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.
I decided to lead off todays photos with a great looking photo of the classic wooden launch – NANA , why? While most of the many WW stories on NANA show her either damaged and close to being broken up or during a restoration. They say cats have 9 lives, well NANA most have been a cat in another life because I do not think there is vessel on WW that has had as much misfortune as NANA has. Use the WW search panel to view her eventful past.
But today is a good story day – first some info on NANA – was designed by C. Bailey Jnr. & built by C. Bailey & Sons for Mr F Alison of Matiatia, Waiheke Island in1934 & launched in late November / December. She is 35′ with a 8′ beam & a 3′ draft. She was very quick in her early days e.g. 17 knots.
In June 2023 WW was ran an SOS story looking for a new custodian and John Woodcock stepped up to the plate and took ownership of NANA and commenced the restoration. Aside from the electrical work John has / is undertaking the work himself , with help from a few friends. The plan is to have her back in the water by Christmas.I’m sure a few woodys will be asking the question – why has this launch been ’saved’ from the back-hoe so many times, well the answers simple – 1. She’s a Bailey and that makes her special 2. She’s a drop dead looker.
So woodys enjoy the peek into John’s work and be grateful that there are still folks like John prepared to do the hard yards and save some of our fine classics.
Todays woody story comes to us from Denis O’Callahan via the November 1958 edition of Sea Spray magazine.One of the craft featured was the 34’ motor launch KALAMERA, built c.1958 by Alan (Snow) Water in Takapuna, Auckland. She was built for a gent named Jack Bennent of Paeroa. Her intended home port/s was listed as Coromandel /Whangamata, where she was to be used primarily for sport fishing.
Built of single skin (full length) 1″ kauri carvel planks, her specs were 34 x 10’6” x 3’6”.
When launched a 40hp Ford diesel powered her and given her size, gave a respectable 9 knots.
The question today woodys is what became of her post launching – did she get to Coromandel, and where has she been since. Maybe a name change. Keen to learn more.
AHEADS UP ON THE POPULARITY OF WAITEMATAWOODYS.COM
Just received the latest report on the visitation / viewing numbers for the month of August.
VISITORS – UP 13%
VIEWS – UP 84% – The highest month ever, a WW record.
Great growth with Australian readers – has been climbing for the last 3 months – 385%+ growth and maintaining the new readers. Still can’t crack the UK market 😦 get better numbers out of Italy ✓
Thanks for logging in each day. And as always please send in any woody related content.
CLASSIC WOODEN LAUNCH FLASHBACK – JOHN GLADDEN’s LADY JESS
LADY JESS the1961 John Gladden built classic wooden launch last appeared on WW back in May 2021 when Dean Wright took the top photo of her berthed at Tutukaka Marina, link below to that story. At the time Scott Macindoe sent in a great piece on the boats provenance, also in the link https://waitematawoodys.com/2021/05/25/lady-jess-woody-workshop/
Then in June 2025 we saw her on fb (2nd photo above), via Lew Redwood. Now retired from commercial big game fishing. Fast forward to yesterday and woody John Dawson sent in the great photos below from her early days, before the addition of a 2nd story.
CLASSIC WOODEN LAUNCH KAREMOANA – LOST or FORGOTTEN
Todays woody is the classic wooden launch – KAREMOANA, designed and built by Chris Robertson and launched in 1968. She was one several craft referred to as the ‘ Chris Robertson Fast Cruisers’. And fast she was in her day, a 135hp Commer 3D215 diesel engine saw her topping out at 17 knots.
Construction was twin skin diagonal heart kauri planks. Her specs were 32’ x 11’ beam x 3’10” draft.
As seen in the above scans, she featured in the June 1968 issue of Sea Spray magazine.
Yesterday (scroll down) we featured one of her sister ships – WAIREKA, her co-owner Desiree Stuart sent in the Sea Spray article.
KAREMOANA does not pop up on WW, maybe a name change. Keen to learn more of her past and what became of her.
INPUT EX DENNIS MCNAUGHTON – Hi,I am Noel McNaughton’s son, Dennis, pleased to see the article about Dads boat. He sold it in 1976 to Bill Subritsky- he only wanted it for the marina- it was on sold to a captain of a deep-sea fishing trawler and it was relocated from Auckland to Picton. The name was then changed to St Tropez( I think it was ).
Noel had re-powered it in 1970 with a 180 Ford, giving a top speed of around 20kts and added a flying bridge from a corsair design. Noel visited the boat in Picton around the mid 1990’s, so it was still there then.
