Category Archives: Launches

AOTEA – A Peek Down Below

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AOTEA – A Peek Down Below
 
Back in March 2014 Aotea appeared on WW when an ex owner, Paul Newell, was trying to track her down (WW link below)
Now thanks to trademe & Ian McDonald we get to have a peek-down-below.
 
Aotea was built in 1950, supposedly in the South Island to a ‘Alexander’ design, she is carvel planked & powered by a 120hp Ford 6cyl. diesel.
Her specs are 40’x 11’5”x 2’11”
Rumour has it that she was built for the N.Z. Government and taken to Lake Taupo for the Queens Coronation NZ tour 1953-54. Paul Drake has confirmed that she spent time on the lake in the 1950’s, as a Govt. vessel.
 
What more do we know about Aotea?

Auckland Woody Fishing Fleet

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Auckland Woody Fishing Fleet

Woody Simon Smith sent in the above b/w photos, showcasing some of Auckland’s fishing fleet – registration numbers that I can ID are – 1696 , AK1789 ,  AK29 , & Emerald ?
What do we think the date is? Interesting that there is so many in port at one time.
An Other Block of Flats Contender
My post a few weeks ago on this topic created a lot of chat, the boat below isn’t a woody but it really is closer to an apartment than a boat. You would have to assume that it wasn’t designed by a boatie.
I would be a little bit worried about the boats ratio of above & below the water 😦
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Stella Maris

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STELLA MARIS

Subject to it passing a good survey this ex work (fishing) boat would have to great value for someone looking for a live aboard. Reviewing her trademe listing (thanks Ian McDonald), the conversion to pleasure use looks very well done.

Stella Maris was built in 1971 & measures 48’6”, with a 10’8’ beam. The power comes from a 320hp MAN diesel, that is governed to 185hp. Her carvel haul is spotted gum & Oregon pine.

She comes with an impressive list of fittings.

Anyone know who built her & who did the conversion?

OAR MAKER?

I have had a request from a woody looking for an oar maker, there are lots of  ‘commercial’ ones out there e.g. Gull, but my man is looking for a more custom made oars.  Can anyone recommend a boatbuilder or good DIY’er that could produce a pair?

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Pacific Gets the X-foul-e-8 Treatment

As Pacific gets close to splashing, woody Nathan Herbert has treated her to a serious bottom clean 😉 Another stunning job, ready for another 100 years of woody boating.

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The Workboat – Hauraki

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Work boat Hauraki

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HAURAKI

The above photos show the work boat – Hauraki, in the top photo dated 1947, she is tied up at the ‘Auckland Wharves’ & sandwiched between two other work boats – challenge to Baden Pascoe – name the other vessels?
This photo come to us from Lew Redwood’s fb page, where David Balderston commented that Hauraki was Captain Day’s first ferry & he ran her to the bottom end of Waiheke Island, before he purchased the Baroona.
In the 2nd photo, I suspect she is anchored somewhere around Waiheke Island. The photo comes to us from Sally Churchs family album via fb, it is captioned ‘O.L. Hauraki’ &  written on the back of the photo are the words – Hauraki, 40hp Johnston diesel. 8 knot. Licensed 25’
Do we know what became of her post her ‘ferry’ days?

Input from David Balderston

I am very much afraid those pictures of the HAURAKI are two different boats. The stern on the first is square and the other one is counter. The sheer on the first is non existent while that on the lower certainly is. 
I believe the bottom one is the real Waiheke ferry launch HAURAKI. 
The thing is with research, as I have found, its like looking through a key hole and then you see something. Like the above launch HAURAKI, I thought, at last! there she is as a fishing boat… Anyway a positive outcome is that it moved Sally Church to look through her family album to produce the second photo – this time the real boat. 
Input from Harold Kidd – There were several HAURAKIs. The pic below is of an old HAURAKI fishing boat being relaunched in 1932 as AK119. There was another fishing boat HAURAKI AK46 owned by Waitemata Fisheries in 1942, considered for war work, possibly the same boat as the AK numbers were re-shuffled during the 1930s for some reason. Another (or the same) HAURAKI was reckoned by Andy Turnwald to have been built by Merv Strongman. Then you’ve got the ex REHUTAI steamer and another on the Kaipara owned by G. Constable!
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Input from Dave Stanaway –  The photo below is Chris Rabey’s photo of Miss Hauraki c1980 at the Hokianga. Looks to me as if O L Hauraki in your second photo is the same vessel. I think Ray Morey will agree. I sailed on the vessel 1963.
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Mystery Launches at Whangamumu 

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1928 Whangamumu

Mystery Launches at Whangamumu 

Today’s photo ex Lew Redwood’s fb shows the whaling station at Whangamumu & is dated March 1928. From the number of barrels of oil in front of the factory, a visit from a freighter must be due.
Anyone able to ID the launches at anchor? The bridge-decker on the right shouldn’t be too difficult given the design, oval ports on the cabin & twin masts?
Kairangi Out at Gulf Harbour
Photos below ex Ken Ricketts hauled out at Gulf Harbour for a spring spruce up

Taranui

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TARANUI

Taranui was built in 1963, so just slips into the classic category, helped by the Strongman design & built with a pitched pine carvel by Sam Ford in Lyttleton.

She measures 32’ 9”, with 11’ beam & 3’6” draft. Power comes from a 80hp Toyota B4 light truck diesel, converted to marine.

Taranui is for sale on trade (thanks Ian McDonald) & currently called Havelock Marina home.

Do we know any more about where Taranui has been for the rest of her life?

