Category Archives: Events

Dolly – AK1901

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DOLLY AK1901

A bit of a sober story today, probably brought on by its Election Day in NZ and probably the biggest one in my (voting) life time. Most of the time WW is politics free, so I’ll bite my tongue today.

The photo above of the launch – Dolly comes to us from a fb post, via Ken Ricketts. It shows the early 1900’s 33’ launch – Dolly that was lost at sea in early December 1927. On board were owner/skipper Joseph Henery Maslam and crew Thomas Hook.

I have done some research and the story goes like this –

Maslam left his home town of Whangrei on November 14 with the intention of buying a small fishing launch and returning to Whangarei, the launched purchased was Dolly.

About November 18  he engaged Hook to work for him as a fisherman, on the same day Maslam had the Customs Dept. inspect the launch and confirm the Marine Dept. fishing license number AK1901 was painted on the side of Dolly. The departed Auckland on November 22, heading to Little Barrier to fish, and the intention was to take the catch to Whangarei. The departure date was confirmed in a telegraph that Hook sent this wife on November 22.

On December 3 a fisherman named Matthew Janovich, owner of a launch named  Busy Bee, who sited Dolly that night in Nelson Bay, Kawau Island. At the time in a conversation with one of the men he was told Dolly had been fishing for Hapuka. When Busy Bee left the bay the next morning, Dolly was still there. Janovich is on record stating that there was a strong southerly gale for a couple of days after he had seen Dolly, the weather compelled Janovich to return to Auckland.

Dolly was not sighted again and a hearing in Auckland Magistrates Court found that Dolly was lost at sea on or about December 5.

(Thanks to Sun Newspaper – December 8 1927 and the Northern Advocate = 31 May 1828 for intel)

Question of the day – do we know who designed / built Dolly and when she was launch – she was 33’ x 9’ x 3’ – and possibly powered by twin engines 

Milford Cruising Club – A Peek Back In Time

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Pirate Ship c.1930
Swimming Pool c.1928

Milford Cruising Club – A Peek Back In Time

Following on from Saturdays WW story on the MCC 100th Anniversary weekend, today thanks to the photo gallery the club hosted. We get to see what the area surrounding the MCC looked like in the late 1920’ > early 1930’s. Sadly most of the infrastructure we see in the photos is long gone, but the club and marina have never been in better shape.

We also get a look at a few of the clubs on-the-water outings.

Some of the local businesses in the area took the opportunity to join in on the festivities – well done The Slipway Milford for dressing the yard, special thanks to the ‘gent’ that lent me the navy signal flags and pennants 😉

On the Saturday, despite the weather the MCC held a parade of club craft out of the estuary and along Milford Beach – as always the quicks couldn’t help themselves – video below filmed from Jason Prew’s classic launch – ‘My Girl’, the motorboat attempting to kept up is – ‘Waikiore’,owned by Murray Deeble .

Another view 🙂

Woodys Classic Launch & Motorbike Stillwater Picnic Trip Report

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Woodys Classic Launch & Motorbike Stillwater Picnic Trip Report

Saturday was one of those days when what weather conditions you had depended on where in Auckland you where. A few woodys made the call early and stayed home, the glass half full woodys were rewarded with a good day. The only H2O arrived around 3pm as we were getting ready to head back down the river. Once out of the river mouth it was ‘thank god’ for GPS, sea mist and a light drizzle covered the coastline.

As always its great to catch up after winter and see who’s been doing what to their craft.

Big thanks to the skippers and helpers that assisted with the wharf docking, made harder by a bin-liner (my new name for Bayliner plastic launches) that was claiming squatters rights at the end of the wharf. Good skipper handling skills and many lines saw everyone alongside without any grazes or bruises.

Lastly special thanks to Mark and Sue Edmonds for co-ordinating the location and organising the classic motorbikes that joined us on the lawn. Everyone was very smitten with the 3 wheeler –  I understand a Morgan with a Matchless V twin transplant. 

MILFORD CRUISING CLUB 100TH BIRTHDAY 1923 > 2023

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MILFORD CRUISING CLUB 100TH BIRTHDAY 1923 > 2023

Rather a big weekend in and around the Milford Creek – the Milford Cruising Club is celebrating its 100th anniversary this weekend. I would have lost money on that – for some reason I wasn’t aware there had been woodys sliding in and out of the creek for that many years.

Yesterday I joined a group of past commodores, life members, patrons and quests for afternoon tea – so many familiar faces . Clubs need to do more of this, the collective age in the room would have been seriously high, and sadly the numbers are dropping.

Todays photos are to give you a snap shot of the amazing photo gallery that has been pulled together recording the clubs history – the club rooms are open Sat & Sunday from 10am > 4pm for anyone and everyone to visit and experience the exhibition.

Also today at 2pm there will be parade of vessels out of the marina , down the creek and along Milford Beach.

Clubroom address is 24 Craig Rd. Milford 

Life On A Swing Mooring

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Life On A Swing Mooring

How did the owners of these launches sleep at night ? In the top photo dated 1975 we see the sad sight of a launch being pounded on the Tamaki Drive breakwater , a not uncommon occurrence . Anyone know the name of the launch.

In the images below this photo I have cropped in to show some of the moored craft.  Can the hawk eyed woodys ID any of them. I think the Roy Parris built – Pleasure Lady is centre in the second photo. (photo ex Lew Redwood fb)

INPUT ex Nathan Herbert -Boat on the rocks appears to be Te Kowhai, boat identified as Pleasure Lady is Istalena, at left is Almana, and perhaps in distance what looks like Adelaide V with previous low bridgedeck.

