PROTEUS
Proteus was built by Owen Woolley in 1968, she is 38’ in length & powered by twin Commer diesels. Current home is Chaffers Marina, Wellington. That folks is all her trademe listing tells us, can’t see her leaping of the listing sheets with that level of info…………….. Thanks to Ian McDonald for the listing heads up.
Do we know any more about her?
JEANETTE
Jeanette was built in 1914 by Lane & Brown, she measures 30’ LOA , with a beam of 7’9” & draft 2’6”. Power comes from a 73hp Nissan SD23 diesel engine, that allows her to cruise at 7-8 knots.
Presently moored at Sandspit / Kawau, her trademe listing states that she is a part of Northland History. What that means we do not know, hopefully some of the woodys & supply more intel on her past.
Harold Kidd Input – Well she was at Tutukaka for years then at Taipa. She may have been built by T.M. Lane & Sons at Mechanics Bay but not by Lane & Brown at Whangaroa who dissolved their partnership around 1902. T.M. Lane & Sons transferred their launch-building to Mechanics Bay in 1905 after they built SLIM JIM.
SKAGEN
One for the workboat woodys today, Skagen is a 36’ Danish double ender, built by Salthouse in 1973. She has a beam of 10’7” & draws 4’11” with a carvel kauri hull. Powered by a mighty 5LW Gardner diesel, 4 berths in 2 cabins, toilet, gas cooker, radar, 2 x GPS chart plotters, depth/fish finder, autopilot, hyd. steering, electric capstan, easy walk round side decks, wheelhouse side doors, steadying sail. A very salty ship that you would feel very safe in.
She spent over 10 years in commercial fishing on the East Coast & has recently been restored.
Look at the Kim Kardashian backside on her – that’s a work of art 😉
Thanks to Ian McDonald for the heads up on the trademe listing.
Input from David Glen – Skagen’ was moored in the Whangapoua Harbour, off Matarangi Wharf, for the best part of the last 20 years. She was owned by a local resident who worked in the local forests. She caught my eye at Matarangi in 90’s and she appeared to be well maintained, but seldom used. She looks good in the pics.
MERLIN – Sailing Sunday
I recently received a note from Andrew Hewitt from Ashburton, concerning his 22’ yacht Merlin. Andrew became custodian of her three years ago, when she was put up for sale by a broker on behalf of her former owner’s widow (Peter Beaven, a notable Christchurch architect and heritage advocate).
Peter had had her hull restored professionally in Christchurch some time previously, but the earthquakes and his ultimate death intervened. Andrew completed the job, rigged her and commissioned a trailer for her locally. So she’s now, home from the sea in her retirement – converted for use as a ‘trailer-sailor’ and lives protected from the elements in a boat shed at Lake Hood (just east of Ashburton) – where Andrew sails her when time allows.
Andrew commented that Harold Kidd kindly supplied a little history on her and Les McBean (Dunedin) also did a quite an extensive one (link here Les McBean Merlin), but unfortunately they contradict each other J According to Les, it seems she dates from around 1902 by Mr Derwent Aitcheson of Waikouaiti, where she was originally a fishing boat fitted with an engine. She appears to have been based there and Moeraki, moving about in the general Otago area. At some time mid-century she was converted to a yacht, and was well known in Otago Harbour for some decades, prior to becoming derelict and ultimate salvation by Peter Beaven.
The registration number seems original (V9) – it is on an old cotton sail that came with her.
Like all woodys, Merlin’s restoration is an ongoing thing….. the photos above ange from the fitting out/rigging stage at Andrew’s home to an early pic of Andrew under sail at Lake Hood.
Andrew is keen to discover more on Merlin past, to date he has made one or two connections through the Canterbury Classic Boat meets and tried both the Port Chalmers Maritime Museum and the two yacht clubs down there for info, but nothing forthcoming. The Museum at Waikouaiti knew of the builder, but didn’t supply any info when requested.
2017 Centreboard Cup – Herne Bay Yacht Club – Sat 9th Dec – Sloanes Beach, Herne Bay
Pencil midday on Saturday the 9th of December into the diary, the Herne Bay Crusing Club are hosting their legendary Centreboard Cup Regatta. Its one of the coolest sailing events in town & the venue is rather special.
Details here http://hbcc.net.nz/centreboardcup2017/
And check out my photos from a previous regatta. https://waitematawoodys.com/2015/12/20/whats-the-coolest-yacht-club-10-minutes-from-queen-st/
Anyone Looking For a Wooden Mast?
The Herne Bay Cruising Club have a 31’6″ laminated, hollow wooden mast that needs a home, the price will be very attractive if its for a classic yacht, if you want it as a flag pole expect to pay more 🙂 email Andrew Mason at a.mason@auckland.ac.nz
OUT AT KOPU
Above are a couple of ex work boats hauled out at Kopu – Deodar & Patricia Jane. The photos were sent in by Baden Pascoe from a recent trip to the Coromandel.
