Category Archives: 50’+

IDA – All Dressed Up & No Where To Go

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IDA – All Dressed Up & No Where To Go
Last night this 125 year old A-Class classic yacht was going to be the leading lady at the RNZYS for a party to celebrate her relaunch – but CV-19 put a stop to that 😦
So woodys today you get a peek at her tucked away in Wayne Olsen’s shed waiting for the green light to step out.
It seems unbelievable  that it was only July 2019 that I Iast visited the yard and now she is all set to splash (see link below for photos + details on her history and how she came home after ‘migrating’ to the Big Island.
Ida was designed by Charles Bailey Jnr and built / launched in 1895 by C&W Bailey gaff rigger
She is 58’ LOA, with a beam of 8’ – LOW = 45’ so there is a lot of bits hanging off her when she is in racing mode
Once again the classic yachting movement is indebted to John Street and his Classic Yacht Charitable Trust, they restore and maintain the cream of New Zealand’s A-Class fleet, and race the pants off every other woody in the fleet. Well done.
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Choptank

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CHOPTANK

Todays WW story falls into the eye candy category and will spin the wheels of the workboat group.
The 62’ Choptank was brought to my attention by Australian woody – Andrew Christie, who spotted her on the WoodenBoat Forum.
Built in 1938 in Virginia, USA by O.W. Payne Palmer and named – Julian.
Later name changes were – Callis Brothers, then – Crow Bros II.
She has just had a complete rebuild at the Eastern Shore of Maryland, where her name was changed to – Choptank.
Choptank is what they call a ‘Chesapeake Bay Buy-Boat’.
Make sure you check in tomorrow (Sunday) – great story coming u 😉
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Wooden Boats @ Whangarei Town Basin

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Wooden Boats @ Whangarei Town Basin

Two weeks ago David Cooke and myself pointed the car north and did a day trip to Whangarei to view a few candidates for listing with the Wooden Boat Bureau. We were blessed with a stunning day, which made the quay side area at the Town Basin very pleasing to the eye. As we mooched around I snapped the above photos. With the boats shed owners taste in decorating you cant miss them 😉
A nice mix of sail and power, with a lot of live aboards.
I was pleased to see James Mobberley’s old classic – Falcon on a pile mooring, one day she will come back to her home – the Waitemata 🙂
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2020 New Zealand Classic Yacht Regatta Photo Gallery – 100+ photos and videos

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A7 – Thelma / A2 – Rawhiti

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2020 New Zealand Classic Yacht Regatta Photo Gallery – 100+ photos and videos

As I have mentioned in the last two WW stories, the Classic Yacht Association of New Zealand have over the last 3 days been running its annual classic yachting event on Auckland’s Waitemata Harbour.
The near perfect conditions on all three days made for happy skippers and a relieved race organisers. I was on the water for two of the three days and had a blast. The gallery above is a mix of Races 1/2/3. If your boat doesn’t make an appearance, I apologize, I was only a passenger, so captured those that were within range.
On the second day, James Dreyer and myself hosted the world acclaimed marine photographer Benjamin Mendlowitz onboard Jame’s motorboat – Laughing Lady, the perfect platform for recording the on the water activities.
For me it was a master class in boat positioning and photography angles, I tried to keep out of Ben’s way and took the above photos / videos when I could without being in Ben’s line of sight.
These days the CYA run the regatta using the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron as Race HQ and entertainment hub, it is the perfect venue and as always the service and staff were 10/10.
 Scroll down for the official regatta results below
As always – click on photos to enlarge.
Race Course Videos Below (Races 2/3)
RANGER

PRIZE

A DIVISION

ARIKI

RAWHITI

CORONA

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Ngarurua + CYA Regatta Sailing Photos

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NGARURUA

The 37’ Ngaruroa was built by Nobby Clark, a commercial boat builder and launched in 1965. Built from carvel plank, heart kauri. Powered by a 120hp 6 cylinder Perkins diesel engine. 
Over the last 8 years she has been under gone an extensive re-fit and her owner now finds themselves just too busy to complete the project – so if there is a woody out there handy with their hands – Ngarurua just needs her interior finished and a lick of paint. She is fully operational in its present state. Thanks to Ian McDonald for the tme heads up.

