Category Archives: Sailing Sunday

Classic Yacht Porn – Mariquita

Posted on by
Reply

Screen Shot 2020-08-01 at 4.06.16 PM

CLASSIC YACHT PORN – MARIQUITA

In February the worldwide owners of classic wooden yachts held their breath as one of the worlds most stunning classics – the 125’, 1911 W. Fife III designed and built – Mariquita, went to a no-reserve auction in Paris. This auction would probably set the bench mark for future sails. 
On the day Mariquita sold for £357,000 – that just over NZD$700k, a bargain and I bet you could hear a pin drop in the members bar at the – New York YC, Yacht Club de Monaco, Royal Yacht Club and the Royal Thames Yacht Club. Not that long ago the asking price was £2,750,000.
I came across the YouTube video below – ‘Sailing Aboard Mariquita’ on the Classic Sail fb page. It is a tad sales promo but a great video, they had British sailing legend, Harold Ludmore, onboard calling the shots. Its well worth 12’ of your time to watch. Below also is a transcript.

TRANSCRIPT

Take a look at this boat… she’s one of the most beautiful boats ever built…

She’s Mariquita launched in 1911 and she’s a piece of maritime history – an antique – but very much afloat and being raced like she was new.

I once joined her for a week in Italy sailing aboard as regatta crew, and it’s one of the best experiences I’ve  ever had.

She’s sailed as she would have been in 1911 – no winches , everything is done with pulleys on the deck and she’s gaff rig so there’s lots of cordage.

She has 18 crew – six are permanent, six sign on for a season and then they take on six for each regatta.

She was restored to be sailed at these big classic regattas – especially in the Mediterranean.

She’s a big class yacht – with a length on deck or overall being 95ft – taken out to 125ft over her bowsprit and boom. She draws 12ft… so she’s no creek crawler!

She was rebuilt and relaunched in 2004, by Fairlie restorations, now sadly no more. The craftsmanship of her restoration was superlative, I saw her at the time and every feature about her was excellent. They’d recreated a dream-boat from another time and now instead of being in black and white here was the honey colour of her varnished hatches, the polished brass of her fittings and the lovely warm grey of her teak decks – which feel so good under bare feet.

She’s composite construction so she has a steel rib cage – or frame, over which wooden planks are fastened, and this was how she was built originally. It makes her very strong and she has been and she can… be raced hard.

Her first owner was Arthur Stothert, who was 49 when he had her built in 1911. Her designer was William Fife. She’s built to the 19 M rule – only four boats were built – all in 1911 and Fife built two of them, the other two were by Nicholson and Mylne…

They raced briefly before the first world war and then Mariquita was sold to Norway… she raced again in Britain between the wars – but there was no 19-M class by then, and then she ended up dismasted and de-rigged in a mud berth in WW2 first at the Deben and later on the Orwell at Pin Mill. There she lay as a houseboat, and that was where she was discovered in 1987 by William Collier who was scouting out such classics for the famous Ferrari collector Albert Obrist.

Obrist, who had sold most of his cars, had moved on to boats and had restored and just relaunched the 107ft (33m) 1931 Fife schooner Altair – often cited as the restoration that set the standards for all to follow.

In 1991 Obrist set up Fairlie Restorations, the high quality classic yacht specialist on the Hamble. Mariquita was acquired awaiting an owner and Ernst Klaus and Peter Livanos came to her rescue having a superb restoration completed at Fairlies between 2001 and 2004.

They kept and race Mariquita until her centenerary year – with Jim Thom as her captain… and then ten years later… with her new owners and skipper I got a chance to sail aboard.

This was at Porto Santo Stefano for the Argentario sailing week every June since 1998 in lovely Southern Tuscany.

I was to be one of the six regatta crew they take on for a week… First things first – you get assigned your personal water bottle – no single use plastic here… I met some old friends – Cornelius and Dickie.

The pros are up early, Billy the bosun coils ropes along with Robyn and Pippa, who are sailors as well as chief stewardess and cook

I meet George the captain, who was Jim Thom’s mate – talking to Matty the mate and then the helmsman – also the owner – Johnny Caulcutt came aboard…

Soon it was time to meet a sailing legend – Harold Cudmore who is our tactician for the week. The days start with warm up exercises which include a few stretches and we all get a bit hands on as well – this is a good idea and gets you ready for when you are going to do some pulley hauling… And it’s time to raise the sails.

