Today’s woody is the yacht MAWHITI, she was designed by E. Mantell Silk and built by William Moore, M. Beck and Arthur Penty in a shed across the road from the Clyde Quay Marina, Wellington. The photo and details comes to us via the Wellington classic yacht trust fb.
Launched November 1898 she was built as a 2.5 rater and LOA = 35’ and a 8’6” beam. She wouldn’t fit through the door of the hired shed in which she was built. The landlord refused to remove the doors, so an overnight raid with saws and plenty of tackle saw the wall cut away, the vessel put on the street, and the wall put back before anyone was the wiser. In the photo you can see the vertical cut adjacent to the window in the building behind.
MAWHITI was beautifully finished down to an interior of “red pine” (rimu?) panelling, with areas painted pale green and white with gold trim. Her cabin roof was lined in lincrusta and the skylight was glazed with muranese (also known as Florentine) glass.
She was described by an Evening Post columnist as “the finest specimen of amateur boatbuilding that has come under our notice”
She was sold in 1906 and taken to Sydney, Australia by her new owner – Berkeley Clark. Last heard of in the 1970’s.
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’.
CAN WE DATE & ID THESE CLASSIC BAY OF ISLANDS GAME BOATS
Today’s very cool photo has been rattling around in the “too good not to share” tray for a few months now… and frustratingly, I can’t recall where it came from — so apologies upfront for not crediting the source.
The photo is tagged – ‘Bay of Islands Game Fleet’ and first two boats are the legendary Collings & Bell built launches – Alma G II, followed by Alma G.These launches were part of the original wave of purpose-built game boats that helped put the Bay of Islands on the world big game fishing map.
Can any BOI game fishing launchmen ID the other boats for us, would be great to bring the fleet to life again.
INPUT ex GREG PHILPOTT
Was working recently on IDing these launches in a similar photo and with the help of Hylton Edmonds and Brett & Shelley Arlidge the occasion was identified as the “funeral” procession for the scattering of the ashes of veteran gamefishing boatman HW (universally known as Peter) Williams who died on 9th August, 1949.
The launches in that procession were Alma G II” (Mervyn) , “Alma G” (Francis), “Idolon” (Fred Baker), “Marline” – Leon Warne ??, “Reliance” (Les Blomfield)??, “Pirate” (Jimmy Whitelaw / Otto Summers) and possibly given he was of that era – George Warne and the “Rosemary”?.
The general consensus is that the photo was likely taken from the stern of William’s boat “Avalon”.
Earlier in the month Glenn Martin was mooching around the South Island on a bike (I assume motorbike) and sent in todays gallery of woody workboat photos from Bluff.
Not all capable of heading out to sea but wonderful to see them still intact, if that was Auckland they would have made a oneway trip to the landfill years ago.
REELEMIN II – BUILT BY DON NORTON C.1957- AS BUILT
REELEMIN II – 1 YEAR LATER c.1958 – WITH DODGER
CHALLENGER – BUILT BY McGEADY – LAUNCHING DAY c.1962
COMMANDER ONE AS BUILT BY ALAN WILLIAMS c.1962
TEMPEST – BUILT BY McGEADY C.1964
COMMANDER ONE LENGTHENED c.1969-70
THE NORM FAIRLIE WOODEN BOAT FLOTILLA
Todays woody story follows on from yesterdays story on the classic wooden launch TEMPEST, which we identified as being built by McGeady’s for Norm Fairlie.
We learnt that Fairlie commissioned several wooden launches in the 1950’s > 1970’s period. Ken Rickets expanded on them and who built them, then sent in reference photos of the Fairlie boats, as we see above today.
Norm Fairlie would have had to be one of Auckland’s boatbuilding yards best customers.
Nice to see the ‘fleet’ all together for reference.
DOCKSIDE WITH THE WOODYS – Auckland’s Wooden Boat Festival 2026
(CLICK PHOTOS TO ENLARGE)
Yesterday’s WW post focused on the undercover displays and the surrounding shore-side activity (scroll down if you missed it). Today’s instalment is a gallery from two days spent wandering the floating docks. Why two days?
The simple answer — there were just too many woody folk to catch up with for a quick chat. Every few metres another familiar face appeared, and before you knew it ten minutes had disappeared talking boats, projects and plans.
On the weather front the forecasters got it spot-on. Sunday turned out to be the pick of the two-and-a-half day festival, with warm sunshine and a welcome cooling breeze.
Between dockside wanderings I managed to sneak into a couple of the speaking seminars. One featured designer supremo John Welsford, the other Paul Stephanus, director of the Australian Wooden Boat Festival in Hobart. Both presentations were knowledgeable, insightful and — most importantly — highly entertaining.