ONE WEEK TILL CLEVEDON WOODYS CRUISE – HAVE YOU RSVP’ED
Last week WW ran a story on a Chris Robertson designed launch named – ROAM, the story prompted Desiree and David Stuart to contact WW with more intel on what Desiree described as the Chris Robertson ‘Fast Cruiser”.
We will do a separate story tomorrow on the launch KAREMOANA (sister ship to WAIREKA) that appeared in the June 1968 issue of Seaspray magazine.
Today is all about the Stuart’s launch – WAIREKA. The Stuart family are Kerikeri boatbuilders (D&D Boatbuilding – Waipapa) and WAIREKA is there personal craft.
I’ll let Desiree tell the story –
“We have been told that WAIREKA is the last of 5 of five of Chris Robertson vessels built, launched in 1974. Four were built in quick succession, by both Chris and Brin Wilson, however, we have no evidence of a launch date, just that she is clearly built by Chris. (There are some aesthetic aspects that are clearly his and routinely appear on his other builds.)
WAIREKA’s history as we know it – Owned by ourselves, and previously in partnership with our late uncle, Duncan “Cookie” Stuart, prior to that Jack and Carol Rogers, prior to that Bob and Beryl Harkin – the trail then runs cold.
We know that WAIREKA was built when Chris Robertson was based next to Salthouse – on Target Rd? She was launched with her flying bridge which was most def. from a Mark 1 Corsair. (Now in the bin).
She’s had a lot of love lavished on her (my bank account says way too much) since coming into our ownership, but what can you do, she’s part of the family 🙂
WAIREKA is currently out of the water for engine (2725 Otosan Ford) and drive-train (Velvet Drive) work – she should be heading back into the water in the Bay of Islands, later this month.”
WAIREKA has made a couple of cameo appearances on WW, first back in January 2014 at Patio Bay, Waiheke Island and then in January 2025 in the Bay of Islands in a cruising report from Dean Wright.
Yesterday in the post I received a package from Denis O’Callahan, past owner of MV TASMAN. Denis had recently been going thru his ’to good to throw out’ files and found a collection of old boating magazine from 1911, 1913,1938 and 1958 – after a quick glance I had to put them away before I wrote the whole day off 🙂
A couple of things did catch my eye –
1. The above advertisement for the Central Boating Company, promoting the Hyde Propeller and Regal engine – which CBC were agents for. I assume the motor boat in the advertisement is named REGAL as a result of its engine and that it ran a Hyde Propeller – caption reads 15.38 knots, very impressive for the size of boat. But, back then there were very little home comforts aboard, so significantly lighter. Further on in the issue we learn that REGAL did have a 32hp Regal engine and her specs were 32′ in length with a 6’10” beam, She was also for sale, no price mentioned.
Do we know what became of REGAL
2. A boats for sale listing from 1913, see below. One of my pet frustrations with boat dealers is they never show / list a boats name, in fact even go as far as removing the name from the photos if the name is visible . The vessels name is an integral part of its DNA, equal to designer / builder / specs etc.
One can only assume the boat dealer is too insecure to publish the name.
Well after reading the 1913 December issue of New Zealand Yachtsman seems the insecurity has been around 100+ years, after reading the listing I wasn’t able to put a name to any of the launch for sale descriptions. The reference to a race winner on the 3rd from top listing might make that one identifiable.
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.
CLASSIC WOODEN LAUNCH – MARNINE – A PEEK DOWN BELOW
Todays woody is the 50’ classic launch – MARNINE, built in 1961 by the Lane Motor Boat Co. She is probably one of the most admired classic craft in Auckland, aside from her stunning looks and presentation, the location of her berth at the OBC Marina in Auckland ensures that anyone driving along Tamaki Drive, and there are a lot (32,000 + cars a day) can’t help but notice MARNINE.
But woodys until today thats where it ends, a glance from 50m away, today thanks to the generosity of her owner and Angus Rogers camera we get a peek below. Now this was no poised photo shoot, best described as an ‘unfiltered’ look 🙂
With a 15’ beam and weighing approx. 25 tonnes she very much is one of the Waitemata’s majestic classic wooden craft.
MARNINE has made several appearance on WW, the June 2013 story has a lot of chat about her – link > https://waitematawoodys.com/2013/06/08/marnine/ . A quick search in the WW Search Box will bring up most of her history 🙂
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