Deodar we all know & has been featured on WW before but what do we know about Patricia Jane? she is a rather large old girl – Baden commented that she looks like a converted South Island fishing boat.
Great story tomorrow on a rather stunning yacht that has been brought back to life & now calls Lake Hood (just east of Ashburton, South Island) home.
27-05-2019 Input from Julie Moore. – Julie advises that her 80 yr old father, Kevin Probyn used to own the Patricia Jane. He had been looking for his old boat for some time, wondering what had become of it. And they discovered the photo on WW. He purchased it in1970, from Picton where it was built. It’s a 50ft kauri ship & had a Gardner 8L3 engine. Kevin had it based in New Plymouth as a trawler and owned it for about 3 or 4 years, when he sold it to an outfit in Hawkes Bay.
A Woody On Tour
Woody Rick McCay & partner Roz have just returned from a jaunt around Europe, during which Rick took the above photos. Some very impressive woodys on show but I would expect nothing less from Rick, he has a very impressive collection of classic wheels & keels, one being the 1920 MT Lane, classic launch Luana.
The photo collection includes some wooden work boats in Syracuse, taxi and hire boats in Venice, Rick commented that some of which have more than a passing likeness to Tony Mason’s clippers. Rick even thought he had found a classic motorbike (below) but on closer inspection that famous Italian maker, Kawasaki, made it 🙂
Roz & Rick made a visit to Circolo della vela Sicilia, the America’s Cup challenger of record, set on a point at a beautiful beach at Mondello, near Palermo. Rick announced they were from Nuova Zelanda and just called in to say Hi. How impertinent of Rick, this guy goes purple in the face and shouts Privato! Privato!, which is pronounced Pi** Off. We are fortunate in this country with our freedoms, imagine the drama if they had tried to sit on their private beach 🙂
The Continuing Issue of Electrochemical Damage To Our Wooden Boats
I recently received an update from Bruce Mitchinson on the restoration work underway on his 36’, McGeady built (c.1950) classic launch, Lady Ellen. Unfortunately the old lady has a been struck with a dose of electrolysis.
You can see when the secondary shaft log was removed, electrolysis had destroyed the planking around the plate fastenings. The same problem around the main shaft log, and strut fixings, through structural members, which were all bonded together. The affected timber has been removed and new kauri blocks glued in and around the shaft log, keel bolts and floors.
The to-do list this week includes laminating up pilularis frames insitu, to replace the 15 broken, or electrolysis affected members that have been removed.This will complete the inside structural work, below the waterline, that had been put off until things dried out enough.
Other work has seen the old fuel tank removed and a clean up around the bilge in the engine bay Following this Bruce will be working his way forward with stripping and refastening on the outside of the hull.
The shaft, prop and drive couplings have gone down to Whangaparoa for adjustment, set up, and balancing.
Hats off to Bruce for doing the best of Lady Ellen. To read more on this problem, the causes & remedies – visit Chris McMullen’s WW story – link below. Its the most referenced story on WW.
Read more on her past & current restoration work at the links below.
https://waitematawoodys.com/2015/06/25/mystery-launch-25-06-2015/
https://waitematawoodys.com/2017/07/14/lady-ellen-restoration/
PIRI PONO on her slip at Two Mile Bay, Taupo, in the 1960’s
PIRI PONO at her final resting place (Maritime Museum)
LUYVON awaiting restoration at Taupo Oct 2017
TUI at the Clinker Boat Exhibition
THREE TAUPO BOATS
Post a visit by Paul Drake & his brothers to the 2017 Classic Yacht & Launch Exhibition & a side trip to the Auckland Maritime Museum, Paul sent me the above photos & the story below – which I have re-produced unedited as its perfect as is. Read & enjoy J
In the mid 1920’s, two gents and their families fell in love with Taupo. Both of them commissioned boats from Auckland builders. Hawke Bay’s Guy Rochfort had TUI (16 feet and clinker) built by Percy Vos. TUI was on display at the recent Classic Clinker Exhibition at the Viaduct in Auckland. Auckland’s Robert Laidlaw had the 17 foot speedboat SEAHORSE built by an unspecified builder. After a weather related fright on the lake in 1929, Robert approached Collings and Bell, and the 28 foot PIRI PONO (faithful friend) was the result. Honduras mahogany and bright finished, no expense was spared. PIRI PONO is on display at the Maritime Museum in Auckland. With her 150 HP straight eight Niagara, she weighed just over a ton and could do about 30 knots. Housed in her boatshed at Two Mile Bay, alongside Laidlaw’s house ‘Monte Vista’, access to the water was via a slipway. A private jetty and offshore mooring completed the picture.
