CLASSIC WOODY CRUISING AT WHANGAROA
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
https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1DBPqwBVVR
BAY of ISLANDS CLASSIC WOODYS – KERIKERI INLET RAID
Last weekend a few of the B.O.I.’s classic launch skippers gathered for a cruise up the Kerikeri Inlet to raft up at the Stone Store for a catch up. The real reason was a session at the Plough & Feather waterfront pub.
One of the WW cub reporters – Grant Gibbs was aboard KORAWAI to record the event.
I note from the photos that a couple of ‘visitors from Hawkes Bay’ managed to tag along, but we will turn a blind eye to that.
I’ll comment more on the Bay of Islands woody scene in Mondays upcoming story.
PARADE 🔻
PICNIC 🔻
2026 LAKE ROTOITI CLASSIC & WOODEN BOAT PARADE + PICNIC – Report. 140 photos
As the photos will quickly confirm, Saturday 7 February delivered near-perfect conditions for the Lake Rotoiti Classic & Wooden Boat Association’s annual gathering. While the event unfolds over four days, it’s the Saturday on-the-water get-together that remains the undisputed highlight.
From a photographer’s point of view, wall-to-wall sunshine and tricky angles don’t always play nicely with timber and varnish. So, if I’ve missed your boat or the images aren’t quite showroom-perfect, my apologies — I was doing my best to keep up with a lot of very good-looking boats.
The day naturally divides into two acts: the Parade, followed by the Picnic. A few familiar regulars were absent this year, but they were more than ably replaced by some truly stunning “new” additions to the fleet, making for an impressive and varied lineup on the water.
Sit back, enjoy the gallery, and soak up a little Lake Rotoiti magic. As always click photos to enlarge.
Special thanks to David & Glenys Wilson for the generous loan of a boat for the day 🙂
PERFECT WEATHER, PERFECT WEEKEND FOR WOODEN BOATING
Today’s story is a potpourri from the weekend. A good forecast had a lot of woodys slipping the dock lines and heading out. Some were at Kawau for the sailing activity there and a lot dropped anchor at Rakino Island.
Because I’m sure I was spotted – I’ll own up to my worst anchoring exhibition in Woody Bay, just couldn’t get it to dig in. Made worse by the number of craft. Gave up and retreated to West Bay- less boats and a better % of woodys at anchor. BUT – I made a novice mistake – anchored close to a large plastic US import with a petrol genset. I quote the owner “everyone tells me it sounds like a Massey Ferguson tractor “ – IT DID 😦
Experienced a stunning Rakino sunset on Saturday night.
VISITING USA WOODY
Over the last 2 weeks we have had one of the USA’s nicest wooden boating ambassadors – Bob Yaro visiting NZ Aside from being a great guy, Bob has some serious tags to his name – Chairman of the Herreshoff Marine Museum & America’s Cup Hall of Fame in Bristol, Rhode Island.
We had big plans to host Bob and friends aboard Angus Rogers – CENTAURUS for the Mahurangi Regatta but the weather gods dealt to that plan – so Bob’s been lunched on CENTAURUS in Auckland and had a day cruise on Margo and Jamie Hudson’s – LADY CROSSLEY up in the Bay of Island. The woody web is world wide 🙂
CLASSIC WOODEN LAUNCH LADY LUCK
Recently WW was contacted by Robert Williams concerning the launch – LADY LUCK. I need to take a deep breath when I read the email – why?, well turns out LADY Luck is a 38ft Vindex built by Jim Young, (unknown year). But a quick glance at the attached photos and I was pleasantly surprised with todays top photo – quite a looker in her day.But too sure about the look after someone got tired of sanding and varnishing.
Some background ex Robert – LADY LUCK was owned by Bert Hammer in the1970’s to mid 1980’s. Prior to this period Bert owned another launch named LADY LUCK featured on WW (linked here) at Thames. https://waitematawoodys.com/2024/01/17/lady-luck-a-peek-down-below-4sale/
She was part of the Auckland Volunteer Coastguard main rescue ‘Cutter Group’.
The photo showing the varnish sides was as she was leaving the Tamaki River after a thorough clean and repaint. The photos of her in mainly white colours was taken many years later in possibility Half Moon Bay Marina during the 1990’s.
Can we learn where LADY LUCK is these days.
INPUT ex BILL UPFOLD – Up until late last year Lady Luck was sitting outside a panel beater’s on Union St. Howick. it had been sitting there for a few years then disappeared. Not sure if it has been moved into a shed on the property or moved elsewhere.
