Just prior to Christmas the owners of Alibi, a rather elegant Mason Clipper, quietly slipped her into Greg Lees shed at Sandspit. I understand that she’s in for a minimum of 3 months for a ‘makeover’ – we have seen some stunning makeovers from the shed in recent times. – Trinidad, Mahanui, Arohanui – so we look forward to following with interest – nudge nudge Greg Lees, photos please 🙂
(Photos ex Mason Marine Clippers fb)
Photo below Oct 1979 – Sea Trial on the Waitemata Harbour ex fb via K Ricketts
INPUT EX ALAN SEXTON – Copy of original Sea Spray article below + more photos from her recent haul out at the Sandspit yard.
You will note the she still has her original engines twin straight 6 Chrysler Mitsubishis.
21-04-2023 UPDATE – A PEEK INSIDE THE WORKSHOP – lots of Awlwood (Uroxsys) being applied 🙂 photos ex Mason Marine Clipper fb
A good friend owns the land we see in the above photos and came across the photos (Hamilton Library, strange location but it happens) while researching the original site / location of the Ti Point Wharf.
A stunning piece of coastline then and today – see photos below. Also home to award winning Ti Point Olive oil.
If you have behaved during the year, Santa will be sliding down your chimney tonight – I have high hopes my hints have been picked up on 😉
Todays photo comes to us via Lew Redwood’s fb and the quiz is – name the launch in the middle of bay, out from the Hotel Waitangi.
All answers to waitematawoodys@gmail.com closes 6pm today (23-12-2022) All correct answer go into the draw – PRIZE is a 2023 Lake Rotoiti Classic & Wooden Boat Calendar.
Todays woody comes to us from the camera of Dean Wright, taken on his recent southern jaunt.
Can we learn more about Seaway?
WOODY 2023 CALENDARS
The nice folks at Lake Rotoiti Classic & Wooden Boat have produced another impressive calendar, limited print run so order today. See link below to order a copy – $15 or three for $40 https://form.jotform.com/221770838085866
The 1929 Chas Bailey & Son built motor launch – Shenandoah has made several appearances on WW and we have seen her – as launched, in her war fatigues, restored and sadly neglected – way too many mentions on WW to list the links, just type her name in the WW search box to view.
Today thanks to Bruce Papworth we get a look at Shenandoah at sea and her crew war crew ashore – in the 2nd photo we get a rare sighting of the photographer – Tudor Collins, that is him second from right. He would have been on board Shenandoah in his role as photographer. Bruce P commented that he believed Hick Goodfellow was the captain. In the third photo, showing the Whangarei Town Basin there is a great collection of craft that had been commandeered by the NZ Navy for war service – that I can identify- we have:
Q03 – Shenandoah, Q08 – Lady Margaret, Q01 – Wirihana, Q02 – Maristella, Q12 – Lady Shirley and Z38 – Ranoni. In the last photo we have L>R Lady Margaret, Maristella and Wirihana. For more background on these craft, click on this link https://waitematawoodys.com/2019/11/23/whangarei-town-basin-1943/
The 40’ ex workboat Northern Star was built c.late 196o’s by Roger Carey in Picton, then c.2009 she was converted to a trawler cruiser / live aboard.
Forward motion is via a rebuilt 6LX Gardner that is keel cooled. Like all good southerns woodys there is a diesel heater to keep toastie below.
From her tme listing (thanks Ian McDonald) we see that she is very well fitted out for extended cruising.
INPUT ex Russell Ward – photo below taken 20+ years back, in Picton marina. Russell commented that they all looked so much better in working colours than in the stark white that present owners use.
Twice this year the Don Brooke designed 37’ launch – Tranquila, previously named Dundonald, has made a cameo appearances on WW. Now thanks to Ian McDonald spotting her on tme we get a better look. (fyi – recently sold)
Specs are – built in 1986 from double diagonal kauri (f/glassed) and powered by a Ford 120hp 6.2L 6 cyl. diesel.
