Category Archives: Sailing Sunday

Wellington Yacht – Mabel

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Wellinton Yacht – Mabel

I had reason to be at Half Moon Bay marina during the week and I spotted the above yacht on the hard. I understand it has come up from Wellington and is 120+ years old. That folks is all I know.

Keen to put a name to the yacht and learn more about her.
Also had a peek at the 1898 Arch Logan – Rainbow A7, that is having a birthday in one of the sheds. Boatbuilder Paul Tingey is the man overseeing the project – lots of uroxsys work on the agenda.
Update below ex Jason Prew – is he correct?
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Input from Gavin Pascoe – My friend owned her for the past 5 years and just sold. She is Mabel built by Chas jr and Walter Bailey in 1895. sailed to Nelson via Wellington in 1917. Then to Lyttelton in the 1930’s, then to Wellington post WWII. She rated at 2.5 but was also a bit of a cruiser – not strictly a racer. She was a long time rather confusedly thought to be a Logan built 1905, I think this is due to her having come from Lyttelton and somebody thought, oh there was an old Logan down there, this must be it. Even a sideways glimpse at her will tell you she is a Bailey, and definitely not anything post 1897

Galatea

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Mystery Yacht – 28-07-2019 – solved – it is Galatea

I have been contacted by Denis Woodward who has a collection of signed Winkleman sailing photographs asking for help to ID the yacht above. If we are really good we might even be able to put a name to the crew 🙂
Mystery Spirit of Tradition 
I know with that engine well and leg I’m stretching things a little but folks we are going to see a lot more of this style of craft as the price of marina’s continues to climb. David Vaassen spotted – Sprat, at Orams dry dock and was wondering if we could find out more about her – design, builder, engine etc. At first I thought it was one of the new Greg Salthouse launches but no, Sprat is not quite as beautiful to the eye 🙂 More work boat styling.
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UPDATE from Tim Jackson

Sprat is a Badnam launch designed by the late David Thomas . Built in the Bay of Islands and recently sold out of Wanaka. She has a builders plate in her.Here is some blurb about her genesis, ex the Wooden Boat Association of NSW, Sydney – 2012 newsletter.

 

 

 

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Another woody from my club reporter 🙂  location = Santorini. Might be glass 😦
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The Portland

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THE PORTLAND

 
Several months ago Thames woody, Clive Monds was visiting  the Catlins area at the bottom of the South Island and chanced upon The Portland moored at the mouth of the Catlins River, see location map/photo below.

Unfortunately he was en-route to rendezvous with people so did not have much time but he did glean the following from people who lived close by.
The Portland arrived from ‘up north’ some years ago with intentions to be used for some tourism venture. She had, it seemed from the twin stacks been repowered at some point. The venture has not come to pass and she has sat for some time, rotting into the mud. There was talk to the effect ‘you could have bought her for $5’. People Clive spoke to had no idea what is happening to her. 
Clive is interested if some to learn more about the vessel – can anyone shed light on her origins etc. ?
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26-10-2019 Input (unconfirmed) by Michael Raynes

The Portland built 1910 by Geo Niccol of Auckland for John Wilson Walkworth {brother of  Nathaniel Wilson founder of Wilsons Cement Woks on the Mahurangi River Warkworth] carrying 160 lb bags of cement to Auckland. Sold 1918 to Wilsons NZ Cement Co of Portland Whangarei. Sold 1926 to Aspden Shipping Auckland trading from Auckland up north to Awanui, general cargo up butter back also running to Whakatane. Sold c.1936 to a Foxton company running between Foxton & Wellington. Sold c.1938 to Puponga  shipping Co Nelson carrying coal from Port Puponga Golden  Bay to & from the Puponga Coal Co to  Nelson, Onekaka Iron Works , Tarakohe Cement Works & Wellington. Sold 1946 Westhaven Co Nelson carrying milling machery & general cargo to Westhaven Inlet {Whanganui Inlet] Northern West Coast bringing out  timber from Mangarakau wharf to Nelson & Wellington also carrying cargoes in & out of Golden  Bay Ports of Tarakohe, Waitapu Collingwood &  Milnethorpe   [Dolomite]  And Tasman Bay ports Motueka, Mapua & Nelson. Also Marlbrough Sound Ports of The portage Nydia Bay Havelock, Titirangi. Plus many others to Wellington. Sold to Karamea Shipping Co Nelson c.1968, continued on same runs. Made one visit to Kaiapoi  1967. Struck rock or submerged object 1972 in Cook Strait off Wellington, beached at Island Bay, re-floated, patched up at Evans Bay tio by Te Aroha to Nelson 1972. Sold as / is to group of fishermen in Dunedin, repaired at Careys  Bay yards made an illegal  trip down to Auckland Island area with mutton birders. Sold  to Mr Matheson of Owaka taken down and moored at Pounawea upriver from where she is now. The  Portland was advertised for sale 2002, in trade a boat didn’t sell. Article in NZ Marine News that she was to be taken up to Dunedin for slipping 2011. Didn’t happen. Sank at her moorings, struck by log in flood, patched  & re-floated. Sold to an Aucklander c.2016, on trial run down river she started to leak & was run up onto beach where she is now. New owner was advised his agent sold  her for $5. Was going to turn her in to back packers accommodation – so far. Edited by Alan H