Cudmore’s already counting down to the start and I’m up here on the foredeck, with Richard Sawle and the bowman Jérôme Collet – Jerome’s a relaxed kind of cat – until he needs to leap into the rigging. Matty the mate and Millie are also on the foredeck, and from my position at the end of the mainsheet I can see right back down the deck.

The sheet is called by Peter or Tubsy Brook. I help in hanking on the jib topsail… It’s good to be out on the bowsprit when you’re office bound… of course in my head I still think I’m the schoonerman of my youth!

Fully rigged she looks fully dressed – with a lot of sail area high up to catch the wind; note the jib topsl which is flaked and tied up in wool ready to be broken out by tugging it sheet when needed…

With an upwind sail area of more than 6,000 sq feet she’s capable of kicking up some sea dust – even in these light airs.

If people in Santo Stefano look out of their window they get a nice view today – we’re here with some other big boats –Shamrock and Cambria

Shamrock V was the first J Class to be built – in 1930 – for Thomas Lipton’s fifth attempt to win back the America’s Cup for Britain. She’s uncompetitive in the modern J Class but she just leaves us in her wake… she’s built of wood on steel frames as well.

Eleonora the replica Herreshoff schooner is the biggest vessel here…

Between tacks the crew lies on the weather deck, with Milly, forward, calling the trim on the jib with hand signals.

The folk of another Fife – Halloween, from 1926 and a Bermudan design are slowly overtaking us… The next boat to overtake us is Cambria and she takes about four minutes to haul ahead – hand over hand she’s the faster boat and although our gaff handicap will help she’s the one to beat – she won in our class the year before.

And has Cudmore got a plan? I like his look of concentration – and it turns out, the next day he does…  But we’re sailing well and the pros have taken us newbies in hand – hauling on ropes can be hard work – but my hands aren’t sore…

A few hours later we get to the end of the race and realise Cambria has missed a mark – she’s stopped and her sails are coming down. They get radioed and put them back up to carry on racing. Later Cudmore notes that it gave us 23 minutes on them, we have won… Day One. We have a beer with our debrief and there are tacit congratulations… Cudmore mentions the light airs are suiting us with Shamrock V as well – plus they left their big genoa behind.

Saturday’s a magic day – not just to be sailing in these waters, but we’re going to see a master tactician at work

The race is about 26 miles in a flat diamond course north of Porto Santo Stefano out into deeper water and then round a second mark in the bay of Talamoné  – the third mark is an inshore-ish mark

The wind forecast had the wind backing SW to SE – mainly light airs – which would suit us.

The race starts well and shortly after midday we’ve rounded the second mark – Cambria is ahead of us, and we can see her slowed right down with yachts around her pointing in different directions –

Away off to port on the shoreside the NY40 Chinook is hugging the shoreline and she has wind… Cudmore alters us to steer between Chinook and Cambria. And unbelievably there is enough air to carry us past them. We are literally 200 yards to Cambria‘s port… we hit the convergence ourselves about a couple of minutes later and Cudmore has everyone lying on deck with the sails sheeted amidships… we don’t dare breathe as we feel the 36 tons of lead carrying us forward with sheer silent momentum through the pellucid green waters below.

It was extraordinary thing to call  and even better to witness, especially sailing that close to the convergence zone which was caused by the meeting of an offshore and offshore breeze…

Later Harold told me: “There were two breezes today and we had three occasions – crossing back and forwards between them – to benefit from that. Picking where and how to do that was the race decider.

“Cambria was clearly ahead of us but when she lost her wind we saw a smaller boat over on the shore side (Chinook) which had wind, so we could steer between the two and just keep our wind (and stay out of the convergence). Today was a day you would call a heads-out-of-the-boat day. We were all looking at what was happening around us – but there was also a lot of luck involved.

“I think it’s great that we are beginning to race these boats as they were raced 100 years ago and we have more and more respect for our forebears who raced them then. We have better materials now – better rope and so on – but otherwise the conditions are similar.”

It gave us another decisive win and Harold was rightly congratulated; when he comes into the Marco Polo restaurant later that evening he gets a round of applause.

After that a win the next day seems assured. We are on a high. Captain George says this is the first time since she was launched that Mariquita won three races in a row… It’s an auspicious season start – that year she wins the Panerai Trophy in the Big Class overall…

It was a shame to hear she was laid up in Lymington – under covers in 2015 and has been ever since – but there are a few of us who can’t afford to run boats at the moment… She remains a boat of dreams, a vessel that others flock to see. And I treasure that week, the fantastic sailing… and seeing Mr Cudmore’s genius at work.