PIRI PONO was the fastest boat on the lake. But by 1935, she had a rival in the form of local man Stan Gillies’s LUYVON, locally designed and built by Jack Taylor and measuring 22 feet. She was light (about half the weight of PIRI PONO) and powered with a Dodge, driving through an outboard drive. Informal drag races indicated that the boats were very similar in speed. A more formal test was required. Regatta Day 1936 (probably) was the day. PIRI PONO had her bottom waxed, new spark plugs fitted, all surplus gear removed, and half her fuel pumped out. The day dawned fine and calm, to PIRI PONO’s disadvantage. LUYVON and PIRI PONO lined up for the 20 lap race. LUYVON had the edge because she cornered faster – PIRI PONO would catch her on the straights. Robert Laidlaw ordered his crew (son Lincoln) to the aft cockpit to get the bow up a bit. Stan Gillies was still ahead. Back came Lincoln, returning aft with the anchor. This was enough. PIRI PONO won and Robert retained his title as fastest man on the lake.
PIRI PONO was commandeered by the Air Force during WW2 and was the Commodore’s launch at Hobsonville. They replaced the Niagara with a Chrysler (Crown?) and built a cabin over the forward cockpits. Having won the war, the Air Force returned PIRI PONO to Taupo. She was re-engined with twin Gray’s which are in her to this day. There are conflicting stories as to how this came about. One source has it that she was returned by the Air Force without an engine. Another has it that Laidlaw was disappointed with the speed produced by the Chrysler. Yet another has it that the Air Force wrote off the Chrysler while trying to reverse PIRI PONO off her transporter and into the lake (overheating due to lack of cooling water).
Laidlaw was an enthusiast. He was the founder of Farmers Trading Company. He was a very active Christian, and his name lives on in Laidlaw College, formerly the Bible College of New Zealand, which trains people for Christian ministry. He also has a rock named after him, informally at least. During an early evening spin in PIRI PONO, with 23 POB (so it is said), PIRI PONO struck, at speed, the large flat rock in Mine Bay between the islets and the shore at the eastern end of the bay. The damage must have been enormous and she quickly sank in a few metres of water. Passengers, some of them not-so-young ladies in fur coats, were rescued by nearby launches. Jack Taylor’s PONUI and VICTORY salvaged PIRI PONO the next day and she was repaired in time for the following summer.
Meanwhile, TUI led an uneventful life, and lived afloat in a Taupo Boat Harbour boatshed. LUYVON lived in a boatshed nearby, but was kept dry (and light) by being lifted clear of the water on a cradle once in the shed. LUYVON also survives, still owned by the Gillies family, and has been awaiting restoration for some 30 years now.
The book by Ian Hunter, ‘Robert Laidlaw – Man for our Time’ makes a very interesting read.
UPDATE 01-11-2017 Photo below showing TAMATI in the Lake Taupo Boat Harbour, with the fishing lodge (ex TONGARIRO) in the background, and the Collings and Bell PIRI PONO in the fore ground.
SEABIRD
Steve Thomas, the owner of the classic launch Seabird, that won line honors in the 2008 Centennial Rudder Cup, has just sent me the above collection of photos of Seabird hauled out at Nelson for a repaint.
Seabird was built in 1908 by James Reid & now looks set for another 100+ years.
Steve commented that he needed to redraw the waterline, after years of paint build up & “quick in and out jobs” done in the last few years.
Her old 6 Cyl Ford is still running sweetly & with a clean bum & new prop speed she cruises at about 10.5 knots.
Great to see what she looks like out of the water, with that shape, you would think she could really fly with a bigger power plant……… 😉
Under construction c.1903 at Little Barrier Island
Port Fitzroy GBI – May 1903
Big cave – NE Coast – April 1904
Ilex & Pirate at anchor – Port Fitzroy GBI – May 1903
June 27 1907
Final resting place
PIRATE – Sailing Sunday
Pirate was built by Robert H. Shakespear in a shed alongside his house on Little Barrier Island c1903.
Shakespear was a talented boat builder & worked for the Logan Bros and was involved in Ilex (seen in the above photos) and built Frances at Logans’ yard as a close twin to Victory.
He also had the Logan built clinker keeler Pandora to service his little farm on Little Barrier where he was custodian for a while.
Sadly, Little Barrier was not a friendly home to Pirate & she was ‘wrecked’ twice, the first time during a hard SW gale in June 1907, she was repaired but the second in July 1908 was fatal & she was winched ashore & put to rest under the tress on the Island.
(Photo credits & details – J Russell via the Hocken Collection, University of Otago, Nathan Herbert & Harold Kidd)
The 1895 C&W Bailey Yacht IDA For Sale
Ida resides in Australia these days & her owners have advised that they are interested to hear from anyone that would consider purchasing her (& hopefully repatriating her home).
Harold Kidd has commented on WW that IDA was built by C. & W. Bailey for the Jagger brothers and Frater and launched on 21 December 1895. She was a contemporary and competitor to the other 5 rater of that season, the Logan Bros’ MOANA. You can also view/read an excellent article on Ida by Harold in the November issue of Boating NZ (pages 148>151), on sale now.
Interested parties can contact Catherine Shirley cathshirley@gmail.com
You can read more about Ida here.
https://waitematawoodys.com/2016/05/15/ida-sailing-sunday-more/
UPDATE: Photos below ex Harold Kidd of IDA hauled out at Noakes yard in Sydney last week.
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