Category Archives: 32′>34′

Emerald

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EMERALD – 1970’s
 
Recently I was contacted by Peter Grant in regard to the launch Emerald which he owned in the late 1970’s. Emerald was owned by a Kawau Island resident and Peter swapped an MGB roadster for her. I’ll let Peter tell us the story.
 
“Emerald was twin engined with small Yanmars of either 8 or 12 HP, I can’t remember exactly, but do recall they were both hand start and noisy with in built diesel tanks on top, much enjoyment was had with her and even ventured right up to the Matakana wharf, quite a feat those days as it was almost all choked up though the old concrete wharf was fine.
Some time after that I has the misfortune to tie her up at Milford Creek and was unable to retrieve her as I was away on board and could not get back on time due to the tide.
When I did get her back to Auckland I had her out on the hard outside the old Westend rowing club where we proceeded to give her new decks and cabin top, but this work was discontinued half way through, as I went back to working away and she was stored on my parents section in Henderson courtesy of Bob Wylie.
After two or three years my parents, now sick and tired of the launch in their backyard back yard wanted to sell the section and up came a deal with Mr Davern, who provided them with a solution, he bought the section for one of his houses, and in turn would transport the boat away, (my father later told me he was sick and tired of people wanting to buy her) that was the last time I heard of her until an advertisement popped up on Trade Me recently.
She is much altered and now powered by a single cylinder engine and is reputed to now be built in the fifties or so.
Can anyone shed some light on her provenance, I have sent in some very old scans of negatives of the time and how she looked at the time in the old Westhaven Marina and alongside the old cleaning piles, now long gone af course, mores the pity.”
 
I have to say I’m impressed with Peters taste in cars – the Mercedes pillar-less coupe would have been a great investment if he had kept her for 44 years 🙂
Keen to learn more about Emerald’s days before and after Peters ownership.
 
EMERALD – 2019
Below are a selection of photos from the current trademe listing for Emerald, as Peter stated above, its certainly a ‘different’ look / style.
The listing states she is 32’, with a kauri hull (now glassed). Power is via a marinised Ford Trader Diesel engine that gets her along at 7>8 knots.
 
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SUNDAYS MYSTERY LAUNCH QUIZ – NO WINNER SO THERE. A HINT – THE LAUNCH IS NO LONGER WITH US …………. SUNK.

2025

Woody Classics Weekend Riverhead Trip Report

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Woody Classics Weekend Riverhead Trip Report

We had 23 classic launches confirm for Sundays Riverhead cruise but folks I can report that the weather at times was a little evil. Not too bad for the big girls but the sub 30’ crowd were rocking & rolling. Lots of white water over the top. But it was only for a short time, after Herald Island things improved 🙂
On the day, 15 launches travelled to the Riverhead Tavern and had a ball, neat people , stunning boats, lots of good chat. Big ups to those that came by car to join the gathering, nice gesture.
Now – confession time – on the email I to sent the skippers that had RSVP’ed I gave everyone a big wind up about behaving e.g. Indian File, follow the leader, no over taking etc etc and bugger me – Raindance went aground. Last bend before the hotel & I’m up on deck laying out the lines & fenders and  the ‘duty’ skipper puts us in the mud. No amount of forward / reverse would move her. Thank goodness for my boatbuilder Geoff Bagnall and his wife Theresa on board Achillies, who came to our aid and pulled us off. Not before 1/2 the fleet passed us – very embarrassed. Hopefully the oops cleaned off some Baywater sludge. But I was not alone………. 2 others parked up as well 😉
Not a great day for photos, overcast and drizzle but the sun shone thru at the important times 🙂
Remember to put a big circle in your diary for the weekend of 19/20th of October for the next Woodys Classics Weekend. Its a picnic cruise to Still Water motor camp – Master of ceremonies / Officer of the day / Rear commodore / Chief Poo-bar / Mark Edmonds (who like titles) is finalising dates and details but there could be a band, classic cars / motorbikes and vehicle access for the boat less Woodys – more details soon.
Special thanks to Brendon Gardiner, Margo Hudson, Jason Prew and Alan Houghton for the photos.
Photos below from Michelle Maitland onboard Cleone

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And more ex David Plummer and Geoff Steven

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B/W photo below ex Mike Mahoney

WCW Riverhead ex McH

Great view of Jason Prew’s – My Girl below. taken by Angus Rogers. Really shows off her lines, no wonder she is so quick 😉

My Girl @ Riverhead Sept2019

JEANETTE C23 – Updated Story

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JEANETTE 001

Start of a cruise down the gulf. Barbara, Dick’s elder daughter at the tiller.