Mariquita 1911, Designed by Wm Fife III

LOS 125ft (38m)
LOA 95ft 6in (29m)
LWL 66ft (19m)
beam  17ft 4in (5.3m)
Draught  12ft (3.7m)
Sail area Upwind  6,171 sqft (573m2)

Log of The Rawhiti – bringing her home – Sydney to Auckland Passage

Posted on by
2

LOG of The RAWHITI – 1947 Sydney > Auckland Passage

The log is reproduced below via the generosity of the Mahurangi cruising club, who ran an abridged version in the 2020 year book. Click link below to read/view – its a cool story, enjoy

The Log of the Rawhiti

Today’s WW story is an amazing account of the return of the 1905 Arch Logan designed, Logan Bros built yacht – Rawhiti from Sydney, Australia to its place off birth – Auckland, New Zealand.

Almost immediately after her 1905 launch Rawhiti headed off across the Tasman to Sydney where she spent the next 41 years. Sadly the last 10 of those years saw her laid up on the hard, rapidly deteriorating.

Luckily for the yacht and all classic boaters in New Zealand, Sydney Ernest Marler (Hek to most) entered the scene and purchased Rawhiti and immediately made plans to sail her back to NZ. Some rather questionable repairs were undertaken and she set sail on December 17th 1947. Her crew for the passage was Hek + Peter Henley (navigator) Brian Lane (shipwright) Roy Johnson (bos’n and ships ‘surgeon’) Norman Vickery (signaller and radio operator)

The passage was recorded in the form of a ships log, written by Hek to his father Hank ((Henry Maitland Marler) outlining the voyage and the crew’s experiences. The trip took 11 days, said to be a record passage from Sydney to Russell, Bay of Islands, that was unbeaten until the 1970’s. 36 hours of the 11 days saw the yacht becalmed, so woodys she was greyhound 🙂

It would be an understatement to say it was a pleasant passage – Brian Lane is on record saying that they were very lucky, if the weather had got any worse they wouldn’t have made it, Rawhiti was hopeless at laying up into the wind. But very fast, built to race on the Waitemata Harbour not ocean passages. At times they trailed anything spare off the stern in an attempt to slow her down. Brian constantly thought she would split in two when coming down off a wave, no splash just a crash that Brian described as like being dropped off the back of a truck onto a concrete road. If he had known the yachts condition and blue water abilities, he would not have ventured past Sydney heads – but they did and Hek went on to raise a family with salt very much in their veins. Son Bruce and grandson Rod continuing the families association with wooden sailing craft.

In the mid 2000’s Rawhiti underwent a total rebuild / restoration while in the ownership of Greg Lee, Greg and master wooden boat builder Peter Brookes conducted the 7 year restoration. Without a doubt she is New Zealand’s finest restoration of a classic wooden vessel. If you search Rawhiti in the WW search box you will get an insight into the restoration.

I bet her crew on the passage back to Auckland in 1947 would not have imaged that 73 years later she would still be sailing and commanding a prime spot  on the world classic wooden boat stage. One of the worlds most admired (&selling) wooden boating items is the Calendar of Wooden Boats by Benjamin Mendlowitz and Maynard Bray. Rawhiti is centre stage in the 2021 edition for the month of March. As are two of our launches – Jason Prew’s – My Girl (April) and Peter Boardman’s – Lady Margaret (June). Owning 25% of that real estate is pretty good for little old NZ, but it comes at a price and that price is all the time that a small bunch of woodys put in making Ben and Maynard so welcome in NZ.

Copies of the 2021 edition are available at

 https://www.woodenboatscalendar.com/wooden-boats-calendar.html 

 

 

Rawhiti (Jnr) N13 – Sailing Sunday

Posted on by
3

Rawhiti Jnr

RAWHITI (Jnr) N13 – Sailing Sunday
The great story below was sent to me by Vaughan Kearns of Allom Bay, Great Barrier Island, concerning the Andy Tobin 1906 built 20’ mullet boat (thanks HDK for intel) – Rawhiti junior, that his ex brother-in-law, Vernon Harris owned. Sometimes it better to let others tell the story, so take it away Vaughan, WW is all yours.
 

