RUAHINE – Ex 1908 WORK BOAT
Todays woody is RUAHINE, an ex Lyttleton Harbour Board work boat, built by Charles Bailey c.1908.
And that woodys is all we know, Russell Ward spotted her on tme and before he noted any more details she was sold and the listing gone.
Russell is keen to learn more about RUAHINE, and hopefully who bought her and what the plans are.
WHAT DO WE KNOW ABOUT THE CLASSIC LAUNCH – NGATEA
Recently WW was contacted by Jeff Giddens concerning the launch NGATEA – best if I let Jeff tell the story
“Have attached a few photos of my good friend Alan’s boat – Ngatea.History……builder unknown apparently. Rumour has it, way back in the day she may have been some sort of mail boat to Kapiti Island. Ngatea is over 100 years old and was owned for a long time by well known boat builder Reg Saunders of Paremata. She was his pride and joy.
For the last 15 or so years she has been owned by another well-known Paremata identity, and ex fisherman Alan Codyre. As much as she needs a good clean up and TLC in her paint work, she is in outstanding condition for her age.We recently removed the old Perkins and refitted her with a wee Yanmar diesel. It would be great if anyone out there knows more about her history and where she was built and by whom.She is currently on a swing mooring in Ivy Bay Paremata.”
So woodyscan we help Jeff and Alan out and fill in the gaps re NGATEA’s back story.
BELOW – ON A GOOD DAY
DO NOT STOP LOVING YOUR CLASSIC WOODY
A wise old wooden boat builder told me once varnish on boats is like a house with a swimming pool – looks great, helps sell it but you soon get tied of the upkeep.
Well things have changed / improved with the development of some of ’new’ wonder products on the market but they still regular TLC, even if it’s just putting the covers on.
Today we see what 12 mths of neglect can do – sad, very sad. But dockside chat says that a tin of white paint could be on the horizon , so maybe its a work-in-progress.
AND WOODYS – REMEMBER TO GET DOWN TO THE WATERFRONT TO CHECK OUT TODAYS ANNIVERSARY DAY MOTORBOAT INNER HARBOUR RACE – 11 am – RACE START IN FRONT OF RNZYS CLUBROOMS – Course is down to Orakei Buoy and back to finish off RNZYS – so good viewing from most city-side waterfront locations. I’ll be there onboard the rocket ship seen in the photo below, hopefully defending the title – first across the line 🙂
1942 EX OTAGO HB CLASSIC WOODEN WORKBOAT – MARORO
When I get an email that has the boat name MARORO in the subject panel, it gets opened straight away – lots of classic boating history surrounding that name. Turns out todays woody is an ex Otago Harbour Board workboat, that started life as a tender to a OHB dredge.
MARORO was launched c.1942 and she is 30’ x 9’3” x 3’ and built from kauri carvel planks and rebuilt in 1990 and still owned by the family that rebuilt her. Powered by a Mazda 4cyl HA 76hp diesel engine, she has a cruising speed of 7>8 knots.
Home is still Dunedin and she looks like she could handle a sporty weather day + very well fitted out.
Each to there own but the mahogany interior doesn’t get a tick from me – a tad too perfect for an 80 yr old classic. (Thanks Ian McDonald for the tme heads up)
Remember – if you are at a loose end tomorrow (Monday), head down to Westhaven / waterfront to watch the Auckland Ann. Day Regatta – Classic MotorBoat Inner Harbour Racing.
WAS THIS MAHURANGI REGATTA OUR BEST CLASSIC WOODY EVENT EVER
As some of you will be aware todays Mahurangi Regatta was cancelled sadly for all the right reasons – the safety of our craft and people must always come first.
So today we flash back to 2020 , the biggest and best classic woody weekend on record – check out below and enjoy a vicarious regatta 🙂 https://waitematawoodys.com/2020/01/28/mahurangi-weekend-biggest-on-the-water-wooden-boating-event-down-under-200-classic-wooden-boat-photos/
MYSTERY LAKE TAUPO CLASSIC WOODEN LAUNCH
Todays craft appeared in the September 1955 edition of Sea Spray magazine. All we know is home was Lake Taupo and she was 25’ x 8’ x 2’3”, with a round bilge, professionally built from kauri, slept 4. And was powered by a ’near new’ Scripps V8 engine.
Must have been a zoom zoomed back then. I’m sure Paul Drake will help out with more intel.
