Category Archives: Non Waitemata

Otehei

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OTEHEI

Named after Zane Grey’s game fishing base which he set up at Otehei Bay, Urupukapuka Island in the Bay of Islands.

boat photo ex classicgameboatnz

Harold Kidd Update

OTEHEI was a sister-ship to the Collings & Bell-built hard chine launches built for various operators in the Bay of Islands in 1926-7 to service the game-fishing sport which had grown rapidly after an exploratory trip north by Colonel W.H. Hazard in his VIRGINIA in 1918. The other 3 launches to the same pattern were LORNA DOONE, ZANE GREY (later ALMA G II) and MANAAKI (photo below). These launches were all equipped with Redwing engines and were capable of 16 knots. OTEHEI was built for Frank Elliott who painted her red. Like the others, and the later AVALON, she was based at Zane Grey’s camp at Otehei on Urupukapuka Island.

She spent some time on Lake Taupo as GRACE DARLING but is now in Russell/Opua restored for the last 20 years or so as OTEHEI.

Manaaki- Xmas / NY – 201- 4

Manaaki Xmas/NY 2103-4

Manaaki Xmas/NY 2103-4

Ozone & Rosemary

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Continuing the game fishing link today – this time Ozone & Rosemary – more details below

photo ex classicgameboatnz

Harold Kidd Update

There were two OZONEs which makes matters confusing. The first was built by Collings & Bell in 1912. The second was built by Percy McIntosh in Whangarei in 1914 for Harold Vipond for the Auckland-Wade River trade but which Vipond took north to the Bay of Islands in 1925 or perhaps a tad earlier for game-fishing. 

ROSEMARY was built in St.Mary’s Bay by Leon Warne in December 1920 for himself and his brother George and was taken north for game-fishing out of Russell at about the same time as OZONE. The Warne brothers then set up boatbuilding, repairs as well as gameboat chartering at Russell. ROSEMARY originally had a Scripps 4 cylinder but was later fitted with a Redwing. There wasn’t much love lost between Chas. Collings and Leon Warne after Warne served his time with Collings and set up alongside him in 1916. Warne shared that opinion with Alf Bell who probably worked for Leon when he left the Walsh Brothers at Kohimarama; but Alf Bell didn’t build ROSEMARY. Perhaps there’s confusion because Warne’s foreman was Alf RAGG.

Both launches were very successful in promoting the deep sea angling sport in the Bay of Islands, both from Russell and Whangaroa. The boom in the sport was accelerated by Zane Grey’s involvement in the later 1920s but ground almost to a standstill in the Depression, picking up gain by 1937.

ROSEMARY was originally launched a a dashing flushdecker. See “N Z Vintage Launches” p92 for a pic of her at speed on the Waitemata in the 1925 Anniversary Regatta.

Cutting From Northern Advocate – 30 Dec 1920 ex Harold Kidd ex Papers Past

 

Avalon

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Avalon

AVALON
I do not know anything about the above launch other than she was actively engaged in the game fishing sport.
Any help re more info much appreciated.

photo ex classicgameboatnz

Harold Kidd Update

AVALON was built by Collings & Bell in December 1927 for Peter Williams of Russell for use as a game fishing boat in the Bay of Islands. She was one of Collings’ typical concave-convex square bilge designs, 36′ x 8’6″ x 3’6′. She had a 85-100hp Redwing engine and was designed for 16 knots. She was often chartered by Zane Grey who took her to Queensland in 1936 for game fishing there. Some few years ago she was exported to the US to the Zane Grey Museum, somehow avoiding the then Antiquities Act.

And more

OOPS Zane Grey chartered AVALON to chase sharks at Bermagui, NSW, not Queensland. She came back to NZ after the expedition of course. And I may have made a glib assumption that she was square bilge to his “concave-convex” design like the other Bay of Islands game launches he built like ALMA G and ZANE GREY (later ALMA G II) for the Arlidge brothers etc. I am doubting that somewhat and wonder if anyone can post a hull shot of her?

And more

All’s well. I’ve turned up a pic of AVALON clearly showing that she’s square bilge, like ALMA G, MANAAKI, LORNA DOONE and ZANE GREY also built for the Zane Grey game fishing circus.

1956 Sydney Hobart Race Film – Hard to Windward

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1956 Sydney Hobart Race Film – Hard to Windward

Lin Pardy has just posted a great youtube link on the WoodenBoat Forum for the 1956 Sydney > Hobart race. Lin’s comments below

“Kim Newstead, our hosts when we were invited to speak at the Hobart Wooden Boat Festival last year, just sent along a link to a wonderful 15 minute movie someone found in their garage. It is a professionally made program (16 or 17 minutes) from the 1956 Sydney Hobart Race, all on classic wooden boats, all with cotton sails, not a harness, pulpit or stern rail to be seen. Yes, times have changed. Thought everyone here might enjoy this.”

Paikea

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PAIKEA

Helped take Trinidad last Sunday to the Sandspit boat shed of Greg Lee Boatbuilder’s last Sunday, spied this classic – Paikea – moored just off the wharf at Sandspit. Can anyone shed some  light on her? Poor photos, facing into the sun.

On the trip north passed 4 different large pods of dolphins, the biggest pod was mooching around the moored boats at Sandspit. Photo (iphone) is of one of the smaller dolphins that kept us company for a while off Tiritir.