“I have just come across your website  and read the piece about a Mrs Batten who was inquiring into the whereabouts of Rawhiti junior. I don’t know how long ago that posting was made as it appears undated.
I would be interested to tell what I know about her.
My recollection was that she was built in 1904 not 1906 as Mr Kidd has suggested but I stand to be corrected.
She was last owned by my previous brother in law Vernon Harris  now of Hahei. 
Vern and I did some restoration on her in the 80’s. The most exciting thing was removing the “baby Austin 7 “ inboard petrol engine from her cockpit. We threw it onto the beach in Whitianga on a low tide and waited till the tide came in to see what difference having 200 kg of steel removed from her rear end would make to her handling. It was phenomenal of course, an absolute pleasure to sail after that. Vern acquired a small seagull outboard for the times when there was no wind to shift her.
We assume she was once yawl rigged but in our time the rear mast was just a stub that we used to attach stern lines. A previous owner had modified the main mast , presumably so she could be brought under a low bridge as it was set up to hinge fore and aft.
Vern and I had numerous trips between Mercury Bay and Great Barrier in the 80’s, I have wonderful memories of those trips bringing gear our from the Coromandel  to start an alternative lifestyle on Barrier . I don’t think she was 20 ft , perhaps a little less. She had her bowsprit shortened , but we still used two headsails on occasion. Her original centreboard had been replaced with a solid keel which held a large long block of lead , she drew only 18”. She was a pleasure to unload gear from in knee deep water without grounding.
Unfortunately in 1989 she was badly damaged in a substantial storm that struck her while moored in Allom Bay which is the Southern most Bay of Blind Bay on the West Coast of Barrier where I still live on occasion.  She had an open cockpit and simply filled with rain and seawater as she thrashed about on her mooring, which held her but she finally sank.
That would have been OK with her resting on the bottom, but as the tide receded , the swell bashed her repeatedly on the sandy bottom. With a large load of loose lead lying in her bilges , there were attempts to dive under the foaming surf and remove some of it. But as a near drowning occurred, this idea was given up .
The end result was that planks broke loose from her stem both above and below the waterline on port and starboard sides.
As the storm abated she was able to be moved into the creek in Allom Bay where she lay in a rudimentary cradle as the tide came in and out around her but she would never float again.
While decisions were made about if and how she could be saved, Mother Nature took the opportunity away.
A deluge of exceptional proportions, only weeks after her sinking, swept her out into the Bay , where she has never been seen since.
Although I have been snorkeling and diving , as have many others in the Bay, she has yet to make a reappearance.
The cabin tops (2), the forward hatch , the rigging and sails were all saved along with the beautiful rudder and tiller, but that was all.
One cabin top became the roof for a chook house and the other still keeps the rain off when visiting the long drop. None of these parts were original though.
The loss of Rawhiti affected Vern badly. As has been said often , we may call ourselves owners , but we are also custodians of historic treasures , so to lose  her on our watch was hard to bear. He eventually shifted away from Allom Bay back to Whitianga. I understand he may be, or has been the Commodore of the Yacht Club there”.

13-07-2020 Input from Robin Elliott ex Auckland Star 29th Sept. 1906

Screen Shot 2020-07-13 at 12.24.15 PM

CLEVEDON WOODY CRUISE – ARE YOU COMING ? – 15 WOODYS CONFIRMED SO FAR. RSVP TO    waitematawoodys@gmail.com       – all welcome, details below 🙂

Woody Classics Weekend Clevedon #2 copy

Matatua & Floss – Sailing Sunday

Posted on by
11

029

049

031

MATATUA

Picton boat builder Mike Coutts is doing a shout out to see if anyone would be interested in getting involved in the restoration of the 1938, Jim Lidgard built, 32’9″ yacht Matatua that he has taken over. Any help, advice or information would be welcome. I’ll let Mike tell the story.
Anyone able to help out – contact Mike via email at kootamac@gmail.com
 
