Category Archives: Sailing Sunday

Mansion House Bay – Kawau Island 1950 + Ida is coming home

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Mansion House 1950

Mansion House Bay – Kawau Island 1950 + Ida is coming home
I was sent the above photo by Iain Forsyth who obtained it from an old sailing mate named Ron Thickpenny. Ron restored the Fairmile Seandra, ex Hopper Brothers.
In the photo you can see a HDML along side the wharf.
Can we have a go at ID’ing the fleet in the bay?
IDA To Return To NZ
During the week Harold Kidd reported on WW that John Street and Wayne Olsen have just returned from Sydney, & John has bought IDA, the 1895 C & W Baileys built 65’ yacht & is shipping her back for restoration. She has been based in Sydney for a very long time. Once back in NZ & restored by Wayne Olsen she will give the CYA A-Class fleet a big fright 🙂
The photo was supplied by Kim Watts, who purchased the original 1912 signed Winkelman print 25 years ago.
There are more photos & details on her past owners at the WW link below
To quote Harold – “The man’s (John S) blood is worth bottling!
WW IDA Link    https://waitematawoodys.com/2016/05/15/ida-sailing-sunday-more/
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Mystery Devonport Yacht

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1800s Devonport

Mystery Devonport Yacht

The caption on this photo ex Keith Humphreys states its dated c.1800, not sure if that is correct, but I am sure one of the woodys will be able to tell us the name of the yacht.
The location is Devonport, Auckland.
The Story of Tally Ho
On the other side of the world, a truely amazing project is underway by a very young boatbuilder named Leo Sampson Goolden to restore the 1910, Albert Strange built Pilot Cutter, Tally Ho – check out the link below & view the video posts – remember to start at #1. Special thanks to woody Denis O’Callahan (MV Tasman) for the heads up on the story. If you are anything like me you will be lost for several hours 🙂

Teal – Sailing Sunday

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TEAL

My Westpark Marina spotter John Wicks sent in the photos above of Teal, the 1948, 38’ Lidgard Bros yacht on the hard ready for launching.

John commented “she was small and pretty spartan inside, and that, coupled with a very long and large cockpit marks her out as primarily a day sailer. The rudder is almost certainly a modification as from the configuration of her keel the original rudder was hung at the aft end of it in the old way. Even though the stern doesn’t really match with the bow, she’s quite an elegant thing, and with a tall fractional rig, deep draught and fairly narrow beam, I’d bet on her going like the proverbial cut cat”

So I do a little google search & it turns out she is one of Tony Stevenson’s yachts & in the Tino Rawa Trust fleet. The YDL van in the photos suggests Teal may have been promoted from the ‘warehouse’ to the boat yard for the final touches 😉

The photos below (ex TRT > CYA forum) show her at the start of the project back in 2013.

Harold Kidd advised that she was built for William Goodfellow and L.H. Clarke and launched 22/12/1948. Original registration was A5 but later relegated to B6. Her specs are – 38’9″x 30′ x 7’4″ x5’8″. Later owners include Sir Keith Park, Mark Williams, T.L. Elliott.

Looks like the CYA B division could be in for a shake up this coming season 🙂

 

Input from Robin Elliott – 

The 2007 NZYF register had her as a Cox design. today they have hedged their bets and call her a ‘Lidgard/Cox’ design. Not sure where the Cox design info would have come from. I record her designer as “J. Lidgard” but once again, I have no idea where I got that from. She could well be a modified Cox design.

Good old Sir Keith Park, the Hero of the Battle of Britain owned her 1957/58, possibly up to 1959

The story of Jim Greenaway – A Rather Productive Kiwi Boatbuilder

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The story of Jim Greenaway – A Rather Productive Kiwi Boatbuilder

I was sent the profile of Jim Greenaway by his son Rob, who penned it. I recommend you read it, it’s a great read.
How I came to be sent the story is classic WW,  Rob was mooching around the web & found an old article I had done on the CYA forum (in the days b4 WW) on a launch named Korawai & Rob tracked me down.
Tomorrows WW story is on the launch. There will be some great photos dating back to the mid >late 1970’s, make sure you check it out.

