Built in 1975 at the Salthouse yard using 3 skin kauri. Powered by twin 425hp Detroit diesels, giving a max speed of 16knots and cruise of 10 knots. Mana Moana at 59’ in length, has a 18’ beam and draws 4’9″ but what sets her apart from most other woodys of the that length is the volume – she is huge – as an example – 3 cabins, 3 heads and 4 showers.
Originally built for the German Consul and then skippered and bought by John Pulham from Tauranga. Ken Winter was the next owners from 1982 > 1992. (Tech & ownership details supplied by Allan Winter via K Ricketts)
AUCTION OF VINTAGE NAUTICAL INSTRUMENTS
Chris McMullen gave me a heads up on a very special auction of vintage nautical instruments taking place tomorrow at the Cordys auction house.The items are from The Harvey Sheppard collection, a close friend of Chris’s – Link below to website / catalogue. https://www.cordys.co.nz/auctions/D002/catalogue
WHAT IS GOING ON WITH THE A-CLASS CLASSIC RACE FLEET – EGOTISM, ARROGANCE OR JUST INCOMPETENCE ?
You may have missed my comments at the bottom of Mondays WW story, and over the last 48 hours it has emerged that in the last two weeks we have had three serious incidents involving three different A-Class classic yachts, I have detailed descriptions of each incident, but I’ll stay out of the technicalities. Questions of the day – is there a review underway of these incidents? who takes responsibility for the circumstances surrounding the incidents i.e. race starts and finishes? Are there health and safety procedures in place for the ‘worst case scenario’?.
Even if you put any blame to one side, 3 incidents in 2 weeks………………… something is amiss. Me thinks it is time for a fire side skippers chat on rules and good manners.
INCIDENT ONE – Mahurangi Weekend – Sunday Morning – A Class yacht (under power) collides with classic launch – I understand no apology from yacht
INCIDENT TWO – CYA Race Mahurangi > Auckland – Sunday Morning – A Class gaff yacht T-bones another vessel at the start – Other vessel on starboard – near sinking
INCIDENT THREE – CYA Round Rangitoto Yacht Race – A Class gaff yacht collides with finish boat (classic launch) – Again no apology, just laughing
The CYA has its major annual sailing regatta coming up next week – if you’re out and about in your boat- might be a good idea to fender up 😉
22-02-2021 Input From Robin Kenyon
Re Racing at the MCC regatta: I think safety at Mahurangi was greatly improved this year by having the A class racing the outer loop first, therefore greatly reducing the time spent racing in the confines of the estuary and other racers/spectators. My big plea to the organisers would be for the MCC to affiliate themselves to Yachting New Zealand. Then the racing could be held under the more familiar (to racing and coastal sailors) Racing Rules of Sailing. This would remove a large degree of uncertainty that exists when racing at Mahurangi and help prevent a future accident in waiting. Every other race that the A class does uses these rules, not the COLREGS (except on passage races outside the hours of daylight, I believe). I appreciate that this incurs a cost to the MCC but surely the levy to YNZ is just what has to be done. The vast majority of other clubs in the country pay it. I have raced regattas in countries all over the world and this is the only one that I have been to that uses COLREGS for daytime racing. Uncertainty could breed the attitude amongst some that might just blag their way through a fleet rather than abiding to the very clear and proven racing rules of sailing. Stating that their will be no protests must only add to these competitors feeling untouchable. Whilst this is only one aspect covered by the comments above (and thankfully there were no serious accidents at this years regatta yacht race) I think it has some relevance to the bigger picture. I must have done about 10 Mahurangi regattas, all racing on the A class. The heated on the water interactions for this race are often worse than any other race in our calendar. Which is a shame for a fun event and a true highlight of the season. It doesn’t need to be that way and using the Racing Rules of Sailing can go a long way to address this. The COLREGS were never written with sailboat racing in mind. That is what the Racing Rules of Sailing are for. When skippering an A class around the harbour the skippers have enough on their plate without having the rethink the rule book.
