Category Archives: Events

REFLECTIONS ON THE 2025 PORT TOWNSEND WOODEN BOAT FESTIVAL – 80+ Photos / Videos

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REFLECTIONS ON THE 2025 PORT TOWNSEND WOODEN BOAT FESTIVAL – 80+ Photos / Videos

One of the bucket list classic wooden boating events is the annual Port Townsend Wooden Boat Festival. From all reports the 2025 event was outstanding. While its easy to go on-line and find a link to a professional overview, in my eye there is something special about viewing a festival attendees collection of boats – sure the light or camera angle isn’t alway perfect but you get a raw edge, which appeals.

Today thanks to kiwi John Oates we get to share what appealed to John’s eye.

One of the festival features that sets it apart from a lot of events is the ability to go aboard the boats and talk to the owners. There is something for everyone – food & drink, live music, kids activities, movie screening and lots of opportunities to get on the water.

One of this years ket themes was tagged –  ‘A Gathering of Maritime Legends: Celebrating Shipwrights’. The festival brought together shipwrights from some of the world’s most iconic maritime institutions—craftspeople who keep the art of wooden boatbuilding alive with skill, heart, and tradition.Via  a mix of talks, presentations and hands on gatherings where the public were able to rub up against the legends.

Enjoy the gallery – I did. As always click on photos to enlarge ;-

Ps John has promised another photo report featuring more classic sail boats ✔️

Pps where did that Morris Minor Ute come from ?

1960’S NOSTALGIA – CLASSIC WOODEN BOATS AT WARKWORTH TOWN BASIN

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Same day – different angle

1960’S NOSTALGIA – CLASSIC WOODEN BOATS AT WARKWORTH TOWN BASIN

 Todays woody photos popped on the Warkworth NZ Old Time Photos fb and comes to us from Alison Wallis via Maurice Sharp. The photo was tagged – Warkworth wharf late 1960’s, around Christmas time.

The classic wooden launch alongside the wharf, pointing downstream has to be TASMAN , the 1927 Colin Wild built beauty.

The bridge-decker anchored mid stream is a mystery – at first glance I thought – LADY RAE the 1948 Chas Bailey design, but a quick WW search proved once again I was wrong.

So woodys can we put a new to the bridge-decker.

LABOUR WEEKEND WOODY ACTIVITY

Time to start thinking about boating for Labour weekend (Oct 24>27). The Kawau Boating Club’s Spring Splash Regatta is a great event and there is something for everyone. Details below. Next week I’ll supply details on the motor launch activities.

TRADITIONAL CLASSIC BOATS MOORED ON THE WAIROA RIVER 

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TRADITIONAL CLASSIC BOATS MOORED ON THE WAIROA RIVER 

Following on from yesterday’s story on the annual Classic Wooden Boat Cruise to the Clevedon Cruising Club, as promised today we share the wooden craft passed moored on the Wairoa River.

Many are semi permanent residents and its interesting to see what (if any) work has been undertaken in the previous 12 months.  All too often these back waters can become parking lots for owners that object to lining the back pockets of the Auckland marina owner fat cats.  So it was nice to see most skippers are keeping up the maintenance on their craft, and pleasing to see a lot of ’new’ arrivals. 

Enjoy the gallery – photo quality varies as the first click was at 6.30am and the light improved as the journey progressed up river. As always click on photos to enlarge.

CLASSIC WOODEN BOAT CLEVEDON SPRING CRUISE HIGHLIGHTS

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Very Early Start Up The River
Follow The Leader
Raffle Prizes

CLASSIC WOODEN BOAT CLEVEDON SPRING CRUISE HIGHLIGHTS

A tad weary writing this story so it will be short and I’ll let the photos tell the story.The weekend just gone saw a fleet of classic wooden craft making the pilgrimage to the CLEVEDON CRUISING CLUB for the annual woodys overnight BBQ.

As always the tide wags the dogs tail so we were looking at a very early trip up the Wairoa River, by early try 6.15am. The smart woody skippers travelled down Friday afternoon and anchored overnight at the river mouth. A great sunset delivered some nice photos.

I took photos of the classic woodys moored on route, it is always interesting to view the deterioration of some craft and the new arrivals. Will do a story on the river trip tomorrow.

Most of Saturday was spent boat hoping and catching up on dockside gossip. Rest assured if you weren’t there you were talked about.Captain Giddens hosted late afternoon drinks on ALLERGY and then we moved onto the clubrooms for the evening.