Because Auckland’s greater boating community is spread across a wide geography — marinas, rivers and estuaries scattered from the inner harbour to the outer reaches — the public rarely gets to see our classic wooden boat fleet gathered together in one place. That’s what makes an event like this so special. Seeing so many woodys together is a reminder of just how strong and diverse the fleet really is.
Of course none of it happens without the owners. They put an enormous amount of time — and more than a few dollars — into getting their boats “show ready”. Beyond the camaraderie shared with fellow woody owners, the real reward comes from the reactions of the public. Owners might shrug off the compliments, but the praise, smiles and pats on the back certainly help offset the many hours spent sanding, polishing and crawling around the bilge.
Now, I know it’s not a beauty contest… but if I had to pick a few personal favourites from the docks they would be:
SAIL — RANUI The 1936 ex-workboat designed by Korinius Larsen. Looking at her today, the standard of presentation is closer to a superyacht than a working boat.
MOTOR — REHIA The 1938 Colin Wild designed and built motor launch. Over the last five years she’s been undergoing a rolling restoration, and every time I see her she looks better than the last.
TRAILER BOAT — LADY MAREE A circa-1950 Cresta Craft classic runabout — pure period charm on a trailer.
TRAILER YACHT – I missed the detailers, has the look of a John Welsford design – can someone supply details ✔️ thanks. ‘Mystery’ solved – its a Welsford Navigator ✔️
As mentioned yesterday, events of this size don’t just happen. They require the efforts of hundreds of volunteers, organisers, exhibitors and supporters.
So a big salute to everyone involved in bringing the 2026 Auckland Wooden Boat Festival together. It was an impressive celebration of our classic wooden boating movement.
Recently Bay of Islands woody Dean Wright had headed up the coast to Whangaroa Harbour and being a professional photographer by trade his camera was never far from hand. So today we get to enjoy more of the B.O.I.’s woody fleet at play.
The ex workboat looking craft has done a few laps, anyone know her name / history.
And of course the magnificent 1920 built LUANA………the best looking boat to come out of the MT Lane shed 🙂
WHAT DO ALL THESE CLASSIC WOODEN CRAFT HAVE IN COMMON
As I have noted recently on WW the classic wooden boating scene in the Bay of Islands is experiencing a re-birth. Seems one in three woodys the Wooden Boat Bureau has sold in the last 2 years has headed north. And recently the woody skippers have been organising events to show case the woody movement in the B.O.I. – we like that.
At the recent Russell Tall Ships Regatta on the Friday prior to the sailing regatta there was a Classic Launch Parade that had 13 woodys participating. Post the parade one of the skippers pointed out the % of woody craft that owed their good looks to time spent at the CMC Design – Boatbuilders Opua yard. So I did a count and in recent times and in no particular order the following woodys have been under the care of the talented crew at CMC Design – LADY CROSSLEY, KORAWAI, OTEHEI, MARLINE and ALMA G II.
Now they aren’t the only boatbuilders up north but they seem to get the cream of the work. When you factor in haul-out yard costs in the greater Auckland area, a wee road trip on one of the specialist boat haulage trucks isn’t the budget stumbling block it once was.
If todays WW story reads like an ad, I suppose it is, I’m passionate about seeing our classic fleet get the TLC they deserve. Check out the CMC website – some great work-in-process photos on their work + its not all boats, some stunning architectural and commercial wood work. https://www.cmcdesign.co.nz/marine
28-02-2026 UPDATE – video below of the LADY CROSSLEY project
Dropped into the Slipway Milford earlier in the week and the timing was perfect – the Dick Lang built launch NGAHI was being hauled out for some TLC and system improvements.
In previous WW stories there has been a lot of debate re the boats provenance, would be nice to confirm the builder and put a year to launching.
The Slipway Milford had a full quota of woodys on the yard – the JB Brooke designed and built yacht – GLEAM, now back in the Brooke family armada.
Along side NGAHI is the 35’6” Lane Motor Boat Co. 1945 launch – HANI (Wanda II) getting some serious TLC.
Both GLEAM and HANI are on display at next months Auckland Wooden Boat Festival, no doubt the marine chandlers are doing a good trade in varnish at the moment 🙂
SERIOUSLY……………… During a peek down below on NGAHI I spotted some VERY dodgy fittings – refer below. No seacocks and single jubilee clips the only thing between floating and joining the submariners club……………. you’d like to think this wasn’t a ‘professional’ installation.
UPDATE – That was quick, looking more fitting of an ocean going craft 😉
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