Category Archives: 40′>42′

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 🙂

The Restoration Of Ida

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THE RESTORATION OF IDA

New Zealand’s A class fleet grows steadily larger as yet another important Kiwi yacht is restored to her former glory. Chairman of the Classic Yacht Charitable Trust John Street and boat builder Wayne Olsen visited Sydney in August 2018 to inspect Ida, the 45’ Charles Bailey Jnr. designed and built in 1895 by C&W Bailey gaff rigged cutter. In racing mode with hers spars she has a LOA of 58’, a beam of 8’ draws 6’6”.

Ida was for sale as the current owners (20 years) had reached a point where, due to ill health, they were unable to complete the planned deck restoration nor maintain her to the standard they previously took pride in. Her owners had raced her regularly in the classic yacht races on Sydney Harbour with the Sydney Amateur Sailing Club at Mosman Bay and the Balmain Sailing Club, where she won hands down.

Wayne’s assessment was that, while the hull appears sound, being triple skinned kauri, it i was unclear what will be found once the inner layer is pealed back. She was in poor condition with much of the rest of the boat needing replacement. John recognised that Ida is an important part of New Zealand’s boat building history and a deal was done to acquire her, her owners  generously donated 20 kauri deck beams (220 x 13 X 5cm) and a spinnaker pole. John then arranged shipment back to New Zealand where she was moved to Horizon Boats shed in Stillwater.

Yesterday (06-07-2019) The CYA members were invited to view IDA before the deck is fully replaced. I understand the target is to have her sailing this summer.

You will see from the photos above she is a whippet, look at her keel and with just 3 ton of lead hanging of it, you can imagine a slightly damp crew 😉

Photos below of Ida as launched, ‘recent’ Aust.photos, and as she arrived at Horizon Boats + the early days of the restoration.

You can read more about Ida’s history on the CYCT website here

Details & some photos ex CYA and the Classic Yacht Charitable Trust websites.

22-09-2019 Update : photos below of Ida hauled out, when still in Australia ex David Campbell-Morrison

Hinewai – A peek down below

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HINEWAI  –  A Peek Down Below
Thanks to Ian McDonald giving me the heads up on Hinewai’s trademe listing, we all get to see what this very salty trawler style woody looks like down below.
Designed by Roger Carey, she was built by John Gander in 1968 – measures 39’, with a beam of 14’9″ and draws 4’11”.
You can read and view more about Hinewai at the March 2015 WW story – link below

https://waitematawoodys.com/2015/03/28/hinewai/

Rangi Rua (Rangi II)

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Rangi the one that hit rocks in Norfolk.
Rangi11 sailing past the oil rigg having a rest on its way to New Plymouth

 

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RANGI RUA (Rangi II)
 
I was recently contacted by Terry Hall in regard to his ex yacht Ranginui Rua, Terry commented that when he bought her she was named Rangi II (as seen in the sailing photo above) but when he tried to register her with Lloyds – London the name was refused as there was a passenger  ship with that name,  Terry had a Maori friend, a chief in Northland who suggested trying Rangi Rua –  Rua being #2 in Maori, he sent this off and it was accepted. Thence the ‘different’ name on the hauled out photos.
 
Rangi Rua was built by Mark Anthony in Freeman’s Bay and is a Woollacott 42′, Terry believes it was extended with extra frames. Her and a gaff rigged boat called Marpu were probably the last kauri boats to be built in Freemans Bay. Bad luck followed both yachts – Rangi Rua was lost in the Trans Tasman race in 1948 and Marpu was lost in the Pacific on its way home from Japan.
 
