest Halvorsen built.

They represent good value for money on the market – but I’m not sure on the Aussie laws re exporting them ?

UPDATE: The photo below is of Iain Murray’s 60′ Halvorsen – Tooronga. Her designer Carl Halvorsen spec exported Tooronga to the States in 1949. The story goes that Carl was lunching in the Newport Yacht Club & a fellow diner saw Tooronga tied up outside – he immediately called a club steward & sent a blank cheque across the room to Carl on a silver tray. Carl returned the keys on the same tray – sale made 🙂
Ian Murray bought Tooronga in 1992 & returned her to Australian waters & commissioned a magnificent restoration.
You can read, see more on the boats here http://www.halvorsenclub.com.au/

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Hirere & Poaka

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Hirere

HIRERE & POAKA

I have had the above photos that are both taggged ‘Hirere’ in my ‘upcoming ww stories’ file for a long time, hoping that at some stage I would uncover more (some) details on the name & determine if they are the same launch & if not which one is Hirere. To date nothing – so I put her out there today to she if we can answer my mystery.

Input from John Blundell

“The photos today came to you from a group I sent to Harold Kidd a couple of years back. The top photo is Poaka which was built about 1959 for my father Stan Blundell by Snow Waters. She was featured by Sea Spray magazine not long after as a”quart in a pint pot”.He sold her to Athol Mellars a couple of years later and his son John later took her to Gt Barrier where he lives.
The other photo is the 29foot Vindex built also for my father about 1963 by Jim Young in his shed at Birkenhead wharf.Dad wanted to keep the engine out of the main cabin so it was installed further aft and fitted with a vee drive.
Re the dinghy it was one of Phil Bartons 8footers and was the best of the bunch that were around at that time. The wooden one in the photo was used as a mould to produce fibreglass versions not long after.That is another story.”

Ngawini

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NGAWINI

I headed out on Sunday afternoon for a few hours to give Raindance’s batteries a charge & when coming back into Bayswater I spotted what appeared to be classic wooden launch on the Mercury Mover barge. Closer inspection revealed a 26>28′ straight stem tram topper.

The name Ngawini was on her side & she had quite significant damage to her bow & underwater bow area. Looked as if she had ran into some submerged item. Aside from the damage she appears to be very original. Hopefully insured & repairable.

Any woodys know more about her past & what happened to her?

UPDATE – she has been on ww before – see below & also link to more details.

Ngawini

UPDATE 2 + photos

“Aaron here from The Recycle Shop at the Waitakere Transfer station. Hey we’ve seen the photos of the lovely boat Ngawini on your site. We’ve got the boat sitting here on our yard and wondered if you might be able to help us find it a new home?

We’ve had a couple of people offer advice on what some of the fittings are worth and we’d like to offer the whole boat for $2000 if the buyer takes it away, or $2300 if they want to strip parts and leave the rest here (leaving us to pay approx $300 to dump it).”

 08-06-2017 UPDATE

I have been contacted by Aaron at the Waitakere Refuse & Recycling Centre & told that they have listed Ngawini on trademe (link below) as a ‘parts’ listing. Bidding is set to start at $1,200, it will be interesting, some cool pieces but what the market is prepared to pay is any ones guess.

 

http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing.aspx?id=1342362960&ed=true

Around The Yards – Warkworth

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Around The Yards – Warkworth

Alan Sexton was recently hauled out at Robertson’s Yard, Warkworth & snapped this interesting collection of boats. Alan reported that the ‘Jane Gifford’ was also up for a bottom paint and the Harland’s ‘Plain Jane’ (designed and built by Chris Robertson) was in the shed for a top to bottom refurbishment.

The above photos of the boats on the hard caught Alan’s eye.
James Groenhart’s 28′, 1951, Lidgard built ‘Ballerina’ was looking very smart, but then she should, having spent 5 weeks last year in Colin Brown’s shed for a re-fit. photos here https://waitematawoodys.com/2016/02/10/ballerina-restoration/

Now Lady Rere is an interesting launch, she started off as a bare shell of a hull, reputed to be ~100yrs old, Alan believes Robertson’s built the new superstructure and interior and engineering. Do we know any more about her?

The centre-boarder ‘Tirranna’ pictured is a Hartley at around 28’& in a moment of weakness (on my behalf) sneaks into todays ww post . Alan commented it was good to see a boat of her type in immaculate condition.

Lane ‘Bridge-decker’

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LANES BRIDGEDECK LAUNCH

Given the recent debate on ww as to what constitutes a bridge-decker, today’s boat has the potential to have a major identity crisis 🙂 But if we park the owners trademe description & just take the boat on face value, she a pretty looking classic wooden launch.

Built by Lanes Boatbuilders in 1915, she is 30′ in length & built with carvel kauri planks & her decks are plyed / glassed.
Her owner has had her for 20 years & uses her regularly. Back in 2000>2003 she had a total refit (refer above photos).
Zoom zoom is via a Standard 23C engine, which is an early (1958) 35hp Massey Fergusson 4 cylinder, 2200cc. This easily sees her cruising at her hull speed & 7 knots is a comfortable speed without pushing anything too hard.
I like this classic & at $26k she would make a very affordable entry into classic wooden boating. Spend a few dollars & she could be made very special.

Sorry no name – so the question, as always 😉 woodys is, who is she & what do we know about her?

