Category Archives: Launches

Beautiful Boats Attract Beautiful People

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Beautiful Boats Attract Beautiful People

Friday was one of those special woody days – I travelled out to Pine Harbour marina to see the re-launch of Pirate, the Leon Warne 1939 built, 46’ launch.

Why was it special? Well back in March the launch Kokoru was ravaged in a dockside fire, just weeks after a total refit / restoration, links below to Kokoru. One of the few salvageable items were the brand new twin Yanmar 75hp engines. 

The owners made the tough call and decided to purchase another classic and use Kokoru as a donor. The lucky woody purchased was – Pirate. And she became the recipient of Kokoua’s engines.

For the last 6 weeks the transplant and associated bits – new shafts, props etc and a lot of work to the tankage – size and location, has been happening.

Still a work in progress but back in the water and ready for the next stage of the project. Amazingly Pirate did not take on any water, probably the result of her owners hosing the hull down twice a day while hauled out.

WW will visit again when Pirate is ship-shape and knowing the owners – sparkling 🙂

A big shout out to the owners – it takes special people to (1) restore a woody (2) recover from seeing her destroyed (3) leaping back in and buy another – well done Tracy and Alan. I read somewhere the other day a quote that “beautiful boats attract beautiful people” – seems to fit this story 🙂

( fyi – Kokoru went to a good home and we understand, overtime will be rebuilt, so a happy ending)

KOKORU https://waitematawoodys.com/2022/02/11/kokoru-a-sneak-peek/

PIRATE https://waitematawoodys.com/2021/06/14/pirate-a-peek-down-below-4sale/

30-10-2022 – input below from owners

Lady Joyce c.1963

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LADY JOYCE – c.1963
The photos above of the launch – Lady Joyce, currently named Lady Jane come to us from Robert Philips and were taken about 1963, when Len and Jean Perry owned her before Len had Aquarius built for him by Owen Woolly.

The first photo shows Jean struggling to haul the anchor in leaving Mansion House Bay while Len calmly powers off. A practice you still see today if anchored in a bay near Mark Edmond’s launch – Monterey 🙂
The other two photos are with Lady Joyce anchored with Len and Jean in the cockpit and third is taken at the same time with their daughter Dale Perry  diving off for a swim with Arthur Burke’s Yasawa in the background. 

Link below to a previous WW story on the launch. We still do not know the designer / builder – any new thoughts? https://waitematawoodys.com/2015/12/08/lady-joyce-2

Dorina – Almost free to a good home

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DORINA – Almost free to a good home

Now if that names rings a bell that is because the launch Dorina has been an SOS on WW before, check out the story below – its a doozy  https://waitematawoodys.com/2021/04/30/mystery-project-launch-2/

Yesterday a WW follower sent me the images above and the message – a project for winter ? After all its been thru, it deserves another chance.

Sorry don’t have a contact – but I would suggest a call to the Te Atatu Boating Club would help find the owner 😉

Amelia

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AMELIA

Todays woody has a very good pedigree in that she was built by Nelson master craftsman Peter Murton as his own boat. Peter’s business Murtons Timbercraft turn out stunning woodwork – from new boat builds and repairs, furniture and nautical art, a piece of which I have at home (photo below).

The launch is a 2018 Weston Farmer sea skiff, 28’ x 8’ x 2’ and is powered by a 60hp Yamaha outboard that cruises nicely at 7>8knots and tops out at 12 knots.

Her shallow draft and bilge keels allow her to navigate some interesting anchorages. An added bonus is the ability to haul out on a trailer for home storage.

The vessel recently popped up on tme so if you are looking for a salty looking, impeccably built spirit of tradition woody – Amelia could be the one.

Mystery Whitford Launch

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Mystery Whitford Launch

Todays photograph, taken c.1965 by D.J Shaw comes to us via Lew Redwoods fb. The location is the Turanga Creek, Whitford and the caption states that the bulldozer was cutting through the sandstone bar.

Can we identify the launch – angle of the photo makes it a tad difficult but the two larger cabin windows (TVOne & TV2), are quite distinctive, so fingers crossed they jolt someones memory.

Dawn – A Peek Down Below

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DAWN – A Peek Down Below

We last saw the Coulthard built launch – Dawn on WW back in June 2019, link below. In summary she was built in 1936 and is approx. 28’ in length, with a very shallow draft of just over 2’, probably to suit the shallow harbours on Aucklands West Coast, where she was built.

A Ford 80hp Lees 4.2L diesel provides the forward motion. Thanks to a tme listing (c/o Ian MacDonald) we get to have a look down below.

https://waitematawoodys.com/2019/07/30/dawn-4/

Argo

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ARGO

Earlier in the month Dave Stanaway sent in the above photos of the ex fishing vessel – Argos, docked at the Kaipara Boating Club berth in Dargaville. She was there for a couple of days. Dave later advised that Argo was owned by a young family that were cruising NZ waters in her. 

Update ex Dean Wright – check out the owners travels here  https://www.facebook.com/cruisingonargo

Back in June 2020 she was spotted in Te Kouma by Dennis MacConaghie, photo below.

Can we shed some more light on the history of Argo.

Kathleen II

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KATHLEEN II

Todays 32’ woody – Kathleen II was built be Salthouse c.1970 and is powered by twin 90hp Nissan BD30 diesels that give her a 11>14knots.

She has popped up on tme as a project boat requiring some TLC, there are no interior photos so suspect that is where the TLC is required 🙂

At the right price and with a good eye for detail Kathleen II could be a nice family woody cruiser.

Mahere

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MAHERE

WW has been contacted by the owner of the launch – Mahere, seen above. They are very light on information and history, so today we are asking for help in regard to design / builder / when built / past owners etc.

Mahere is powered by a 120hp Ford Trader diesel, see photo – very impressive exhaust ‘plumbing’.

Current home is Whakatakataka Bay, Auckland  – otherwise known as the OBC basin 🙂

Yesterdays Quiz Winner  – The lucky winner of a WW cap was Dave Stanaway – lots of entries in the draw but few got three tickets in the draw i.e. three correct answers – being Frangipani / Zane Grey / Off to Tahiti via Rarotonga

The skippers that had RSVP’ed have been contacted but FYI – the weekends Woody Cruise to Clevedon has been postponed – slightly evil forecast – new date tba

A Woody Quiz

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A Woody Quiz 

Haven’t had a quiz in a while so, all correct answers, via email to waitematawoodys@gmail.com go into the draw for one of the new WW summer caps.

Questions below – one correct answer = one chance in the draw – get all three correct = three chances. Tell us what colour cap you would prefer.

1. Name the boat

2. Who owned it at the time

3. Where was it off to with all those tins of fuel aboard

REMEMBER ENTER VIA EMAIL ONLY – WINNER DRAWN 8PM 19-05-2022

Correct answers were Frangipani / Zane Grey / Off to Tahiti via Rarotonga

Pistachio
Autumn
Khaki