Terry owned Rangi Rua for many years and had her moored in the Town Basin in Whangarei in front of the wharf shed. He still has the log book which he kept when he sold her. In the photos of her on the slip, Terry is in the white overalls with his boatbuilder son, Frank and crew.
SUNDAY QUIZ
Yesterday Angus Rogers was doing what most of us were doing i.e. nothing 🙂 so he took an old photo out of its frame to clean the glass. Do we think Angus has ID’ed the yachts correctly ?  Sail numbers starting with A17 Ngatoa on right working left are A11 Ida, A5 Rawene, A3? Ariki and A16? Little Jim. Some of the anoraks may be able to identify the last two from their sails and shape and the yacht on the right with no numbers showing.
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Mahurangi Regatta 2019 – Classic Wooden Boat Movie

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Mahurangi Regatta 2019 – Classic Wooden Boat Movie

The weather forecast is for a very average day today so I decided to share some serious eye candy with you. The video above comes to us from the very talented Roger Mills via his drone camera.
Once again Roger was out and about over the regatta weekend and captured some amazing classic woody footage.
I have to comment that it was very pleasing to see the classic woody launches featured, thank you Roger. All to often people forget there are more wooden motorboats afloat on the day than the stick and rag boys 🙂
Enjoy the video – its a goodie.
To view a high res / quality version of the movie – us the link below.

Ranginui – A Peek Down Below

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RANGINUI – A Peek Down Below
Ranginui was built in 1947 and measures approx. 43’and is powered by a 120hp Ford Diesel engine. She has appeared twice before on WW (links to those stories below) but now thanks to her trade listing we get to see down below.
Details as to her actual builder have been debated before on WW. Her trademe listing states Percy Vos but I have checked that name out in Baden Pascoe’s excellent book ‘Launching Dreams – Percy Vos – The Boats & His Boys’ and there is no mention of her on the Vos listing of boats built. In one of the WW stories Harold Kidd commented that he had been told she may have been built by Chas. Bailey & Sons Ltd.
Ranginui has had the same owner for the last 24 years and despite her slightly worn appearance she has had a lot of mechanical and system look done to her. She is for sale with a Coromandel (Wyuna Bay) mooring included, so if you stripped this out of the price , she may have the bones of a good restoration project.
You can see that in the b/w photo below (ex Tudor Collins) Ranginui was a serious looking in her day 🙂
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The Marine Photographer’s Eye, Benjamin Mendlowitz – OCH Video Featuring Kiwi Classic Wooden Boats

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The Marine Photographer’s Eye, Benjamin Mendlowitz – OCH Video Featuring Kiwi Classic Wooden Boats – The best photos of our fleet you will have ever seen!

Today’s story is rather special as the team at offcenterharbor.com have given waitematawoody readers access to their latest video that features woodys from this years Mahurangi Regatta. The OCH site contains over 500 videos (& 500 articles) that range from boatbuilding, to trimming sails, to a complete course on understanding every aspect of your marine diesel engine. There’s even a 42-part series on how to build a Caledonia Yawl camp cruiser. The collection of videos features mariners and craftspeople at the very top of the boating field, showing exactly how they do things, and which products they use in their work.

One of the OCH founders is Benjamin Mendlowitz who, in my eyes, is the worlds finest photographer of classic wooden boats, this January, Ben and his co-founders escaped the US winter and headed down under. Whilst in NZ their #1 mission was to attended the Mahurangi Regatta and to this end on the Saturday Jason Prew with My Girl & myself with Raindance hosted – Maynard Bray, Benjamin Mendlowitz & Steve Stone for a Regatta photo shoot.

In the 11 minute video, Ben talks us through his day on the water filming woodys. In the opening section when Ben is commenting on our classic fleet he says “I was newly inspired in my photography”. When a photographer with as much experience as Benjamin Mendlowitz says that – that is saying something about our woody fleet. Plus the video is a master class for anyone interested in marine photography.

CLICK THE LINK BELOW AND SIT BACK AND ENJOY + CHECK OUT THE COOL OCH OFFER BELOW

https://www.offcenterharbor.com/videos/marine-photographers-eye-benjamin-mendlowitz-in-new-zealand/ww190523

SPECIAL 50% OFF – LIMITED TIME OFFER

The OCH site is 100 percent membership driven, and they do not accept advertising. Not lining their pockets with advertising enables them to provide OCH members with the unvarnished truth, straight from legendary masters of their craft – without worrying whether they piss off an advertiser 🙂

In addition to allowing WW woodys to view the video at no-charge, they have also put together a one-off subscription offer for WW readers.