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Jeanette cruising. Ngataringa coming up astern. Takapuna shore in background.

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Wet decks from stiff westerly. Running close during race to Islington Bay. Dinghy lashed on deck for more speed. Rangitoto on port bow.

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(This picture dated 28 January 1961, so must have been sent to Bob when he’d returned to the UK. ) Jeanette at the start of the Trans Tasman Race. Bob. Bill Patterson at tiller. Bob Watham in the cockpit. Harry Pope up forward.

JEANETTE C23 – Updated Story
 
Back in June 2019 I did a story on the 1933, Ted Le Huquet built yacht Jeanette, WW link below, this prompted Drew Glasgow to send in the photos above taken in the early 1950’s by his late father Bob Glasgow, who often sailed in her, together with Dick and Barbara Bakewell, who bought the yacht off Ted Le Huquet.
According to Bob’s description, written on the back of one photograph, she was a 34′ marconi-rigged cutter.
 
I have captioned each photo with text supplied by Drew from the back of the photos, penned by his father.
Question of the day – any one able to tell us how the above yacht ended up in Portsmouth, Rhode Island, USA? Is it a Kiwi boat or just been named by a Kiwi?
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Kotuku

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KOTUKU

Kotuku was designed and built by Milford boat builder Alan Williams in 1960. She measures 32’ with a 9’ beam. Power is from a BMC Commodore diesel that was new when launched.
The bridge decker is kauri carvel built and has recently changed hands after a lengthy period on trademe. New owner’s Todd and Catherine sent in the photos above of her recent TLC.
Can anyone tell us more about Kotuku’s history.

Input from Mark Erskine – ‘Reviewing the above photos, in particular the ‘work in progress’ one, I see a note on the engine photo that the owner has used 5W 30 synthetic oil in the engine and gearbox.

Generally, older diesel engines have larger internal clearances than modern engines and (generally), a 5W 30 synthetic engine oil is used in a modern, close tolerance, high revving petrol engine. 

Older diesel engines have piston ring, cylinder liner and bearing materials that require a basic, heavier viscosity, mineral oil, such as a heavy duty, high detergent / dispersant / SAE30, SAE40, 15W 40 or 20W 50 grade.

I recommend the owner contacts either Castrol or Shell technical services for their lubricant recommendation for that particular engine and the gearbox.Tthere are a lot of old diesel and petrol engines in older boats and using the wrong oil can damage the engine.’

 

 

 

Lolita > Wondabyne

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LOLITA > WONDABYNE

I uncovered the stunning photo above of Lolita in amongst Andy Donovan’s collection of photos from back in his boat broking days.
Back in June 2015 we uncovered that Lolita was probably Wondabyne. The original WW photos came to us from Colin Pawson, whose grandfather – Charles Pawson owned her in c.1924.
Thanks to numerous WW followers, lead by HDK we peeled back the years to confirm that we were looking at the same boat.
The link below will take you to the 2015 story, lots of photos + make sure you read the Comments section(bottom > top)
On the back of the Donavan photo it states that Lolita was built by R Lang 24 yrs ago, from full length kauri. Her specs were 31’9” x 8’9” beam, with a 3’ draft.
Power was via a Continental F.W.C. 6 cylinder 30hp engine that gave her 7-8 knots. Twin cabins, full headroom. Hard to read but it also said it would do Auckland > Whakatane in 23.5 hours – would that be right?
The asking price was £1,000
Sad photo below from 2008, ex Andrew Pollard of Lotita in Opua in the Bay of Island. Can anyone give as an update on her status?
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WCW Riverhead2019

