Category Archives: CYA Boat

waitematawoodys.com Gets One Million Views

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waitematawoodys.com Gets 1,000,000 Views

At some stage today the counter on the watematawoodys.com blog site will tick over & show that people have viewed the site 1,000,000 times.

I choose the above photo for todays post because to me it captures what the classic wooden boat movement was / is all about. Its got everything there – motor boats, yachts, dinghies, people hanging out having a good time – there is even a dog 🙂 . The location is obviously Mansion House Bay at Kawau Island. The photo was sent to me by Robert Brooke & is from his father’s, Jack Brooke, stunning collection. (click on the photo to enlarge)

When I look back at the first few posts on waitematawoodys its amazing how we have evolved & now how big the audience is both in terms of numbers & the geographical reach.

I would like to thank all the followers of the site, but special thanks must go to everyone that sends in material (photos & info). Doing a daily post can be a little challenging at times but just when I start to panic, an email arrives from someone with some old photos of granddads boat. I would also like to thank Harold Kidd who gave me a swift kick in the backside 2 years ago in terms of getting serious about the site & the accuracy of the content. I would be embarrassed to say how many hours I had to spend to go back & populate the existing posts in terms of year, designer,builder etc but now the site is the #1 reference tool for New Zealand classic wooden boats. But that is a by-product, the real success of the site is that everyday it delivers to people something fun & enjoyable to read & interact with, something that puts a smile on their face.

Way did I start waitematawoodys ? – well the idea came to me via my involvement in the NZ Classic Yacht Association, the CYA is a great club but like most small clubs it can be seen as slightly cliquish, we do so many neat things but the audience is small & there are so many more people out there with an interest in wooden boats. With the birth of social media networks, stuff (photos, stories, info) that had previously been packed away, could now be available to anyone with a computer or smart phne. The future was all about content being on-line & easy to access. It was also about being collaborative. With the advent of personal websites (called blogs) people like myself are able to create a communication channel that has no boundaries. But more importantly blogs are able to be managed/controlled so that they remain true to the topic, which in the case of waitematawoodys is – the study & appreciation of classic wooden boats & the desire to tell the stories behind them & the people who built them, owned them & crewed on them.
At the start the content was all about motor boats but as the audience has grown the readers now have a broader interest in all classic wooden boats & things related to them.

Why did I call it waitematawoodys – now I could put my advertising hat on & rabbit on about what the words mean to people but the simple truth is its just a cool name & looks great on a tee-shirt 🙂

I still get a buzz out of posting daily & from the feedback I get, so do you. But folks – do not hold back on spending stuff to me, some of it in isolation may not be enough for a post but I file it & then bang, someone else sends me something on the same topic & we have a story.

Again thanks for being part of waitematawoodys & remember – its all about wooden boats.

Cheers Alan

ps below is an advertisement I made to plug membership of the CYA (you should join up) the photo (ex Chris Miller) shows we are still enjoying these wonderful craft. If you look hard that’s me in my number one clinker dinghy – I say #1 because there are a few…………..  🙂

CYA Classic Journal – Issue 100

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CYA Classic Journal – Issue 100

In todays world of publishing, hitting 100 issues for a bi-monthly is pretty impresive. If the below is a little hard to read, click on the blue link below to download a pdf file. Enjoy 🙂

CYAJUNE2015a

Classic Reproductions

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Tawera and Ngaio
Tawera and Ngaio
Rainbow and Jesse Logan
Thelma
Waitangi
Waitangi deck

Classic Reproductions

Today’s post profiles the work of Wayne Spicer, a very talented modeler who has built an impressive number of our classic fleet. Wayne has been modeling for approx. 17 years & is a volunteer model maker at the Maritime Museum in Auckland (on Tuesdays). Wayne has built a number of square riggers including Endeavour, Bounty (3), Victory (3), Spanish galleon.

While at the Museum Wayne meet Rod Marler, the owner of the Logan yacht ‘Little Jim’, Rod commissioned Wayne to build a model of LJ & this got Wayne hooked on Logan boats. Wayne told me that he enjoyed the classic lines of the Logans and how they showed the evolution of sailing designs since the late 1800’s. You will see from the the list below that he has built quite a few.

