When I first sighted todays 16’, 1961 built clinker run-about I was a little startled and my first thoughts were had she started life as a project boat at a boatbuilding school were every skill / feature was explored. But as they say – beauty is in the eyes of the beholder and if you pay the bills you can do what ever you want 😉
And she was awarded the top prize at the 2018 NZ Antique and Classic boat show at Lake Rotoiti, Nelson Lakes. So she appeals to them southern folks 🙂
What we know about BEATTIEFUL is she was designed and built in 1961 by Jim Beattie, a kiwi boat builder based in Blenheim, and then in the mid 2000’s she was restored in Blenheim by Wayne Foley of Blenheim. Power is via a 60hp Yamaha outboard.I understand the boat changed hands at the 2026 Nelson Lakes boat show, so nice that she remain ‘local’ and presumably lake based.
The 30’ classic wooden launch TEMPEST recently made an appearance of tme, bidding reached $395 and the listing was withdrawn. Hopefully the seller realised its real value and has found a genuine buyer. Would be keen to learn what became of her.
In the meantime some background – built in 1964/5 by McGeady and powered by a Ford 100hp 6 cyl. diesel engine.
She has appeared several time on WW starting back in 2014, looking very salty, then in 2022 looking very sad and again in 2023. WW 2014https://waitematawoodys.com/2014/10/26/9340/
Her recent history is that her owner spent hundreds of hours restoring her and then during Cyclone Gabrielle she was struck and sunk on her mooring by a much larger floating foot path (concrete boat). Her owner also experienced a medical incident and the rebuild is beyond his physical resources and he has made the hard call to find a new custodian.
TEMPEST is #3 of 4 boats that Norm Fairlie had built for him by Mc Geady in the 1950s >1970s period.
She was purpose built in kauri and mahogany for him c.1964/5 by McGeady in his Summer Street, Ponsonby premises , specifically to fish for Tuna in the World Game Fishing Competition held in NZ in March of that year, which he won in her.
TEMPEST’s hull had been started by McGeady to be a boat he had intended for himself but he was persuaded by Fairlie to sell her to him & finish her to Norm’s requirements i
Fairlie owned her simultaneously with his other larger McGeady boat the 38 foot CHALLENGER which McGeady built for him in c.1962. He fished for Tuna in the contest off TEMPEST, & Billfish off CHALLENGER & came second in the overall contest
Fairlie later sold her to his then business partner Mr Bert Grimshaw-Jones, who lived on the banks of the Tamaki River, where he kept her at the bottom of his garden, for a number of years,
DOCKSIDE WITH THE WOODYS – Auckland’s Wooden Boat Festival 2026
(CLICK PHOTOS TO ENLARGE)
Yesterday’s WW post focused on the undercover displays and the surrounding shore-side activity (scroll down if you missed it). Today’s instalment is a gallery from two days spent wandering the floating docks. Why two days?
The simple answer — there were just too many woody folk to catch up with for a quick chat. Every few metres another familiar face appeared, and before you knew it ten minutes had disappeared talking boats, projects and plans.
On the weather front the forecasters got it spot-on. Sunday turned out to be the pick of the two-and-a-half day festival, with warm sunshine and a welcome cooling breeze.
Between dockside wanderings I managed to sneak into a couple of the speaking seminars. One featured designer supremo John Welsford, the other Paul Stephanus, director of the Australian Wooden Boat Festival in Hobart. Both presentations were knowledgeable, insightful and — most importantly — highly entertaining.
Because Auckland’s greater boating community is spread across a wide geography — marinas, rivers and estuaries scattered from the inner harbour to the outer reaches — the public rarely gets to see our classic wooden boat fleet gathered together in one place. That’s what makes an event like this so special. Seeing so many woodys together is a reminder of just how strong and diverse the fleet really is.
Of course none of it happens without the owners. They put an enormous amount of time — and more than a few dollars — into getting their boats “show ready”. Beyond the camaraderie shared with fellow woody owners, the real reward comes from the reactions of the public. Owners might shrug off the compliments, but the praise, smiles and pats on the back certainly help offset the many hours spent sanding, polishing and crawling around the bilge.
Now, I know it’s not a beauty contest… but if I had to pick a few personal favourites from the docks they would be:
SAIL — RANUI The 1936 ex-workboat designed by Korinius Larsen. Looking at her today, the standard of presentation is closer to a superyacht than a working boat.
MOTOR — REHIA The 1938 Colin Wild designed and built motor launch. Over the last five years she’s been undergoing a rolling restoration, and every time I see her she looks better than the last.
TRAILER BOAT — LADY MAREE A circa-1950 Cresta Craft classic runabout — pure period charm on a trailer.
TRAILER YACHT – I missed the detailers, has the look of a John Welsford design – can someone supply details ✔️ thanks. ‘Mystery’ solved – its a Welsford Navigator ✔️
As mentioned yesterday, events of this size don’t just happen. They require the efforts of hundreds of volunteers, organisers, exhibitors and supporters.
So a big salute to everyone involved in bringing the 2026 Auckland Wooden Boat Festival together. It was an impressive celebration of our classic wooden boating movement.
AUCKLAND’S 2026 WOODEN BOAT FESTIVAL – Show Tour Part #1
Currently underway down on Auckland’s waterfront is the 2026 Auckland wooden boat festival. The event kicked off late Friday afternoon and runs through until 5pm Sunday.