Woody Has Lucky Escape in Milford Marina

Woody Murray Deeble, keeps his lovely ‘spirit of tradition’ woody – Waikiore (pictured below at Riverhead Pub) , berth at Milford Marina on Auckland’s North Shore. I have been ribbing Murray that Waikiore is long over-due some TLC (5 years between haul-outs) so out of the blue he hauls her out at the Milford Cruising Club slip. Next day a ‘new New Zealander’ has a wee parking oops & ends up in the water in Waikiore’s berth.

Some would say Murray was very lucky – others would say bad luck i.e. would have been a nice insurance claim 😉

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Tide Out

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The Rudder Cup – A Celebration of Classic Launch Racing Dec 14>15 2018

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The Rudder Cup – A Celebration of Classic Launch Racing Dec 14>15 2018

Now woodys, if I had $10 for everything woody launch owner that has told me they are entering the 2018 Rudder Cup launch race, I would be a wealthy man.
But guys, we are very fast approaching the stump up or shut up stage – entries close on 23 November, so if your going to be on the start line, we need to hear from you.
Remember entry is by invitation, so send an email off to Jason Prew at     2018ruddercup@classicyacht.org.nz
& he will send you an invitation, entry forms, notice of race etc etc.
Numbers are looking good & the standard of entrant is very broad – its not just the zoom zoomers that are entering, & in case you forgot its a handicapped race, so everyone has an fair chance of taking out the #1 prize.
If you would like to read more on the history of the Rudder Cup,  click the WW link below. Also Harold Kidd has just published an article on the 2018 race in the November edition of Boating NZ magazine – it is titled ‘Old donks, young hearts’ & is a great read – its out now in good bookshops & supermarkets.

Thanks for all the kind words & emails yesterday – I couldn’t do it with out your help 🙂
CYA Rudder Cup 2018 flyer

Waitemata Woodys hits 4,000,000 views and celebrates with a gallery of over 100 classic wooden boat photos

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If you think being passionate about wooden boats is niche – think again, there are a lot of us out there. Waitemata Woodys has just passed 4 MILLION views and we celebrate with over 100 classic wooden boating photos

Never in a blue moon when I started this site could I have seen it becoming as popular as it has. Along the way the site has morphed to also become an awesome information source for just about anything connected to wooden boating. Some facts:
4,000,000 views
370,000 people have visited the site, most of them come back – some daily, some weekly, some just when they need to know something
2,469 stories
20,000+ photos published
A 50,000+ photo library
It wouldn’t have happened without in the early days a few fireside chats from people way more worldly in the wooden boating community than myself. The list of people that have shared their family photo albums, stories and knowledge with us is huge and  the site just wouldn’t be what it is today without these people.
I’ve made so many friends, and been fortunate to rub shoulders with a lot of you in person.
So where to from here?, I would be a lier if I said I had not considered pulling the pin a few times, its a big ask publishing a wooden boating story 365 days of the year, but for every one dark day when I’m questioning why I do it – I have 100 days where someone tells me that the first thing they do every every morning is check out Waitemata Woodys, or that they print the stories and once a week when they visit grandad they read them to him, because he is nearly blind, or when we uncover the provenance of someones boat, or when we find someones long lost family boat etc etc
Aside from thanking you all for your support and asking you to keep following Waitemata Woodys – I only have one request – please keep sending us your stories & photos – you may be thinking they won’t mean much to us, but at some stage, someone will send in something and SNAP, they match & we have the makings of a great story. Email them to   waitematawoodys@gmail.com
The following link takes you to a Waitemata Woodys story that epitomises all that’s good about the site – you wouldn’t find content like this anywhere else – it’s gold
And in answer to all the emails re when I will be doing another Waitemata Woodys t-shirt run – the answer is before Christmas, so start saving your pennies. I’ll do another post soon re taking orders 🙂
Again many thanks to everyone. I hope you all still enjoy the site as much as I do pulling it all together. Shortly I will be sharing with you some exciting news on how WW will become even more relevant to wooden boat owners, but for now I have pulled together a random selection of 101 woody photos that have appeared on the site – enjoy 🙂
Alan Houghton – founder
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Mystery Boat – Wairoa District

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MYSTERY BOAT – WAIROA DISTRICT

Today’s photo comes to us from one of Bruno Redwood’s old fb posts, sadly Bruno (brother of Lew) passed away recently.
The photo shows a group of day trippers, possibly on Lake Waikaremoana c.1880’s
Anyone able to ID the boat & confirm the location?
Harold Kidd Input – KAHURANGI, built for the Goverrnment Tourist Bureau for use on Lake Waikaremoana by Logan Bros August 1903, 36ft loa 10hp Union engine.
The photo below was sent to me yesterday by woody – Tim Evill, Tim was out fishing in the middle of the gulf between Rocky Bay and Maraetai & spotted a bouy in the water (11m depth) on closer inspection there was a yacht attached to it – anyone able to tell us what was at the end of the mast & how it got there?
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Woody on tour at Opua, BOI

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Christina

Leilani

Donna Maree

Woody On Tour at Opua, Bay of Islands 

Woody Ian McDonald was recently in the winterless north & popped down to the boatyard at Opua, in the Bay of Islands & snapped the 3 woodys above.
The first photo is Christina, a big heavy woody – obviously a workboat in her previous life, & set up for game /tuna/charter.
Then we have the very pretty Leilani, out for a spruce up. WW link here
Last up is Donna Maree, featured on WW as Donna “Marie” with a Dean Wright photo & an article entitled “Some days are just made for a wheelhouse” (link below). She has a very beautiful hull.