“I have been given Matatua to restore , i can do anything given the time and money but both are in short supply here at present ! she has a lot of history in Wellington with Port Nick and has sailed to all corners of the Pacific several times that i know of. I served my time with John Lidgard and i have asked him and he said she was one of Jim Lidgard’s designs and built at Kauwau Island but he cant recall much more . Some one bolted a steel rudder and skeg , mounted a Coventry engine on steel engine beds, put an alloy mast on a steel mast step and extended the hull by about a meter . As you can imagine the dilignafication in some of these areas is quite severe, I told 2 previous owners that they had to get the steel out of her to no avail 25 years ago ! i have her on the hard at $150 a week and have got the steel rudder skeg off and working on the engine beds, mast out next and remove the steel mast step, chainplates etc . I would like to restore her but at this stage just trying to preserve whats left , which is surprisingly good, another testiment to Kiwi boat building and heart kauri” 
02-07-2020 Input from Robin Elliott and Harold Kidd

Harold and I have finally sorted the mystery of Matatua (well it was only a mystery to us, the rest of the world couldn’t care less 🙂 ).

Matatua was built as a 33-foot ketch by Roy Lidgard in 1938 at their yard in Freemans Bay Auckland for C.T. Jonas who originally named her Landfall.
NZ Herald 13/8/1938 has a photo of her on page 12 being built ‘for C.T. Jonas’.
Landfall was launched 19/11/1938 and described as an ‘auxilliary ketch’ 33ft overall, 26ft on the waterline with 9ft 6in beam. She carried 600 sq ft of sail and it was reported that her owner intended making a cruise to the islands at the end of the 1938-39 season.

From then on, no more mention of Landfall and it appears that C.T. Jonas and his co-owner Harry Gillard, renamed her Matatua quite soon after launching.

The ketch Matatua first appears in print in February 1939 racing with other boats in the Lidgard employees picnic from the Freemans Bay slipway to Motuihe. She raced regularly with RNZYS and RAYC for the rest of the season. Her registration number was B-9.

The ketch rig clearly wasn’t a success because in September 1939 the NZH 26/9/39 reports ‘aux yacht Landfall owned by C.T. Jonas which made an appearance last year under ketch rig has been converted into a cutter’. This reference to Landfall is odd because she had been named Matatua since at least the beginning of 1939, but maybe they were just making the connection back their earlier articles.

In the winter of 1940, yet more improvements.
NZH 2/7/40: B-class yacht Matatua owned by C. Jonas has had 2ft 6in added to her counter by Lidgard Bros. OA length now 35ft 6in and will enable carrying a permanent backstay,
NZH 9/12/40: Photo of Matatua with her new cutter rig, B-9 on the sail.

The war intervenes and Matatua ceases racing.

During this time the Auckland yacht registration records, probably having been moved about or in storage during the war, had fallen into disarray. By the time a new list is published in July 1946, Matatua has been registered twice, first by Harry Gillard, who retained B-9, and again by C.T. Jonas who got a new number B-24. The error was picked up and B-24 lapsed but it remained in the official lists for a couple of seasons until another purge of obsolete registrations in 1948.

Clarrie Irvine raced Matatua, as B-9, for the next couple of seasons and sold her in 1949 to R. Campbell of Wellington. The trip to Wellington under delivery skipper Terry Hammond was hard and they were missing for several days after hitting a nor’westerly gale just off Cape Palliser that blew them as far south as Kaikoura. After getting back to almost the same spot, they ran into a westerly gale that blew them back out to sea. Eventually Matatua got to Wellington, her crew had been battered for 84 hours.

Matatua remained in Wellington (registered as Wellington A-10) for the next 12 years or so. She was purchased by K. Stutter in 1957, and in 1962 was sold to D. Fletcher of Epsom who brought her back to Auckland where she picked up her old number of B-9. Fletcher didn’t appear to do any racing but in 1968 he sold her to George Retter of the Richmond Yacht Club who owned and raced her until 1981.

Matatua has had no registered owners since then. Her NZYF number is 109

One major confusion with Matatua has been the Bob Stewart design Mata-a-tua built for George Gresham of Tauranga in 1947. When Matatua was sold to Wellington, her B-9 registration became vacant and was issued to Gresham’s Mata-a-tua thus beginning a series of tortured confusions in boating magazines and newspapers between the two boats.

This was continued when Mata-a-tua was also sold to Wellington in 1958 where she became Wellington A-9. Her owner Brian Millar brought her to Auckland in 1964 and she entered the 1965 Anniversary Regatta under her Wellington number A-9. (A-9?.. A-9??.. That’s Moana and We can’t have that!!) In February she was re-registered as B-47.

Another tedious ‘golly gee’ point. Both Clarrie Irvine and George Retter owned the Bailey built C-class Matua C-54. Both of them sold Matua to buy Matatua

I have been told to ‘get a life’ by many people.