They are offering 50% off the annual rate – thats an amazing US$24.50 – BUT woodys be quick it will not last for long + there is a Risk Free Guarantee – try it for a few days, if your not happy they will provide you with a 100% refund. I’m a subscriber – I love the site, I have watched one story probably 10 times.

JUST CLICK THE LINK BELOW TO SUBSCRIBE  

https://www.offcenterharbor.com/join-now-2450-ww/

WHAT YOU GET:

  • FULL ACCESS to everything on the site for 1 full year (including our growing library of over 1,000 videos and articles)
  • Your membership includes three full “how-to-build” video series (80+ videos worth over $500 that you get free)
  • You can get your questions answered in the “comments” section under each video and article
  • Join our community of “off-center” boating enthusiasts around the world

 

 

Felicitare

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FELICITARE

The 40’ classic charter launch Felicitare has made a cameo appearance on WW and at the time John Wicks commented that Felicitaire was built on “spec” by Alec Baxter (in Whangarei) and intended to be a fishing boat. No buyer had appeared by the time she was planked up, so he finished her off as a pleasure boat for himself. John was aboard with him shortly after her launch, and he admired her immensely. After cancer claimed Alec, her second owner put in an even larger Gardner, a 6LX replacing the original 4LW.

These days she is in charter and very well cared for. I was sent the photos of her engine being extracted by Cameron Pollard (Sefton Diesel), who commented that the 6LX has been in the boat for exactly 21 years of faultless service and Cameron is fitting a refurbished 6LXC for her owner.

 

 

Woody Mooching Around Mana Marina

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WOODY MOOCHING AROUND MANA MARINA

Dean Wright was recently reviewing his extensive photo library (he is a professional photographer) and found a file labelled ‘Mana Marina’ and sent it off to me asking if he had already sent it to me 🙂 my answer was no, so today we get to enjoy Deanand his camera mooching around Mana marina, Porirua, Wellington.

The photos we taken last year, no doubt at the start / end of one of his southern cruises.
The windy city woodys are not afraid to splash a bit of colour around when painting their boats 🙂
Enjoy
ps each to their own opinion – but I do like the lines of Ajax.

Miss Betty > Kalua

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Miss Betty > Kalua

Today’s wooden started life back in 1952, named Miss Betty and built by Lidgard as a purpose built work boat for Rope Shipping to tow timber barges on the Kaipara Harbour.

She was sold c.1970 to a doctor who renamed her Kalua and had her converted into a pleasure launch. She was then sold approx 17 years later to Jock McKenzie from Clevedon who had her for 10 years until the current owners father (Mike) brought her. Mike went everywhere in her. She was a great sea boat and approx. 12 years ago Mike gave her a birthday which was a major makeover by boat builder Peter Reynolds.
Kalua is 2 skin kauri, measures 42’, 11’ beam and a 4’ draft. Power comes from a Ford 180hp turbo, that sees her cruising at 8-9 knots.

As a result of her trade listing (thanks Ian McDonald) the seller, Todd (son of Mike) was contacted by Steve Parker those uncle Gordon Brown (still alive at 103) was the second owner. He purchased her from their uncle Dick Rope & brought her over from the Kaipara. He owned her for 21 years. Steve was an apprentice mechanic & helped install the 120 hp Ford. Kalua featured on TV in an ad for Farmers Trading Co. His daughter Lynette featured in the ad. Gordon sold the boat to the doctor, Gordon changed the name to Kalua, not the doctor.

FYI re the name Miss Betty – Betty was Dick Rope’s wife.

Another visual case study in the evolution of an old woody as styles and usage changed over the year.

Input from Harold Kidd – For what it’s worth, the APYMBA records show her builder as “Rope/Warmington”, date of build 1950 (perhaps a Lidgard design?). Owner in 1964 was G.W. Brown of 35 London St Ponsonby with a Fordson then W. Curtis, 28 Cornwall Park Ave in 1966 and then back to G.W. Brown by 1973. Query, is this the KAHLUA that was pinched from Shoal Bay by a bank robber in 1982?