Chris Leech sent in the update below – “Great progress has been made over the break on Janace Anne. Below the waterline is just about ready for anti foul, the topsides have been stripped back, and given two coats of primer. The cabin top has been water blasted and ready for attention. Down below is has been tidied up, but the current plan is to only get the engine running. We have had the offer of a complete running engine (Bukh 10) if required. The original was handled by Moon Engines. Please visit woollacott.org.nz for more photos in info + some below.”
— WAITING ON A WW T-SHIRT ? – A few orders over the break went into the spam file – so if you think Im rude and have not got back to you – sorry – can you re0send your email – thanks
In mid December 2025 WW was contacted by John Woodcock with the good news that the 35’ 1934 classic wooden launch – NANA had just been relaunched after a mammoth undertaking to save her.You see back in June 2023 WW ran an SOS story on the boat, she was in very sad state. In fact the listing was an ‘as-is-where-is’ listing. As in life, the good lookers tend to receive the special treatment, this wasn’t NANA’s first rodeo – she had been close to an appointment with a back-hoe several times. Link here to her in 2019 post a refit. https://waitematawoodys.com/2019/06/03/nana-3/
Some background – NANA was designed by C. Bailey Jnr. & built by C. Bailey & Sons for Mr F Alison of Matiatia, Waiheke Island in1934 & launched in late November / December.
She is 35′ with a 8′ beam and a 3’ draft and built in kauri > carvel
So today woodys we tip out hat to John Woodcock for giving NANA another chance. Still a few bits to finish off but from what we can see in the photos above – NANA is lucky boat.
AND HAPPY YEAR
28-02-2026 – UPDATE ex IAN MCDONALD – Dont know the background but earlier in the weeke NANA was spotted being towed back fro Gt Barrier Island to Sandspit.
WW follower John Dawson sent in todays photos of the Oliver & Gilpin built big game launch – JOANNE on what we assume is launching day.
Back in Sept 2017 Dean Wright sent in an ‘old’ photo of her in Whangaroa Harbour. This story created a lot of reader input and photos, which were added to the 2017 story – link here https://waitematawoodys.com/2017/09/20/joanne/
The 3rd & 4th photo above show that there have been a fair degree of ‘updates’.
ATTENTION CLASSIC LAUNCH OWNERS – IF YOU ARE ON OR AROUND THE WAITEMATA HARBOUR THIS ANNIVERSARY DAY (Jan 26th) AND LOOKING FOR AN EXCUSE TO USE THE BOAT – SEE BELOW
The inner harbour classic motorboat drag race is always a lot of fun and the handicappers are very fair so all entrants have a chance of winning on handicap. The honour of first across the line is tightly contested but you’ll have to be capable of 20+ knots to win that prize 😉
Much of the timber used in the project was from Kennedy’s personal collection, including some kauri timber leftover from the original build. Lovely Rewarewa with beautiful grain, repurposing Kennedy’s aunts dresser top for the head vanity top. Kauri slab from Kennedy’s good friend for the kitchen bench and oven surround.
The yard incorporated and repurposed as much timber as possible, the new handrails, plate holders, new door to the head and new skylight and many small detail elements.
A special touch was a picture of Leon etched onto a Kauri board (see below) as a gift for Kennedy from the yard.
CLASSIC WOOLLACOTT YACHT JANICE ANNE NEEDS A HELPING HAND
During the week WW was contacted by the Woollacott Association regarding the yacht – JANICE ANNE that had been recently gifted to the association.
The association have a simple objective – save her from the scrape heap.
Some background – JANICE ANNE has been neglected for a few years and is in a need of antifouling and a bit of paint, along with some other work. The Woollacott Association has hauled her out at the Devonport Yacht Club for approx. two weeks, as you’ll see in the photos the first step was to scrap the weed off and give it a good water blast. Then its onto sanding ready for anti-fouling. Then if possible i.e. spare hands and time permitting, it would be great to get the topside’s sanded and painted at the same time, along with working through getting the motor running.