Edelweiss – Sailing Sunday

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EDELWEISS – Sailing Sunday
 
Edelweiss was a triple skin kauri sloop designed and built at home by ‘Minkie’ Goodman – a foreman at Chas. Bailey and Son. She was built for, and sailed in, the 1956 Suva raced which was won by Tom Buchanan’s Wanderer. Edelweiss was 3rd. Her dimensions are LOA 33’, LOW 29’, Beam 8’6”, and a draught of 6’3”.
Under Goodman’s ownership she had no motor but when he sold it to Kay Perry she had a temperamental Ford 10 100E fitted. She had no head  at the time the late Sam Bestall bought her in 1963.
John Newsham, who sent in the details commented that he joined her in Aug 1963 aged 21 and sailed with Sam till 1971. John soon became senior hand and later relieving skipper as well. Bestall owned Edwlweiss for approx. 6 years. After a major refit she was sold to Tauranga and Bestall bought the 39’ ferro Stewart sloop Wendella from it’s builder Claude Spooner.    
During Bestall’s ownership he had a head fitted and later a Simpson Lawrence (UK) gas cooker with oven installed and a Volvo Penta MD2 diesel. 
John commented that they went away for a weekend cruise almost every weekend between Labour Day and Easter and often had a week at the Barrier in March and the Xmas cruises were ‘legendary’.
Sam later had the 40’ Choy Lee ketch Sarrie built in Taiwan and he sailed this with new his wife and her 3 children from Taiwan to the Red Sea and later from the UK to NZ via the Panama Canal.
(Photo credit – top photo ex Playdate magazine (Kerridge Odeon) and smaller photo ex Northland Gazette) 
Input fro Robin Elliott –Edelwiess was built/launched in 1956 by Guy Goodman as you know. She was originally registered as C-10 and took part in the 1956 Auckland to Suva Race

She was re-registered as F 21 in 1958 to Mrs K.E. Perry.
Subsequent owners were: N.S. Murch (Taupo) 1961+?; S.S. Bestall 1963/69+?; S.R. Clay (Te Puke) 1970?/71+? (Still Registered as Owner NZYF 1981); No registered owners after that date

She was issued with NZYF number 721 in 1969

Dims were
33’5″x27’2″x8’6″x6’1″ 290sqft 2.5ton 6cwt 1958
33.37’x28.88’x3/37’x5.26′ 264.6sqft Ford 10 1961

SS Aug 1963: Entered Onerahi YC’s Whangarei – Noumea Race.
SS Apr 1964: Entered for Onerahi YC’s Whangarei to Noumea race.
SS May 1970: Edelweiss has joined the Tauranga fleet.
SS Dec 1979: Once owned by Mike Morrish

RAYC: Wood Memorial 1959 (=windward); Moon Pearce Cup 1960; Amuri cup 1961

Harold has already posted that she was last heard of in Brisbane but from the look of the raw data on the Australian Maritime Safety authority, August 2020. She is now in Townsville.

A call to the Townsville Yacht Club or marina might bring forth the name of the current owner.

https://www.amsa.gov.au/vessels-operators/ship-registration/list-registered-ships/edelweiss
EDELWEISS 852328 10.16 1955 Yacht Townsville General Register

WCW Riverhead2019
 

Lady Noelene

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LADY NOELENE

Has appeared on WW before and from all accounts has been having a restoration for the last 20+ years. It appears for her tradesmen listing (thanks Ian McDonald) that she is now offered for sale in a 1/2 finished state. When I wrote this the highest bid was $405 and the reserve had been reached, someone might get a bargain.
The listing states she is a Dick Lane design / build but its actually Dick Lang c.1951/52. She measures 32’ x 9’ x 2’6”. There has been a lot of work done to e.g splined & glassed and 2 pot painted. Her motor is a Ford 120hp diesel. There are a lot of new parts and fitting that go with her.
In her present stated i.e. interior stripped is a perfect blank canvas for someone to fit her out to their spec.
Previous WW story here (lots of restoration photos)  https://wordpress.com/post/waitematawoodys.com/23938

Judges Bay + YC Italiano

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JUDGES BAY

This stunning photo of woodys hauled out at Judges Bay, Parnell, Auckland comes to us from Lew Redwood’s fb. While the year is unknown, given the quality of the photograph, we must be able to ID some of the woodys?
YACHT CLUB ITALIANO 
My youngest daughter is living the life in Europe at the moment and has instructions to send in boating photos, there are not a lot of woodys in this lot but OMG check out the location (Portofino)
They have just done what’s called ’Sail Croatia Week’, the photo of her on the wheel is the only one without a glass in her hand 🙂 Six females and two Aussies blokes on their yacht, how do you get odds like that?
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Three years b4 this, the middle child was in the same spot, but not staying in a hostel 🙂

Skipjack (Sea Devil)

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Motuhuie May 19(2)

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Re-glassed and back into the water

SKIPJACK (SEA DEVIL)

Woody Greg Bilington contacted me recently re his launch – Skipjack, formerly named Sea Devil, when owned by Brent Gribble.

