Category Archives: Launches

Kotare

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KOTARE

Designed by Bill Couldrey and built by Frank Wilkins, launched in 1961, Kotare is a ,28′ kauri planked launch, currently based in Kerikeri.
A CYA member is looking for more information on her past & present.

Bonito

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Bonito

BONITO

photo & info sourced by Ken Ricketts

Built in 1960 by Carl Augustin  for Dr Lindsay Brown of Auckland.

She is 34 ft long with 10ft 6 beam & was originally fitted with an 86 hp 6 cyl Ford Diesel with direct drive to a 14 x 14 propeller & cruising at about 14 knots & a top speed of 17 knots. In 1961 she was fitted with a 2 to 1 reduction gear driving a 20 x 27 propeller which took her to an economical cruising speed of 17 knots at 2 to 3 gallons of fuel per hour & top speed of 22 knots. – just shows the differences a reduction gear can make.

Any updates on her history, photos & present whereabouts would be appreciated.

Bonito

Bonito

Harold Kidd Update

I last saw BONITO in Mangonui in 1999 when she was owned by Jimmy Osborne who had owned her for nearly 20 years. After Dr. Lindsay Brown, who kept her until at least 1967, she was owned by P. Noakes of St. Stephens Ave in 1973.

Mystery Launch 24/06

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Mystery Launch 24/06

Mystery Launch 24/06

The above photo, according to its tag on Pictures-past was taken in 1946 & the launch is nudged into the causeway between Rangitoto Island & Motutapu Island.

Its a big ask but is anyone prepared to have a go at ID’ing her?. The square windows may help.

Yvonne

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At Mahurangi 2006
At Mahurangi 2006
Viaduct Harbour 2013

YVONNE
Where Is She Now?

Photo 2006 Mahurangi Regatta ex Jason Prew

All I know is that I saw her a couple of years ago hauled out at the Te Atatu Boat Club & last year I snapped a photo of her leaving the Viaduct Basin one afternoon.
Its claimed that she is possibly built by Lanes c.1924 – and I can hear Harold Kidd going “and weren’t  they all” when he reads this 🙂

She may have been a CYA boat in the mid / late 2000’s.

Harold Kidd Input

I can’t find the exact provenance for YVONNE but she was in existence in January 1924. Her long term owner (and possibly her first owner) was Andrew Ernest Graham of Browns Bay, later Takapuna. He was a painter and decorator by trade and kept YVONNE in Milford Creek. Later he moved to Te Aroha and sold YVONNE to H. Henderson in 1930. Henderson sold to B.G. Gribbon in 1936. In 2001 she was pretty derelict at Te Atatu but was nicely overhauled by Tony Broughton to her present state.
The story is that she was built by Lanes and that is entirely likely, but she could just as well have been built by any number of Auckland builders from, say, 1912 to to 1924 and may even have started life as a flushdecker under a different name.

PS However, I think she was brand new in January 1924 when she was scratch boat in the Anniversary Regatta launch race for launches under 7 knots, indicating probably that she had not raced before. The following year she was in the race for 7 to 9 knots but broke down..

Ann Michelle

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ANN MICHELLE

CYA members Janet and Bruce Pulman purchased Ann Michelle in July 2013 from Ken McDonald who had owned her for approx. 18 months, before he moved to Kerikeri. All the Pulmans know about owners prior to this is that she was owned by someone at Tanners Point for about 30 years, it has been suggested that she was built about 1952. The photo alongside the wharf, sporting blue paint is a ‘as purchased’ shot.
Any help would be appreciated in uncovering more about Ann Michelle. Hopefully with such a distinctive name someone will have rubbed up against her.

waitematawoodys network again provides the answers – very impressed 🙂

The two posts below will make the Pulmans happy.

Shamus Fairhall
I believe from Ken McDonald she is a Owen Wooly designed and built boat. Now berthed back at Owens old boat shed by the Panmure bridge ( Now Leader boat builders ). Great lines and a good example of Owen’s ” eye ” for proportion. Well done on the tidy up, looks great.

Des Workman
She was built by Owen Woolley for the Flecther family in Tauranga. Woolley built 3 x 26 fts. Anne was the last & best.My wife & I owned her for about 6 years & really loved her. I sold her about 1966 to someone from Tauranga. So I guess that would be the folk from Tanners Point.

Awana

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Awana shed

AWANA
Awana is a Brin Wilson design, launched in 1967. She is 36′ with a beam of 11’4″ and powdered by a 120 h.p. Ford motor.
Her current owners Rachel McKinnon and Derek Molander purchased her in March 2014 from the estate of Neil Johnson in Whangarei. Johnson purchased her in July 2012 from Tauranga (seller unknown). Her new home is Pine Harbour.
Her new owners have already started work bringing her into prime condition, to date they have hauled her out and changed her cabin sides from a brown stain (owners words) to a light grey, at the same time all her were removed & re-sealed + anti-fouling.
Her new owners report Awana is a very sea worthy boat and are looking forward to a long future with her.
Like all owners they are interested in uncovering more of her past – anyone able to help?

 

Siren

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Siren

photos & details ex Stuart Johnston

Siren is a 19ft Marlin launched at Onehunga just prior to Labour weekend 1958, it is believed she was one of the first if not the first 19ft version built by Sutton & Mason in Mt Roskill before Tony Mason set up Mason Marine. Siren was powered by 1958 35 HP Johnson and managed about 20MPH light and struggled to plane with a load. She was later repowered with firstly a 1960 40hp Johnson, and later by an early V4 50HP followed lastly by a 75HP Johnson. Stuart says that she was always a pretty vessel and with the bigger motors a joy to pilot, although launching off the beach at Stanmore Bay could be a mission, getting such a vessel through the soft sand, in the days before proper ramps were built.

