Todays story is a photo essay from the recent Canadian CYA – Fleet Rendezvous at Ganges, Salt Spring Island and comes to us from the camera of Cecila Viktoria Rosell.
Enjoy – oh to have a marina like that. As always, click on photos to enlarge 😉
Sad and happy to see that Mike O’Brian has found a new custodian for Euphemia II, I had the pleasure of hosting Mike and Peggy in Auckland a few years ago. Special people and a special boat. The photo below records the transfer of ownership.
Mistral was designed and built in 1940 by Joe Wheeler, kauri carvel built – her specs are 32’ x 9’6” x 4’7”. She is powered by a 56hp Perkins 4108 that gets her along nicely when she isn’t sailing. Appears to be a well maintained and presented woody. (photos ex tme)
Recently WW was contacted by Ron Hackett regarding a project that has had an incubation period of 64 years, its good read so I’ll let Ron tell the story. But to give you a heads up Ron is looking for a custodian to take on the project.
BOUNTY – 34’ sail boat in frame.
“In 1958, a Kauri log was purchased by a young apprentice joiner, named Maurice Fleming. His dream was finally coming true! He started a notebook, and carefully recorded his purchases. The log, from Waihou valley, near Kaikohe, cost 338 pounds. It was railed from there to Whau Valley, Whangarei, and that cost 24 pounds, 10 shillings. [The mill there was Parkers, and sawing the log cost 56 pounds, six shillings and sixpence, producing 5,268 super feet of first class heart kauri.
Maurice continued to work for his father as a joiner, and set up the vessel at his home, working on it as he could. The designer of the ‘Bounty’, Ken Low, was keen to help as well. Ken was a well known boat builder in Whangarei, and with his brother Ron, owned the Low Bros Boatyard in Ewing Rd. Ken had learned his trade with Bailey & Lowe in Auckland. Ron did mainly the engineering side of the business, and another brother, Norman (known as Nip), was a tug-master in New Plymouth and Auckland.
In Te Puna Inlet, Bay of Islands, there lives a vessel built by Bailey and Lowe, in 1911, ‘Waitemata’, a 55’ pilot launch for the Waitemata Harbour. The construction of the Bounty is the same as that used in Waitemata, so it’s clear that Ken designed the ‘Bounty’ to be built with the same methods he had learned at Bailey and Low – three skins on stringers, two diagonals and one fore and aft, plus a sawn bilge shelf. Ken was well known for designing well-balanced, sea-kindly boats. People who knew him had great respect for his skills in designing and building, and many considered him to be one of the best wooden boat builders this country has seen. Ken also designed the sail plan for the ‘Bounty’, as a fractional rig. He knew what would suit ‘Bounty’ best, and it has been said that the sail plan was ahead of it’s time. Ken was a perfectionist. Maurice was working under Ken’s guidance, who helped when he could. Maurice’s standards were also very high, anyone building their dream boat will understand! He wasn’t happy with the first pouring of the keel, and set about doing it a second time, and it came out perfect. The keel is about four and a half Ton. The backbone and floors are all fastened with bronze bolts, floors being 2” thick. There are two bulkheads, and a number of moulds, with the stringers let into the bulkheads, all being perfectly fair. Breast hook and quarter knees are grown pohutakawa, and the beams are fitted.
Unfortunately, Maurice had a major setback of a personal nature. He seemed to go into a depression which he never really recovered from. He hung up his tools, and all work on the ‘Bounty’ stopped. Eventually, when Maurice was ‘getting on’ and was in a retirement home, it was time to tidy up his affairs.
I bought the vessel and timber about 1997 for $27,000, fully intending to complete her, but I have had too many other projects on.
The ‘Bounty’ is a 34’ vessel, at present in frame. All of the Kauri planking milled in 1958 is available. The fore and aft planks are full length, all planking is machined, and the rabbits are all cut.There are a couple of teak planks for cabin coamings.
I feel this vessel is an important part of our history. Aspiring wooden boat builders, of whom there are currently very few, could be encouraged to study the construction and fine workmanship, and even to work on the vessel. Today it’s a rare thing to smell heart kauri in a steam box. Budding boat builders don’t have many opportunities to work on such a vessel.”