INPUT ex ALAN SEXTON – Lady Luck is not a Vindex, she was a design from Jim that predated Vindex, he told the story in his self published memoirs
THE PARADE
CLASSIC WOODEN MOTORBOAT RACING ON THE WAITEMATA HARBOUR – Auckland Anniversary Regatta
After the disappointment of a cancelled Mahurangi Regatta weekend I was chafing at the bit to get out on the water.
Being Auckland Anniversary Day yesterday , I secured a spot aboard Jason Prew’s classic launch MY GIRL – WW readers will be aware that MY GIRL holds the title of fastest classic wooden launch on the Waitemata.
So at 11am we were on the start line for the classic launch inner harbour race – start off RNZYS > down to Orakei Bouy > across to Devonport area > back up the harbour to the finish line (aka the start line). Conditions were best described as ok, certainly better than the previous 4 days, overcast, the occasional shower and westerly >20 knots.
This year we were lacking a few of real quick woodys so Mr Prew had the race in hand after 10 seconds. Some close racing with the ‘recently’ re-powered woodies – NGAIO and LUCINDA. Do not have the handicap results but line honours went to MY GIRL / NGAIO / LUCINDA. All serviced at The Slipway Milford yard so a nice trifecta.
Earlier in the morning the tug/workboats put on their normal spectacular performance – see below.
The parade of sail was bolstered by several classic woodys that did not race – parade photos second group above.
Enjoy the photo gallery, light on the winning boat, always is when the bloke with the camera is aboard the favourite 😉
As always – photos can be enlarged by clicking on them.
RACE RESULTS – MY GIRL collects line and handicap honours
TUGBOAT RACE
CLASSIC WOODEN LAUNCH ALMEDA GETS A REFRESH
On Friday I point the car north for a quick trip to Sandspit Marina for the relaunch of the 36′ classic wooden launch ALMEDIA.
Some background – built by Alan (Snow) Waters in approx. 1972, designer unconfirmed but most likely by Walters himself with design leanings to John (Jack) Brooke.
Single skin strip plank hull and decks appear to be 2 layers of tongue & groove. She is powered by a 6 cylinder Ford. Home has been the Matakana River for 25+ years. Owner Kim needs a medal for his work ethic, the dock chat was that it was the speediest haul out and work schedule seen at the yard. Started on Dec 22nd 2025 = 4 weeks turnaround. Possibly helped by the self imposed rule ‘ No Beers Till Launch Day’ 🙂 Pre launching I caught up with Gregs Lees and his team at Lees Boatbuilders, Greg reports a healthy calendar of work to start the year, so thats good news for the wooden boating movement.
UPDATE FEB2026 – nice to she her out and about, at anchor in Bon Accord, Kawau Island. Photos ex Angus Rogers
REMEMBER TO PICK UP A COPY OF THE 2026 MAHURANGI CRUISING CLUB YEAR BOOK – 4SALE AT THE PRIZE GIVING – ONLY $20
2026 RUSSELL CLASSIC TALL SHIPS SAILING REGATTA
Following on from the weekends story on the Russell Boating Club’s classic wooden launch parade (link below), today thanks to BOI photographer – Dean Wright we get to enjoy some stunning photos from the race.
Classic launch parade https://waitematawoodys.com/2026/01/10/bay-of-island-russell-classic-launch-parade/
Later in the week you will be able to view the just of the race fleet here https://russellboatingclub.org.nz/tall-ships.html
To view the full race results click here https://russellboatingclub.org.nz/results/tall_ships_2026.htm
Below is the recently re-launched – MARLINE, the 1949/50’s Leon Warne built classic launch – out following the fleet.
A few of the zoom zommers watching the yacht race
CHRISTMAS 2025 – NEW YEAR 2026 CLASSIC WOODYS CRUISE
I have talked previously about the weather that we all experienced at the start of the annual cruise, so I’ll skip that other than to quote Billy Connolly – “ There’s no such thing as bad weather, only the wrong clothes”.
Life on a small launch with a wife, dog and a paddle board can be challenging – normally takes us 2>3 days to get used to living in close proximity, but we have managed this for 18+ years. The bad weather days / nights that include having to take the pooch ashore for a pee in 40+ knots at 6am are quickly replaced with good food, good books and good booze 🙂 One of the positives of evil weather forecasts is low boat numbers, when things improved and we moved to Oneroa for a supply stop, the only other craft in the bay was a yacht and that was ‘washed up’ on the beach.
Today is a bit of a photo bomb from the 10 days – anchorages visited, food, boats we saw, boats we nearly bumped into and general good times afloat.
Hopefully the lucky ones are still out there enjoying the weather.
ps check out the woody champagne flute in the last photo – I have the bug bad 🙂
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