Category Archives: Events

Round Rangitoto Island Classic Race and BBQ

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ROUND RANGITOTO ISLAND CLASSIC RACE & BBQ

Saturday was a first (in a long time) on the classic launch scene – we had a launch race around Rangitoto (+ Motutapu) , now a race is not that unusual , but female skippers only (helms person) is – the winning skipper on Kumi would have failed a chromosome test but the race committee (Jason Prew) was swayed by the skippers attire 🙂

The post race BBQ at Islington Bay  proved more popular than the race and 11 woodys dropped anchor in the bay for the BBQ. We all tend to forget about this location, great sunsets and easy anchorage. Cool video of My Girl sliding back down the harbour at dusk. On route I caught the tail-end charlies in the yacht fleet who also raced around the island – photos below.

A question – if you’re a large A-Class gaffer (no names but its painted black) and you constantly finish at the back of the fleet, as you did again on Saturday, why would you sail so close to a mark that you hit it? The rules say you are out of the race for that – BUT what makes it worse is when the mark is a classic launch and it is the finish boat, and all the yacht crew do is laugh 😦  The invoice for repairs will be in the mail. Yachties wonder why launch owners do not put their hand up when asked to perform this task, I suspect they will struggle even more for ‘volunteers’ in the future 🙂

UPDATE– Combine the above with another A-Class yacht (no Prize for guessing which one it was) colliding (yacht in the wrong) with a very large classic launch at Mahurangi and the yacht skippers / crew post collision arrogance – the CYA maybe needs to have a wee chat re rules and manners. Just because your are a classic yacht you don’t get any special privileges 😉

Classic Boat Designer / Builder – Nat Benjamin Interview

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Classic Boat Builder and Guiding Light  – Nat Benjamin Interview

WoodenBoat magazine editor Matt Murphy interviews Nat Benjamin – one of the classic wooden boating movements guiding lights. Nat co-foundered of Gannon & Benjamin Marine Railway in Vineyard Haven Harbour, Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts.  https://gannonandbenjamin.com

Nat has been designing and building boats from dinghies to schooners for more than 35 years. Sit back and listen to Matt and Nat chat about how Nat and business partner Ross Gannon set up the yard and went on to be at the forefront of the revival of wooden boats.

Auckland Anniversary Day Regatta – Thank God For The Classics

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1963

Auckland Anniversary Day Regatta – Thank God For The Classics


Ok, I’m going to upset a few – but……. I ask the question – has the AAR passed its use by date?

I think the answer is yes, in its present format. If it wasn’t for the classic fleet i.e. old boats (tugs, work boats, classic launches and yachts) there wouldn’t be many boats on the harbour on anniversary day. Maybe time for a reset, now here’s a thought – merge the event with the Classic Yacht Association’s annual classic regatta.

The reality is changing lifestyles and if people are honest, the Bay of Islands – Sailing Week has robbed the AAR of most of the modern sailing fleet. They in fact claim to be “the biggest regatta of its kind in NZ and one of the Southern Hemisphere’s premier yachting events” – not that long ago the AAR made similar claims. And on top of this the continuing growth of the Mahurangi Regatta that attracts huge numbers of wooden boats from near and far.

The AAR has being a happening thing for over 180 years, it would be a shame for it to continue to die a slow death, now’s the time to ask the big questions and future proof its existence – as an aside a large chunk of the AAR people are linked / involved with the CYA so should not be too hard…………Now where’s my hat – I’m leaving the room 🙂


Video footage for the 2021 regatta below – if you’re only into classic launches fast forward to the 1:14 mark 🙂

2021 Lake Rotoiti Classic and Wooden Boat Parade – 175+ photos & videos

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PICNIC

24th LAKE ROTOITI CLASSIC & WOODEN BOAT PARADE – 175+ PHOTOS & VIDEOS


As promised todays WW story is a doozy, we travelled down to the lake very early on Saturday morning and were hosted by the clubs commodore Dave Wilson and wife Glenys, who own the magnificent 1947 Colin Wild built bridge-decker – Haumoana. The launch is kept at the end of the lawn at their lakeside property (photos below) – More details on Haumoana here https://waitematawoodys.com/2014/06/05/haumoana/

Dave lent me is ‘fishing boat’ – the f/glass runabout seen the photo below, to use as a photo boat for the parade – fingers crossed no one got a photo of me at the helm 😉


Close to 80 classic and wooden craft of all shapes and sizes – power, sail, oar and steam participated in the days events – starting with a parade that snakes around the waterfront properties and vantage points. Post parade every one heads off to Wairoa Bay for an old school boating picnic – being lake based, no issue with tides or anchoring, people just nudge up to the shore – perfect for checking out each others woody.

The afternoon activities had something for everyone – adults and kids activities (egg throwing, bucket diving for sweets etc) + lots of cool prizes to be won.Without a doubt its the best organised and executed boating event I have been to – very slick and the bonus – lots of nice friendly people – we like that 🙂


Enjoy the photos. As always – click photos to enlarge 😉 If I missed your boat, sorry but one boat and one camera can only be in so many places at one time  – next year.


