Category Archives: Events

Woodys On Tour – Hobart – Australian Wooden Boat Festival – 50’ HALVORSEN MOTOR LAUNCH

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Woodys On Tour – Hobart – Australian Wooden Boat Festival – 50’ HALVORSEN MOTOR LAUNCH

Hello Woodys

While the Australian Wooden Boat Festival is done and dusted the woody camera is loaded with photos – today we feature the 1947 built, 50’ Halvorsen motor launch – Minocqua. Designed and built by famous Australian boat builder Lars Halvorsen, she was one of seven built in the late 1940’s. If my memory is working, the Australian Americas Cup legend – Ian Murray owns one (possibly this one).

76 years later she is still a very imposing vessel and stands out anywhere.

Something for the petrol heads – check out the video below of a 1945 Tasman Marine engine, two stroke, 3hp, single cylinder. Built by the Tasman Engineering Company. 

TURN UP THE SOUND

And Then They Were Gone 😦

Woodys On Tour – Hobart – Australian Wooden Boat Festival – Day 5

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Woodys On Tour – Hobart – Australian Wooden Boat Festival – Day 5

Hello Again Woodys  Felt slightly guilty this morning when I called home to advise Air NZ had cancelled my Hobart > AKL flight. Next available – 7 days away…. A little bit of online work and I found a flight out of Sydney on Thursday night. So 2 more days in Hobart 🙂

One big plus – I get to see the very cool kiwi singer- Marlon Williams live in concert. 

Anyway back to the boats – today is an extension of yesterdays gallery – there is just so many woodys to see. 

FYI – WW viewing numbers spike when the weather is bad and people are at home, so yesterdays numbers were approaching an all time high. Today (Tuesday will be another bumper day)

Boat Of The Day – HEATHER BELLE, a 24’6” gaff rigged pilot cutter, built in 1990 by Andrew Wilson to a Lyle Hess design. She is a sister-ship to Larry Pardey’s – SERAFFYN.

And compulsory food shot – lunch = seafood chowder 🙂

Woodys On Tour – Hobart – Australian Wooden Boat Festival – Day 4

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Woodys On Tour – Hobart – Australian Wooden Boat Festival – Day 4

Hello Woodys – Day four of the trip, day 3 of the festival. As compared to yesterday (Saturday) it was a lot less crowded with less rubberneckers 🙂

I went on several guided walking tours of the docks, very insightful, as you inspect individual vessels and meet the skippers.  

As promised today (Monday) story is a photo gallery of craft at the festival – no particular order, just as the camera found the boats. FYI – the festival organisers mix the vessels up, so you have sail/power/big/small all together, which makes for a good vibe. 

Boat Of The Day – Green Moon

Check out the impressive berthing of the Tall Ship – Windeward Bound in the video below – well done skipper and woodys not being sexist – BUT I meet HER the other day.

And discovery of the trip Iron House Tasmania Ginger Beer (6%alc) and scallop wontons

Woodys On Tour – Hobart – Australian Wooden Boat Festival – Day 3

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Woodys On Tour – Hobart – Australian Wooden Boat Festival – Day 3

Morning Woodys – a stunning day today on the weather front – clear blue skies and not to warm, perfect. The docks today were a Zoo, just so many people and a high % of rubber neckers. Hats off to the boat owners for answering all the ‘blonde’ questions e.g. “is it made of wood, or has it got a special paint effect” etc etc. On the advice of a seasoned festival attendee I hit the docks very early in the morning and again early evening.

Lots of chat with owners and good awareness of WW. I decided today to engage the right side of the brain and caught the ferry to MONA (Museum Old New Art) its like nothing I or probably you have been to – check out the website https://mona.net.au

In todays WW story we focus on some of the smaller craft at the festival , with a leaning on steam propelled. Enjoy – if you don’t like it blame Russell Ward, his side of our movement needs a leg up 🙂

The Boat Of The Day   – TAMARESK

And a wee sea shanty for aboard the Tall Ship – ENTERPRIZE – enjoy

TURN UP THE VOLUME

And lunch was X12 fresh Australian prawns – never seen the inside of a freezer, soooo good 🙂

Woodys On Tour – Hobart – Australian Wooden Boat Festival – Day 2

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Woodys On Tour – Hobart – Australian Wooden Boat Festival – Day 2

Morning Woodys

Todays was the first official day of the festival, commencing with the – Parade of Sail, that see 200+ wooden craft arriving in mass into Hobert Harbour. Where they join 100’s more that have already berthed dock-side.

My day started at 6.45am for a coach ride to Woodbridge where we boarded the 110’ brigantine – Windewood Bound for the passage to Hobert. Conditions we a little damp and overcast, but things improved later in the day. You know me, so I struggled with the first 4+ hours of ’sailing’ at 4 knots but once we joined up with the fleet it was a special experience. The Windewood led the fleet into the harbour that was lined with spectators and craft of all types, size and construction.

Todays story is on the Windewood + a taste of dockside life. I’ll cover the passage and all the Parade of Sail fleet in a later story. And tomorrow we will jump into the expanse of wooden craft on show

Boat Of The Day – this very smart picnic boat

Enjoy

Below – the scallops on a stick were smash hit and washed down with my attempt to get some goodness into the body – all fresh juice – pineapple, apple, lemon, ginger, orange, vitamin C and a double shot of vodka. Sounds like a good idea for breakfast…

Woodys On Tour – Hobart – Australian Wooden Boat Festival – Day 1

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Dockside Mooch 09-02-2023

Woodys On Tour – Hobart – Australian Wooden Boat Festival – Day 1

Hello Woodys – As they same ‘I’m In Country’ and a little in awe for the scene here in Hobart. The festival doesn’t start till Friday, so the docks are only starting to fill up but already I’m gobsmacked by the woody craft tied up.

