Category Archives: Boat Sheds

Whangateau Traditional Boat Regatta & Yard Open Day – Part 1

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Whangateau Traditional Boat Regatta & Yard Open Day

The Whangateau crew of Pam & George once again threw their yard open to lovers of classic wooden boats on Sunday (May 4th 2014). The regatta also served as a welcome to ‘Laughing Lady’ the new motorboat arrival from the USA that will be receiving some WTB love.
The autumn day was perfect – sun,wind & great boats. The food & people were pretty good as well 🙂
The regatta follows a well rehearsed format – boats out on the beach, sailors & crew arrive, boats rigged, wait for the tide (&wind), race begins/ends, lunch, prize giving. Now if that sounds like any old regatta – I can assure you Whangateau is not that. The fun & ‘games’ as people secure a boat, select sails & rudders etc & rig up is hilarious & the old salts on hand prove invaluable, in fact it wouldn’t happen with out them. No problem if something does not fit, its into the workshop & onto to the saw bench for some adjustments. Thanks to Jason Prew & Nathan Herbert for the ride aboard Otira, the 1902 Logan motorboat.
Your own Steve Horsley won the race (again) , chased / followed very closely by launch owner Shane Anderson, who had to draw on his past yachting days to keep Steve honest & win a waitematawoodys t-shirt.

A lot of the crew got into the spirit of the day & dressed as pirates.

I’m not going to attempt to caption all the photos, there are just too many – I post today a selection to give you a gander of what makes the people & the place so special.
Tomorrow I’ll post another selection – there is just too many for one day 😉

click photos to enlarge

The shed
Steve scoping the boats
Steve H rigging up
The Rudder Library
The Skippers
The winners- Steve H & Jane
2nd place – Shane A & crew
Pirates
The Best Pirate
Hugh Gladwell the auctioneer with George spotting bids

Click the blue link below to read Jane High’s post regatta newsletter

Whangateau Article 2014

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laughing lady regatta

Whangateau Traditional Boat Yard Open Day / Regatta

If you are out & about this Sunday & looking for a nice drive, the Whangateau Traditional Boat yard is throwing the doors open for people to view the newest arrival – Laughing Lady to the boat yard and New Zealand. The American and NZ flags will be flying & the theme for the day is red, white & blue or even just something nautical e.g. a boat hat.
And as is always the way – a selection of small craft will be out for inspection & visitors are welcome (encouraged) to bring their own craft.

For the newbies that have not been to one of the regattas before , its a very casual day where you make your own fun and are responsible for yourself i.e. if you are boating, bring and wear your own life jacket.

Bring a picnic lunch or have one of our sausages or bring your own sausages for the BBQ.

There will be a donation box for the sausages and the days events and for up-keep on the small craft on offer.

A course will be set to sail, motor or paddle around, out from the bay.This is open for all to join in

The boat yard is open to view Laughing Lady till 4.00pm

Please mind your footing around the yard, this is a traditional working boat yard.!

How do you get there?

Drive past Matakana aprox 9.1 km to 397 Leigh Road, Tramcar Bay & look for the one way bridge, park on the other side of the bridge please.

Launching of boats can be done from the reserve access by the boat yard, but be early to do this.

High tide is at 11.00 am – so 9.30 for setting up the boats – then as soon as the tide allows, hit the water & we shall signal you back for the start of the race 10.30-11.30 start of race.
Confused ? it will be all clear on the day 🙂

 

 

Laughing Lady

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LAUGHING LADY

A ‘new’ lady from the USA joins the NZ classic fleet. But first stop is the Whangateau Traditional Boat yard. Click any image to enlarge.

USA owner – David Gardiner
As ‘found’
Being packed up in USA
Safely in NZ
The end of the road trip North from Post Tauranga
Into the shed at Whangateau

Luders built the motorboat Laughing Lady in Connecticut in 1949 as a day fishing boat for a wealthy American socialite. A few years later she sold it to David Gardiner, who considered himself the 16th Lord of Gardiners Island. The island has an interesting history. As Americas largest private island, It had been in the family ever since his ancestor, the English settler Lion Gardiner, bought it from the Montaukett Indians in 1639 for ”one large dog, one gun, some powder and shot, some rum and several blankets”. He also obtained a charter for the island from King Charles I of England. Captain Kidd once buried treasure there, and the family withstood several attacks by pirates. Gardiner used the Laughing Lady to commute from the Island to New York where he worked as a stockbroker and also across to the up market Hamptons to ferry his guests to the Island, including Jacqui Kennedy-Onassis. Before David Gardiner passed away in 2004 the boat was sold and transported to a yard in San Diego where it underwent significant restoration of the hull before the restoration eventually stalled.