I dropped down on Friday hoping to grab a few photos before the predicted weather turned sour. Thankfully we were treated to a few welcome bursts of sunshine, which made for some great viewing and photography. As it turns out, today (Sunday) is shaping up as the best day to get along and soak it all in.
Today’s woody story focuses on the undercover displays and surrounding shore-side areas. Tomorrow we’ll bring you Part #2 — a full dockside walk-through featuring the boats afloat.
The festival is a visually stunning showcase, with around 80+ classic woodencraft on display along the docks. In an era where most marinas are locked away from the public 24/7, events like this provide a rare opportunity to get up close to these beautiful wooden boats and chat with the passionate owners and crews who keep them alive.
Pulling together an event of this scale doesn’t happen by accident. It takes hundreds of volunteers, organisers, exhibitors and supporters working behind the scenes to make it all happen.
Hats off to everyone involved — it’s a fantastic celebration of our wooden boating heritage.
CLASSIC WOODEN LAUNCH – MATIRA – A Peek Down Below
The 45’ 1956 Collings & Bell built launch MATIRA has made several appearances on WW but we have never had a good gander down below.
Some info: Designed by Alex J Collings, she has a 11’ beam and draws 3’6”. Built from kauri, single skin, carvel planked. In recent years MATIRA was re-powered with twin Yanmar 110hp engines.
MATIRA is one of those classic woodys that looks perfect from all angles and looks fast even when at anchor.
In the first weekend of March we have one on NZ’s coolest wooden boating events – the NZ Antique & Classic Boatshow, hosted in Kerr Bay, Lake Rotoiti, Nelson Lakes National Park.
Todays coverage of the event is a perfect example of how the WW community works – I get an email from a friend (John Burland) living in Germany informing me a friend of his (Cam Rodgers) is attending the show this year and would I like some photos – short answer – YES.
So thanks to Cam today we get to have a gander at the show. Looks like the weather gods were smiling.
Remember – click to enlarge photos and enjoy the gallery 🙂
Todays woody is the 38’ launch TALISMAN, designed and built by Max Carter and launched in 1961. Her original owner was R. Jordan. TALISMAN had a 11’6” beam so there was shortage of room down below.
TALISMAN graced the cover of the Oct 1962 issue of Sea Spray magazine.
When launched TALISMAN was powered by twin Fordson diesels that were marine converted by the Ford dealer – John Andrew & Sons. The engines gave her a comfortable cruising speed of 10 knots. For the ‘petrol heads’ there are lots of details in the article above.
Question of the day – what became of TALISMAN, name change?.
NAPIER CLASSIC WOODEN LAUNCH – BETTINA – GETS A SECOND LIFE
Recently Sam Avison acquired a berth in Napier, but there was a slight problem, the berth included a 1950’s kauri built launch. The launch named BETTINA wasn’t / isn’t in good shape, in fact at the time of purchase she was taking on water (sinking). Sam couldn’t bring himself to call in the back-hoe boys so decided to take on the challenge.
First job was to sort out the leak, that’s done and he’s currently getting his head around where to start next.
The primary reason for Sam contacting WW to see how f he can learn more about the vessels past. All he knows is 26’ long, built in Napier and probably had a name change in the 1990’s.
Recently, woody Angus Rogers sent in the top photos of HOTSPUR , a recently restored 24’ Mason Clipper that calls the Outdoor Boating Centre (OBC) in Auckland home.
Angus pointed her owner – Fraser Elder in the direction WW and Fraser sent in the gallery of photos of HOTSPUR.
This wasn’t a fast project, in fact Fraser commented that from start to finish it was 9 years, fitting it between work and family commitments.
Some background – HOTSPUR was built c.1968/1969 and during the restoration, several bits of the timber in the boat were numbered (as in the photo with H15 on the inside of the instrument panel) and they are numbered H15, H16 and H17. Fraser reinstalled these parts to keep the numbers in the boat. Puzzled about the presence of three numbers, Fraser spoke to Anne Mason about this, and was told ‘Oh that’s to be expected, we built the boats in threes’, so there was always an amount of cross pollination between the boats.
HOTSPUR was built with a fibreglass hull, after the first tranche of builds with a timber hull, but there is a lot of mahogany in her. During the restoration Fraser needed to replace a high percentage of that timber, using sapele, as real mahogany is no longer allowed to be sold because of the CITES agreement.
Before the restoration, she had a BMW D150 (around 140HP) diesel engine. However, this had several parts that were too corroded or rusted too be used and very hard, or impossible to replace because of the age of the engine. So Fraser installed the BMW D190 (around 180HP) that he had purchased along with the boat. It was also newer and had, he was told had been rebuilt, although this is later questioned. It is this engine that you see running in the boat after he had figured out the few issues he had getting the engine started.
The restoration was mainly completed around August 2022 after nine years but as with any of these restorations, there are still (mainly small) tasks to do, and things that Fraser will eventually get around to, including replacing some of the work he did in the early days, as he says he is now more skilled 🙂 and more knowledgeable about some the techniques to use.
Todays woody popped up on tme late last year (thanks Ian McDonald), at the time the starting bid was $300, sadly it didn’t sell.
What we learnt was she was 18’ in length, built from kauri carvel planking, and there was a Lees Marine Ford engine in her. Her fittings must have been worth the asking price, but the location – Maungaturoto, Northland, would have put people off + no trailer in the sale.
Anyone know more about the launch and what became of her.
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