If you haven’t been to a Woody gig at the CCC its an all-embracing old school night shindig – bbq’s, outdoor fires, karaoke with a professional singer that could make even the worst shower singer sound ok. There are raffles, which I have to report the woodys skippers did very well at – Captain Giddens collecting 4 prizes.
Everything is BYO but the club very generously provide additional food and an impressive dessert table.

Departure home on Sunday was almost as early as Saturday and the forecast wasn’t flash eh N>30 knots. I can’t speak for the others but it wasn’t the very pleasant and if it wasn’t bolted down it ended up on the cabin floor 😦

A big shout out to the classic yachts that joined the flotilla this year, with access to the local knowledge of Barry Abel, the deeper draft yachts had an uneventful  passage on the river . Special thanks to all the woodys that attended by car, your company added to the evening.

Enjoy the photos and start thinking about the Spring Splash At Kawau Island on Labour Weekend.

UNIDENTIFIED WOODEN LAUNCH, PT CHEVALIER 1933 – ANY CLUES

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UNIDENTIFIED WOODEN LAUNCH, PT CHEVALIER 1933 – ANY CLUES

Todays woody photo comes to us from the NZ Herald archives via David Tomlinson and is dated April 1933. The caption reads – ‘Looking down from the foreshore at Pt Chev, showing visiting sailing boats on the beach’.
On the original fb post Robin Elliott did a wonderful job of ID’ing the yachts, see below.

But todays challenge is can we put a name to the launch at anchor in the middle of the beach.

“From left the yachts are: S-47 Snipe, an American Snipe class design that failed to gain popularity here and was registered in the open S-class yachts exc 14ft not exc 16ft.; T-41 14-footer Nyria, originally a 14-foot One Design (X-class) built by Colin Wild in 1921 but converted to an open T-class not exc 14ft, in 1929; V-13 Belle, 18ft racing yacht designed by Pt Chevalier identity, A.L. ‘Trotter’ Willetts. V-class was exc 16ft not exc 18ft; S-13 Kittiwake was originally a Logan built yawl that was converted to an S-class and raced with Pt Chevalier Sailing Club by the Thorpe brothers

LABOUR WEEKEND SPRING SPLASH (2)Download

ROOM FOR ONE MORE – CLASSIC WOODEN LAUNCH KOTARE

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ROOM FOR ONE MORE – CLASSIC WOODEN LAUNCH KOTARE

Today hopefully, weather permitting, myself and a collection of classic woodys will be docked at the CLEVEDON CRUISING CLUB for our annual overnight BBQ cruise up the Wairoa River.

Whilst a few boats I’m sure will be slightly over crewed, none will match the photo of the tourist boat KOTARE that we see above unloading passengers at Kaiteriteri Beach, Nelson. Seriously…… how there wasn’t a capsize I do not know, and you can be sure there wasn’t a PFD for everyone 😦

The photo comes to us from the ‘Memories of Abel Tasman National Park’ fb on a posting dated Nov 2019 by Trevor Norriss, via John Burland.

Back in April 2021we ran a story on KOTARE, lots of history and photos  – link here https://waitematawoodys.com/2021/04/24/kaiteriteri-beach-can-we-id-the-launch/

2022 Cruise

GETTING SHIPSHAPE FOR THE WOODYS CLEVEDON CRUISE THS WEEKEND

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GETTING SHIPSHAPE FOR THE WOODYS CLEVEDON CRUISE THS WEEKEND
Guests aboard the 55’ spirit of tradition classic woody motorsailer – ALLERGY , often marvel at the seemingly bottomless supply of rum, well woodys a recent visit to the Slipway Milford revealed the secret –  Captain Dave has the boating equivalent of a wine cellar.

Joking aside its not too late to join in this weekends Classic Woody Cruise to the CLEVEDON CRUISING CLUB for an overnight dockside BBQ – RSVP NOW to  waitematawoodys@gmail.com for details.

LOOKING FOR A GOOD READ / GIFT


If you’re like me and find most fishing websites and magazine articles a little to fisher bloke talking to fisher bloke, Al Brown’s new book HOOKED is a great guide and reference tool + some easy recipes.  To quote the back cover  ‘Learn how to tie knots, bait hooks, cast lures, and fillet and cook your catch’. No glossy photos , its all illustrations and line drawings – primary audience is children and adults like me. At $35 its a bargain and if you are an expert – its the perfect gift for a grandchild or someone new to the sport. FYI – my local bookshop sold out in 24 hrs.