Enter Kiwis, Michael & Katy his sister-in-law who have both worked in the yachting industry and found a love for old boats working as crew on the historic 142 foot Dutch built Feadship Istros and also crewing aboard Fife yachts in various classic yacht regattas around the Mediterranean. They were looking for a small-scale project of their own and found the Laughing Lady languishing in a yacht yard in San Diego last year. They made an offer and the boat was theirs. The boat was then loaded onto a cargo ship in Los Angeles and shipped to Tauranga in March 2014, then towed on a large trailer up to Whangateau in early April (refer photos above). After being shoehorned into the main shed at Whangateau Traditional Boat yard, work will now commence returning the lady back to her former glory.

Luders stopped making boats in the 1980’s but had a fine pedigree in boat building, pioneering hot molded construction and the use of plywood during WWII.  The yard built and designed, fast commuter yachts, Navy patrol boats, tugs, launches and racing yachts including the 1962 America’s Cup winner Weatherly.

Laughing Lady is 32 foot long and was originally powered by Packard straight 8’s, nowadays is powered by twin Volvo turbo diesels.

Built of double planked cedar and mahogany with oak framing and a unique hot molded cabin trunk, she still has the basin that was used for shaving on the way to work and cast bronze fish fighting chairs. The boat will be kept as original as possible, but they will add some modern navigational equipment and something to cook on for overnight trips. Aside from that there is a lot of wiring, wood working, plumbing, paint and varnish to be done before she is completed and back on the water and turning heads as a fishing boat on her new home – the Hauraki Gulf.

Waitematawoodys will follow the work her owners will be undertaking with the assistance of Pam & George at the Whangateau Traditional Boat yard.

This might be easier to read

 

 

Whangateau Traditional Boats Regatta – Part Two

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Whangateau Traditional Boats Regatta – Part Two
photos Shane Anderson, Mark Lever, Alan Wallace & Phillip Jones
Remember clicking on the photos will enlarge then for your viewing
See previous post (below) for more photos

Whangateau Traditional Boats Regatta – Part One

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Whangateau Traditional Boats Regatta – Part One

This is the coolest thing happening, down under, in the traditional wooden boating world – if you have not been to Tramcar Bay, you need to ask yourself how serious you are about wooden boats.
photos Shane Anderson, Mark Lever, Alan Wallace & Phillip Jones

Clicking on the photos above will enlarge them 😉

Saturday March 8th was the 12th year that Whangateau Traditional Boats has hosted a regatta at Tramcar Bay Whangateau.  The regatta was initiated by Russell Ward who in the early days focused on steamboat maintenance.  Russell held 2-3 regattas before Pam Cundy and George Emtage started repairing their first boats at the historic boat building sheds 9 years ago.

Whangateau Traditional Boats are involved with the preservation and restoration of classic and traditionally built wooden boats, both big & small. George and Pam (both boat builders) have amassed a fleet of traditional planked small craft.  Some purchased, many donated, some saved from the tip but all needing their restoration skills. The regatta is a perfect venue for Pam & George to showcase these boats & provides the local community with the opportunity to participate. The craft are offered for the publics use, as they want to create opportunities and acceptance of our traditional wooden boat heritage. These craft are complementary to the ongoing survival of the historic boatbuilding shed and yard.

On regatta day some arrive with their own small boats, others help and crew on the WTB fleet, many just enjoy the spectacle and a day on the beach.  Among the small boats held by WTB are 7 x Z class, 3 x Idle Alongs, 1 x Frostbite, 3 x Cadet training boats, 2 x Dory’s, 1 x S class open 16ft, 1 x T class open 14ft & then some.

Bridging the gap between these small boats and some of the larger boats WTB are restoring is Desdimona, an 18ft Mullet boat seen in some of the photos.

The conditions on the Saturday were near perfect – full sun, high tide at 1.00 pm & a light 5 knot breeze.

The historic red sheds sit amongst the mangroves on Tramcar Bay. The beach is very tidal with enough water for small boats approx 1.5 hours either side of high tide. So the regatta is a brief 2-3 hours of sailing time & the format is casual – sail it, row it, talk it. All levels & ages of sailors & rowers are welcome. But keep an eye on your watch, get the timing wrong & there’s a long walk over the mud flats. The regatta is a great get together for the local boating community. Pam and George generously host the event with the historic boat building sheds open on the beach. The March regatta was so popular another will be held very soon – date tbc.

Enjoy the photos, more tomorrow 🙂

Video footage of the varnishing of Trinidad with Awlwood MA (Uroxsys)

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How did Trinidad get that look?