Mahurangi Regatta – Woody Weekend – 196 photos

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MAHURANGI 2021 REGATTA –  196 WOODEN BOATING PHOTOS & VIDEOS

WoW what a weekend – perfect weather, perfect location and as always stunning boats. We saw a record turn out for the classic wooden boat parade on Saturday morning – the crowd ashore at Sullivans was a little thin on the ground, but if we are honest, we do not do it for them – its all about us 🙂 , a little like going for a motorbike rumble. We need more events where we just ‘hang-out’ together.

The regatta’s main event – the yacht race appeared to be a big success, the A-Class Logan –  Rawhiti, in the hands of her new owner – Peter Brookes, cleaned up all the major trophies. As has become the norm at Mahurangi races, the results process was a total balls up, it was very dark and late into the night before the final, final results were announced – fingers crossed its all kosher, last year it took days and numerous oops lets try that again announcements 🙂


The big band beach BBQ, was a hit, perfect on all fronts – weather, tide, the band, bbq’s and the people. Given the number of boats in Bon Accord Harbour, Kawau Island, most people headed there on Sunday. The Kawau Boating Boat was bursting at the seams but handed it well. I have split the photos into 4 galleries – Classic Wooden Boat Parade – Yacht Race – Beach BBQ – More (includes Kawau). If I missed your boat, you were somewhere I wasn’t, or in the wrong light , or your’e boats ugly (joking – sort off).
Enjoy a peak at the weekend., click individual photos to enlarge. Next weekend I’m off to the Lake Rotoiti Classic and Wooden Boat Parade –  its a biggie – they have 70+ entries  

CLASSIC WOODEN BOAT PARADE

YACHT RACE

BEACH BBQ

MORE + KAWAU ISLAND

waitematawoodys@gmail.com

Auckland Anniversary Regatta

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1889 regatta photo ex Wilson & Horton

Auckland Anniversary Day Regatta

Late January > early February is always a big weekend on the yachting calendar – it is Auckland’s birthday and one of the lead events is the Anniversary Day Regatta – started way back in 1840 it is New Zealand’s oldest sporting event and in fact even pre-dates the America’s Cup by 11 years.

In recent years as competition of peoples leisure time has increased, the number of competitors has dipped, but the good news from a woody view point is the event has been propped up by the classic boating fleet and in recent years the inclusion of Tug/Work boat race and a classic launch, round the buoys drag race. If you are not away boating this long weekend, I would encourage you to visit the waterfront to catch some of the action – the Tug/Work boat race at 10am is a hoot. Best viewing spots found here  https://regatta.org.nz/regatta-spectators/where-to-watch-the-regatta-action/
Timetable.   https://regatta.org.nz/regatta-participants/schedule-of-regatta-events/


BIG WW STORY TOMORROW – 100+ PHOTOS FROM THE MAHURANGI REGATTA WEEKEND

An Amazing Old Movie

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An Amazing Old Movie

A good Kiwi friend of mine, John Burland, lives in Germany and sent me the link to todays story. John was mooching around the web and found reference to my wife’s uncle – Jock Bleakley. Jock appears in this 1950 b/w film (from the New Zealand National Film Unit) titled ‘Rock Bottom At Waikaremoana’ that tells the story of a group of divers that sealed leaks in the lake bed. At the time approx 50% of the water capacity was being lost before it could be used in the hydro-electric dam / generator.

A team of ‘special’ divers with explosive skills that had learnt their skills in WWII (use your imagination) were contracted to fix the problem, which they did, and were rewarded very well. Great footage also of the special diving helmet designed to film the exercise. It was a high risk operation – one worker fell into a hooper > into lake and was never found.


Photo below shows Jock, aged 29 at the time,  and wife Querida aboard Jock’s launch at Kaitawa on the shores of Lake Waikaremoana. The photo comes to us from Maurice Alan Quinn’s fb page. Maurice was 9 years old at the time the film was made. The caption for the photo reads – pictured (from left) Angela Quin (Maurice’s sister), John Quinn (brother), Querida Bleakley, Jock Bleakley and stand Maurice’s father – Charley Quinn. The child kneeling in the front is Maurice. Maurice’s mother, Caroline Quinn took the photo. The Quinn’s were good friends of the Bleakleys. Amazingly Querida is still alive today, I attended a significant birthday party 2 months ago.

13-02-2021 UPDATE: Just spoke to Jock Bleakley’s son Warwick who told me the launch was named – Wanderer, and Jock had raised her from the bottom of the lake, her owner was so grateful to have her back, he gave Jock and Querida unlimited use of the boat. Another snippet – Jock also found a very old Maori Waka (canoe) that had been buried with a chieftain inside – at some stage over time the Waka had broken free from its earth grave as the result of an earthquake and ultimately came to rest on the bottom of newly formed lake. The local tribe transported the Waka to higher ground and reburied it. The Bleakley’s were invited to the ceremony – a very rare occurrence for non Maori’s at the time.

