Category Archives: 44′>50′

 WOODEN LAUNCH AT GULF HARBOUR – ECHO

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 WOODEN LAUNCH AT GULF HARBOUR – ECHO

One of my Gulf Harbour spies sent in todays photo of the launch – ECHO, he spotted her late last year hauled out at the Gulf Harbour Marina in Auckland.

Now hopefully I’m right in saying its a woody, could be ply/f-glass or even worse pure white plastic…….

Her size lets her get away with the flying bridge and sun shade. Smart looking craft.

Can we learn more about ECHO.

INPUT ex ANGUS ROGERS – photos below taken during her pervious owners period.

28-02-2026 INPUT ex ALAN SEXTON – ARTICLE BELOW EX SEA SPRAY MAGAZINE MAY 19991

UPCOMING AUCKLAND ON-THE-WATER BOAT SHOW – 5>8 MARCH
If your looking for classic wooden boats you will looking for a long time but if you need a new – tender, outboard, safety gear, bbq, electronics, VHF etc – this is the boat show for you. Personally I always seem to find something I didn’t know I needed for the boat 🙂 Its a very professional run show and a great opportunity to see the latest and greatest marine related goods – just do not buy a white plastic boat 🙂

LOCATION IS DOCKSIDE AT THE VIADUCT EVENTS CENTRE – DETAILS HERE https://www.auckland-boatshow.com

CLASSIC WOODY CRUISING AT WHANGAROA

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LUANA
STELLA MARIS
ATHENA
TUI
NGARUROA
MILLIWAYS
CEREGO
UNKNOW
METEOR
WAIRMARIE
HOPE (tbc)

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

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MARLINE
KORAWAI
OTEHEI
ALMA G II
LADY CROSSLEY

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

INSIDE THE CLASSIC WOODEN LAUNCH WIRIHANA – What Powers Her

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INSIDE THE CLASSIC WOODEN LAUNCH WIRIHANA – What Powers Her

In the New Zealand classic wooden boating  world there is one designer / builder whose name that no matter who you speak to, is in their top three craftsmen – and that gent is Colin Wild. A quick search of his name in the WW Search Panel will result in a visual show case of NZ’s most striking classic craft.

One of Wild’s finest builds is the 1933 launch – WIRIHANA, a woody that has featured numerous times on WW in the last 10 years. Where ever she goes, I get sent photos from people seduced by her looks.

Aside from her wow factor, WIRIHANA is rather unique in that she is still owned by the third generation of the original owners – the Gould family. The family have had the wisdom to engage retired master boatbuilding icon Chris McMullen to maintain, skipper and use WIRIHANA for 18+ years. Today thanks to Natasha Gould, Chris McMullen and Ken Ricketts we get to uncover a side of WIRIHANA’s past not covered on WW previously – the engine room.

Her original engine was a slow running 4 cyl Kelvin with no reduction gear and  a petrol start. This engine also had a ‘day diesel tank’ fitted to the engine room wall with a gravity feed to the engine with the main diesel tanks aft, from which diesel had to be pumped daily, into the day tank, manually.

Chris McMullen has commented that all the  original associated equipment and day tank, associated with the Kelvin, is still in her today, although not in use, and has the Kelvin name on it.  

As covered on WW previously WIRIHANA was commandeered by the NZ Navy during WWII and when returned to Jack Gould (Natasha Gould’s grandfather) at the end of the war, Jack insisted that the NZ Navy replace the engine, because of the rigours of naval service.  Another reason for the replacement shared by Chris McMullen is probably the fact that reverse gear on the Kelvin had to be inconveniently operated by crew in the engine room. 

End result was the NZ Navy fitted a 6/71 165HP GM Detroit 2 stroke diesel, that had a hydraulic gear box that could be operated by cable. WIRIHANA retained this engine for a great many years and was eventually replaced in the early 2000’s by Rusty Gould (Jack Gould’s son), with a 180hp artificially aspirated 6 cyl. Scania diesel, which she still has today.  

One unusual feature of WIRIHANA’s engine room is the absence of an engine box / sound installation – Chris McMullen told me once , you get used to the noise and its a perfect place for drying towels 🙂

(photo credit – Natasha Gould, Dean Wright, Alan H)

CLASSIC WOODEN LAUNCH – KOTANUI

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CLASSIC WOODEN LAUNCH – KOTANUI

While the launch 44′ KOTANUI has made numerous appearances on WW and her history is well documented, these days she rarely leaves her berth at the Milford marina.

Thanks to Angus Rogers on board CENTAURUS over the weekend we get to see KOTANUI at anchor in Bon Accord, Kawau Island.

Great to see that she is being well cared for by her long-term owner.

KOTUNUI was built at the Salthouse yard c.1964 and while Nathan Herbert will furrow his brows, in my ears she is a mini-me of TRINIDAD (52′)

LINKS BELOW TO SOME PAST WW STORIES – lots of intel and photo from her past.  Sept 2021https://waitematawoodys.com/2021/09/01/kotanui-launch-day-fathers-day-sorted/

July 2013https://waitematawoodys.com/2013/07/29/kotanui-2/

Oct 2013 https://waitematawoodys.com/2013/10/16/kotanui-3/

Photo below of TRINIDAD for comparison 😉

INPUT ex ALAN SEXTON – Kotanui pre-dated Trinidad, being built 1962-63, Trinidad was launched ~1965. Of course there is the Col Wild element in her design. I believe she was John Salthouse’s first new build after he commenced his own yard after the fire at Col Wild’s shed – altho I have an idea John built the replacement for the boat that was under construction in Wild’s shed at the time of the fire.

There must be a story behind her original Lister Petters during those import licensing days, maybe Jack said they were to power the separators in the cow shed 🙂

My father was the Hobb’s family lawyer and he sold Kotanui as part of winding up Jack’s estate, he said she was not an easy boat to sell in that time (late 80’s/early 90’s), not much demand for classic boats.

2026 LAKE ROTOITI CLASSIC & WOODEN BOAT PARADE + PICNIC – Report. 140 photos

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PARADE 🔻

PICNIC 🔻

LADY BETH

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 🙂

TOKATEA – A Classic Workboat Conversion 

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TOKATEA – A Classic Workboat Conversion 

The 44’ launch TOKATEA started life back in 1959 as a Government fishing patrol and lighthouse tender, built by WG Lowe.                                           TOKATEA was ‘retired’ in 1987 and converted to pleasure use.

While still retaining her workboat roots the interior fit out is rather smart, certainly providing a home away from home afloat.

Forward motion is from a 100hp Gardner 6LW engine.

Read and see more on her past here https://waitematawoodys.com/2016/07/28/tokatea/

TOKATEA was once owned by WW contributor Ian McDonald. Home these days is Waikawa Marina, South Island.

PERFECT WEATHER, PERFECT WEEKEND FOR WOODEN BOATING

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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 🙂

BOB YARO ABOARD CENTAURUS
LADY CROSSLEY – BOI
BOB YARO & JAMIE HUDSON – LADY CROSSLEY

CLASSIC WOODEN MOTORBOAT RACING ON THE WAITEMATA HARBOUR – Auckland Anniversary Regatta

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RACE START VIDEO
MY GIRL

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

2026 RUSSELL CLASSIC TALL SHIPS SAILING REGATTA

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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