Harold Kidd Update

PAIKEA was built by Collings & Bell for A.H. Court and launched on 26th January 1921. She was fitted with a 120-150hp Model M Van Blerck 6 cylinder petrol engine (not a straight-eight Packard as is often said). PAIKEA had Chas. Collings’ “concave-convex” type of hard chine design which he made famous with his various FLEETWINGS and whale-chasers. Indeed she was a refinement of the FLEETWING whose image appears in the Collings & Bell section of WW.

PAIKEA was good for 20 knots and can still do it with her present big Iveco/Fiat, as I experienced not long ago at Sandspit. She goes like hell and stable with it.

Alf Court sold her to Hec Marler in 1925 and he sold her to R B & S S Wilson  just pre-WW2. She was in NAPS during WW2 as Z17. .

 

Bill’s Boat

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Bill’s Boat – this story needs a happy ending

Over fifty years ago I regularly helped a friend in Gisborne who was building a Tahiti ketch.

He was a most fastidious person and stories associated with his obtaining a
kauri tree in Coromandel, shipping the trunk to Gisborne where he milled it
into ten metre long planks, and then going about construction are legendary.

When it was fully planked, bulkheaded, decks and cabin tops fitted, along
with lead keel, Bill had to vacate the premises he was working in. He bought
an industrial property, built a workshop and accommodation on it, and
shifted the boat there as well.

At that stage Bill had other distractions and covered the boat hull under a
corrugated iron roof at the back of the property, and never did any
more work on it.

He recently passed away at a ripe old age and his Executors have asked me to
assist with its disposal in view of my knowledge of its history and
background.

I have recently inspected the boat closely and can confirm it is in the same
perfect condition it was in when I helped Bill  move it fifty years ago
(albeit suffering from a thick layer of dust and cobwebs which have accumulated
over that time)

It was primed with a coat of red lead primer, inside and out , prior to
moving. The boat was well caulked and there appears to have been absolutely
no movement in any of the planks since, and I suspect if dropped in the
water today, the hull would barely leak a drop.

In its current storage situation it is impossible to photograph it properly
but I have done what I can to illustrate aspects of its construction. The photo on                   the trailer was taken during its removal about fifty years ago.

Many of these boats were built worldwide, and Googling “Tahiti ketch” 
accesses a huge amount of information on them. They are not every
yachtsman’s cup of tea, but for someone with a taste for classic
yachts, and the ability to complete the fit out, acquiring this boat could be
a dream come true.

Ian Miller

09 4250952

Building a sawn frame boat

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Building a sawn frame boat

This mini movie of a stunning timber boat being built in Scotland, it is a fishing boat but the craftsmanship & finish is amazing to see & a real insight into the trade. Sawn frame boats were built in New Zealand as most of our early shipwrights were from England, Ireland or Scotland. Most of the ships built by the likes of Lane & Brown, Henry & George Nicoll and many more use this method. In small boat building it died out by about the late 1930’s. For example W.G. Lowe built most of their 40-50 fishing boats with sawn frame, Kia Ora, Moata. Percy Vos only ever built two, Waipawa and Waimana. Plank on steam bent frames (ribs) and three skin suited this size boat better and they were far more economical to build like this. The boat in the video was built in 1963 right at the tail end of the wooden boat era.

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Launches & Yacht at Tauranga Regatta

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Launches & Yacht at Tauranga Regatta

Would be interested to hear if anyone has another view but pretty sure these photos are from the Tauranga Regatta that used to follow the Auckland to Tauranga race in the late 1920’s – 1930’s.

The Guthrie family launch Alcestis (now Raiona) can be seen heading towards the bridge between the white hulled yacht & the bigger dark hulled steamer??. What made the ID easy was that Roger & Graham Guthrie’s grandfather (Hugh Douglas Guthrie) always wore either a captains hat or as in the case here – a white Panama hat.

 photos ex Roger Guthrie

Maritza II

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Maritea II

MARITZA II

The launch Maritza II on her journey to Lake Waikaremoana.

In the days before we had the boys from ‘Boat Haulage’ on the scene 🙂

photo ex classicboatnz

Harold Kidd Update:

The penny has dropped. It’s not MARITEA II but MARITZA. She was built by Peter A Smith, the Alpha marine engine agent in St. Mary’s Bay for himself in 1923. Like W R Twigg, Smith contracted to build launches, his input being the engine which usually cost over half the total price. He contracted out hulls to local builders, usually those handy to his premises in St. Mary’s Bay. This hull was built by Dick Lang before he left for Sydney during the transition of his business to Sam Ford so Sam Ford took some credit in advertising. She was 37ft x 9ft and was fitted with a 25hp Alpha (Danish) engine. Smith named her CYRENA. She was launched around Christmas 1923.

Smith sold her to the Manukau in September 1924. F G “Boy” Bellve of Herne Bay bought her and brought her back to the Waitemata in January 1926 and had her until he commissioned the keel yacht CYRENA from Collings & Bell in late 1938. 

Bellve sold the launch CYRENA to A M White of Ngatapa, Gisborne who renamed her MARITZA (II) and had her trucked over to Lake Waikaremoana on 6-7 October 1938.

PS I’m pretty sure the truck is a Diamond T with a locally-built cab.