Category Archives: 50’+

Classic Yacht Association – ANZAC DAY REGATTA 2018- 30+ photos

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CYA ANZAC DAY REGATTA 2018

Raindance was overdue a run so I decided to head out yesterday afternoon & catch the start of the CYA / PCC ANZAC Day Regatta. The photos are from the pre-start > start & a wee bit of racing. A used a long lens, as I wanted to stay out of the start area.

A stunning day for woody boating, but I have to say – excluding the A Division, the turn out was a little RS. 

The day had every thing going for it – late start, sun, wind & a good post race gig at PCC, seems some people most be suffering the boating equivalent of cabin fever.

Enjoy the photos – remember to click photos to enlarge 😉

The yacht below – Time, is a marina neibour of mine – a very salty vessel, & equally stunning down below.

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Whitianga Cruise Launch

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WHITIANGA CRUISE LAUNCH

Today’s photo (ex Lew Redwood via NZ Cars, Boats etc etc Pre 1975 FB page) is captioned saying ‘Cruise Launch, Whitianga. No doubt Baden Pascoe will jump & tell us the name of the vessels.

The white & blue run-about is rather smart, if Baden was really good – he would be able to give us the owners name. 🙂

Baden Pascoe Input – Merv Stockley might have to correct me with this one. I am sure the blue boat is the Three Kings or Three Springs as the locals call her as she always had pumps running. She belonged to Mr. Reigns (spelling) and from what I remember she showed the signs of a very hard life and he did very little to make her right. My father Howard Pascoe gave her a “wide berth” whenever he was approached to repair her. The little run-a-bout is a Sea Craft and that belonged to either Jack Crawford or Jack Matthews. I can remember it had a twin cylinder Norman motor. I am sure Don Ross Merv’s father-in-law will know all about this scene.

Don Ross (via Merv Stockley) Input – Don said straight away `Three Springs’ also, actually `Three Kings’ usually just serviceable but  in need of care as Baden said. The owner was Les Rides. Ron Raines was a local wheeler /dealer in mostly Cars and Trucks but we don’t remember him owning `Three Kings’. The clinker motorboat belonged to Squib Jones.

Harold Kidd Input – Hardly a “Cruise Launch”! Les Rydes owned the fishing boat THREE KINGS which had a 150hp Hercules diesel. She was affected by the tsunami/tidal waves at Whitianga of 23rd May 1960.

 

 

 

 

Manaia – Launch Day + Volvo Race Start

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MANAIA – Launch Day

The above photos of Manaia were sent to me by Paul Drake – I’ll let Paul tell the story behind them.

“The first four I took on launching day. I was 15 and in the midst of School Certificate. No exam that day, so off I went on my bike from home in Balmoral, camera in my bag. 

In the second pic, Capt. Warwick Dunsford can be seen in charge on the foredeck (white boiler suit and black beret). 

In the third pic, Percy Vos himself is clearly recognizable just by the fore foot. 

The last two photos I have had since the 1960’s & most likely come from the camera of TW Collins. Great photos, especially the one from the port quarter, and show MANAIA at work.

MANAIA is certainly very original, but note that the stem now has an unattractive (to me) hook near the top. Much better straight in my view.  Also note unusual chine aft. Double ender but hard chine aft. That’s why she can do 15 knots if required!

MANAIA was about the last of the large wooden pilot vessels built for New Zealand ports. About the same time as AKARANA and 10 years after TIAKINA (Wellington – and also a Collings design). TIAKINA of course built in England and steamed out via Suez Canal.”

You can see photos of Manaia today, looking very smart & read extensive details on her past here https://waitematawoodys.com/2018/01/26/manaia/

 

Volvo Round-the-World Yacht Race -Auckland Start

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Photos Below In The Order They Passed North Head

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And a couple of Woodys amongst the sea of plastic boats

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Peter Boardman – Lady Margaret

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Angus Rogers – Mahanui

Yachts at Kawau Island – Sailing Sunday – Win A WW T-Shirt

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Yachts at Kawau Island – Sailing Sunday – Win A WW T-Shirt

This Mansion House Bay, Kawau Island photo from the ‘NZ Car, Boats, >>> Utes Pre’75’ FB page shows a great collection of classic yachts (& a few launches).

I’ll put up a WW t-shirt to the woody that can ID the most yachts – given my launch angle – I’ll get a yachty to verify the answers. To stop copy-catting, entries ONLY via email to

waitematawoodys@gmail.com

LIPTON CUP RACE – SATURDAY – MARCH 17th

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The 97th Lipton Cup race is set to take place on the 17th of March. 22 miles of blood, sweat and tears is to be raced by the 22ft L Class ‘mullet boats’ to see who will triumph as the winner of the esteemed Lipton Cup trophy. This is a highlight of the yachting calendar and this year it appears there will be fierce competition with a number of the mullet boats performing exceptionally well in recent racing. With only 3 years to go until the 100th you can expect there to be a lot more competition and boats coming out of the wood work to compete in following years. Previous crew and owners are always welcome to come down and watch with the club open all day with food and refreshments (with a lift for the weathered yachties).