Todays a shout out to anyone that is this person or knows someone that is – looking for a work-life change. If you have a CV you’re probably not who we are looking for 🙂
In no particular order does this sound like you –
• Good practical hands on general skills
• Not afraid to roll your sleeves up and just get the job done
• Sense of humour
• Looking for full time / part time / flexible hours
• Age open – young > old, its all about attitude
We offer –
• Small passionate team
• Central Auckland location
• Working railway slip – one of few left in Auckland
The 34’ Shipbuilders launch Grenadier popped up recently on tme. Built in 1976 with triple diagonal kauri planking below the water and double diagonal above (+ f/glass)
Forward motion is via a Volvo 200hp that has her cruising at 7>8 knots.
Now post the ‘modified to include a top helm’ (sellers words) Grenadier would have been a real looker, in fact one of the better Shipbuilders designs, some can be a tad boxy.
Still it only wood and nothing a sharp chainsaw couldn’t right.
COMMUNICATIONS– Staying In The Loop
Waitematawoodys have a lot of contact details for classic woody owners, but I’m sure there are gaps – We regularly send details on upcoming gatherings, but due to factors like people changing their email address or service provider, over time gaps occur. In the interests of ensuring you are kept up to date and do not miss out on upcoming classic gatherings – drop WW an email with your name/email/mob #
WOODY CLASSIC BOATING 2022 – 2023 CALENDAR Time to get the pencil out and circle a few dates in the calendar. Our 2022 > 2023 classic woody events focus equally on the boats and the people – its all about getting off the marina and meeting up with like minded people. As always, some dates may change and the weather is always a factor – but as the dates approach we will be in touch with more details.
Please feel free to share the calendar with your classic friendly boating enthusiasts. Where tide and draft permits – woody cruising yachts are always welcome to join in, so also share with the stick and rag woodys 🙂
AND TO ENSURE YOU GET A WOODY FIX TODAY – CLICK THE LINK BELOW Video footage from the 2022 Moreton Bay Classic (thank you Andrew Christie)
Following on from yesterdays story showcasing the inaugural running of the Moreton Bay Classic – probably the biggest classic one day on-the-water event in Australia, today we get to see the race fleet up close. The last group of photos are from the post race festivities in Horseshoe Bay. If you missed yesterdays story – scroll down to view it or click this link https://waitematawoodys.com/2022/07/04/the-race-social-event-that-stops-the-bay-the-moreton-bay-classic-part-one/
As mention yesterday – the time is long overdue for an event like this on the Waitemata – no drag racers, no show ponies, no big ego’s or bad attitudes and no 24hr marathons – just a good old fashioned woody day out accumulating in a bay for a BBQ. Details soon.
The Race Social Event That Stops The Bay – The Moreton Bay Classic – PART ONE
Todays mega woody story comes to us from Brisbane based woody Andrew Christie, who regularly sends in reports from the woody movement from across the ditch. Todays is a goody, so find a comfy spot and enjoy 🙂 Take it away Andrew –
“For my part I have long looked across the Tasman Sea towards the Waitamata Harbour with envy. The number of classic boats and classic boat events there is the stuff of magic and dreams for a wooden boat tragic.
Here on Moreton Bay in South East Queensland, its own boating paradise, we had nothing to compare until a grudge match between young Jacob Oxlade and Paul Crowther, bubbled to the surface in a throwaway challenge that snowballed in to the largest event for classic wooden boats that Moreton Bay has ever seen last Saturday, 25 June 2022.
Jacob Oxlade, 24 a qualified Master has the good fortune, skill and presence that has seen him become skipper of the South Pacific 11 a 72 foot vessel designed by Eldridge MGuiness and built by the famous Norman R Wright & Son in 1962. Jacob skippers the South Pacific from Far North Queensland to Tasmania and has formerly skippered other known Moreton Bay Classics, Bali Hai, Mohokoi, Lady Brisbane and others. Paul Crowther is a member of a successful business dynasty who has recently become the proud owner of the Mohokoi a 70 foot vessel built by Wayne Tipper in 1995.
