Todays woody shouldn’t be too hard to name, from Lew Redwood’s fb we know that it was owned by Edward Bullmore and in the photo which is dated 1993, she is afloat on Lake Tarawera. And then there’s those rather distinctive ‘decorations’.
So woodys – boat name, builder, year ? The Drake brothers will be able to enlighten us I’m sure.
Ngahere L34
Have been contacted by Jonathan Edmeades whose grandfather – Graham Cole, owned Ngahere back in 1947/48. On a WW story, there is mention that she is now owned by Chris Harris, Jonathan would love to contact Chris and if possible, view the yacht. Could anyone that knows Chris email me his contact details – Jason Prew? (thanks JP – passed on) waitematawoodys@gmail.com
And remember woodys – on Saturday May 1st we have the 100th birthday of the Lipton Cup. Details below
Sad Woody Day Across The Ditch Received a note from one of our Australian WW followers – Andrew Christie given me the heads up on the recent demise of – Nering, the 42’8” Percy Tripcony (Breakfast Creek Brisbane Australia) carvel hull cruiser built in 1950 – that went ashore on Double Island Point south of Fraser Island.
She was a very similar boat to the South Passage also from the same builder. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N2aFp8lLK24 She was of note in that she had a passage connecting the forecastle cabin to the trunk cabin under the bridge deck on the starboard side a layout used in a few Moreton Bay bridge deck cruisers of her period.
Nering had fallen on hard times recently and had sold twice in the past few years at rock bottom unloved wooden boat prices. Reports are she was on her way from Coffs Harbour in New South Wales to Maryborough for a restoration. Double Island Point is a stopping point for boats heading north across the Wide Bay bar.
Social media chat reports that Nering was beached as she was taking on water and sinking. Her crew managed to safely get ashore and call the alarm. Always sad to see a woody come to an endlike this, but you have to question the decision to take her to sea, given her condition and again on-line chat says her bilge pump/s were worked overtime before she left the dock.
At the weekend I attended a celebration to mark the 1921 Arch Logan built launch – Ngaio reaching the grand age of 100 years.
In the last decade Ngaio has been blessed with very good owners, starting with Ian and Lancia Kohler who commissioned the 2013 refurbishment of Ngaio and then passed ownership onto Jan Barraclough, the host of the birthday party. The launch is a stunner but you expect that from the Logan stable.
I was dockside admiring the finish on the hull and I was advised by an old boy that she had been splined and fibre-glassed (I had forgotten), obviously in his eyes not what you should do to a Logan. In the interests of not wasting any more time getting to the bar, I wasn’t going to let him know that 1/2 the Logan A-Division yacht fleet were glassed 😉
What a day yesterday – watched New Zealand defend and win the America’s Cup.
I go back a long way, sat in a small meeting room down near Pier21 with the infamous ‘Aussie Malcolm’ as he sold the idea of NZ challenging for the cup to a couple of merchant bankers that thought a 12m yacht was very small boat to be challenging with eg 12m long 🙂
One of the funniest memories was a breakfast meeting at the Quay St offices of the bankers, post a charity auction the evening before ,where full size silver replicas of the actual cup were auctioned off – remember this was the 1980’s, pre the stock market crash – lots of loose boys were too much cash. On average the cups (can’t remember how many, but between 7 and 10) sold for $100,000+ each – problem is no one recorded who the winning bidders were. So in the morning a 111 call to Peter Montgomery who MC’ed the night / auction – and thank god was sober. So on a big white board, the function room / table layout was recreated and from memory PJ takes a best guess at where the bids came from – $1,000,000+ invoices sent out and all paid. Not sure if it was a perfect match up, suspect a few got a free cup and a few made a rather large donation 🙂
Along the way collected / ‘borrowed’ a lot of gear. My favourites were always NZ and the Italians, so today was special – the Prada team went further than ever before and as you would expect were so gracious in the loss. They will be back.The winner on the day was New Zealand – we were blessed with stunning weather on everyday, so brand NZ looked amazing to the worldwide audience. Highlight (I can’t help myself) Cindy never made it to the stage – and if she did & I missed it and so did the rest of NZ / world as it wasn’t on the news footage 🙂
Sadly I know the fate of the above 42’ launch – Hatea was destroyed by fire while cruising at the Hen & Chicken Islands, Northland, in February 1931. The only other information I can tell you is she was Whangarei based at the time.