BUILT TO DATE:

Thelma
Rainbow
Waitangi
Jessie Logan (2)
Little Jim (2)
Tawera (2)
Ariki
Aromoana
Ngaio
Gypsy
Nomad
Ranger
Helen

Most of Wayne’s models are made from scratch which means they are not kit sets, fyi below are some photos of the model making process for Nomad.

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Rawhiti – A Once In Your Life Time Opportunity

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Rawhiti – A Once In Your Life Time Opportunity
photos ex Classic Boat, Chris Miller, Alan H & owner

Firstly – a challenge – can anyone dispute that Rawhiti is New Zealand’s finest classic yacht afloat? From all angles she is simply beautiful, a true classic from the drawing board of Arch Logan & built by Logan Bros.
Rawhiti was completely rebuilt by Peter Brookes at Brookes Boatbuilders in 2011. For her owner Greg Lee, it was a pure labour of love, he extensively researched every aspect of the project & worked alongside Peter on a daily basis, the end result being a Logan that is better than launch day in October 1906 & thats pretty bold statement to make about a Logan.

Yachts like Rawhiti only come along once in a life time, to get the chance to buy one is even rarer. That opportunity now exists, to do that – to own this beautiful piece of New Zealand’s maritime heritage, a floating work of art.

So my 2nd challenge today is to all classic boating aficionados – gather your friends or business associates & form a syndicate, sell that bloody ugly Colin McCahn, sell a few shares, sub-divide that section – do what ever you have to do, to put the money together to acquire Rawhiti.

Interested? – read on

Without boring you with details, Rawhiti’s owner is serious about selling her & now via another business transaction has the opportunity to offer Rawhiti for sale to the right owner for a fractional of the restoration cost i.e. in the $400k range.
The time window in which the business transaction is available is short and therefore there is a limit to how long Rawhiti will be marketed in this price range. If you are interested in discussing the sale, please initially, contact the owner Greg Lee on the email address below.
For anyone with an interest in acquiring Rawhiti who is unsure what they might be doing with her in the short term (but wishing to secure the opportunity to acquire her now), her owner has had provisional discussions with Peter Brookes about storing her under cover at his yard at favourable rates.

Owner email contact:       greg-lee@xtra.co.nz

Lady Eileen

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LADY EILEEN
photos & report ex Hylton Edmonds via Ken Ricketts. edited by Alan H

Ken reports that Hylton, who bought Lady Eileen the 1947 Shipbuilders/SupaCraft bridge-decker approx. a year ago & relocated her to his property at Tapu Point in the Bay of Islands, is now 8 months into an extensive refit/refurb. You will see from the above photos that Hylton has rather a nice ‘shed’ & has retained the services of some true craftsman to undertake the work.
ww followers may recall that after her previous live-a-board owner passed away, Lady Eileen was listed on trademe for a long time. Lady Eileen is a very lucky boat to now have Hylton as her custodian & based on the standard of the work completed to date, despite being 68 years old, she will be relaunched better than new.
We look forward to more update.

Search Lady Eileen in the ww search box to see early photos.

Update from Russell Ward who you will see is a fan 🙂

Oh sterling effort, Mr Edmonds. Ten points/five stars for your effort! And a most deserving ship to lavish all that effort on. A super SuperCraft job!
Tim Windsor was the in-house designer at Shipbuilders at the time and Lady Eileen and her half sisters Mahara, Rosemary and Rakanoa were all just right. Mahara (just the same cabin arrangement) being a much shorter boat still worked OK (and that was hard to do); but Eileen managed to draw it out much better with the extra length.
Have a squint and admire the details. Humour me…. That graceful sheer, little kick up aft, the rubbing strakes that set it off (get one of those wrong and it would spoil it); the curvaceous tops to the toe rail fwd (Mahara was the same) -almost a turtle deck effect. The cabin tops -just a little curve in them fore and aft. Look at the curved edges to the tops of the fwd wheelhouse screens. A lesser designer would have had them angular and would have put three in. He might have put an eyebrow atop them and again detracted from it. Admire the treatment of the alternate windows/portholes aft -all four had that. It is mimicked up fwd too. Yep, everything just right. The flying bridge -a later add on is not bad -works OK because she is a big boat.
I surmise that Shipbuilders still had the men that were there during WW2 doing Fairmiles and the like -the knowledge capital/ expertise. Tim had trained by correspondence from the USA, I heard once. Anyone got anything else on his history?
Oh, say again. Well done (doing?) Hylton!