The Restoration Of Ida

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THE RESTORATION OF IDA

New Zealand’s A class fleet grows steadily larger as yet another important Kiwi yacht is restored to her former glory. Chairman of the Classic Yacht Charitable Trust John Street and boat builder Wayne Olsen visited Sydney in August 2018 to inspect Ida, the 45’ Charles Bailey Jnr. designed and built in 1895 by C&W Bailey gaff rigged cutter. In racing mode with hers spars she has a LOA of 58’, a beam of 8’ draws 6’6”.

Ida was for sale as the current owners (20 years) had reached a point where, due to ill health, they were unable to complete the planned deck restoration nor maintain her to the standard they previously took pride in. Her owners had raced her regularly in the classic yacht races on Sydney Harbour with the Sydney Amateur Sailing Club at Mosman Bay and the Balmain Sailing Club, where she won hands down.

Wayne’s assessment was that, while the hull appears sound, being triple skinned kauri, it i was unclear what will be found once the inner layer is pealed back. She was in poor condition with much of the rest of the boat needing replacement. John recognised that Ida is an important part of New Zealand’s boat building history and a deal was done to acquire her, her owners  generously donated 20 kauri deck beams (220 x 13 X 5cm) and a spinnaker pole. John then arranged shipment back to New Zealand where she was moved to Horizon Boats shed in Stillwater.

Yesterday (06-07-2019) The CYA members were invited to view IDA before the deck is fully replaced. I understand the target is to have her sailing this summer.

You will see from the photos above she is a whippet, look at her keel and with just 3 ton of lead hanging of it, you can imagine a slightly damp crew 😉

Photos below of Ida as launched, ‘recent’ Aust.photos, and as she arrived at Horizon Boats + the early days of the restoration.

You can read more about Ida’s history on the CYCT website here

Details & some photos ex CYA and the Classic Yacht Charitable Trust websites.

22-09-2019 Update : photos below of Ida hauled out, when still in Australia ex David Campbell-Morrison

Hawkes Bay Mystery Motorsailer

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Hawkes Bay Mystery Motorsailer

Todays photos come to us fro Lew Redwood’s fb, the name of the yacht is unknown, but we know it was owned by J.A. Louis Hay.
Again the location is also unknown, but the photo is tagged MTG Hawkes Bay which is – Museum Theatre Gallery, Napier – so that might be a big help ID’ing the location.
Interesting ‘funnel’ , I assume for a solid fuel stove. And speaking of wood stoves on boats (my dream) Mondays WW story ticks a lot of my boxes – wood stove + a Ford Model T wheel / helm.
Harold Kidd Input – I’ve scratched my head over this one before. J A Louis Hay was a well-known Napier Architect and amateur musician. Just a guess, he designed he boat himself and had it built locally at Westshore by R. Farquhar, very possibly the unnamed one he built in September 1915 before Hay went overseas to France, She was 26’6″x6′ with a 4hp Monarch. The “funnel” is probably a dry exhaust.
Bonus Read
I’m a big fan of the UK website Classic Sailor, it started out as a magazine, published by a past editor of Classic Boat magazine, but then after a few issues, went to a weblog format. They have some great articleds- check out this one on the restoration of the yawl – Wayward – see link below.

Jeanette – C23 Sailing Sunday

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Jeanette C23 – Sailing Sunday 

Todays photo comes to us from Mike McGehan and is of (to me) an unnamed yacht with the sail number C23. I suspect from other others sent to me by Mike, this photo could be dated in the late 1940’s.