Following up on Mondays story based on Dean Wrights photo gallery for Waikawa Bay marina, I was contacted by Greg Billington in regard to a photograph featured of his boat – the 33’ Baily built ‘Skipjack’. I’ll let Greg tell the story –
“You will see in the photo (number two above) that the mast is down, it is hinged because I formerly kept her in the Okahu Lagoon, which meant going under the Tamaki bridge. It is a new alloy mast, by the way, and considerably shorter than the former very heavy timber mast. On the occasion, some years ago that I laid it on its side in a beam sea crossing Bream Bay, I decided the timber mast was too much deadweight to bring back up! However, that the mast is hinged is convenient for a rather unexpected reason. I discovered that in winds around 20 knots, the new mast would vibrate. My first thought was to adjust the stays, but it made no difference. Then I learned about ‘vortex shedding.’ You may know that this can occur around any cylinder and in fact has caused the failure of even very large structures. At certain wind speeds, vortices form on the downwind side and create vibration. As it happens, it is easily remedied by doing a couple of turns of a rope or stay around the mast. In the marina I just lower the mast to the bow rail.
I’ve had Skipjack in Waikawa for 3 years now. Assuming that many Auckland boaties may not know too much about the Sounds, I thought some comparisons might be of interest. The Sounds comprise nearly 20 per cent of our total coastline – so lots of scope for exploring. However, it contrasts with the Gulf in several ways. First, it is adjacent to Cook Strait. Need I say more? On one occasion I spent three days in a bay because I couldn’t leave. It was not possible to see the other side of the Sound through the williwas. Another time I was alarmed by a crash and found my inflatable had been picked up by the wind and hurled into the stern. The slack painter was promptly severed by the prop and I watched with incredulity as the dinghy took off and literally flew for about 50 metres.
Then there’s the tides. It is a strange spectacle seeing enormous surface turbulence above depths of 50 plus metres, and for a Gulf boatie, being above 140m depth less than half a click offshore seems most peculiar. Then there’s the challenge of anchoring. Most boaties here rely on the network of club moorings because the magnificent hills of the Sounds, tend to go straight down. The Gulf is blessed with great bottom for anchoring. The Sounds are not! And finally, the water temperature…where I habitually dropped the pick in one of many bays in the Gulf islands and dived over for a decent swim, here, on a blistering hot day in mid-summer, one plunges in – and out! But the low temperature probably explains why good antifouling can go a couple of years and need nothing more than a soft waterblast. There are no goddamn barnacles!
But lest you think this is not a great place to boat, I include a pic of Skipjack anchored in Mistletoe Bay“.
Todays classic woody is the launch Varua, and was one of the craft that Dean Wright recently photographed at Waikawa Bay Marina. Certainly has that ‘Sounds’ boat look to her i.e. built to take a few green ones over the bow.
And that woodys is all we know – so who can help us added more details to her history and how she came to be berthed at Waikawa marina.
INPUT ex John Gander: ‘Varua’ 1959 built by Bob Swanson when his boatyard was in Blackwood bay Queen Charlotte Sound, now owned by Gavin Cooper used often and very well maintained. Bob Swanson built a lot of launches along similar lines. Very likely that Bill Orchard was in on her building he did his time with Bob Swanson, Bill used to walk over the hill from the from his parents home in the Kenepuru Sound.
14-12-2022 INPUT EX GREG BILLINGTON – I believe Varua was built in 1954 by Swanson in Blackwood Bay near Waikawa. A 12 tonne, 40-footer, she was owned for a long time by a chap who I think was known as ‘Brownie.’ He sold it to my brother John, about twenty years ago. At that point, she was pretty decrepit but with a sound hull. John commissioned local boat builder John Cooper to refurbish her, which included replacing the old Nissan with a 130hp Perkins, glassing the topsides, full paint job, replacing the electrics and plumbing and installing the davit for lifting the dinghy. I took her for her ‘maiden’ voyage after Cooper’s refit, resulting in a fine groper off Witt’s Rock in the Strait. My brother kept Varua in Waikawa for a while and then motored her up the East Coast to the Waitemata. However, not long after, he sold her (to switch to sailing), and she was bought by a couple of guys in Paremata, so headed south again. I’m unsure how long they retained ownership, in any event, John Cooper’s son, Gavin, bought her and she came back home to Waikawa. Gavin told me she had not been so well looked after, and he gave her a refresh and upgraded the cabin.
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