If you have seen Trinidad in the last few months you would have gone………….. WoW……………… thats amazing. Well now thanks to the wonders of modern technology (a time lapse camera & Gareth Cooke’s photography & editing skills) you can watch how the team at Greg Lees Boatbuilders, working with Awlwood MA (Uroxsys) achieved that amazing finish on her topsides.

The process went like this –
1. Old coatings removed
2. Yellow primer applied
3. Two coats rolled / brushed on
4. Three days of heavy ‘wet on wet’ spray applications, with a good block sanding between coats
5. Final coat applied as a single coat to achieve best leveling

Now this is all stunning but do not think its a pro-only product, the results us amateurs can achieve with 6 > 8 coats using a hand brush is pretty wow.

Ever Wondered Whats Inside Those Sheds?

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A Peek Inside The Clyde Quay Boat Sheds

In my real life, I have one outside of ww 🙂  ,  I get to work with some very talented people, in 2013 one of my clients partnered with New Zealand’s award winning consumer lifestyle magazine – ‘NZ Life & Leisure’ on a marketing initiative. Just before xmas I was in their offices & they said “hey we have an article in our upcoming Jan/Feb issue that would interest you & your ww readers. So folks here it is a pictorial insight into the Wellington’s Clyde Quay boat sheds, where several CYA members (Phillipa Durkin & Gavin Pascoe) hang out. The passion & enthusiasm that the Gavin & Phillipa, along with the other Wellington Classic Yacht Trust members have is amazing & we should all take a lead from them.

The mag goes on sale today so grab a copy at your local, you can also see more at their never cool website http://nzlifeandleisure.co.nz

You can find out more about the WCYT  here http://www.wcyt.org.nz

Trinidad

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TRINIDAD

CYA members Barbara & David Cooke have had 52′ Salthouse built Trinidad hauled out for the last 4 months in the boat shed at Lees Boat Builders, Sand Spit.

The original intention was to take the cabin top back to bare wood, replace all the glass & give her the Awlwood MA (Uroxsys) treatment. As happens, the to do list grew just a little & just about everything that could be painted, polished or re-chromed was given a birthday. The attention to detail & workmanship from Greg Lees & his team has impressed every classic boater that has passed thru the shed. The end result is simply magnificent, but you would expect that from Barbara & David as they set a pretty high bar when it comes to Trinidad.

She slipped out of the shed yesterday (12/12/13), with a little help from the little classic work boat ‘Karewa’. At 56′ Trinny was a tight fit & the shed sure looked bare post launching.

My photos will give you a good idea of the ‘new’ Trinny but there were more camera’s there than on a Japanese tour bus so there will be better ones to come.

Also David Waddingham (Mr Uroxsys) commissioned marine photographer Gareth Cooke to film a mini movie of the complete Uroxsys process, so once that has been edited I will post that on ww.

if you enter Trinidad into the ww search box you can view previous posting on her, including a peek down below

Around the yards

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Eeny, Meeny, Miny, Moe

Which one would I choose  – Trinnidad, Ngaio, Waimiga ?

Well unless, one the owners gets a bang on the head & Big Wednesday smiles on me this week, its a hypothetical question . The answer – any of them could slip into my berth at Bayswater.

Three of the CYA’s prettiest ladies are about to leave the shed after a winter of pampering, o-boy the launch fleet bar just got raised a few notches 🙂

My spies tell me that Lady Crossley is also due back in soon & is also looking very smart.

I’ll post more when they splash.

A serious boat shed

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A serious boat shed

Greg Lee’s shed (Lees Boatbuilders) at Sandspit is the real deal, no concrete floor here, the tide comes & goes twice a day. You have to wonder how many tools have been dropped into the tide over the years.

The launch in the shed is CYA member Angus Roger’s ‘Mahanui’, built by Keith Atkinson & originally launched as Jacinta II – photo taken in Jan 2013 while she was getting a 9 month major makeover that included two new Perkins Sabre M135′s with Newage PRM gearboxes. That deep shine on the coamings is ex a tin of Uroxsys.

Their tug boat ‘Karewa’ (a CYA register boat) was built in 1951 by Lidgards for the Department of Works to push barges on the Piako river for the construction of bridges. From there she went to the Tauranga Harbour Board as pilot/survey vessel, finally coming to Warkworth in the early 1980s, where she has been working tirelessly since. In the photos above she along side Steve Horsley’s yacht Ngatira.

In the photos the number 8 on her side I assume is her ‘race’ number from when she won the Parry Trophy (tugboat award) as the Best Presented Survey Commercial Tugboat in the Auckland Anniversary Day Regatta in January 2008.

When I was there in 2011 I spied the very cool ‘Auck Motor Yacht Club’ sign, that should be in a museum – hang on, it is – The Lee’s Museum 🙂