Jacob in South Pacific was escorting Paul to Myora on North Stradbroke Island, an anchorage favoured by salty Classic Moreton Bay Cruisers as Paul got to know the ropes. As it happened, Mohokoi was ahead of the South Pacific and Paul slowed to let Jacob enter the anchorage first. As is the nature of such things, an argument then ensued about who was first and who was fastest. The gauntlet was thrown down by Paul and the challenge accepted by Jacob. It was on. The “Race that Stops the Bay” was suddenly being promoted on local classic boating social media but quickly became the “Event that Stops the Bay” to accommodate fears relating to insurance and other regulatory matters that tie down our modern nanny world.
Jacob hoped to attract perhaps eight of the known larger classic vessels and about ten smaller ones for an event he hoped would be reminiscent of old photographs he had seen of the processions of classic boats that escorted the Britannia up the Brisbane River on the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh’s visit to Queensland in the 1970s.
Jacob regrets that the entry form he published was not designed to accommodate the sheer volume of entrants that he had to process. Thirty-One classic vessels registered to actively participate in a race of 10.9 nautical miles from Green Island near Manly Harbour in Moreton Bay to South West Rocks at Peel Island. Seventy-One classic vessels registered as spectators. Jacob counted One Hundred and Twenty Classics in the post-race anchorage of Horseshoe Bay and more again were present close to shore before the starting gun. Entries continued to pour in after close of registration and even on to the day of the event itself.
Jacob is cognisant that each of these classic wooden boats is unique and special. He inherited his love of them from his father Paul Oxlade who would take him boating from a young age, where Paul Oxlade would point out each of the old Queensland woodies, being able to name their owners, builders, build dates and slip ways, a remarkable skill seemingly only shared by the now Skipper of the Lady Brisbane Mark Nielson. Such was his father’s inspiration that Jacob became a Master in his own right who desires to share his love of these classic vessels with his own younger generation. He believes he has come some way to achieving this goal with what is to become a regular event in what is now known as “The Moreton Bay Classic”.
The race format was kept simple with the primary focus being on a day out and participation which had to be both easy and free as an antidote to our post Covid 19 world. It was not a navigation event or log race. It was simply a race from post to post but with a handicap on each boats’ start times set by William Wright, a third generation boatbuilder and naval architect with the Norman R Wright & Sons dynasty who handicapped them according to their waterline length, horsepower and top speed. First across the finish line was the Coral Sea, followed by Floodtide, Lady Mac, Nyala and Tamara. A best and fairest award of a Garmin watch was won by the Skipper of Mohokoi, the decision being made by John Stewart, Commodore of the Breakfast Creek Boat Club. The watch was donated with thanks to Gordon Triplett from Garmin.
Because this year’s event occurred spontaneously and without much notice, a fact belied by the sheer number of participants, it is intended to hold the event once more next year to allow those people who missed out a chance to attend, after which it will become bi-annual, to be held in the winter of each year of the Tasmanian Wooden Boat Festival. The timing is designed to take advantage of the beautiful Winter conditions Moreton Bay experiences and to allow those vessels making their way North for the Winter season both from Tasmania and the South generally to participate. The date has already been set at 24 June 2023 which coincides with the commencement of the Queensland School Holidays and which avoids conflicts with other events listed on the Boating Industry Association’s calendar. In the event of poor weather a contingency plan for celebrations at Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron’s Canaipa campus are in place.
It is Jacob’s intention that next year all of the classic vessels will be entered as participants with any moderns to be registered as spectators as he explained there was confusion in the minds of classic owners unfamiliar with the format of the new event this year with the result many were shy, entering only as spectators.
At the conclusion of the race festivities continued with a presentation that occurred on the beach at Horseshoe Bay, where a feast of seafood, a lamb on a spit, and a pig on a spit was provided free of charge to participants.