Photos above show her new – being launched at Onehunga, cruising off Stanmore  Bay and Stuart’s Dad “hooning” at the same location. Stuart is not sure who’s who of the builders beside the boat but his Dad is the guy inside.

The big question – has she survived & if so where is she now?

Korara

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KORARA

photos & details ex Nathan Herbert

CYA member Nathan Herbert who is currently restoring the Coultard launch Lucinda is seeking more info on his other classic, Korara, the 37′ motor sailer built c.1960 by Alan (Snow) Waters for Ron Gurr.

Korara’s design came from a UK designer John E. Powell, Nathan has supplied reference material on Mary Islay (magazine pages) ex the Jack Brooke collection. See below.

Specs: LOA = 37′, Beam = 10’6″, Draught = 3’9″, Disp = 10.5 ton, Sail Area = Mizzen 107sqft – Genoa 277sqft, Engine = 120hp Ford, Speed = 9.5knts

There are big gaps in her history that Nathan would like to fill in.

click any image to enlarge

Some proof below of the wide readership of waitematawoodys.

A message from Paul Mimmack in the Channel Islands

“I was checking out ‘John E Powell’ on Google when I came across the page on KORARA.
I was very interested in her details and pictures as I am the present owner of MARY ISLAY!   I purchased her in 1992, but over time, work (Asst Harbourmaster & Coastguard SMC in Jersey CI) has got in the way of using and looking after her as I would like. But I retired 3 weeks ago so will give her some TLC over the next few years, starting when the weather improves in spring.
It is interesting to compare her with KORARA, having less cabin space as she was built as a Motor Fishing Yacht for Sir Giles Guthrie – a banker & chairman of BOAC – in 1957 at Aeromarine Ltd, Emsworth, Hampshire. Originally moored at Hamble, near Southampton until he sold it in 1962/3. There is no accommodation astern of the wheelhouse – just the walk-in (via short ladder each side) engine room.  The afterdeck was left open for fishing and has RNLI lifeboat type bronze wash ports.
As the specification says – built mainly of teak on an oak keel, there is some electrolysis in the oak around the rudder tube, which I need to sort out.
In 2004 I changed the original 2 stroke Foden 70hp diesel for a rebuilt Gardner 4LW of 62hp. It fitted, is quieter, more economical and more importantly I can still get spare parts.
She is rather a ‘wet’ hull, thus the Kent clearview screens get used in over f3 head winds, but comfortable. Her 10ft beam seems very ‘narrow’ for a boat today (but typical of the time), the steadying sail helps stop rolling in beam seas.
 
[I do have NZ contacts as my wife is from Auckland, she still has a brother, sister, aunt & uncle in town, with other relations spread around the country – we hope to be out next December]
Kind Regards
Paul Mimmack
St Lawrence
JERSEY
JE3 1JR
Channel Islands”

Waiari

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WAIARI

Mooching around Waiheke on the weekend I spotted this Woolley moored at Miatiatia. She had been berthed at Gulf Harbour for a long time & sold ex there approx. 18mths ago. Post the sale she has been given a birthday & is now looking very sharp.

Anyone able to shed light on her past & in fact confirm she is a Woolley.

MAKE SURE YOU READ THE COMMENTS SECTION – LOTS OF CHAT ON WAIARI THERE

09-05-2016 Tim Evill emailed me the below photos in early April of Waiari on hard at the Rocky Bay Memorial Cruising Club on Waiheke Island.

Lamorna

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Lamorna c1950 Lake Taupo

LAMORNA

photo & details ex Paul & Nigel Drake

Lamorna was built in 1937 by Colin Wild for J Blundell & specifically designed for trout fishing on Lake Taupo. The photo above was taken in the 1950’s.

As boys, on the Lake, the 4 Drake brothers admired Lamorna from the family’s C&G 22 footer Sir Francis – which they still use constantly today. Paul Drake recalls his father telling him that Lamorna had twin engines that were fully exposed with a chrome rail on each side of the alleyway their only protection from stumbling bodies.

Lamorna was for sale on trademe for a long time until reasonably recently. She looks very different now, with a new dodger extending forward, and the usual fully enclosed fly-bridge. See photos below ex Nigel, taken of her moored off Herald Island – note,  these do not show the full extent of the fly-bridge.

Below are three great photos from Lamorna’s past. Thanks to Harold Kidd for pointing the Papers Past links  to me 🙂

14 September 1937 – at Colin Wild’s Stanley Bay yard

16 November 1937 – Undergoing sea trials on the Waitemata Harbour prior to being trucked to Lake Taupo

25 November 1937 – being loaded for transport overland to Lake Taupo. Love the truck !

An Update from Steve & Dylan Needham – 18/10/2014

Here are some photos of Lamorna since we took possession of her at Herald
Island Auckland. Starting with survey and then taken to Geoff Bagnal’s yard
to make Lamorna sea worthy for the Cook straight crossing. Transport to Mana
by truck as you can see we had to cut the flying bridge off because of one
bridge. Looked quite good without it but we decided to re-attach it and then
made the voyage to the Marlborourgh Sounds where Lamorna is berthed at
Havelock where we are restoring her. We have had a lot of fun with her and
look forward to summer.