Category Archives: Non Waitemata

UENUKU ?

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UENUKU ?

I was recently contacted by Maureen Jenkinson who had seen the launch Uenuku featured in a WW March 2013 story. View on this link https://waitematawoodys.com/2013/04/18/uenuku/

Maureen believes the photo above of her grandfather’s boat, could be the same boat. Maureen believes it was built by my Grandfather, Archibald McMillan, at Kerepehi in the early 1900’s. The man in the photo is his friend Bill Stilton a farmer from the district. She believes Arch McMillan built mainly fishing vessels and so the Uenuku was something special. We don’t know who it was built for.

McMillian had to leave the area for Auckland about 1928 requiring medical treatment as a result of having been gassed in WW1, treatment that was only available in Auckland. Sadly he died in 1931 at the age of 40.

His maternal Great Grandfather, John Lees Faulkner was a boat builder, from Whitby Yorkshire, who built and operated coastal vessels between Tauranga and Whangarei.

Any woodys able to comment on the two vessels?

Harold Kidd Input – This image is of UENUKU built by Tom le Huquet of Devonport for T.A. Moresby of Paeroa in April 1912. The three oval windows in the clerestory are a dead giveaway. There’s a good Winkelmann image (below) of her aground at Katikati in Robin Elliott’s and my book “Vintage NZ Launches”.

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LAUGHING LADY – 1949 33’ USA LUDERS – COMMUTER / SPORT MOTOR BOAT REFURBISHED IN NEW ZEALAND

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LAUGHING LADY – 1949 33’ USA LUDERS COMMUTER / SPORT MOTOR BOAT REFURBISHED IN NEW ZEALAND
Yesterday, I was privileged to join a small group of friends of the extended Dreyer family at Omaha wharf to celebrate the re-launching of Laughing Lady, owned by brothers James & Michael.
 It’s hard to believe it was over 4 years ago that I first talked to James about the purchase of Laughing Lady in the USA & where would be a good home for her during her restoration. Given James overseas work schedule & desire to be hands on with the project, there really was only one option – the Whangateau boat yard, so that was where she went, just under 4 years ago.
With projects of this size & standard – the end result is always a reflection of the number & calibre of people that have ‘rubbed-up-against’ the vessel, in LL’s case there have been a lot – from Pam, George, James & an army of friends & family. As time ticked on & a re-launch date was set, more wooden boat artisans were roped in. Having seen LL in the flesh, the photos above do not do justice to the work that has been done on her, everyone should take a well deserved a bow.
I was very pleased to see that the project has been a restoration, not a rebuild, James & Michael have kept most things as close to ‘as-launched’ as possible – sure there is modern material & technology in play but its tucked away out of view – the GPS / nav unit is a perfect example, when not needed, it drops down out of sight – very James Bond.
Stunning boat, but the big question, where to keep her – anyone got a vacant boat shed for hire?
I hope you enjoy the photos as much as I did taking them.
The old lady has had a lot of air time on WW – click the clinks below to view the process (top > bottom) – enjoy
This link will show you photos of her being re – floated https://www.facebook.com/287523138699/photos/rpp.287523138699/10155947222558700/?type=3&theater

Mooching Around Nelson Marina

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Mooching Around Nelson Marina

A friend of mine, John Burland was recently mooching around the marina at Nelson & snapped the photos above.

Great to see that Lady Karita’s make-over is coming along nicely – I expect nothing less of Murray Shaw

Back in May 2017, I was sent some photos of Julia from Ross Dawson, the story did not un-earth any more info on the vessel, hopefully John B’s photo above will.

 

 

 

 

Not Everyone Had A Good Holiday Boating Experience

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Not Everyone Had A Good Holiday Boating Experience

I’ll keep the names of the photographers that sent me the above photos anonymous 😉

• Moana, the 23’ Max Carter built clinker day boat must have been in a hurry to get back into Milford Marina & cut the corner, not the first to suffer the embarrassment of waiting for the tide in a very public spot & they won’t be the last. It appears very little damage was done, other than a bruised ego.

• At the other end of the scale – a very large Azimut ‘kissed’ some rocks in the Bay of Islands at speed – the photos above of her hauled out only show a fraction of the damage – one prop was bent out of shape & the other almost non-existent. The gearboxes ‘exploded’ – a rather large insurance claim me thinks. And some marine engineer will be starting the new year with a big fat repair job.

• And another oops below from early evening yesterday, the photo was snapped in the next bay along from Chamberlains Bay, Ponui Island. Low water was 2 hours away from this photo so it was only going to get uglier.  

Seems someone didn’t allow for the downside of the current high tides i.e. very low low tides.

As they say folks – be careful out there.

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Arethusa In The B.O.I.

I posted yesterday a selection of photos taken by Dean Wright. Just like me, Dean’s normally behind the camera & we do not see this woody – the Bob Brown built, 100-year-old, 33’ classic Arethusa. The photo below was taken by Grant Anson, skipper of Marie-J.

You can see / read more on this amazing classic’s life at this link    http://deanwright.co.nz/history.html

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Woodys Holidaying In The Bay Of Islands

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Woodys Holidaying In The Bay Of Islands

Todays photos are from the camera of woody Dean Wright, taken over the Xmas / NY period, I love the one on Wirihana rolling around, sent it to her skipper Chris McMullen & he commented “We were coming into the bay from Cape Brett. A nasty on the beam sea. Any boat can roll when bit by a wave. Its when they keep rolling after the event…….” Chris commented the Wirihana handled it very well. Even with a roll on, Wirihana still looks beautiful – always does, from any angle.

I have to say Marie J is looking very smart, well done to the new(ish) owners. Also what do we know about the yacht Tuahine?

Which Boat Today ? Revisited

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Which Boat Today ?