22-02-2021 Update ex the CYA Feb Newsletter – lets hope they read this, tucked away at the bottom of the newsletter 🙂
Dean Wright recently slipped the lines on Arethusa and has been mooching around the Bay of Islands. Today’s gallery of photos includes the very salty looking Adventure in Deep Water Cove, also there was the Auckland woody – Callisto. Also featured is Andy and Brenda Bell’s Monowai III and Jim Ashby’s Olga, Dean commented that Olga is a serious bit of kit. She sure is, looks like you could go anywhere in her. Would love to know move about Olga, can anyone give Jim Ashby a nudge and ask him to send WW some background on the boat.
Lastly we see the remains of the burnt out Fleming 55 being lifted from the bottom between Moturua and Motukiekie Islands on Saturday (13-02-21), post the lift Dean saw the barge heading out to sea – probably for a deep water burial, anyone able to confirm? Photos of the boat fire here https://waitematawoodys.com/2020/12/31/summer-woody-boating-in-the-bay-of-islands/
The only downside of Dean’s reporting is we never get to see photos of his stunning woody – Arethusa 🙂 see below
WoW what a weekend – perfect weather, perfect location and as always stunning boats. We saw a record turn out for the classic wooden boat parade on Saturday morning – the crowd ashore at Sullivans was a little thin on the ground, but if we are honest, we do not do it for them – its all about us 🙂 , a little like going for a motorbike rumble. We need more events where we just ‘hang-out’ together.
The regatta’s main event – the yacht race appeared to be a big success, the A-Class Logan – Rawhiti, in the hands of her new owner – Peter Brookes, cleaned up all the major trophies. As has become the norm at Mahurangi races, the results process was a total balls up, it was very dark and late into the night before the final, final results were announced – fingers crossed its all kosher, last year it took days and numerous oops lets try that again announcements 🙂
The big band beach BBQ, was a hit, perfect on all fronts – weather, tide, the band, bbq’s and the people. Given the number of boats in Bon Accord Harbour, Kawau Island, most people headed there on Sunday. The Kawau Boating Boat was bursting at the seams but handed it well. I have split the photos into 4 galleries – Classic Wooden Boat Parade – Yacht Race – Beach BBQ – More (includes Kawau). If I missed your boat, you were somewhere I wasn’t, or in the wrong light , or your’e boats ugly (joking – sort off). Enjoy a peak at the weekend., click individual photos to enlarge. Next weekend I’m off to the Lake Rotoiti Classic and Wooden Boat Parade – its a biggie – they have 70+ entries
Back in 2013 we ran a story on the 1938 Chas. Bailey Jnr. designed, Chas. Bailey & Sons Ltd built 55’ launch – Te Rauparaha. The focus then was what had happened to her and where was she. Good chat (link below) uncovered a lot – we discovered in 1979 she went to Noumea, New Caledonia under her own steam to start life as a charter vessel, and was renamed Samara. https://waitematawoodys.com/2013/05/22/te-rauparaha/
Fast forward 7 years and I get an email from her owner Valk Delevaux from Noumea, included with the email were the photos above. I think I could safely say that the Bailey family would struggle to recognise the boat they designed and built. But any owner has the right to do what they want and its only wood so someone else might one day convert her back closer to original. I understand she is for sale so if you’re looking for a old/new woody………………….
21-01-2021 Update – the engines are 2x300cv Cummins Bt06. Drive is the same but with a all new hydropique system.
KOTARE – The Most Affordable Waterfront Apartment In Auckland
Over the last few years we have seen a surge in the number of workboat > pleasure boat conversions. Bang for bucks you can end up with a lot of boat.Todays woody Kotare has appeared on WW before, link below.
At 50’ Kotare would be one of the best conversions I have seen and is now offered for sale – owned by a fastidious passionate woody, everything is presented in as perfect condition and is ready to motor off into the sunset or just stay at the marina and enjoy waterfront living.