Work Report from the owner – 23-05-2015

Sadly the cabin sides are well passed returning to varnish (which in any case would have been the old imitation graining system so popular back in that era through to the 60’s, ex Pilot Boat Waitemata was a classic example).

I feel though, with a combination of refurbished varnished pieces and all her refurbished chrome, she  will still look the (glamourous) Hunter’s  Lady Eileen, as follows;

1.    Hand rails (on refurbished stainless steel stanchions – added at time of flying bridge 20 years ago)
2.    Skylight (original)
3.    Dorade boxes (original complete with refurbished Chrome Bronze cowls)
4.    Mast
5.    New Teak Wheelhouse doors (sadly the old ones were full of gravings, repairs and freshwater rot and have been “retired”)
6.    Entire Flying Bridge . The internal panel is painted out now,  accentuating the shear and considered by all –  a great improvement on this “large” addition.
7.    Oregon Boat hooks (with chrome tips) on new Teak cradles
8.    Cockpit Coamings (attached is a photo with just 3 coats of Uroxsys on to protect in the interim before final 6 more coats)
9.    Foredeck Teak Hatch (original)
10.    Name Boards (with chrome letters)
11.    Ensign Mast
12.    And…..if one can procure the original Clinker Dinghy or suitable replacement……

Lady Clair (L) & Lady Eileen at Gulf Harbour May’14

Lady Clair (L) & Lady Eileen at Gulf Harbour May'14

28-04-2016 Work in progress photos ex Ken Ricketts (17 April)

 

Lady Beryl

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LADY BERYL

photo & details ex Harold Kidd

The photo above of Lady Beryl appeared 2 weeks ago as a side post on another post, when I saw this John Salthouse designed and built the 34 footer, I filed the photo away as a boat this pretty deserves a post of its own. Each to their own, but in my eyes, John nailed it. She was built for L M Lincoln of Glen Eden in 1961, but to quote Harold “there were further clones because it was such a damn nice boat”.

Anyone able to expand on her past & whereabouts today ?

Alan H Update

I should have made the link between Lady Beryl & Kailua, must be suffering from a mild case of Rickettitis (failure to use the ww search box)

As stated above she was built by Bob Salthouse in approx. 1960. Double skin Kauri, with teak/mahogany combings.

Engine: Hino 160hp by Moon Engines, uses 11ltrs per hr at 2000rpm, giving cruising speed 9-10 kts. Winner CYA Rudder Cup in 2009/10.

Her owner is a good classic owner – the s/s davit set-up is removable 🙂 And if she looks a little bow down in a couple of the photos, its all relative to the state of the wine cellar 😉

Tiromoana, Orinda II & Omana

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Tiromoana (L) – Orinda II (R) c.1965/6
Tiromoana (L) – Omana (C)- Orinda II (R) late 1960’s

Tiromoana, Orinda II & Omana
photos ex Helen Andrew ex the Coggan Collection

Several nice early photos of Tiromoana, Orinda II & Omana from the Coggan Collection. Ken Ricketts commented that the one  below of Tiromoana with PT105 on her stern was when his father Ralph & Roley Gillett (Orinda II) played a practical joke on Tiromoana one night after an evening of celebration & put a new name on her stern, without Joe Coggan’s knowledge of course.

Tiromoana (PT105)

Colin Wild Yard – Stanley Point, Devonport

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Colin Wild Yard – Stanley Point, Devonport
photo from the John & Judy Salthouse Collection

Todays photo was sent to me by Mike Drummond, with the permission of Judy & John Salthouse & was taken during John’s time at the Wild yard.
It looks a little familiar – possibly posted on the CYAF a few years ago & I recall Harold Kidd ID’ed the vessels. I could be wrong…….. ?

Can we attempt to do a L>R listing.