Can one of the sailing Woodys ID the boat for us?
Sorry – short and sweet today, woke up at 2.30am and realised I had not done a story………….
Harold Kidd Input
Ted Le Huquet built her for himself in 1933. Dick Bakewell bought her and took her on the 1961 TransTasman race. Ted got Parkinsons later in life. I used to see him walk slowly down Church Street, row alone out to JEANETTE at her moorings in Torpedo Bay, set the tiller, painfully make his way forward, hoist the staysail, drop the mooring and sail out of the bay without any fuss, hoisting the mainsail and then the jib on the way.
What a seaman!
24-06 HDK – Dick Bakewell sold JEANETTE to Evan Berghan in 1974. Berghan did a circumnavigation with her from April 1981. He finished up in Canada but I’m not sure if JEANETTE survives there. 

Gaff Schooner Collides With Container Ship – Overseas Report

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GAFF SCHOONER COLLIDES WITH CONTAINER SHIP & SUNKS – Overseas Report
 

The gaff schooner Elbe No. 5 collided with a container ship in the Elbe river (Germany) last weekend. The boat sank after the collision with the rescuers managing to rescue 43 passengers.

The historic 1883 built, 121’ vessel had only just returned to Hamburg’s waters after it had spent eight months in a Danish shipyard undergoing a €1.5 million renovation and was relaunched only days before the collision.

She was struck by a 462′ container ship, the Astrosprinter and suffered serious damage and sank, though rescuers were able to secure the wreck relatively close to the surface.
The container ship continued its voyage, having suffered almost no damage. Apparently, the container ship was out of her channel and likely at fault.
So woodys this serves as a warning to be very careful out there, particularly as the Auckland council continue to expand the container port into OUR harbour…………….
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Rangi Rua (Rangi II)

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Rangi the one that hit rocks in Norfolk.
Rangi11 sailing past the oil rigg having a rest on its way to New Plymouth

 

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RANGI RUA (Rangi II)
 
I was recently contacted by Terry Hall in regard to his ex yacht Ranginui Rua, Terry commented that when he bought her she was named Rangi II (as seen in the sailing photo above) but when he tried to register her with Lloyds – London the name was refused as there was a passenger  ship with that name,  Terry had a Maori friend, a chief in Northland who suggested trying Rangi Rua –  Rua being #2 in Maori, he sent this off and it was accepted. Thence the ‘different’ name on the hauled out photos.
 
Rangi Rua was built by Mark Anthony in Freeman’s Bay and is a Woollacott 42′, Terry believes it was extended with extra frames. Her and a gaff rigged boat called Marpu were probably the last kauri boats to be built in Freemans Bay. Bad luck followed both yachts – Rangi Rua was lost in the Trans Tasman race in 1948 and Marpu was lost in the Pacific on its way home from Japan.
 
Terry owned Rangi Rua for many years and had her moored in the Town Basin in Whangarei in front of the wharf shed. He still has the log book which he kept when he sold her. In the photos of her on the slip, Terry is in the white overalls with his boatbuilder son, Frank and crew.
SUNDAY QUIZ
Yesterday Angus Rogers was doing what most of us were doing i.e. nothing 🙂 so he took an old photo out of its frame to clean the glass. Do we think Angus has ID’ed the yachts correctly ?  Sail numbers starting with A17 Ngatoa on right working left are A11 Ida, A5 Rawene, A3? Ariki and A16? Little Jim. Some of the anoraks may be able to identify the last two from their sails and shape and the yacht on the right with no numbers showing.
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Mahurangi Regatta 2019 – Classic Wooden Boat Movie

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Mahurangi Regatta 2019 – Classic Wooden Boat Movie

The weather forecast is for a very average day today so I decided to share some serious eye candy with you. The video above comes to us from the very talented Roger Mills via his drone camera.
Once again Roger was out and about over the regatta weekend and captured some amazing classic woody footage.
I have to comment that it was very pleasing to see the classic woody launches featured, thank you Roger. All to often people forget there are more wooden motorboats afloat on the day than the stick and rag boys 🙂
Enjoy the video – its a goodie.
To view a high res / quality version of the movie – us the link below.

Victory A8

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VICTORY A8

A great photo above of Victory (I hope my record of sail #’s is correct). This and the bottom photo were sent to me by Mike McGehan. The first woody that can correctly name the 3 yachts (L>R) in the bottom photos wins a waitematawoody t-shirt.
Entries via any way – comments box ofr email to waitematawoodys@gmail.com
HDK will be the judge of the correct names 🙂
Mondays WW story is a very special look at the NZ wooden boating scene from a visitors eye/camera – the owner of the camera is none other than the world’s leading classic wooden boat photographer  – Benjamin Mendlowitz. Ben’s talents are second to none and you will see a gallery of some of our finest woodys presented like never before. This access has been granted to WW by the team at Off Center Harbor. Lots more details tomorrow 😉