Anyone one tell us more about Hatea – designer>builder> year launched etc.
Yacht On The Rocks Quiz Winner = Peter Brookes with the correct answer – Little Jim. Having crawled all over LJ doing to rebuilds/refurbishments – you would expect Peter to get it right 🙂
A LOCK-DOWN TREAT – FREE ACCESS TO THE WORLDWIDE CLASSIC BOAT SHOW
Our friends over at Off Center Harbor have been orchestrating a new gig on the classic boat scene – a virtual worldwide classic boat show. Its been live now for 10 days and only available via purchasing a ticket (US$5) – now woodys to help us kiwis (and the WW overseas followers) during CV-19 lock-down – the show is now free.
See below instructions on how to visit the show.
You can use the globe / map to see an amazing collection of vessel around the world + locations of museums & trade folks – but the real gem for me is the daily video presentations from some of the worlds leading lights on the classic boating scene – sailors, teachers, photographers, event promoters and boat builders. You will be addicted so I apologise in advance for ruining your day/s – but, you’re supposed to be in lock-down 🙂
If you only watch one presentation – make it the legendary Tom Cunliffe presentation – you’ll find it on Sat Feb20th under the heading ’Seas of Northern Europe’ – do not be put off by the boring title – its a cracker, the mans one of the best storytellers around, you’ll be glued to the screen for 2 hours. ENJOY THE SHOW 🙂
2. Checkout for free, and your username and password become your ticket
3. To login, go to ClassicBoatShow.com, click login in the top right corner to get full access, and enjoy the show!
If you have trouble getting your free ticket, you can always email the show’s crew for help at crew@classicboatshow.com.
If the show turns out to be an enjoyable and valuable experience for you, they have a voluntary “tips/donations” button on the top of the screen where you can contribute.
If the old sign in a brokers window and a thumbnail photo in a monthly brochure isn’t working for you – contact the Wooden Boat Bureau – there are 2 simple differences between the Wooden Boat Bureau and other boat brokers:
1. We actually sell classic boats.
2. We have a list of buyers wanting to buy a classic wooden boat
So woodys if you are trading up or trading down/out of the market and have a woody in good condition – drop us a line at waitematawoodys@gmail.com for a confidential chat.
(Sorry for the brazen commercial message today, but my wife tells me we need a bigger boat)
RURU I spotted the launch Ruru at the recent Lake Rotoiti Classic and Wooden Boat Parade, it would have been hard to miss her – she is such a perfect lake boat. The name Ruru has several meanings in Maori but the most common one is – the name for NZ’s native Morepork bird. On her stern it lists her home as Tapuaekura, which is a bay found on the southern shores of Lake Rotoiti.
The brief sneak peak I had of her interior indicated a very tasteful and age considerate restoration, very original. Her owner is a very passionate classic owner, with several craft on the lake. Would love to learn more of Ruru’s provenance and when she was restored.
25-02-2021 Update ex Alan Craig (Craig Marine) – I had a look at RURU for George Joseph last year, its been in his shed for 20 years, George had had it for 60 odd years and previously was owned by someone who owned most of the land between moose lodge and the Marae. The Austin trident engine got taken out 20 years ago and never made it back in and got as far as the end of the shed! until now obviously. She’s a nice looking boat, 19′ long, mahogany hull and kauri top. Couldn’t find a builder’s plate but guessed it’s around 1930s or 40s? Built well with seam battens and ribs, the planks had hardly moved. Any idea of the builder is the question…..
The above Bay of Islands photo comes to us via Diane Keene’s post on fb and is from the photo album of her grandmother – Joyce Simpson. The grandmother’s diaries indicate that the photo was taken on 6th Feb 1963, and the primary focus of the photo was the submarine. Diane has checked with the RNZN & they have informed her it is either the submarine HMS Andrew which attended the 1960 Waitangi Day ceremonies, or of the submarine HMS Tapir which was present in 1963 when HM Queen Elizabeth was in attendance aboard HMY Britannia.
Putting subs to one side, Dianne enquired about the identity of the launch on the left – if my life depended on it I would say – Menai, the 1937 built Sam Ford launch, but there is no mast and she seems to have always sported one, as a second option I would say – Ian Gavin’s family launch – Florence Dawn, built in 1947 by Richard Hartley. Anyone agree or have another suggestion?