RSVP – boat name to waitematawoodys@gmail.com

CLASSIC WOODEN LAUNCH QUANDO AGROUND – What Happened Here

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CLASSIC WOODEN LAUNCH QUANDO AGROUND – What Happened Here

Recently woody John Dawson contacted WW regarding the top two photos of a launch named QUANDO, as we see in the (oldish photo) photos the vessel has ‘come ashore’.

On face value it appears to be not* a major mishap , maybe skipper miscalculated the tide when anchoring or dragged anchor. *(Unless the port-side tarpaulin and dinghy is covering up a major oops.)

Can anyone enlighten us as to what happened, the date and location.

A search on WW popped up the 3rd and 4th  photos above ex Jason Prew and Nathan Herbert , who spotted QUANDO berthed at Sulphur Point Marina, Tauranga, in February 2015. 

Sadly she has acquired a second story and lost the varnished coamings.

In the WW search the name QUANDO also popped up on a story on the launch KARINA (photo below & story link), where Adam Jane-Rashleigh commented that KARINA was a sister ship to his launch QUANDO.

KARINA

Read / view more on KARINA here https://waitematawoodys.com/2013/11/04/karina-2/

RSVP – boat name to waitematawoodys@gmail.com

CLASSIC BAY OF ISLNDS FERRY – BAY BELLE GETS A NEW LIFE

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2024

CLASSIC BAY OF ISLNDS FERRY – BAY BELLE GETS A NEW LIFE

If you’re  on fb I’m sure you would have seen the amazing project Kate Farrant has taken on board – refitting the old (1971>2011) Russell > Pahia ferry into a floating pizzeria. Kate and helpers has spent the past year restoring the 57’, built in 1960 by Deemings Bros – BAY BELLE and recently relaunched her. Link below to a Jan 2024 story from when she was 4sale, lots of photos https://waitematawoodys.com/2024/01/28/bay-belle-party-boat/

At this stage the plan is to base the pizzeria at Rakino Island this summer. And before you comment that there is already one ashore in Woody Bay, the superb pizzeria run by Alf Newton sadly closed permanently at the end of summer 2025. As I have mentioned on WW they were the best pizzas in Auckland.  So its exciting news to learn of Kate’s enterprise – but, big shoes to fill to equal Alf’s creations 🙂

WW has been contacted by a friend of Kate’s Josh Chapman who is in the process of documenting (video) Kate and BAY BELLE’s story and is keen to learn more about the boat’s history. Josh has made a short video to give us a sneak peek at the project.

So woody if you have any information on BAY BELLE, or know of anyone who was involved in building her back in the early 1960s?  leads to former crew, builders, or families connected to her history Josh would like to hear from you – joshchaps78@gmail.com

When Kate’s finished the fit out and up and running we will let you know. I can see a Classic Woodys Cruise to Rakino to celebrate the launch of summer 😉

And below is a reminder of how good Alf Newton’s woody Bay Pizzeria was – make sure you play the video – enjoy https://waitematawoodys.com/2021/01/08/surprise-and-delight-on-rakino-island/

rsvp – waitematawoodys@gmail.com

CLASSIC WOODY FUEL TANKER + CLEVEDON RIVER BBQ CRUISE DETAILS

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CLASSIC WOODY FUEL TANKER + CLEVEDON RIVER BBQ CRUISE DETAILS

When I first saw todays photo I thought it was Jason Prew’s launch MY GIRL loaded up for a xmas cruise. The photo was sent in by Barrie Abel (MV Matira) who spotted it on the wall at the office of Morton Timber in Clevedon.

You would have to hope those fuel drums are empty, but sometimes (fumes) that makes them more dangerous.

CLASSIC WOODYS CLEVEDON RIVER BBQ CRUISE 

And on the subject of Clevedon and the Wairoa River – todays the day we open the book for expressions of interest to come on the river cruise to the Clevedon Cruising Club for the annual waitematawoodys overnight dockside BBQ. This gig is one of the stand out events on the woodys calendar.

Those unfamiliar with the trip – check out this link to a previous cruise https://waitematawoodys.com/2022/09/19/woodys-classic-clevedon-cruise-report-sept-2022-50-photos/

We are always driven by the tides so this year its an early start – heading up the river at daylight – 6.15am. So we suggest leaving Friday late avo and anchoring in the bay. Many have done this in the past, makes for (almost) a leisurely start.

Normal plan – piloted Indian file cruise up the river, docking on the wharf, boats open for CBC members to inspect, evening BBQ at thecubrooms, leave early Sunday . Dogs welcome, but on a leash please.

For now – let us know – boat name, boat length, est. crew numbers email to waitematawoodys@gmail.com

RVSP TO waitematawoodys@gmail.com