Pacific – 105 Year Old Woody Get A New Heart

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Pacific – The 105 Year Old Woody Get A New Heart

The 1917 Joe Slattery designed and built launch – Pacific, is a special boat – 105 years of one family ownership puts her into a very elite league.Now in the care of of Nathan Herbert, Pacific has sent the last 5 months hauled out getting a heart transplant i.e. a brand new FPT/ Iveco N45A 100hp diesel engine. The old green Lister sadly just didn’t provide the reliability and safety for a vessel that does the cruising miles that Pacific does.

Late yesterday afternoon Pacific had a ‘Claytons’ relaunch at the Milford Cruising Club’s slip. Not surprisingly after 5 months on the hard she had a big thirst, Jason Prew from The Slipway Milford was on hand with a large capacity extra bilge pump, but it wasn’t required. Fingers crossed the flow will abate when she goes back in again later today.

Whilst hauled out there was a serious dose of TLC done to Pacific, I’m looking forward to a better peek down below at the Mahurangi Regatta this weekend. Search PACIFIC in the WW Search Box to view / read more about Pacific past.

12-01-2021 Update – Pacific has been hauled out recently at The Slipway Milford, for a dose of annual maintenance + a new decks – looking very sharp. And these days do donr escape the yard without a Jason Prew paint job 🙂

16-10-2021 Ready to splash


I spotted Fleetwing, below,  at The Slipway Milford yard getting prepped for Mondays Auckland Anniversary Day regatta launch race. 

Balsona + Classic Launch Parade

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BALSONA
Hobsonville Marina based woody – John Wicks sent in the above photo of the Oliver & Gilpin built launch – Balsona that has been undergoing a gradual rolling restoration for some years. John commented that before the Chain(saw) Gang take umbrage, in his eyes the under-construction flying bridge is going to look more fitting than the previous excrescence, when it’s finished. She is a big old woody and we would love to learn more about her.

CLASSIC WOODY LAUNCH PARADE – THIS SATURDAY @ MAHURANGI REGATTA

Each year the Saturday morning classic launch parade at the Mahurangi Regatta gets bigger and better, the format is simple  – we meet off Scotts Landing at 10am and then head off in single file (alpha order) following CYA Launch Captain – Jason Prew’s launch – MY GIRL to Sullivans Bay to do two laps of a pre-laid (buoys) course, that sees us weaving between the anchored boats and the shore line. 

This year again we will have Grant Cossey, a woody friendly shore based commentator that welcomes and backgrounds each boat as they motor past. This broadcast is heard both on-shore and across the bay. 
Now woodys entry to the parade is free, but it would really make things a lot easier and slicker if you helped out by letting Joyce at the CYA know some details on your boat eg Boat Name, Designer, Builder, Year Launch ,Owner (eg John Smith or Smith family) + any special items of interest about the boat (eg totally rebuilt in 1986) Send the above in a simple email to admin@classicyacht.org.nz AND DO IT TODAY PLEASE.


If you have any flags or bunting  on-board – hoist them up. AND remember to wave when you go past RAINDANCE, I’ll be taking photos 🙂

Woodys Enjoying Their Boats

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Korowai
Silens
Manuroa

Woodys Enjoying Their Boats

We ran a story on the Owen Woolley designed and built launch – Korowai earlier in the week, then ping the inbox sends an alert and Angus Rogers has ‘found’ another photo – its a stunner – great angle, well done Mr Rogers.

Also above from Angus is a photo of the 1912 Harvey & Lang built launch – Silens on route to Te Kouma. Read / see more on Silens here https://waitematawoodys.com/2019/04/22/the-evolution-of-silens/

Lastly we see Manuroa already at Te Kouma – doing what we would all like to do – just hanging out doing nothing. A previous owner of Manuroa believed it may have been built by Bailey & Lowe c.1912, is anyone able to confirm ?

Scotts Landing – photo ex Roger Mills


UPCOMING LONG WOODY WEEKEND

It is less than 2 weeks until Mahurangi weekend – the biggest on-the-water woody event in New Zealand – just check out Rogers Mills drone photo above to get an idea of the turn-out. Almost all of those dinghies are from a wooden boat anchored in the bay. The occasion is the regatta prize giving / BBQ on the Saturday night at Scotts Landing – all welcome, remember to bring a $20 note to buy a copy of the Mahurangi Cruising Club’s brilliant year book – its one of the best boating reads and great value.

On Saturday (30th) morning we have the classic launch parade – more details re times etc closer to the day but please make life easy for the organisers by emailing your name, boat name, and brief description your woody – design, age, length etc to  admin@classicyacht.org.nz
If you’re in Auckland on the Monday (1st) – as part of the Anniversary Day Regatta there will be a classic launch race. Entries for this are now open and you can enter at www.regatta.org.nz It is a handicapped race so everyone has a fair chance of winning some of the great regatta prizes