 

FLOSS – 4sale
Recently Baden Pascoe sent me details on Floss – the sailing dinghy below. Baden’s father Howard, built the glued ply dinghy which is now for sale. Owner Jock Speedy is only the second owner. I understand Jock is open to reasonable offers. Contact via email at jmspeedy55@gmail.com
IMG-0924

Mana

Posted on by
5

IMG_20200117_112547221_HDR

MANA

Back in late February, David Cooke sent me the above photos which were sent to him by Ken McGill.
I’m not sure of the location, possibly Mana ?
Can anyone ID the yacht?
Input from Jason Prew – It’s the Col Wild built and designed Mana with the (in)famous Sam McGill looking after this haul out.
And at the other end of the scale – some eye candy below – the 1934, 30-Square Metre, 43’ yacht – Tre Sang, seen here leaving the Robbe & Berking, Flensburg Germany, shipyard.
Screen Shot 2020-06-14 at 5.18.38 PM

Herne Bay Yacht Club + Primadonna Update

Posted on by
9

Screen Shot 2019-09-09 at 11.07.03 AM

HERNE BAY YACHT CLUB

I love the above photo c.1930 of the Herne Bay Yacht Club, a lot of classes on show.
These days there is a better chance of seeing a helicopter taking off from that spot 🙂
15-06-2020 Input below from Robin Elliott

The photo of the boats from the Herne Bay JUNIOR Yacht Club (as it was known then) was taken probably 1933 not long after it was formed for boys under 18 and the location is the foot of George Dennes’s slipway at Sarsfield St, Herne bay.
George Dennes was the commodore and the only adult in the club. All other positions were held by the boys, who ran all the meetings. Vice Commodore Geoff Hodgson was 9, Rear Commodore Jim Faire, aged 13, Hon Sec Colin Dennes ages 16.

At first the boats were a mixed bag of local sailing dinks, the odd Zeddie, ‘anything with a sail’ and as you can see there in sail number 10, what looks to be a Zeddie with a bowsprit and jib.
In the winter of 1934, George Tyler built the 12-foot Silver Fern to an Arch Logan design for Colin Dennes. Others followed and the club consolidated around the new Silver Fern Class.

The administration experience gained from running their own affairs was put to good effect when many of the members, once they reached 18 years joined Richmond Yacht Club. By 1939, the RYC Commodore was Rupert Thorpe, Vice Comm Jim Frankham; Rear Comm Colin Dennes. All three HBJYC graduates and all under 21.

George Dennes died in 1942 and the Commodore’s role was taken over by Alf Thompson (Chad’s father) and continued until the Silver Fern’s demise around 1952, swept way by the new fangled Cherub, Moths and Pennant classes.

Notable yachtsmen, in no particular order, who came through the Silver Ferns were Laurie Davidson, John Lasher, Jim Faire, Des and Ray Hurley, Roy and Frank Dickson, Alan Barclay, Brian Woods, Des Townson, Murray White, Neville Thom, Shirley & Roy White, John Taylor, Roly Moreland, John Peet ….. and on and on…..

It was a very important club in its time and its unique structure actually trained young yacht club administrators. No other club did that.

 

PRIMADONNA – Comes North
These days most woodys that you see on the back of Boat Haulage’s rig are heading south, so its great to see one arriving in Auckland. The 1910 ex whale chaser – Primadonna, arrived Friday afternoon at Pier 21.
A few days of TLC from new owner James Hutchinson and then she will be back in the water. Hopefully another candidate for the Anniversary Day Tug/Work Boat race on the harbour 🙂
She came with a lot of documentation from pervious owners, so when I sight that, hopefully we can establish / confirm her provenance.
Read / view more at this previous WW story https://waitematawoodys.com/2017/04/19/primadonna/
16-06-2020 Input from Peter Beech (petethedeep)