Rakino Island (West Bay on left – Woody Bay on right)Raindance & Morgana
West Bay, Rakino IslandMarise
Woody Bay Pizzeria – Rakino Island
LIVE ENTERTAINMENT ON RAKINO ISLAND – click to play – the singer, Jennie Cruse is Auckland based and available for hire – 021 266 4330
LibertyWindhaven II
MariseManuroaWaiariRaindance @ Garden Cove
GARDEN COVE – 360 deg Video – click to play
WOODY SUMMER BOATING CRUISE The WW story today is a photo gallery from the 2020/21 holiday period cruise on Raindance, the photos are not always that sharp, it was more like “look there’s one” and I would grab the camera and snap a photo. Click on the smaller photos to enlarge 😉
We mostly mooched around Waiheke and Rakino Islands – had 11 great days afloat, a little blowie at times but tucking away in the right spot with a good book was just what the doctor ordered. Only had 2 hours rain on one day, so can not complain. General observation was that it was quiet in most of the bays. I understand Great Barrier Island was very popular.As always there are a few food pix to break things up. The discovery of a pop-up pizzeria in Woody Bay, Rakino was the culinary highlight of the cruise 🙂
Thanks to help from several woodys sending in photos, we were able to continue the WW stories everyday over the holiday period and the viewing / reading numbers were strong thru-out. I think that one of the few positives from CV-19 is that a lot more people have either upgraded their digital devices or are now more tech savvy and are on-line more often.
Enjoy the photos – the next big woody event will be the Auckland Anniversary long weekend at Mahurangi.
Our resident B.O.I. woody – Dean Wright is a star, above is another batch of photos from the Bay of Islands. I was especially rapped to get the top two of Marline, WW readers will know that she spent several months at the end of last year I the shed at The Slipway Milford getting a top-chop. You can read / see more on that at the WW link below. Wonderful to see her back in the bay and with Ken Warne at the helm.
The very large – Galerina, is looking the sharpest in many a year – well done to whoever is caring for her. Can anyone put a name to the last photo, the launch with the game poles – its something like ‘Hattele’
I have been getting weather reports from back in the city that its been very wet – my garden will be very happy. But I can report that other than 2 hours of light rain on 01-01-2021, its as dry as a crisp. Photo below from Rakino – West Bay on the left and Woody Bay on the right. As always if you spot anyone or thing that might appeal to the WW readers, pull the phone out and snap a photo and send in to waitematawoodys@gmail.com
The Big Winner On The Day – the Duder Family on Spray – 1st Across the Line
A visitor from Hawkes Bay
Classic Woody Weekend At Patio Bay – 60+ Classic Wooden Boat Photos
As you will have come to expect, the first weekend in December sees the CYA hosting the annual Patio Bay weekend, for some reason in recent years its morphed into a potpourri of events – these days its – the CYA Xmas party, a cake competition, a motor boat poker rally and what it always was – a yacht race down to the bay for a old school waterfront BBQ. A little busy these days but it seems to work 🙂
This year was the first visit since the ownership of the property changed hands from the Woolicott family (100+ years) to Mike Mahoney. It was comforting to hear Mike talk of their feature plans that include continuing the event.
New to the programme this year was a poker run rally for the CYA launches. Skippers collect a playing card from 5 collection on route and then play a round of poker ashore to determine the winner. The event was sponsored by The Slipway Milford. Winners below:
First Across The Line – Gay Dawn – Mark & Pricilla MacDuff – Burnsco voucher + wine
Poker Run Winner- Kumi – Hayden & Linda Afford – COMPLIMENTARY SLIPWAY MILFORD HAULOUT + 4L ANTIFOUL PAINT + WW T-SHIRT
Shoddy Boat Handling Skills – Lucille – Alan Good (wife name withheld as she was innocent) WW T-shirt A great time was had by all and special thanks must go to everyone that helps pull the weekend together. To me it always signals the start of summer boating.
Most WW readers will be very familiar with the annual Mahurangi Regatta – the biggest gathering of wooden boats in NZ. The MCC also put together a year book that is a one of the best boating reads each year and perfect for on the boat over xmas. So woodys, if your looking for a self present (always the best) or being asked what you want from the kids – at $20 for 108 pages it’s a steal.
Pre-order a copy here ngairehopwood@gmail.com Or pick up a copy in store or on-line at BoatBooks