The days events are as follows:

7am – Hot cooked breakfast (Prebooked)

9am – Race briefing

11am – Race commences

3pm approx – Race finishes

6pm approx – Prize giving and after party

Watch Video footage from last years race here https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=3&v=LAZotynoqiA

 

My Big Woody Adventure – Trinidad

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My Big Woody Adventure 

Several months ago David Cooke tapped me on the shoulder & asked if I would like to join Barbara & himself aboard their 1965 Salthouse built classic motor-yacht, Trinidad, on the first leg of their circumnavigation of New Zealand – Bay of Islands (East Coast of the North Island) > down the West Coast to Picton (top of the South Island). The short answer was hell yes.

Fast forward to Saturday January 20th 2018 & the Cooke’s, myself & Jamie Hudson (owner of near sister ship – Lady Crossley) are having our last land based dinner at the Whangaroa Sport Fishing Club. Very appropriate that it was fish & chips. An early night was called & we woke at 5.30am Sunday morning to prepare for departure – photos & trip details below – read on & enjoy the journey – I did 🙂

A slightly different format today – magazine style i.e. photos & copy to support them, have also captioned some. When you are doing 3 hours on 3 hours off watches, food plays a big part of the day – so there are a few food shots. When Barbara deemed I needed to be punished for some misdemeanor she would not tell my what was for dinner & keep me guessing all day. To a serious foodie, that was cruel.

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Dinner at Whangaroa Sports Fishing Club

Final prep – night b4 departure
David explaining to me what a sail looked like
We are off – leaving Whangaroa
Milford Island in the mist
Leaving Whangaroa Harbour

We left Whangaroa early on Sunday (21/01) – approx. 515 nautical miles ahead of us. Conditions were a little damp & a combination of sea mist & low cloud meant we saw little of the Northland coast. In fact North Cape / Cape Regina was only an outline.

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We crossed the top of the North Island mid afternoon. Gave the Pandora Bank a very wide berth & pointed Trinny in a straight line to the South Island. The rain and drizzle continue into the first night but after that it was a dry run. We had a 10>15 knot breeze from NE most of the way & a 2>3m swell. The combination of a steadying sail & a wee headsail worked a treat, not for speed but simply to help steady the rolling motion. When both are set the wheel can be left and Trinny will hold her course.

They say an army marches on its stomach – well the Trinny crew certainly had no complaints with the gallery – we dined well 🙂

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Stunning sunset

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Stunning dawn, off Taranaki

The clock on the GPS says 3:58am & we were just off New Plymouth, the gas well / rig lights being the first thing we had seen other than H2O. Mount Egmont poking thru the clouds / mist. This was the view most days – same > same but very wow.

Lots of dolphins (& the odd shark)

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The crew – Barbara, David, Jamie & myself below

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Closing in on Stephens island at the northern end of the Marlborough sounds, the weather gods smiled on us for the trip across Cook Straight & with the GPS reading 9.6 knots it was a happy crew. It had been a dry trip, so we were hanging out for a cold beer once we had dropped anchor in Queen Charlotte Sound.

We arrived in Resolution Bay at approx. 6pm, a total travel time of close to 60 hrs. And immediately rafted up with friends of Barbara & David’s –  Rob and Mandy Carpenter who own the Warwick designed launch Pandanoosa. When the engine was killed it was so peaceful, but saying that the faultless beat of the 6LX Gardner was quite hypnotic.

I lost the bet on how long the trip would take (only by 45mins) & was forced to wear a bar napkin, take orders and serve drinks while displaying my best manners……….

We had a great night & a superb meal of Blue Cod aboard Pandanoosa.

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Captain Cooke – peeling the potatoes for dinner

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Bay Of Many Coves Resort

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The Crew, brunch & bubbles

We awoke after a great sleep – we had been doing watches of 3 hours on / 3 hours, to the magnificent beauty of The Sounds. It’s just so big & so stunning. The next 2 days were spent mooching around the bays & coves sucking up the scenery(Pickersgill Island, Blumine Island, Endevour Inlet, Anapawa Island). Brunch at the Bay of Many Coves resort was a special treat, as were drinks at Furneaux Lodge.

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This is my pick of the waterfront properties we saw. I will do another WW story soon on the boat sheds – some stunners.