Note: thanks to Mike digitizing the Salthouse album & Judy & John kindly agreeing to share it with ww, we will have some great content coming up. Mike has a interesting link to Colin Wild in that his house is on the site of Wilds yard. Who knows one day we might get Mike off that 40knt+ foiling cat & into a Col Wild classic 🙂

Lady Allison (Lady Helen)

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Some before, work-in-progress & ready for relaunching photos

Lady Allison (Lady Helen)

On Thursday we had a ‘Mystery Boat’ on ww that had a few speculating on its origins. If there was a 1st Prize it would go to Nathan Herbert who was spot on with his call of both the designer & builder i.e the Salthouse yard & ID’ing the actual boat – Lady Allison.
I was sent Thursday photo by CYA member Richard Farrar who resides in Nelson. Richard until recently owned the wonderful Lidgard motorsailer – Neptune, now back in Auckland & owned by CYA member Paul Burton (we like that).
At some stage Lady Allison has undergone a re-birth with the additional of a ‘second level’, now I like Richard & I like how he looks after his boats so I’ll stop now on that subject. Richard has relied re Thursdays post & sent me photos of her as today. I have posted his reply below.

“Interesting to see what surfaces in the comments about this boat.
Shotguns!, chainsaws!, sledgehammers!, Shame on you.!!!
This boat was designed by Bob Salthouse and built by Salthouse boats and launched in1965.
She would be a sister ship to Seafever and Kailua, so well done to Nathan Herbert and Simon Smith.
Now I have always been a great fan of classic wooden boats and this boat is the fourth that I have had the privilege to own.
The first was a boat built by Mc Phearson in Dunedin,( Lion 1916) the second, a motorsailer built by Mc Gruers in Scotland,( Yvalda 1936 ) and the third built by Fred Lidgard,( Neptune 1956) They  all remained pretty much as when they were first launched plus a few upgrades here and there.
I understand,  that the boat shown as the mystery boat was launched as Lady Helen but I’m not sure about this and someone might be able to confirm this. Soon after the Mystery Boat photo was taken, the new  owner was asked by his grand daughter if the boat was named after Helen Clark. He promptly gave the boat a new  name.
Anyway, after selling Neptune I began to search for a replacement boat.   I looked at many and always had it  in the back of my mind that I did not want a boat with a fly bridge or apartment on top and that is how I felt when I first saw Lady Allison.
It was love at first sight however and I went away thinking about how I was going to remove the apartment. Yes, the chainsaw did come to mind.
As time passed though, I began to get used to seeing the apartment on top. It is well built and is a great place to drive the boat from. Great view and not much engine noise.
Lady Allison as she is named now,  of course had a recent massive facelift both inside and out and she is, in spite of the fly bridge, a really lovely boat.  I don’t think Bob Salthouse would be disappointed with her if he could see her today.”

Now woodys the question of the day is what was the original (as launched) name? Has Harold has advised that neither the name Lady Helen or Lady Allison appear on the list of Salthouse builds. John & Judy Salthouse are ww followers so maybe they can help out.

Photo of Lady Beryl ex Harold Kidd for comparision

 

A Cruise on Matanui – as told by Jack Brooke

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A Cruise on Matanui – as told by Jack Brooke

WW thanks Robert Brooke for supplying this article that his father wrote ( one of  many) about cruising in Matanui.
When Joe Kissin had Matanui, Robert used to do a lot of work on Matanui. Joe was a very close friend of the Brooke family and was also very involved with the Wakatere Boating Club and served time as Commodore. He also served on the RNZYS committee. Matanui was a regular “Finishing Boat “ for the squadron cruising races.

You can view / read more about Matanui by using the ww search box 😉

A trip to Watchman Is, Cuvier Is and Great Barrier Island –  12,13,14 July 1952
I quote Jack Brooke – “My only excuse for typing out these stories is the thrill and pleasure they give me in re-living them the second time around, some twenty or thirty years later.
Joe’s launch,Matanui, was a single skin, round bilge vessel of theold type. Her dimensions were – Length: 42 feet, Beam: 11ft 6 ins, Draught: 4ft 6ins, Displacement: 18 tons.
Matanui had several engines from 45 to 70 horsepower, giving her a speed of 8 to 9 knots”

Saturday

4 p.m. Left moorings to fuel up at Westhaven.

5.30 p.m. Alongside Devonport Wharf to load stores.

6.00 p.m. Tossed out of Masonic Hotel!

7.05 p.m.Got Jerry from home and put to sea.

9.30 p.m. Abeam outer Noises, wind still light south.

11.00 p.m. Turned in, Watchman light on bow – moon just up beautiful night. Wind out here a light to moderate southwesterly.