(photo and details ex Sea Spray via Ken Ricketts)
CLASSIC WOODEN LAUNCH ALMEDA GETS A REFRESH
On Friday I point the car north for a quick trip to Sandspit Marina for the relaunch of the 36′ classic wooden launch ALMEDIA.
Some background – built by Alan (Snow) Waters in approx. 1972, designer unconfirmed but most likely by Walters himself with design leanings to John (Jack) Brooke.
Single skin strip plank hull and decks appear to be 2 layers of tongue & groove. She is powered by a 6 cylinder Ford. Home has been the Matakana River for 25+ years. Owner Kim needs a medal for his work ethic, the dock chat was that it was the speediest haul out and work schedule seen at the yard. Started on Dec 22nd 2025 = 4 weeks turnaround. Possibly helped by the self imposed rule ‘ No Beers Till Launch Day’ 🙂 Pre launching I caught up with Gregs Lees and his team at Lees Boatbuilders, Greg reports a healthy calendar of work to start the year, so thats good news for the wooden boating movement.
REMEMBER TO PICK UP A COPY OF THE 2026 MAHURANGI CRUISING CLUB YEAR BOOK – 4SALE AT THE PRIZE GIVING – ONLY $20
MYSTERY 20’ SOUTHERN CLINKER WOODEN BOAT
Last week WW was contacted by a Christchurch based gent named Mat Pascoe regarding a 20’ clinker craft he had just acquired.
Mat was hoping that the WW readers could help either confirm what he has been told about the craft and / or learn more.
Mat advised he purchased the old girl for $1, with the intention of getting her floating again. The lady Mat brought it off had no confirmed history, her dad was storing it possibly for someone and he passed away leaving the property it was at to her in his will and she wanted it gone asap.
At the time of purchase it was based in Kaiapoi. The river there was a working port up till the 1970’s so Mat thinks maybe it worked out of there. The seller also seemed to think it came from Sumner, it could have been tied up in Moncks Bay but she said she was just guessing at something her dad told her years ago.
As far as can be observed the hull is all native timber and it is all copper rove and rivets. The cabin may have been made later as it is possibly pine and plywood. Mat questioned if she may have been a fishing boat at some time. It’s fitted out with a single cylinder diesel. Possibly Dolphin brand but Mat can’t find any info on them making diesels. (Mat is by trade a diesel mechanic)
Mat has had a good dig around and scraped a bit of paint off in the places where you would expect a name would be and has not found anything.
Mat is 100% she was originally open topped with maybe a small deck at the bow and stern. He can see a change in the wood work in these areas where the cabin has been fitted. Probably explains why it is so narrow in the beam. Mat commented that a lot of the center line is made up of short lengths of timber scraped together as we. It’s like it was just built from what was around.
So Southern woodys – anyone know more about the boat or recognise her.
WHAT HAPPENED TO THE CLASSIC LAUNCH LADY JANE
Back in August 2025 we ran a story on the launch LADY JANE that after a submariner incident was being auctioned off. Link here to that story
We understand she did sell but to whom we do not know.
(edited – the wires out shorted / lost in translation – all too hard AH)
Over the break woody Barrie Abel sent in the top two photos of LADY JANE.
In the second photo we see Brian Harkin and his team at Pine Harbour after they did an awesome repair on her bow after storm damage 15 or so years ago.
So woodys and update / news on the whereabouts of LADY JANE.
Barrie also shared the photos below of his classic launch – MATIRA, hauled out at the CLEVEDON CRUISING CLUB yard for some TLC. Lucky man to have access to a shed 😉
2026 RUSSELL CLASSIC TALL SHIPS SAILING REGATTA
Following on from the weekends story on the Russell Boating Club’s classic wooden launch parade (link below), today thanks to BOI photographer – Dean Wright we get to enjoy some stunning photos from the race.
Classic launch parade https://waitematawoodys.com/2026/01/10/bay-of-island-russell-classic-launch-parade/
Later in the week you will be able to view the just of the race fleet here https://russellboatingclub.org.nz/tall-ships.html
To view the full race results click here https://russellboatingclub.org.nz/results/tall_ships_2026.htm
Below is the recently re-launched – MARLINE, the 1949/50’s Leon Warne built classic launch – out following the fleet.
A few of the zoom zommers watching the yacht race
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