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Cabin boy Jamie doing his morning chores

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A little sad when we had to berth Trinny at the Waikawa Bay marina & clean / pack up. End of the line for Jamie & myself but just the start for the Cooke’s – you can follow their cruise on the Trinidad Travels facebook page – link below

https://www.facebook.com/barbara.cooke.9028/posts/160438894747674

The return journey – I had always wanted to do the Wellington > Auckland scenic train trip, so suggested to Jamie that we took the overnight ferry from Picton > Wellington & caught the train home. A great plan, just had to kill 5 hours in the middle of the night in Wellington. I think Jamie thought Mermaids was a seafood restaurant………..

Train was very cool, a few issues with brakes overheating that extended the travel time – but I would do the trip again.

Highlights:

  1. The crew – Barbara, David & Jamie – perfect mix & just outright 100% nice people
  2. Trinidad – anytime aboard her is a treat, she is such stunning old lady, who has lapped NZ before, crossed the Tasman to Sydney & cruised the Pacific Islands.
  3. The food
  4. The sunsets & dawns off the West Coast of the North Island
  5. Queen Charlotte Sound & Picton town, very cool place to own a woody – I’ll be back.

For the overseas viewers I have included below a few photos of Trinidad, a rather magnificent ship – looking as always very regal. You can see / read more about her here

https://waitematawoodys.com/2013/07/19/trinidad-52-salthouse-motor-yacht/

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Love the bread maker

Kaiwaka

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KAIWAKA – Work Boat Wednesday

Kaiwaka was launched in 1937, by W G Lowe, Auckland & was used as a lighter to overseas ships at the port of Wanganui. She was taken over in March 1941 after the last meat loading at the port, which with other smaller ports was closed to overseas shipping as a wartime measure. She sailed to Auckland with a naval crew, converted to a Danlayer, with some mine sweeping gear fitted & commissioned 21/5/41 & given the pennant No T14.

She went to Fiji in March 1942 & worked with the flotilla there laying defensive minefields, until returning to Auckland six weeks later. She made several visits to Wellington, working as a Danlayer there till June 1941, then worked as a minesweeper in Hauraki Gulf to May 1944 when clearing the defensive fields began. Her war service as a Danlayer ended in Sept 1945.

She was handed back to the Marine Department in Nov 1945 & refitted, completing this in March 1946. There were wrangles over compensation as it was claimed substandard kauri was used in her construction and she had a poor hull condition. The matter went to Cabinet and a payment of 50,000 pounds in full settlement was approved July 1947 & she did not return to Wanganui, instead becoming a lighter at Gisborne in 1949, but not sold to them till Oct 1953. The new port there made her redundant in 1967, sold in March 1968 to Tauranga for private use. Sold again, had a helicopter pad fitted at the stern and used in Fiordland venison recovery 1973. To Oamaru in 1974, Auckland 1977, and last heard of in Matauwhi Bay, Bay of Islands in 1986.

Ken Ricketts feels the photo above was taken off Bon Accord Harbour, Kawau Island. The wartime minesweeping fleet regularly used the island as an anchorage.

Geoff Brebner commented that In the latter part of the 1970’s, she was moored in the upper Tamaki River, with her mast drastically shortened in order to navigate the Panmure Bridges. She was later taken north, and he believes she may have been taken to sea and scuttled.

Can anyone confirm the fate of Kaiwaka?

Thanks to Geoff Brebner, Chris Rabey & Ken Ricketts for the detailed intel & photo

12-11-2019 Input from Peter Grant – While looking through my old negative library, I came across the pictures below,  taken up north in about 2000 of the original “Kaiwaka”.

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CYA Classic Yacht Regatta 2018 – 50+ Photos

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CYA Classic Yacht Regatta 2018 – Day Two – Race 2 – 50+ Photos

Popped out early on Raindance to catch the start of the regatta – not much of a day for photos, overcast………. but the stick & rag boys would have been happy with the breeze.

If there appears to be a high degree of repetition with the photos – thats because there were not a lot of classics competing. A-division had a good turn out but you could count the rest with out having to take our shoes & socks off.

Maybe everyone sleep in & they turned up for the afternoons race ?

Numbers aside – bloody impressive sight when they are all powered up. Things got a little tense at the start – some very un- corthinthian yachting language was heard, more often then not, the worst culprits always seem to flying a small blue burgee…… 😦

Below – My Pick For Best Photo (not mine, ex Jason Prew’s FB page)

When you arrive 5 mins late for the start you have to do whatever it takes to get into the race – it’s not often you see Jason out of the cockpit, let alone on Wairiki’s rail 🙂

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Mahurangi Regatta 2018 – Classic Woodys Weekend – 100+ photos

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Mahurangi Regatta 2018 – Classic Woodys Weekend – 100+ photos

For the first time in yonks I missed the regatta, my excuse – I was boating elsewhere. Today’s photo gallery comes to you from numerous sources – but special mention to Jason Prew, Peter Loughlin & Nathan Herbert for sharing their cameras with us. Stunning photos guys. Mixed in with their photos are ones from – James Dreyer, Nick Davidson, Ken Ricketts, & John Bertenshaw.