Jacob focused specific attention on safety and an avoidance of inconveniencing non participants, the course being designed to avoid conflict with bay ferries or creating wake on local beaches. The event was run in consultation with Maritime Safety Queensland and the Water Police who reported no negative occurrences from the event. Congratulations must go to Jacob and Paul for their thoughtfulness in providing both general refuse and recycling bins at the beach function and for organising a clean-up of the beach the following day such that it was left in better condition than before the presentation.
Thanks must also go to Paul Crowther who paid for the spit roasts and a live band out of his own pocket, Bryant Engineering, the Queensland Gardner specialists who provided the seafood and who operated the rotisseries and set up and pulled down the beach facilities the day before and after the event and to Tony from Tony’s Boats and Marine who paid for bread, onions, napkins and the other bibs and bobs that made the barbeque a success.
The event was filmed by Nick Cornish who runs Game Rod Media so expect a quality documentary about it in the near future. A Facebook group for the Moreton Bay Classic features footage of the vessels and the event and provides updated information future events.
With a view to keeping the event free to participate in, Jacob and Paul are looking for sponsors and are floating the idea of providing a cap or pennant to commemorate each future event which will bear sponsor logos.
And so a new event was born, the fruit of a throwaway challenge, but which highlighted the health of classic wooding boating in Moreton Bay. Make sure you support the Moreton Bay Classic and see you on the waters of Moreton Bay on 24 June 2023, and suffer in your jocks on the Waitemata Harbour as it is warm and dry here in Queensland.”
I think waitematawoodys needs to look into pulling a similar event off on the Waitemata – back to you all ASAP with details 🙂 Alan H
The Race – below is just a tease – come back tomorrow for photos from the course 😉
Very happy to be able to confirm that – Manuia, the 32’, Joe Slattery designed and 1928 built launch has made the shift from the Bay of Islands and is now back in Auckland.
Her new owners have classic woody blue blood in their veins so no-doubt over time she will be tickled up to the standard a Slattery launch deserves. Her last owner, sadly had declining health, so there is some deferred maintenance to address.
A few years ago Manuia had a heart transplant and now sports a 100hp Yanmar 4JH3-HT6 that I’m sure pushes her along at a good clip.
I was out west Auckland on Sunday and dropped into the Te Atatu Boating Club yard for a nosy. Sad to see that the rather pretty x1934, Cox & Filmer built launch Robyn Gas is still hauled out and looking for a new owner. Given the 4sale sign points people to the yard office, I would suspect its being sold to re-coup yard fees.
There appears to be some ‘average’ hull work done to her, but at $6k, its a very low entry to a worthwhile project. Surely someone will step up and take her own. Make the TBC an offer, you might be surprised.
For no fault of her own other than bad timings, the boat has been crying out for a passionate woody owner for a number of years – see previous WW stories below.
Book author and publisher – Jenni Mence (she will hate me using that intro, but its true) whose last book was the uber cool – ‘K CLASS – The Hauraki Gulf’s Iconic Racer Cruiser’, has committed to another mammoth publication. This time focusing on the Arnold Francis (Bill) Couldrey design and boat building bloodline.
Currently in the final research phase, Jenni has called out to WW readers for help identifying the boats and discovering / confirming things like – the boats built and when, the current owner and/or anyone (owner or otherwise) who has a story to tell about the boat. Jenni would also love to talk to anyone who has memories of Bill himself.One has to assume many of the boats won’t have lasted the distance, however there may still be stories or family photos hanging around of them. To help keep things semi organised we have broken it into loose categories
# Pirimanu # Kereru # Cleone # Manunui # Reremoana # Tirimoana # Lisa Ann
# Rag Doll # Natalie # Cabaletta (may have previously been called Latitude) # Deborah Ann
Any further information anyone has on any of these boats – or other Couldrey boats we may not yet have identified would be really appreciated.
As a reward for your input, everyone that helps out will go into the draw for a copy of Jenni’s K CLASS book + the best photograph submitted (judged by Alan H) also goes into a draw for a another copy of the book. Thats 2 Copies To Be Won. Draw Close off date is August 1st – just in time for Father’s Day
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