THE WORLDWIDE CLASSIC BOAT SHOW – Feb 19>28 created by the folks at Off Center Harbor
This is very cool and worth checking out – there will be hundreds of the world’s finest boats, each with its own web page with photos and description + interviews with top boat builders, museums, sail makers, festivals, etc. Effectively everything happening in classic boats around the world, all in one place.
THE “WHY?” BEHIND THE SHOW: When the pandemic started the festivals, schools, yards, and museums that are the lifeblood of the classic boating world began shutting down for distancing. At that moment, Off Center Harbor committed to utilize our worldwide audience to highlight those doing great work and bring everyone in the world of classic boats closer together. That dream becomes a reality with the Worldwide Classic Boat Show.
HOW IT WORKS:
Purchasing a digital “ticket” provides you full access to the Boat Show’s website during the 10 days of the Show. It gives you full unlimited access to everything, including the live presentations. Live presentations will be recorded and available for the entire show beginning the day after the presentation (maybe sooner). There are no physical paper tickets — as you check out and pay, you’ll choose a username and a password for logging in, and that login will be your “ticket” to the show (so write it down).
WHAT IS GOING ON WITH THE A-CLASS CLASSIC RACE FLEET – EGOTISM, ARROGANCE OR JUST INCOMPETENCE ?
You may have missed my comments at the bottom of Mondays WW story, and over the last 48 hours it has emerged that in the last two weeks we have had three serious incidents involving three different A-Class classic yachts, I have detailed descriptions of each incident, but I’ll stay out of the technicalities. Questions of the day – is there a review underway of these incidents? who takes responsibility for the circumstances surrounding the incidents i.e. race starts and finishes? Are there health and safety procedures in place for the ‘worst case scenario’?.
Even if you put any blame to one side, 3 incidents in 2 weeks………………… something is amiss. Me thinks it is time for a fire side skippers chat on rules and good manners.
INCIDENT ONE – Mahurangi Weekend – Sunday Morning – A Class yacht (under power) collides with classic launch – I understand no apology from yacht
INCIDENT TWO – CYA Race Mahurangi > Auckland – Sunday Morning – A Class gaff yacht T-bones another vessel at the start – Other vessel on starboard – near sinking
INCIDENT THREE – CYA Round Rangitoto Yacht Race – A Class gaff yacht collides with finish boat (classic launch) – Again no apology, just laughing
The CYA has its major annual sailing regatta coming up next week – if you’re out and about in your boat- might be a good idea to fender up 😉
22-02-2021 Input From Robin Kenyon
Re Racing at the MCC regatta: I think safety at Mahurangi was greatly improved this year by having the A class racing the outer loop first, therefore greatly reducing the time spent racing in the confines of the estuary and other racers/spectators. My big plea to the organisers would be for the MCC to affiliate themselves to Yachting New Zealand. Then the racing could be held under the more familiar (to racing and coastal sailors) Racing Rules of Sailing. This would remove a large degree of uncertainty that exists when racing at Mahurangi and help prevent a future accident in waiting. Every other race that the A class does uses these rules, not the COLREGS (except on passage races outside the hours of daylight, I believe). I appreciate that this incurs a cost to the MCC but surely the levy to YNZ is just what has to be done. The vast majority of other clubs in the country pay it. I have raced regattas in countries all over the world and this is the only one that I have been to that uses COLREGS for daytime racing. Uncertainty could breed the attitude amongst some that might just blag their way through a fleet rather than abiding to the very clear and proven racing rules of sailing. Stating that their will be no protests must only add to these competitors feeling untouchable. Whilst this is only one aspect covered by the comments above (and thankfully there were no serious accidents at this years regatta yacht race) I think it has some relevance to the bigger picture. I must have done about 10 Mahurangi regattas, all racing on the A class. The heated on the water interactions for this race are often worse than any other race in our calendar. Which is a shame for a fun event and a true highlight of the season. It doesn’t need to be that way and using the Racing Rules of Sailing can go a long way to address this. The COLREGS were never written with sailboat racing in mind. That is what the Racing Rules of Sailing are for. When skippering an A class around the harbour the skippers have enough on their plate without having the rethink the rule book.
22-02-2021 Update ex the CYA Feb Newsletter – lets hope they read this, tucked away at the bottom of the newsletter 🙂
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