If your names not Tony Stevenson that’s not a question many of us ask ourselves. When I picked up the Jan/Feb issue of the uber cool kiwi lifestyle magazine – NZ Life & Leisure, I discovered that there is someone else out there that’s been bitten by the classic boating bug, big time 🙂 Enter Charlotte & Richard Stevens, their menagerie of boats includes – ‘D’Urville’ a 70′ kauri, Laurent Giles designed motor boat, built by McMullen & Wing in 1975 – ‘Mickey Mouse’ a 1967 Ford 10 powered Albatross Motors speedboat – ‘Carvel’ their exquisite 1962 Norm Keen designed & built lake boat – a Frostbite, a Lazer, numerous canoes/kayaks & paddle boards AND a 45mph V8 powered ski boat. That ww followers is an impressive collection.

The article is a both a great read & a wonderful visual insight into the life & boats of Charlotte & Richard & we thank them for sharing it with us.

Todays post has been reproduced with the permission of Fairfax Media. The spectacular photos are from the camera of Tessa Chrisp & the words from the typewriter of Rebecca Hayter (NZ Boating editor). Check out the magazine at their website     http://nzlifeandleisure.co.nz

Note: if the images above are a little hard to read – you can view it here as a PDF file, click the blue link 😉

Lake Rotoiti

Gunk-holing up the Weti River in a 1902 Logan – Revisited

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So far there have been over 2,000 classic wooden boat stories featured on waitematawoodys & the viewing numbers (3,300,000) have grown from a dozen people to over 80,000. I have had some loyalists from day one but the big numbers have happened in the last 2 years – so not everyone will have been exposed to all the stories. Over the Christmas / NY period I have decided to take a peek back in time & feature some of the gems from the early days. Enjoy.

Have a great holiday & remember to take the camera / phone with you & snap a photo of any woodys you see. Email them to waitematawoodys@gmail.com

 

Gunk-holing up the Weti River in a 1902 Logan Motor Boat

photos ex Jason Prew at the helm of Otira

Despite the CYA Launch cruise / picnic being cancelled Jason Prew & Nathan Herbert + crew decided to launch Otira, the 1902 Logan day boat at Gulf Harbour & explore the upper reaches of the Waiti River. They made it passed the Silverdale road bridge, which is an impressive distance, along the way they passed an ‘interesting’ array of vessels. Enjoy 🙂  As always – click on any photo to enlarge.

For reference see below a recent photo of Otira at Lake Rotoiti Wooden Boat Parade

French Bay – Sailing Sunday – Revisited

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So far there have been over 2,000 classic wooden boat stories featured on waitematawoodys & the viewing numbers (3,300,000) have grown from a dozen people to over 80,000. I have had some loyalists from day one but the big numbers have happened in the last 2 years – so not everyone will have been exposed to all the stories. Over the Christmas / NY period I have decided to take a peek back in time & feature some of the gems from the early days. Enjoy.

Have a great holiday & remember to take the camera / phone with you & snap a photo of any woodys you see. Email them to waitematawoodys@gmail.com

 

French Bay – Sailing Sunday

This photo c.1935 was sent to me by Roger Guthrie. The location is French Bay.
The rather chic young woman in the dinghy is Roger & Graham Guthrie’s mum – Mary, wife of Ivan Guthrie. At the time of the photo Mary (maiden name Marion Alexander) was not married so the ‘older’ women with the parasol could have been her chaperon. The young bloke rowing looks very capable of getting them ashore safely 😉

Now is that an Idle Along in the background & is the boat sailing below, one as well (its from the same day)?

Restoring & Installing a Gardner in Arethusa – Revisited

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Restoring & Installing a Gardner in Arethusa

story & photos ex Dean Wright

It not often I get sent info on a boat & it jumps the queue & appears on ww the next day. If you have been following on ww the rolling restoration Dean has been doing on Arethusa over the last few years you would know two things, Arethusa is in very good hands & Deans a very talented commercial photographer. So the links below to Deans latest project – the restoration of a Gardner 4LW & subsequent installation in Arethusa are well worth check out.

Restoration     http://deanwright.co.nz/arethusa/log-arethusa/152-gardner-4lw-diesel-restoration.html

Installation      http://deanwright.co.nz/arethusa/log-arethusa/154-installing-the-gardner.html

Some history below

Arethusa ticked over 96 this year. She started life as a gaff rigged cutter, built by Bob Brown (designer of the Z class) at Sulphur Beach, Northcote. She’s carvel planked kauri, 33′ 4″ LOA with a 12′ Beam. With the aid of a fair bit of ballast she weighs 10 tonnes. She’s had an interesting life, more details here http://deanwright.co.nz/history.html

Royal Saxon – Revisited

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ROYAL SAXON
photos ex Mark Javis

After the amazing response to yesterdays post on Arohanui, which set an all time ww record for the most views in a single hour (1,707) it was always going to be a challenge to back it up. So when I received out of the blue a selection of photos of one of my favourite boats – Royal Saxon, from Motueka resident Mark Javis the challenge was solved.
Mark lives near a little old-world estuary where boats were once built and scows traded at the remaining wharf. A small number of woodys are still berthed there, one being Royal Saxon.

Royal Saxon was built by Colin Wild for Whangarei surveyor Harold Frederick Saxon Charlesworth and launched in October 1930. She is 33ft loa, 9ft 6in beam and draws just under 4ft. Lots more details & photos + a few good yarns found on the ww link below.

Royal Saxon

She is a very pretty boat & was once owned by Rick McCay who owns Luana, Rick is a man with a very good eye for beautiful things 😉

waitematawoody t-shirts – remember to get your order in – limited print run, full details here https://waitematawoodys.com/2015/11/22/waitematawoodys-t-shirts/

Old Logo ww shirt