Micheline

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MICHELINE

In the above photos we see the launch Micheline – while both photos appear to be on the same day, they are tagged March 1967 and 1965 – obviously a typo. The photos come to us from the Tauranga City Library collection via Dean Wright.

Given that on Micheline’s stern she has her port as Tauranga, there is something strange going on – in the top photo she has either just come out of the shed or been hauled out. In the second photo she is being positioned onto a transporter. Maybe its as simple as going somewhere land based to have engine/s installed.

Can we ID the location and learn what became of Micheline.

UPDATE – Location is Hutcheson Boat Builders yard/slip by the Tauranga Harbour Bridge – opposite the Bridge Marina.

05-10-2023 INPUT ex Dean Wright – Waimarie II, renamed Kiwi Cruiser, hit Tapeka one night in 2000 and was a total loss. This article says built by O&G in 1967 https://issuu.com/sunmedia/docs/wl1102/23

WW link to Waimarie II story https://waitematawoodys.com/2017/09/12/waimarie-ii/

(Photo below ex Ken Ricketts)

RSVP TO – waitematawoodys@gmail.com

WHANGAREI MARITIME FESTIVAL

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R Tucker Thompson

WHANGAREI MARITIME FESTIVAL

Today I wanted give you a heads up about an upcoming woody event – the 2023 Whangarei Maritime Festival , October 14>15th, at the Town Basin.

The venue is already a very cool destination for anything maritime based, but over the weekend it will buzz with non stop activities – 30+ boats on display, free boat rides, food and entertainment, trade displays, talks and movies, arts and crafts market. Check out the Festival Sound programme below + the link to the festival website.

https://www.whangareimaritimefestival.co.nz

Check out a previous WW story on the venue https://waitematawoodys.com/2020/03/27/wooden-boats-whangarei-town-basin/

Saturday is a big day for NZ – hopefully the nation awakes up and heads off to a polling booth. Depending on the result I’ll be at the festival on Sunday, if the worst happens on Saturday night, probably best I’m not behind the wheel of a vehicle – I’ll be investigating setting up bryonbaywoodys 🙂

FESTIVAL SOUND PROGRAMME

Downloadable Event Booklet Below

updated-promo-bookletDownload

WHANGAREI FLASH BACK

The photo below has appeared many times on various social media sites, but this is the best reproduction I have seen – comes to us ex Dean Wright via the Tauranga Library collection.

How Do I Stop The Roll

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HOW DO I STOP THE ROLL
Well woodys you can’t – all boats roll but you can minimise it – read on.

I was recently included in an email exchange where a classic launch owner was asking Chris McMullen why they should replace the mast (rot issue) on their launch given that there was no plan to make use of a sail. Chris shared with us both a copy of a 1909 extract titled ‘Ballasting of Motor Boats’ from an article by Charles G Davis in the book – ‘Motor Boat Handbook vol. 1’. The article provides all the information required for displacement launches. If the above images are too hard to read – below are links to downloading the articles.

ballasting-of-motor-boats1Download
ballasting-of-motor-boats-2Download

WOODY + VINTAGE MOTORBIKE STILLWATER WATERFRONT PICNIC – OCT 7TH – RSVP NOW waitematawoodys@gmail.com

VICTORIA CLASSIC BOAT FESTIVAL – Vancouver – Dockside Tour 

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VICTORIA CLASSIC BOAT FESTIVAL – Vancouver – Dockside Tour 

Last week we had a story about Peter Knowles and his travel to the Victoria Wooden Boat Festival vis his v-blog ‘Boat Life – Travels With Geordie’. Peter very briefly showed us some of the craft arriving – today we get a dock-side wander, complete with captions for the classic woodys.

I hope the people at Auckland’s maritime museum see this video – re their upcoming Auckland wooden boat festival next year. The stand out observation is the mix of yachts + launches + work boats + small craft – it is all mixed in together and thats what works all around the world – not rocket science……………..

INPUT ex Neil Chalmers – Great video , at 2 56 there is the NZ yacht ‘Two Sisters’ (was sail no. F3) . Has a Woollacott look about her. I often wondered where she got to .

A picture of her at Bon Accord Kawau appears in the ‘Cruising in NZ Waters’  by GR Paul (below). This was the go to book in the 1960’s before to the RAYC Cruising Guide was published.

REMEMBER BOAT BOAT SALE 11am SATURDAY @ MILFORD SLIPWAY – 5 OMANA ROAD, MILFORD $BRING CASH$ WW MERCHANDISE FOR SALE

WEKA  – Anyone Know More About The Boat

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WEKA  – Anyone Know More About The Boat

Recently contacted by Trish James who has just purchased classic 13’ motor boat – Weka. Trish commented that Weka’s previous owners used her around the river estuaries south of Dunedin for awhile but she hasn’t been used for the last five years, but she was kept under cover. The only intel on her past life is that her she was built in Taupo around the 1950’s.

Trish is hoping one of the WW readers can shed some light on Weka’s past, possibly a name change at some stage.
When in the water her forward motion is via a Vire 7 hp engine, helped out by a small outboard motor. Her new home is at Trish’s Roxburgh home in Central Otago.

REMEMBER SATURDAYS BOAT BOOT SALE – Even if your not a buyer, pop down for a catch-up/chat. Kicks off at 11am. And if you are a buyer – bring cash $$$