Moananui

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MOANANUI

Moananui was launched in 1950, is 28′, carvel built from kauri & powered by a 1970 60hp Ford (Ebro) diesel. Thanks to Ian McDonald for the trademe heads up 🙂

Anyone able to supply more details on her?

Elsie May II

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ELSIE MAY II

Back in early January Paul Drake sent in the above photos of Elsie May II. She had ‘appeared’ at a berth near Paul’s ROMANCE a few months before, having been on a mooring on the Lake Taupo for several years.

She is very original, and Paul commented that whoever owns her did a great paint job on her in December.

Paul believes she came from Napier, but knows nothing else. Possibly a 1950’s Chris Craft design NZ built ? & 28>30′ in length

Can any woody supply any details on Elsie May II?

Harold Kidd Input – ELSE MAY (I) was owned by L.G. & W.E. Mair of Connells Bay in 1973 (my pennyworth).

Sailing Sunday x3

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CYA Classic Yacht Regatta Oops
If you ever thought classic yacht racing was a little ‘soft’ i.e.  “let them thru, they are nice chaps” think again, its serious racing – proof? During race one of last weeks regatta the 1898 Arch Logan Rainbow was involved in a wee incident that resulted in her samson post snapping, it takes a lot of force to break a 5” square piece of kauri. The main player in the incident was the bowsprit that compressed under impact and combined with the ‘dead’ force of the backside from the deck, something had to give & fortunately the Samson post took all the load. Effectively became a safety valve, and halted any collateral damage to the deck or bowsprit.
End of the race for Rainbow & potentially end of the regatta – but in steps master boatbuilder Paul Tingey who worked around the clock and did an outstanding job, gluing up, turning and re-installing the new Samson post to get Rainbow on the start line for Sundays racing.

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Ngatiawa
Ngatiawa, below, is a A class keeler that was  owned by Nathan Ross for many years, from the 1940s on wards. Later ownership passed to his son Clive, a school mate & young R.A.Y.C. associate of Ken Ricketts .
Ken’s photo was taken at Christmas 1952 in Mansion House.  Do any of the woodys know more about Ngatiawa – designer / builder / year of launch & what became of her?

NGATIAWA TAKEN BY KR CHRISTMAS 1952 AT KAWAU

H28 Classic Wooden Ketch 4sale

Maroro was professionally built in 1957 in Whangarei & proved herself by winning the 1961 Trans Tasman race and is featured in the NZ book ‘proper NZ yachts’ by Richard Endean.
Maroro is a traditional sailing man or woman’s boat, set up with jib and staysail self furling + spinnaker. She has a near new Yanmar 10hp engine with 60 hours on clock & F & R gearbox. Three berths, toilet in separate compartment. Force 10 diesel heater. Simon Lawrence anchor winch. All ground tackle.  Her mooring at Mahurangi is also available long term.
Owner Russell Ward commented that at the asking price of $18,500 she is would provide a lot of fun for a real sailor.

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3/4’s a Woody – Wild Horses

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3/4’s a WOODY – WILD HORSES

Taupo woody’s Cathy & Shawn Vennell own a rather special zoom zoom woody, Judy H – a 19’6″ Chris Craft replica speed boat, which I have had the pleasure of skimming over the top of Lake Rotoiti in. For an 8 knot woody, doing 75kph+ is like space travel 🙂 You can check out Judy H here    https://waitematawoodys.com/2014/02/10/the-two-extremes-of-classic-boating/

Last weekend the Vennell’s turned up at the Lake Rotoiti Classic & Wooden Boat weekend with a floating bach – a Mason Clipper named Wild Horses. Now this addition to the Vennell fleet was not a total surprize to me as we had chatted on & off last winter about the suitability of a MC for Shawn & the family.

Wild Horses has a plastic (f/glass) bum but there is enough wood else where to get the ww tick. Zoom zoom comes from a very grunty V8 (Shawn will chip in soon with details)
Already Wild Horses has made a lot of Vennell love & looks stunning – can not wait till next year to see what else they will (tastefully) do to her 🙂

Marie J + Hirawanu

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MARIE J

Marie J was built in Whangarei by Master-Craft ( M Ryan) in 1956 & measures 30′. Built of kauri & presently owned (for approx 5 years) by Peter Croft  & kept at Gulf Harbour.
Peter C.  bought her off a Mr Hambrook of Auckland, who bought her in Motueka (2005) & cruised her to Onehunga, Auckland, via the West Coast. Then a quick road trip over to the Waitemata Harbour. Her history at Motueka & before that, is unknown.

She has been powered by a 4 cyl 90 hp Ford diesel since new & due to some very bad luck has had a total of 3 of these engines, including one installed  this week by Moon Engines.
The engine history goes like this , whilst in the care of a previous owner, she was tied to a wharf one day, at low water & when the  tide came in she got jammed under the wharf & ended up with water on the wrong side of the hull, which flooded the engine. This resulted in a replacement identical engine. Then the  present owner Peter C. had the misfortune to be cruising along one day & an oil cooler hose ruptured & sprayed lubricating oil all around the bilge & pumped the engine dry, which then promptly seized up. Thanks to Peter Croft & Ken Ricketts for the photos & details (edited by Alan H)

OMG – words fail me……………….. Its a bit like one of those dogs with a big body & very short legs – normally the result of a hole in the fence 🙂
For the record – it’s a 1948, 38′ Lidgard named Hirawanu.

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