“We had the pleasure of care taking the old Primadonna for a number of years over 40 yrs ago, we did a lot of cruising and have many wonderful memories of her.
 She was powered by a 3 cyl water cooled Lister about 30 hp, being long and skinny with a beautiful counter stern , she ran like a skinny hogget, was good for 9 kts and was miserable on fuel. (less than a Gallon per hr.)
I’d like to comment on the issue of “hearsay history”, I remember researching the whakapapa of the Primadonna by talking to the descendants of original owner, Alf Baldick who farmed in Onapua Bay in Tory Channel.
His nephew Ian Baldick told me that his uncle had her built in 1913 by Ernie Lane.
During the Great War they whaled out of Te awai iti, I have an old photo of her along side a beached whale in Tar White. 
From memory there were 4 Baldick brothers, Alf, Herman and Darcy (twins) both stood 6 ft 4″ in their stocking feet ! and Billy Baldick who farmed on Blumine Island,( another sister Ida lived with him, ) Billy was reputed to have built 200 clinker dinghys on the island, selling them to Sounds farmers.
One of their sisters married a Guard, a descendant of Jackie Guard, ( the famous whaler) and another married a Jackson, of the Jackson Bay whaling dynasty, so whaling was very much in their blood.
I was talking to Hermans daughter Grace one day about the Baldick boats, she said –
“The old people are dead and gone but their boats live on”
She also said that their lives revolved around their boats, they were their daily transport, their farm boats, their fishing boats, they built many of them themselves and repaired and modified them.
She said that once a year they would all gather at Maraetai Bay, line their boats up and have a regatta! Alf had the Primmadonna, Herman and Darcey had the Greyhound and the Daphnee,  Billy had the Waiata .
I dont know what become of the Daphnee, the Greyhound  with her beautiful clipper bow and counter stern eventually rotted away, the Dreadnaught was built by Herman and Darcey for their sister Emma Guard, very similar to the Greyhound but Emma wanted more beam and draft for stability so they could carry farm produce over Cook Strait to the Wellington markets.
Last time I saw her she was in Wellington, not sure where she is now. Gracey told me that when they were planking her, towards the end they ran out of copper rooves so used Halfpennies. 
I have Billies old Waiata  at home here in the shed, she would be one of the oldest boats in the Sounds, built by Ernest Berg around 1900′ ish..  she is a pretty, double diagonal, straight stemmed, with a lovely counter stern, she originally had a Glouster stern, or cut off counter, Billy took her to Ernie Lane and said “put a descent counter on her.” (she is a real classic and for sale to the right buyer, who wants a restoration project.
Local people in my fathers generation used to tell stories, like folk legends about The Guards and the Baldicks, they were probably illiterate, they spoke with a real south of England Cornish drawl that was so distinctive, they lived a very isolated but fascinating  lifestyle.
So these are local oral histories, they are not researched to see if we have got our facts straight, the old lady was right, the old people are dead and gone and now their boats are well over 100 yrs old and wooden boats no matter what their condition are all restorable.
Unfortunately the old people never wrote down their stories and when boats outlive living memories they become fairy tales.
30 yrs ago I went around alot of the old timers and wrote down alot of their memories about the old Sounds launches and collected a lot of old photos, I’m pleased that I did that because all those old boys are dead and gone now.
Waitamata Woodys is doing just that in digital formate which is wonderful and should be encouraged because it ensures that the stories and the spirits of our old people in these wonderful craft live on”
Primadonna heads north
IMG_5906

IMG_5917

WCW Riverhead June2020

RSVP waitematawoodys@gmail.com

Tall Ships Regatta – Bay of Islands 2013/14

Posted on by
1
DW-140104_DSC5828

Ranui

DW-130105_DHW7886

Undine

ts-2013-2

Colonist

DW-140104_DSC5970

TALL SHIPS REGATTA – Bay of Islands 2013/14

 
Today’s photos come to us from professional photographer Dean Wright’s sailing archives and show a selection of woodys partaking in the annual BOI event.
Nice to see Ranui with all the washing on the line 🙂 , these days she tends to motor sail around the Hauraki Gulf.
 
There are not a lot of yachts these days that look even better out of the water – one such beauty is hauled out at Pier 21 in Auckland at the moment – Waitangi , designed and built in 1894 by Robert Logan Snr. Like most of these old girls, a killer for marina fees i.e. 36’ waterline but 58’ on deck – with a 74’ sailing carrying length. Photos below ex Larry Paul
Screen Shot 2020-06-05 at 8.16.28 PM

Screen Shot 2020-06-05 at 8.16.01 PM

Screen Shot 2020-06-05 at 8.16.15 PM

Clarionet – Sailing Sunday

Posted on by
4

_DHW4353

_DHW4360

Clarionet – Sailing Sunday

Today’s woody is the Chappelle designed schooner- Clarionet, seen here early one morning in Whangamumu, Northland getting ready to get underway.