12.45 a.m. Woken up by rattle of anchor chain – Joe has decided to have a fish on the NE side of Watchman, just three lengths off! It is still a fine night, with a light southwesterly wind setting up a slight roll around the Dog. Caught the first fish – a grandfather hapuku, 6 inches long, but Joe still shouted! The others caught a few good cod and a four foot shark. Turned in.

6.30 a.m. I was woken to the beat of the old Kelvin diesel with which the Matanui was then equipped. It was about as old as its owner and even more stubborn! It started on petrol, and then ran on almost anything, from hair oil to boiler crude! The ship was under way, heading out east for Cuvier. The wind was now a light southeasterly and dawn was just breaking. It was a cold winter morning and we were doing 7 to 8 knots in a moderate sea. The crew had caught a few large snapper, but no hapuku off the Watchman and Joe decided to try fishing a pinnacle some miles outside Cuvier – if he could find it! So we were on our way.

9.00 a.m. The sun is shining and it is a beautiful day – the Mercuries are showing up away to the south and Cape Barrier is abeam to the northwest. Cuvier is lifting up out of the water ahead. A whale is blowing at regular intervals on our port bow and is crossing our course. It passed two lengths away, leaving a distinct oil slick on our bows.

10.15 a.m. Cuvier abeam, we are running down a quartering sea past the southeast bay – there doesn’t appear to be a wharf, only a crane and landing steps on a long rock. We ran round to the northwest side and anchored close in, the depth being about 9 fathoms. We had breakfast, caught some whopping blue cod and a snapper or two.

11.30 a.m. Brought the anchor and set out to the northeast to find Joe’s 30 fathom shoal. We steamed for about 40 minutes on 010. The average depth hereabouts was 60 fathoms and Joe had brought a wire fathometer, which we were expected to use to find his patch. It proved to be far too heavy, taking at least a quarter of an hour to reel in. So we decided to drift fish in 60 fathoms. Good snapper fishing but no hapuku. We fished for about an hour, then decided to return to Cuvier and visit the lighthouse keeper. We landed at 2.30, the wind had now dropped right away. We were a long way out to sea, so we left Jerry on board as an anchor watch and left the old Kelvin idling. Jerry also cleaned the fish! We went ashore and made our way up to the lighthouse and signed the visitors book. Three families were there then (1952) looking after the light and everything was in first class order. The western bay has a striking steeple like rock locally known as the ‘Monument’. A rock, awash at low water is in the centre of the bay, where good shelter can be found in winds from the south and east.

4.00 p.m. Left Cuvier for Great Barrier

4.30 p.m. Sunset. Barrier purple and black, also Cape Colville, far to the south. It is still almost flat calm with little swell and almost no wind. A beautiful night, but dark! The steward has been busy, and the wheelhouse is warm, what could be better! I am giving the Barrier coast about three-quarters of a mile clearance to avoid a rock between Cape Barrier and Tryphena. In the fading light profiles are important, Anvil Island and the Pig Islands are standing up like teeth on the western horizon. I recognised Tryphena by the profile of its southwest point and we altered course to enter the quiet harbour.

6.30 p.m. We tied up alongside Tryphena wharf on the eastern side of the bay. It was a calm clear night, with hundreds of fish jumping in the bay. And so to bed.

Monday 5.30 a.m. Up and away! The Kelvin was a bit sluggish in the chill of the morning, but finally got the message and rumbled away contentedly as we headed for the Watchman in a light but cold southeasterly. We arrived off the south side of the Watchman, but NO HAPUKU. So we left the Watchman at 8.30 a.m. and set off for home. As we got clear of the Cape and into the Gulf, a fresh southwesterly sprang up and in no time at all we were bashing into a short steep sea right on the nose! Making 7 knots at 900 rpm.

10.30 a.m. Waiheke just in sight – appears to be a fog bank over the mainland – heavy haze over the lower end of Waiheke.

11.00 a.m. Dropped anchor in 8 fathoms between Gannet Rock and Thumb Point. No good – soft juicy mud!

12 noon – left for D’Urville Rock Ooe’s spot!) – Even worse! Left for home.

1.30 p.m. Lunch in Crusoe Passage. Fog over Auckland – even light fog here! Little wind now but plenty of tide – no fish! Left for home again, bucking a strong ebb tide arrived at 5.00 p.m.. Emptied out of Masonic Hotel 6.00 p.m. Home at last 6.15 p.m.!