CYA CLASSIC YACHT REGATTA UPDATE – DAY TWO (Races 2&3)
Yesterday morning I was dock side at Race HQ co-ordinating a meet up between renowned wooden boat photographer Benjamin Mendlowitz and James Dreyer (MV Laughing Lady) and I got ‘press ganged’ into accompanying them on LL for the day. Was not what I had planned but sometimes you just go with the flow.
Had an amazing day and got some great sailing photos. A taste below – full story on Monday.
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A10 – Thelma / A7 – Rainbow

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A7 – Thelma / A2 – Rawhiti

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A16 – Little Jim

Mystery Launch At Waiheke Island

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Mystery Launch At Waiheke Island

Mooching around Sandy Bay I spotted the above woody – it looks familiar. Not anchored, on a mooring so maybe she is an Island boat.
I’m sure someone smarter than me can ID her.
Woodys Classics Waiheke BBQ & Pizza Lunch – Trip Report
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Another great turn out for Saturdays gathering at Little Oneroa – I counted 16 woodys in the bay, rowing past a couple I may have detected a whiff of PVC but they were lookers and all had a healthy mix of timber and bronze. Attending boats tagged in the story.
Most people decided to order lunch from the wood-fired pizza caravan and were not disappointed – very yum.
The timing seemed to work for everyone – several boat travelled long distances to participate and 1/2 the fleet were just there for the day. Also dog friendly venues are appreciated – again 1/2 the boats had pooches aboard. Perfect weather and very low numbers of what the islanders call ‘day trippers’.
As proof that all you need to be welcomed at a Woody Classics event, is a passion for wooden boats – my boat of the day was Allan and Pam Hooper’s – Katherine. Her dinghy (built by Allan) gets her a 10/10 tick in my book.   You can read more about Katherine here https://waitematawoodys.com/2020/02/03/katherine/
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Katherine

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Little Oneroa – Waiheke Island

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I spotted Allan’s dinghy ashore on Sunday morning  at Oneroa – now Allan is a perfectionist, so his score drops to 9.9/10 – he left the stickers on the oars 🙂
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Stargazer

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STARGAZER

Several woodys (Barbara Cook – Waitemata, and Dean Wright – Bay of Islands) have sent in photos of Stargazer mooching around our waters.
Stargazer is a tender to a sailing super yacht. For us Kiwis calling a 75’5’ vessel, powered by twin 925hp Scania engines a tender is a bit of a stretch 🙂 but with the upcoming Americas Cup regatta we will be seeing a lot more of these beasts in and around the Hauraki Gulf.
Stargazer was launched in 2019, built by Claasen Shipyard and their sister yard Vitters Shipyard working with the navel architects – Hoek Design.
Built from aluminium, she has a beam of and draws 4’9”. The twin Scania engines give her a top speed of 25 knots, but most Stargazer cruises at 15 knots. But Barbara reports she easily pulls two water skiers.
Link below for construction details and photos.
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Woody Waitangi Day Picnic – Photos

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Scott Colville

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My Girl & Pacific

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Monterey

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Centaurus

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Mana

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Ann Michelle

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Trinidad

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Arohanui

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Eileen Patricia

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Sybil Frances

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Tusk

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Shango (Ani)

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Awatere

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Sea Fever

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Ngaio

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Silvery Main

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Tuna

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Wirihana

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Very smart new mast on Pacific 🙂

WOODY CLASSICS WAITANGI DAY PICNIC  PHOTOS

Another great Woody Classics Woody event yesterday, we had 20+ classic woodys anchored  in Wakalabubu Bay, Motutapu Island. Most came ashore for the picnic and while the camera stayed in the bag, I can report that these casual events are a winner, so nice to catch up with old friends and meet new ones. Youngest age would have been around 6/7 years and the oldest was 92 !
If I missed getting a photo of your woody, I apologise, but with people coming and going all afternoon I suspect someone missed out.
 
