Category Archives: Launches

Lady Mae (Antipodes)

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Lady Mae

LADY MAE (Antipodes)
photo & details ex Evening Post (paperspast) via Peter Loughlin

The above press clipping shows Lady Mae moored at Port Nicholson just after her arrival from Auckland in late November 1939. She was purchased by a Mr L Boielle, who renamed her Antipodes. At the time of her trip from Auckland to Wellington, under the command of Auckland yachtsman Mr D Wellington, she probably set a record for the passage for a craft of her size. Powered by a 38h.p. Ailsa Craig diesel engine, she did the journey in 76 hours. In my eyes a very pretty & sensible  launch.

Anyone able to enlighten us on what became of her in Wellington & later years. And if she is still around today?

Harold Kidd Update

I don’t know her origins (yet) but she was owned by Herbert Walker in Auckland in 1938 as LADY MAE, obviously then a recent rename. Walker sold her to Boielle of Wellington and he commissioned Dick Wellington to deliver her to Wellington. Dick had just got back from a Pacific cruise in his ketch SEAWARD and was waiting to go into the RNZAF. He was later killed on operations over Germany.
Boielle renamed her ANTIPODES but sold her to the Police in 1941 for use by the waterfront police at Lyttelton and sailed down in November. In 1943 she was chartered to the RNZN for boom defence work at Wellington . After WW2 she was retained by the Gorvernment, renamed ROTOMAHANA and used as by the Tourist Dept on Lakes Rotomahana and Tarawera.
She was 34’x9’6″.

PS Herbert Walker was a well-known dentist in Auckland. With his brother J.M. Walker, Herbert owned several launches including the 27ft DRAYTON built for them in late 1912 by H.N. Burgess of Judges Bay and the second 35ft DRAYTON built in 1916. In 1939, Herbert Walker was Commodore of the NZ Power Boat Ass which changed its name that year to the Auckland Motor Yacht Club.
I still can’t figure out the builder of LADY MAE, but she did have that name as early as 1935.
I suspect that LADY MAE is involved in the complex swapping and renaming of launches between the Walkers, with their DRAYTONs, David Teed, with his MAUDE T’s, W A Wilkinson, with his SPEEDWELLs and H.D. Heather, with his ROTHESAYs which is a nightmare.
Herbert Walker married Mary May Henderson in 1927. Just maybe she’s named after her?
Work in progress…..

Lisa Rose

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LISA ROSE
photos & details ex trademe

Lisa Rose was built by C.E Thompson (Boat Builder & Motor Engineer) in Dargaville to pull out big Kauri logs via rivers.
She measures 22′ & is powered by a 1980 40hp Isuzu diesel, reconditioned in 2010,  the engine is keel cooled, making her an ideal vessel for going up rivers e.g. she can make it up the Puhoi river to the Puhoi Pub.

Lisa Rose is an old boat, possibly c.1940.  Keen to learn more re her past & year of build.

Harold Kidd Input

Charles Eric Thompson was born in 1875 and died in December 1965. A lot of his boat building was at Aratapu but he died living at Beach Road, Dargaville. He was building until late in his life, but even in 1940 he was 65. Nice model of a hull.

Mystery Launch 29-02-2018

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Mystery Launch 29-02-2018
photo ex A. Turnball Library / Whites Aviation

Todays photo is dated 29 Jan 1950 & is from the 100th Anniversary Day Regatta. The ferry spectators are watching the 18 footer race.
Who can ID the launch in the forefront?

A Salty Little Place – Port Motueka

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A Salty Little Place – Port Motueka
photos ex Daniel Renall

Dan, owner of the very beautiful & slippery classic yacht Jonquil* sent in the above gallery of photos from his recent trip south. They showcase a collection of the classic craft moored at the Port Motueka marina. As I jokingly commented to Dan, if you owned the varnish franchise for the area you would go broke very quickly 🙂
Some have been featured on ww before but if a southern woody is looking in on ww today, it would be nice to ID some of the vessels.

* check out Dan’s recent re-fit of Jonquil http://classicyacht.org.nz/cyaforum/topic/jonquil-winter-work-2015/

Remember to drop into ww on Sunday, I have a great post on the history behind the Okura gigs. A great read & lots of photos.