The Classic Launch Parade had a great mix of familiar favourites & some new CYA members & a few who have not seen the light & joined the CYA yet 🙂 . From all reports, the sailing on Saturday was a challenge with wind / no wind / wind & very hot conditions – but as always with Mahurangi a good time was had by all.

As always – click photos to enlarge 😉

Great Video Footage below – the launch parade starts at approx. the 3min stage.

 

Manaia

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MANAIA

I was recently contacted by Adam Leyden who approx. 4 months ago purchased the ex Northland Harbour Board Pilot launch Manaia & is looking for any info the woodys may be able to provide on her past. Adam commented that there is a huge amount of history onboard the vessel e.g. log books etc. even a weekly stock take of the onboard bar from when she was a working boat, those boys knew how to party! What Adam would really like is some older photos and details of her many (10+ I believe) trips up to the Pacific Islands. 

Adam purchased Manaia out of Picton & has returned her to her home port of Marsden Point & is in the early stages of planing her restoration. Structurally, she is still in fantastic condition, as is the machinery, drive lines, steering gear etc. Cosmetically she has been let go a little and the priority is to get the decks resealed and re varnish (Uroxsys) the teak wheel house and main cabin. Below is some background that Adam supplied.

“She is an A.J Collings design, built in Auckland by P. Vos and launched November 1963. She was built as a pilot boat for the then Northland Harbour Board. Although she was built as a work boat, the spec and fit-out was more at the super yacht end of the scale, launched with a bar, game chairs etc. she had a bit of a reputation as a party boat back then too! She was with the Harbour Board from 1963 to around 1990 and has spent much of her life in Wellington and the Marlborough Sounds since then. She has completed seven trips to Noumea as a support vessel for the Whangarei – Noumea yacht races, the first in 1967 and the last in 1984. Looking through the log books still onboard, she has been on several other adventures through the Pacific too.  

Her hull, machinery, drive lines, steering gear etc. are all in great condition still, probably because of the quality of materials and gear used when she was constructed. Sadly she has not had a lot of maintenance or use over the last ten odd years and there is a bit of cosmetic stuff to get on top of, fortunately she is still quite original and a chainsaw won’t be necessary to get her looking good again. The two 16L straight 8 Rolls Royce diesels performed flawlessly on our trip from Picton to Marsden Point and were surprisingly economical, we averaged 3.9L per NM at 10.5kns on the trip. She cruises at 10 knots happily doing 1800rpm. We did get a touch over 15knots out of her on a short burst, however that destroyed the fuel consumption and the wake was huge!

It would be great to find some photos of her back in her working days when her hull was painted royal blue! It would also be great to hear from anyone who has spent time aboard her or been off shore on her.”

The two below photos are from the beginning and end of her trip from Picton to Marsden Cove Marina

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30-01-2018 Input from Richard Morgan

Manaia was certainly a striking vessel when painted navy blue and looked more like an Admiral’s Barge, or a Royal Barge than a Harbour Board work-boat. I presume she was built at the order of the late Ralph Trimmer, Chairman of the Northland Harbour Board, a prominent local lawyer, and strong advocate for Whangarei and its port. Without Ralph Trimmer the refinery would probably have been located at Picton or somewhere. Built ostensibly as a working vessel Manaia was at the same time a pilot launch, a floating board room, a pleasure boat, and a nautical sales office and tourist ship for visiting dignitaries. VIPs entertained on board would have been from other Port Authorities, shipping companies, oil company executives, and representatives from many organisations and governments that the Port Company wanted to influence. As noted, the “Grog Cabinet’ was legendary and we can be sure many well-lubricated lobbying sessions and deal-signing sessions were held on board. RK Trimmer was later prosecuted for various financial mis-managements, but no Whangarei resident felt he was guilty of these as the city and port had benefitted more under his leadership than from any council or board before or since.

In a discussion I had with the late Capt. Peter Wavish, a former Pilot and Harbourmaster for Northland Port, we discussed Manaia, and if I remember correctly, he said she was a beautiful ship, but rolled like a drunken sailor in sea-boots! So those trips into the Pacific Ocean must have been an experience never to forget for those with a land-lubber’s tummy.

Woodys Holidaying In The Bay Of Islands

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Woodys Holidaying In The Bay Of Islands

Todays photos are from the camera of woody Dean Wright, taken over the Xmas / NY period, I love the one on Wirihana rolling around, sent it to her skipper Chris McMullen & he commented “We were coming into the bay from Cape Brett. A nasty on the beam sea. Any boat can roll when bit by a wave. Its when they keep rolling after the event…….” Chris commented the Wirihana handled it very well. Even with a roll on, Wirihana still looks beautiful – always does, from any angle.

I have to say Marie J is looking very smart, well done to the new(ish) owners. Also what do we know about the yacht Tuahine?