The breeze picked up later in the day and so most had the old wind against the tide coming home – but it was worth it.
Big thanks to everyone the rocked up – see you all at our next event – details soon 😉
Off to Lake Rotoiti (Nth Island) on Saturday  for the Classic & Wooden Boat Parade – Monday’s WW story should be a goody 🙂
 
Oops nearly forgot anyone know the launch below, we crossed paths of Rangitoto – terrible photo, grab the phone and unfortunately had it set on some weird setting. Name is something like Tautai ??
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TIO

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TIO

I recently received the above colour photo of Tio from her owner Richard Cross, the older b/w photos popped up on fb. 

Richard commented that he had fully re-corked her 3 years ago,and was chipping away at the interior fitout. He has purchased the majority of big ticket items including new solar set up and batteries.
The engine – a Detroit 671 two stroke, had a  top end rebuild last year and the real reason for today’s story is Richard is looking for advice on what to do. A bottom end bearing has now gone and having spent a lot of money last year on the engine, he is looking for advice of what options he has, as he is currently not in a postion to engage last years mechanic – so is there someone knowledgable whose brain Richard could pick?
Also looking for input on the design layout for the stairs to the old hold, which he is thinking will be two double cabins, storage, office and workshop.
 
Tio is 55’ in length, 28 ton, designed by Hubert Levy, built in kauri in 1953 by Jack Guard at Putatea Bay (French Pass) for the Marine Dept as an oyster research boat. Later served as a Navy Pilot vessel (registered ship number 316485).
Also did time as a Great Barrier Island passenger ferry. These days she is a live-aboard and I have to say sports midships, what would best be described as a ’shed’ 🙂
 
Any mechanically minded / qualified woody able to help Richard out with some advice? I’ll throw in a WW t-shirt and Lake Rotoiti Wooden & Classic Boat 2020 calendar to the most helpful – Richard can decide who that is 😉
 
VENUE DECIDED FOR WAITANGI DAY WOODY PICNIC – WAIKALABUBU BAY 
After hours of reviewing weather forecasts, the WW weather guru has selected Waikalabubu Bay, Motutapu Island for the venue. Of course this could change but for now, that  is the spot. 
If you haven’t RSVP’ed – click the email link below . Great numbers already confirmed for next Thursday 🙂     waitematawoodys@gmail.com
Woody Waitangi Picnic
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Astrolabe At Sea

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Astrolabe At Sea

Late last year we featured the stunning 51’ 7” Bruce Clark designed, John Salthouse 1974 built sloop Astrolabe and got to take a peek below. The WW link below will take you to the story – have look, she is a very impressive yacht that has done some serious blue water sailing.
Since then her owner has found the above photos of Astrolabe. The sailing ones were shot from a helicopter and the out-of-water / shed photo (below) was taken when her mast was being overhauled.
When the first story run on WW her owner was considering finding a new owner for her, after a Christmas break – the decision has been made – “sell her, but only to the right family”. So woodys – after a summer cruise or sitting on the beach looking at the boats anchored in the bay – who is considering either up grading their vessel or returning to the fold? Yachts like Astrolabe do not come on the market very often. Interested in a viewing? Initial contact to waitematawoodys@gmail.com.
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YESTERDAYS MAHURANGI REGATTA BROKE ALL RECORDS FOR WW VIEWING NUMBERS – OFF THE RICHTER SCALE AND BIG OFF SHORE INTEREST – THANKS FOR MAKING ALL THE HOURS OF EDITING WORTHWHILE 🙂
Graph below shows the last months daily viewing numbers & the scale of yesterdays performance (red column)  😉
Second image shows the viewing by country ranking – just can not crack the UK scene. FYI, a lot of the Asian readership comes from Kiwi ex-pats working overseas and super yacht crews. I sell a lot of WW t-shirts into this area.

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