St Ayles Skiffs

You may recall a few weeks ago that ww featured the recent Raid NZ that took place in & around the greater Auckland area. The event featured the increasing popular St Ayles rowing skiffs. One of the international rowers was Murdo Macleod – click the link below to see Murdo’s photo essay of the event. You will quickly discover that Murdo is a professional photographer. This essay appeared in the UK newspaper/online ‘The Guardian’, some great coverage for the event & NZ.
http://www.theguardian.com/sport/ng-interactive/2016/feb/25/coastal-rowing-new-zealand-kiwi-st-ayles-skiff-raid

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PARIS (Alena)

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PARIS (Alena)
details ex previous owners via Ken Ricketts, rewritten by Alan H

The early origins of Paris are unknown but luckily her recent history is well recorded. The speculation is that she was built mid 1960’s  but the builder is a mystery. Ken would name his normal favorites – Shipbuilders, Lidgards etc but in terms of the ww records I will leave it blank until we unearth more info.

Paris is approx. 30′ long & powered by a 90hp 4 cyl Ford Dover diesel Moon Engine. The engine apparently originally had a mechanical gear box, which has been replaced in recent times.

Some History – starting in the late 1990’s. She was named ‘Alena’ at this stage.

• Purchased c.1997 by Warwick Tankard off a gentleman named Rod Gear (of Gale Plastics). When Tankard bought her she had been on the hard stand at Half Moon Bay marina for 3>4 years following a partial sinking. Tankard undertook the work required to return the vessel to the water & kept her at Bucklands Beach for approx. 5 years. During Tankards ownership c.2004 the vessel suffered an electrical fire on-board & was completely re-wired & at the same time the engine was replace with the Ford Dover.

• Tankard sold the vessel to Tony & Ember Emm c.2002. After purchase they used her for 6months then transported her to their back yard in Whenuapai and spent the next 18 mths. undertaking an extensive restoration. During this period they did extensive work to the cabin & decks, removed rot & glassed the hull 😦  The Emm’s renamed her Paris before re-launching her. Named in lieu of a much promised, never eventuated trip to Paris. During this period she was kept at WestPark marina.

• The Emm’s sold Paris on 26-06-2008 to Graham Melsop who only had her for a short time (2 summers) & during his ownership kept her at the OBC Marina in Orakei.

• Melsop sold her to Roland Hughes c.2009/10 & she moved around a lot during Hughes ownership – Tamaki River > Pine Harbour > West Park > Bayswater. In fact she was a neibour to my Raindance at Bayswater when Hughes was living aboard & it was always pleasing to know someone was keeping a watchful eye on my baby.

• Hughes sold Paris to present owner, Andrew Smith in 2015 & after some time on the hard at Bayswater to correct some ‘deferred’ maintenance she was moved to her new home at the Stillwater (Wade River).

During our Christmas / NY cruise I spotted Paris on Man-o-War Bay at Waiheke Island & she was looking very smart.

The photos above of Paris on the hard at Gulf Harbour were taken by Ken Rickets & the 2006 photos below are from the Emm collection

Keen to learn details of her earlier history including design / builder.

PARIS - 2006

27-02-2016 Photos below ex previous owner Warwick Tankard  via Ken Ricketts (scanned from low quality copies)

Sea Devil

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SEA DEVIL

Just when you think you know most of the restored classic launches out there, a ‘where-did-that-come-from’ slides into the bay.
Sea Devil dropped anchor alongside myself & Lady Margaret in Oneroa on Saturday. As Sgt. Shultz used to say in Hogans Heros – I know nothing about her but given she was flagging the RNZYS & Kawau Boating Club burgees someone out there must know her.

Her tram-top / doghouse configuration was a topic of conversation aboard Lady Margaret, there is a lot happening there but for a boat of her size it seems to work.

26-02-2016 update – photos below ex Harold Kidd during her ‘recent’ refit.

SEA DEIL 3a

SEA DEIL 6a

Rautangi

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RAUTANGI
photos & detail ex Nathan Herbert & trademe

Rautangi was built by Collings & Bell c.1935/36 for Mr. L. Steriker. She measures 37′ x 9’6″ x 2’8″ & is currently midway thru a major refit happening at Katikati in the Bay of Plenty. There is a 120hp diesel sitting in her at present. Owner needs to move her on due to ill health, details can be found on trademe.

As launch she was a very smart launch, nice project for someone.

16-08-2018 Update from Nigel Boyd

“Hi all
We have just purchased the Rautangi a kauri bridge decker featured on this website. She has been moved to my property 425 Krippner Road, Puhoi.

She was completely gutted and partly repaired by the pervious owner. I am told that she has been out of the water for 7 years.

We seek as much advice as possible on how to get her back into a usable state again. We have no previous experience in restoring wooden boats and done much reading on the internet. However, many conflicting views on how to do this properly has left us undecided on the way forwards.