The photo was taken in 2011 by Dan Wright.
I understand these days she calls Mahurangi home.
Update– more photos & details at this link
WoodenBoat Magazine Live Chat
Click the link below to join WB editor Matt Murphy in a live discussion with Reuben Smith. Reuben is boatbuilder and owner of Tumblehome Boatshop in the Southern Adirondacks town of Warrensburg, New York. The shop has restored some of the finest canoes, skiffs, guideboats, runabouts, launches, and one-design sailboats in the region. The conversation includes a ‘ walk-about’ of some of the shop’s past and present projects.

Herald – Sailing Sunday

Posted on by
Reply

Herald h

Herald n

HERALD – Sailing Sunday
Recently I was sent the  above gallery of photos of the small yacht – Herald, from kiwi Fred Lomas, who lives/works in Australia. The photos are from an album given to him by his ex (deceased) Omapere (near Opononi, Northland) neighbour – Aubrey Bracey.  Aubrey was a farmer / carpenter who built a couple of small boats, Herald being one of them.
How lucky were these kids to have a boat of their own at their age, these days we are just too PC.
I love the combination of paint colours – a perfect example of the old principle of only using 3 colours max on a boat. Also looks like as the kids got taller, they raised the cabin top 🙂
Devonport Yacht Club – Duder Cup – On The World Stage
Check out the link below to read / view a great story by Rob Peake, editor of the ‘Classic Boat’ magazine in the UK, on this years running of the Duder Cup race.

Maureen II + Off Center Harbor Wet Sunday Treat

Posted on by
7

Repaint_Completed Jan 2013

MAUREEN II
 

One of the many woodys that contacted WW for a copy of Chris McMullen’s docking tips was Mike Empson, owner of – Maureen II, a Matangi, built c1967-68 by Brin Wilson. Maureen II is 100% kauri, 36′ long and weighs approx. 9 tonnes.

Mike has been in touch with people connected to the Brin Wilson yard and been told she may have been built for someone connected to Ross Reid Contractors – that woodys is all Mike and wife Ann know about her, so would love to uncover more information on the vessel.

 
Mike has commented that he believes these boats were originally built with timber masts and timber lifeline stanchions, but Maureen II has had retro-fitted aluminium mast & boom, plus stainless lifeline stanchions. It has roller-boom reefing and a roller furling headsail.
 
Power is via a Ford 4-cyl E592 industrial stationary engine, marinised when new, by Lees Marine, fresh-water cooled. These engines were also used on the UK 4-cyl Ford Trader trucks, in the mid to late 1950’s and also on Fordson Major tractors.
Transmission is through a Parsons Marine-o-matic HG4 Mk 2 hydraulic transmission and she has a 1.75” bronze prop-shaft which is 11’6″ long. She is set up with dual station steering, which comprises a truck steering box with a long under-floor shaft, connected by chains to the two steering stations; one inside and the other in the cockpit.
WOODY WET SUNDAY TREAT 
 

As you know I’m a big fan of the website – Off Center Harbor, the site is probably best known for jaw dropping boat tours and in-depth how-to series, but the OCH lads also know how to slow down and soak up the scenery. Given the craziness of the last 5 weeks I have found myself trolling the OCH online library more than ever, looking to a cure to my boat less blues. I have some favourites that I would be embarrassed to say how many times I have viewed 🙂

Last week one that popped up again was the OCH lads doing an early morning mooch around the fleet at anchor at last summers Eggemoggin Reach Regatta in Maine. The stunning classic woodys are basking in a golden glow at dawn after the previous days racing and partying. It reminds me very much of Saturday morning at our own Mahurangi Reggata.
Chatting with Steve Stone from OCH, I mentioned the comparison as Steve was at the Mahurangi Regatta in 2019 and Steve kindly offered to supply a link to the ERR video – view it here  CLICK HERE 
 
Screen Shot 2020-05-03 at 6.42.50 AM
Early in the lock-down the OCH guys put together a special deal for waitemata woodys to help us out while we are boat less. Well the good news it is still on offer – so if you haven’t already joined up, do it today – link here 8-week membership with full access to the entire website for just $5 NZD. They’re also including an optional upgrade to an annual membership at the end of the 8 weeks at 50% off.
Woodys, signing up to OCH will be the 2nd best woody thing you have done – after discovering WW 🙂