Went for an early evening mooch around the water front and today you get a wee tease – a ‘roughly’ filmed dock-side walk video of just one pier and my boats of the day pick – being Saona and a smaller woody, that I’ll have to get the name of – and yes Neil Chalmers – surprise surprise – both yachts 🙂

Today (Friday) I’m up at 6.30am heading to Woodbridge (36k south of Hobart) to meet / board – ‘WINDEWARD BOUND’ (see below) a 110’, brigantine rigged Tall Ship for the ‘Parade Of Sail’ into Hobart Harbour. The Parade of Sail marks the offical opening of the festival.

And it would be Australian without a serving of calamari and an ice cold IPA and a flat white.

Enjoy

LAKE ROTOITI 2023 PARADE OF CLASSIC & WOODEN BOATS – 150+ PHOTOS

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LAKE ROTOITI 2023 PARADE OF CLASSIC & WOODEN BOATS – 150+ PHOTOS

As has become my norm for Waitangi holiday weekend early on Saturday morning I pointed the car south and made my way to Lake Rotoiti in the middle of NZ’s North Island. 

2023 marked the 26th anniversary of the event and after a horror week of ‘once in a 100 years’ rain storms I had concerns that the parade might be postponed or cancelled. Well woodys as you’ll see from the above photo gallery, my fears were redundant.

The day started overcast with some light drizzle but this passed thru before the parade kicked off at 11am. Numbers were down a little from last year but conditions were perfect on the lake. 

Enjoy the gallery above – if you’re craft is featured above and you want a high res copy of the photo, drop me an email at the address below. Apologise if I missed your boat or if the odd photo is a little out of focus – just me in a run-about jiggling the throttle, looking out for other boats and holding the camera 🙂

waitematawoodys@gmail.com

My pick of the boat I’d most like tied up at my imaginary lake jetty is – ELLEN (#14), 26’ in length, built in 2004 in strip planked cedar from a plug taken off an old abandoned hull found in Kopu. Thought to be a ‘Milkmaid’ design by Bailey & Lowe. Powered by a 29hp diesel.  In my eyes just perfect. Photo below

Special thanks again to Dave and Glenys Wilson for the loan of a boat to get me out on the lake.

As always – click on photos to enlarge.

Lastly I never tire of the sound of big V8 (5.7L)  water exhausts. Shawn Vennell, the owner of Judy H, was lining me up for a prop shower – a few words of warning as to what my reaction would be, made him change his mind 😉

TURN THE SOUND UP

Mystery Launch At Rangitoto Island

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LAUNCH AT RANGITOTO – Rangitoto II

Todays woody mystery launch is a goody – quite distinctive looking but no name. 

The photo is dates is tagged Rangitoto Island, c.1930’s and is from the Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections and comes to us via Nathan Herbert. So woodys can we ID her.

07-02-2023 INPUT EX NATHAN HERBERT -The boat is the Rangitoto (II) Designed and built by Couldrey and Reg. Noble; caretaker at Rangitoto. She has had 4 iterations of style in her life-

  1. As pictured
  2. Bridge deck replaced and raised
  3. Whole coamings replaced with more modern sedan style perhaps 1950’s
  4. Sheerline step moved forward


On Saturday I did a down and back in one day trip to Lake Rotoiti (Nth Is.) for the annual Classic and Wooden Boat Parade – forecast was average but the sun made an appearance so managed to take some great photos. Check out WW tomorrow (Tuesday) for 150+ photos. The lake level was so high, just wasn’t Auckland getting a soak last week.

Mystery Two Masted Launch

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Mystery Two Masted Launch

Recently Brian Peet shared with us a selection of old boating images that came from a family album. The photo above does look vaguely familiar but I can’t recall a name, so if it has appeared on WW before it must be a while ago.

Very unusual looking cabin / dog house + the twin masts make her very distinctive, so hopefully we can ID the vessel and learn more about her.

Weather gods permitting I’m off to Lake Rotoiti (Nth Is.) tomorrow for the annual Lake Rotoiti Classic & Wooden Boat Parade, always a great day afloat. If you are around the central north island over the long weekend and looking for something to do, check out the parade. The best shore based viewing is from the public picnic area 200 metres south of the Okere Store, starting at 11am. There will be an MC announcing the boats as they pass. More details on the parade here: https://www.woodenboatparade.co.nz

THE 136th PAHI REGATTA 

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THE 136th PAHI REGATTA 

Saturday saw the running of the annual Pahi Regatta. Thanks to Colin Brown, who did a quick ‘drive-by’ we get to see a couple of photos (top 2) from the day.

As I commented to Colin, him sending in the photos was perfect timing as I was planning a Pahi Regatta Flashback. The regatta has been running since 1887.

The 2nd collection of photos comes to us from The Kauri Museum collection via their fb post. My favourite would have to be the 1984 photo of Merv & Darcy Sterlings runabout – Brenda K, what a cool looking craft, love the front windscreen. 

The b/w photos are as below

• 1936 – Esme – skippered by Merv Sterling (possibly the same skipper as in the runabout photo?)

• c.1940 – Koheroa – owned by Archie Newitt

• 1987 – Takaro – owned by Gary & Marek Weber