I would much appreciate any guidance and advice on this project.

We welcome any visits from those who would like to see her and share their wisdom.

Regards
Nigel and Kim Boyd
0222596472

Miss Helen

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MISS HELEN
details ex Harold Kidd

We headed out at lunch time Saturday for an overnight trip to Waiheke Island. While Oneroa was like Ponsonby Rd on a Friday night we had talked ourselves into a pizza for dinner from the beach front wood-fired pizza wagon in Little Oneroa, so Oneroa it was. When the fizz boat day trippers departed at days end things were not too bad, still had to use strong words to question the intention of a Bayliner that was about to anchor on top of me 🙂
Highlight (after the pizza) of the weekend was getting to see the recently restored Miss Helen up close, she is one very good looking classic. I will let Harold tell us about her past.

She was built in 1930 by COLIN WILD for L.E. McQueen of Wairiki Road, Mt. Eden as AUDREY M and had a 125hp Lycoming 8 cylinder engine. McQueen had her dodger raised to give 6ft 6in headroom in October 1931 and had fresh water cooling installed. He then sold her to A.L Davenport who renamed her MAHSEER. Davenport sold her to Whittaker in 1934 and he renamed her LADY HELEN. He sold her to L.A. Marquet who sold her to A.E. Fuller of Russell in August 1937. She was altered for gamefishing. In August 1942 she was severely damaged coming ashore in a gale at Russell and substantially rebuilt again. Again she was renamed, MISS HELEN to tie in with the rest of  the Fuller fleet, MISS IDA, MISS KNOXIE, MISS RUSSELL etc.
BTW the Register of British Ships says she was built in Russell, which is incorrect, although she was re-built there once or twice.
McQueen, of course, had WILD build WAIRIKI in October 1934.

The Register of British Ships says she was built in 1932, which is also incorrect. The RBS is a very dodgy resource, especially where the vessel was registered well after she was built, as here.

To read more on Lady Helen & view older photos + restoration photos click the link below.

Miss Helen

Dropped the anchor near Lady Margaret (Colin Wild) & enjoyed a cleansing ale aboard with Peter Loughlin & partner Nicola. LM is looking very smart these days, with Peter doing a rolling restoration.

Lady Margaret PL

Quest II – Sailing Sunday

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QUEST II – Sailing Sunday
photo & details ex Dean Wright

The above photos were taken by Dean in August 2012, at the time Quest II had been moored in Opito Bay for a couple of seasons.
What she is & where she is now is a mystery – anyone able to contribute ?

ps I know I’m stretching the sailing angle but there is some canvas on her 😉

Nor West

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Nor West
photos & details ex Peter Crane

Peter has just taken possession of ‘Nor West’ & is a little frustrated with the lack of known info on. Obviously from the builders plate she is a Lane, designed & built in 1951 by the Lane Motor Boat Co. in Panmure, Auckland.
There is lots of data on ww about the other ‘Nor West’ built by Lanes https://waitematawoodys.com/2013/04/27/nor-west/  but zip on this one.

Can anyone help Peter out?

Update from Don Rae via Ken Ricketts, edited by Alan H. photos ex KR

Don Rae bought her  in July 2007 off  Cam Wilson. She was at Milford at that time. He in turn, had bought her from Peter Anderson, in July 2001 according to Don.

She has been everywhere from the top of North island right down to Tauranga and everywhere in between for the Raes.  They spent a lot of time in the Mahurangi area Don said.

Unfortunately Don didn’t have time to use her, at a time in his life when he feels he should be able to, hence she he put her up for sale.

Don had a love of launches from an early age as his father (Monty) had a Roy Parris boat built in 1954, the 33′ Pleasure Lady, which he is happy to say, is back in his family and fully restored & in beautiful condition. She is owned by his nephew Tony Rae. Previously featured on ww.

Nor West is a  wonderfully well built boat according to Don, and must have been very expensive in her day he says.

Powered by a petrol engine early on and now has a 6 cylinder 120hp Ford.

She was described as 32ft in sales jargon, when he bought her, but he measured her at 33′, with a beam of 10′ drawing 3’6″ .

Don feels the fly bridge was added  probably about the seventies, when they were all the go. She is built of heart kauri.

 20-03-2016
Below a two early days photos of Nor West sent in by owner Peter Crane, who received them from Warren Fleming.

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09-04-2016 – photos below (ex Ken Ricketts) of Nor West hauled out  at Gulf Harbour Nov 2015

30-05-2017 Additional photos