In Greg’s words, Shipjack is a 100-year-old, unpretentious 33′ Bailey. Greg has sent in an update on the recent maintenance / restoration that he has undertaken on the woody. I’ll let Greg tell the story (with a wee bit of editing)

“I knew that Skipjack took on some water, but since the hull was sound, I wasn’t overly concerned and focused initially on mechanicals, which included replacing the prop, shaft, cutlass bearing, universal etc. In time, I decided we needed to stifle the ingress of water – and as anyone who has ever had a leaky anything will know, this can be a challenging task. Skin fittings, which were the first suspects had all been replaced and properly backed, but whilst necessary, did not made a beakerful of a difference. The stuffing box seemed a likely candidate, and though it was due for re-packing, this too, could not account for the increasing amount of work being done by the bilge pump. 

So, we hauled out at the Landing to pressure test the shaft log, and again drew a blank. It was at that point that Grant Hendry – then working at Orakei Marina, seized hold of the keel behind the rudder and discovered to my great alarm that he could move it centimetres either way! This gave rise to a nightmare or two about soft timber the length of the boat – but in any event, was almost certainly the source of the problem. 

Nevertheless, if the timber was sound and further inspection indicated that it was, then that left the keel bolts. For me this was an unexpected discovery, but I daresay it shouldn’t have been. Manganese bronze bolts subject to galvanic action for a century, and with ball-peened fastenings on the bottom of the keel, might be expected to be well past their use-by date. The problem about this of course, was that there was a Ford Dover sitting over several of them.

With an elderly woody, as we know, once started, one must persevere. So, in due course, Moon Engines removed the motor – at which time I should add, James and his team did a sterling job replacing all seals (which had begun to leak) and generally gave it a proper birthday. 

Meanwhile, boat builder Glenn Burnnand knocked out the old bolts, and confirmed that they were very much the sorrier for wear. Thinned and with numerous hair-line fractures, they were hanging on by the skin of their teeth. Don Burnnand made new bolts, each with a damned big washer and nut, and when Glenn cranked these up, the mission was accomplished. The keel locked up as tight as the day she was built – and possibly tighter. I’ve included a pic to show the difference between the two…

Burnnand Marine also removed the old glass from the deck-planking, over-laid these with marine ply, re-glassed and painted. A superb job. In my view it’s worthwhile giving a plug to those tradesmen you can rely on completely – and he is one of them. Providing you can drop your mast – since you must pass under the Tamaki Bridge (entry to the Outdoor Boating Club) – access to Shed 10 on Ngapipi Road is very easy.

Long story short, the bilge pump is having a well-earned rest, bolts are good for another century, and I sleep even more soundly on the water.”

You can read / see more on Skipjack at the WW links below

https://waitematawoodys.com/2016/08/27/skipjack/

https://waitematawoodys.com/2016/02/24/sea-devil/

 

Lovely Lady (Star Drift)

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LOVELY LADY
Todays photo photos of Lovely Lady come to us via Andrew Donovan’s photo collection from his days a boat broker. In a previous WW story Harold Kidd told us she was built by R.T. Hartley in Whangarei in 1951 to a design by Dick Hartley. As launched she measured 33’ x 11’ x 3’9”. She looks a tab speedy in the photo and this would be from the Scripps V8 she was powered with.
Lucky Lady was built for game fishing and was featured in the December 1951 Sea Spray magazine. Any one got a copy? Take a phone photo and email it so we can all review   waitematawoodys@gmail.com
Back in August 2015 Pam Cundy sent me the photos below of the launch Star Drift moored in Tryphena Harbour, Greta Barrier Island. HDK ID’ed her as being Lovely Lady. You will observe that back then she was looking very ’tired’ – can anyone update us on her present location and condition?
Update 04-08-2019 photos below ex Tont Simpson of Star Drift hauled out at Tryphena, Great Barrier Island.

UPDATE 06-03-2023 – article below ex November 1951 issue of Sea Spray magazine. Sent in by Peter Crane