So woodys I know its a crazy time of the year but if anyone has some spare time, any support and assistance would be most appreciated, or donations would be of great assistance to cover required materials and hauling/mooring fees. Bank Account Details: Account owner name: WOOLLACOTT ASSOCIATION Account Number: 02-0136-0030719-000
If you can help out with labour – contact Chris Leech dds@kcbbs.gen.nz
The perfect Santa stocking stuffer – great design and quality printing and only $15 To order a copy – click on this link https://form.jotform.com/253367514763867
Sadly her owner wasn’t there to see the event, but she will be reading WW today while sipping an Aperol Spritz on the other side of the world 🙂
09-01-2026 UPDATE – It’s the little details that make all the difference. NGAIO’s wheel was just a tad too big, the boys at the Slipway Milford, dived into the treasure chest of old / good boating bits and refurbished a ‘new’ wheel – perfect ✓
It was a very busy morning at the Milford slipway – a total of 4 launches were re launched after getting some pre-xmas cruising TLC
The magnificent 48’ 1965 Lane Motor Boat Co. built – AROHANUI
The L33 (Logan replica) – SEMELE
And even a Pelin sneaks onto WW today – well it is xmas 😉
Todays woody story is a cracker read and comes to us from Matthew Underwood. Matthew and group of 7 ventured out to Wakatahuri in Pelorus Sound, Marlborough to catch up with the legendary mariner Davey Jones. To those unfamiliar with Davey, he has been lapping NZ in his classic wooden 100 year old vessel – KELVIN for more years than I can remember. When not afloat Davey lives in Wakatahuri, located in Marlborough at the top of the South Island.
The #1 motivation for the trip was to obtain an autographed copy of Davey’s book titled – DAVEY JONES OF WAKATAHURI. Anyway thats enough from me, I hand over to Matthew to tell the tale.
“The other weekend I joined some great adventurers for a marvellous trip down to get a book about Davy Jones and Wakatahuri. You can pick up a copy of this fascinating book by simple e-mail – but we made it into a bit of an adventure for the weekend.
We are a Wellington crew and our destination was the outer reaches of the Pelorus Sound at the top of the South Island. We all made our way to Picton, a number of them cycled to Havelock, and a couple of us drove the car.
From Havelock Adrian from KenePeru Water Taxis took us out to Beverly Bay. On the other side of the 100m high hill was Wakatahuri. It was a pretty challenging climb especially as my first big climb with a couple of new hips. We got a marvellous look down from the top of the hill. Natalie came and looked for us because we were slower than expected. She had tales of people coming to grief from that climb down into Wakatahuri.It was pretty amazing to walk out the last 100 metres on a track and see the wharf, the wrecks, the still functional boats, and the various sheds that fill up the Bay.
Once there we met Gavin and Davey and got a brief outline of the place. Most of us started with a cup of tea in Daveys house. We then picked through a bunch of interesting combinations of machinery and applications. There is a working slipway there with a Lister engine. It is turned over by a truck starter motor and driven off a battery. The starter wheel runs around the flywheel, and once it’s up to speed it chugs into life.
Down the other end of the property is the workshop. There was another Lister engine there that powers through a series of belts a thick-nesser and other machinery. Penguin seemed to live underneath that shed, and the possums had been in the night before as well.
There’s an old boat slung up in the rafters that belonged to one of the dads. Gavin is lovingly restoring a wooden marvel. It’s a very fast boat on not very much horse power. Something to do with being very thin and light displacement. He did admit it was supposed to be ready when his son turned 15. His current target is to have the boat ready before his new grandson turns 15.
We had a great chat to Davy Jones in his kitchen / lounge. There are just so many interesting photos, and so many interesting books. Over a cup of tea we went around the room and discussed all the photos that we were looking at. We all bought a copy of Davey’s book and it was pretty nice to have it autographed at Wakatahuri itself. One of our group, Ross Giblin, took the cover photo of the book. Davey remembered clearly the year in the 1980’s that the photo had been taken.
As we went to leave a group of kayakers turned up to spend the night. They had had a pretty full day paddling and were keen to set up tent and relax.
You had to be impressed with how quickly Davey disappeared into the engine room of the 100 year old Kelvin and soon had her all fired up ready to take us home. We had a lovely put-put back to North West Bay. After opening up the house we had a meal and a couple of beers with Davey before he trampled off back home.
It was fascinating to see 100 year old boat, with the Lister engine in it, but also a modern race car seat for the skipper, lots of charts in the roof lining of the wheelhouse, but also a radar, a couple of VHF radios, and a chart plotter and auto steering. The switchboard seemed to reflect most of the 100 years the boat had been around.
Since we’ve got home I’ve started reading through the book, and I’m fascinated by the history of it all, and all the boats that are described in the book.
You can get a copy of the book for $60 posted to you by emailing Lynette on
Another treat in North West Bay was to see one of the little boats that were part of the Wahine rescue fleet. Pugwash is sitting in a garage there still resplendent in what I understand to be Giant Paints special mix of “AA yellow”. Tony Coard, our host in Northwest Bay, had been skippering his Dad’s boat Pugwash as part of the rescue on the day.
What a great weekend that was. A big thanks to Davey for hosting us and to Tony Coard for setting the weekend up.”
Loving the photos of Davey Jones sporting a WW cap, donated by Matthew 🙂
waitematawoodys.com #1 for classic wooden boat stories, info, advice & news - updated daily - 15+ million views 