Waitoa

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WAITOA – The Real Deal 
Back in March 2017, I run a story on a yacht that according to Ken Ricketts was Waitoa, it all got a little complicated & I won’t even attempt to sort it out. If your interested you can see / read it here (remember to read the comments section)
Yesterday Murray McGehan sent me he great photo above of Waitoa which Murray states (correctly) is the real , Seen in this photo c.1948-49 at Okahu Bay. Owners Merv (cockpit) and Ron McGehan (companion way).
The boats cabin top remained in this configuration until at least 1972 when the cabin coaming height was increased about two and a half inches. The eliptical cabin windows remained untouched and probably HDK can confirm that this did look a little unbalanced. After Murray talked to  subesequent owners it was felt that the current dog house was added c.1977, probably under Mike Vinning’s (Picton Shipbroker) ownership. Waitoa has had at least two owners since Mike, one was Andre Ludwig who Murray kept in contact with.
Waitoa was built by Charlie Hardman in St Mary’s Bay (not Phil Barton who Murray believes had a yard at Bayswater). Alan has some photo’s of the original launch day with the boat alongside the St Mary’s Bay Wharf. When he recovers them from storage & scans (Box Brownie) them I will add them to this story.
Ron was Murray’s father and he was lucky enough to sail on the boat in the seventies under Gordon Reynolds ownership, so Murray can confirm that at that time the basic configuration of Waitoa was unchanged from launch in 1947 even still having the original Stewart Turner petrol auxilary, this has now been changed to a Droffin diesel.
09-07-2018 Harold Kidd Input – Phil Barton, and his father Henry before him, had a yard in St Mary’s Bay to the west of Jas Clare’s/Collings & Bell’s yard since 1900 except for a period around 1916-24 when they were in the US and Leon Warne rented the shed. When the yard was closed in 1955 during the construction of the Harbour Bridge approaches Phil moved to his big shed on the water at the foot of his property at Beachhaven. He was never at Bayswater. Phil built some fine keel yachts until 1955 at St Mary’s Bay and his handsome motor sailer WOODWIND at Beachhaven.
Charlie Hardman was a noted centreboard builder, 18 footers in the main.
If he built WAITOA at St Mary’s Bay it had to be at Phil Barton’s yard.
She was for sale at Picton in 1990 as designed by Bob Stewart and built by Phil Barton. I think Phil had a hand in her building at least.
A Wasted Day
I took Raindance for a run up to Herald Island yesterday to grab some photos of the John Wellsford Small Craft Design owners club day out to the Riverhead Hotel – don’t know what happened but there was no one at the meeting spot / time they published on facebook – bloody yachties 😦
The St Ayles Skiff rowing group were at the Riverhead, photo below of the fleet tied up at the pub wharf. Would have been a fun trip rowing back after a few hydraulic sandwiches 😉
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1926 N. Herreshoff designed NY40 MARILEE – 2 Year Restoration + Insights into the Herreshoff world
I posted this link last Sunday but only 386 of you viewed it – I would encourage you to check it out, its a 10/10 in my book & Chris McMullen watched it twice so its a goody.
A Sad Day
Woody Greg Schultz contacted me to say he had a good mate die and now has the sad task of finding new owners for his fleet one of which is a wooden 18ft John Wellsford Pilgrim, decked in cutter, photo below. Looks in excellent condition and only about 4 years old. Includes a brand new galvanised trailer, outboard and very reasonably priced at $9999. These are great yachts & at this price it won’t hang around long. Wouldn’t surprise me given John W’s international following if an Aussie / American doesn’t buy it & ship it off shore.
More photo’s & details ex Greg via email.      itzgreg@xtra.co.nz
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Woodys on the Opawa River Blenheim

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OPAWA RIVER – Blenheim

The above photos come to us via Bruno Redwood’s fb, & show the Opawa River, Blenheim & are dated 1913.

The river, on which Blenheim is situated, is a tributary of the Wairau, & is navigable for small craft as far as Blenheim.

It is thought that the vessel in the ‘middle’ is Twilight. Photos ex A. McCusker

Harold Kidd Input – TWILIGHT was built by Ernie Lane at Picton and owned by Thomas A Smith who used her for fishing. Later he had the mail contract at Port Underwood with her. She was licensed for 35 pax and had a Dunedin-built Shacklock 10hp twin; her dims were 34′ x 8’3″ x 3’9″.

And below some eye candy – a wee video on the 2 year restoration of the 1926 N. Herreshoff designed NY40 MARILEE – its a great insight into the work of French & Webb in Belfast, Maine. Grab a cup/glass of something & sit back & enjoy 🙂

https://vimeo.com/275435272

 

 

 

A Spot of Koha – Seafood or Vension for Boatbuilding Guidance

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A Spot of Koha – Seafood or Vension for Boatbuilding Guidance

The owner of Cobweb, Matt Debono has sent me an unusal request, I get a lot of  WW emails but this one was a first. I have included it below, just as I received it.

“This is probably not a usual e-mail for you. I send you this because of the passion you have for wooden boats. In saying this my yacht Cobweb isn’t even a classic wooden boat. She is a 35ft Laurie Davidson design launched in 1975 with a 3 skin kauri construction under glass… modern classic?

I have recently purchased Cobweb as a bit of a project as I wanted to learn how these wooden boats were constructed and learn some skills myself as the craftsmanship that goes into them astonish me. I saw her potential as a good yacht and got her for a good price. What I am asking for is if you know anybody in the South Auckland region that may share the same passion who has some experience in boat building of this nature who may want to pass some of their skills and experience on to a younger guy like me.

As you can see I have Cobweb sitting on my front lawn, I have opened her up and I’m not too far away from scarfing the inner 2 skins after I let the timber dry a bit. I have all the tools and machinery required however a bit of guidance would go a long way. Whoever comes to help could obviously expect a reward, I can fill freezers up with Venison or seafood fairly easily… or pay cash.”

So woodys, if you have the skills & an empty freezer – drop Matta note mpdebono@hotmail.co.nz

Lots of photos (50) on Monday from the Lees Boatbuilders shed visit 😉

Photina – Sailing Sunday

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PHOTINA –  Sailing Sunday

 On Friday as part of the post on the launch Luanda, there was a photo of Luanda with a yacht alongside, I ran a wee quiz to find out the name of the yacht, won by Martin Howson (does that man sleep?) – the yacht was the 39’ Photina built by Trevor Managh and Ces Watson for her owner Trevor Managh. In the photo below she’s still to have her mast stepped.

Tracing the history of Photina on the web is a little ‘misty’ as after Trevor sold her, a future owner took her to Mururoa in 1995 & certain ‘people/country’ have clouded (excuse the pun) the on-line media coverage of what happened up there. You can read more in the book ‘Mururoa Blues’ by John Simpson page 149.

Trevor also did a Noumea race in her before selling her. The boat went on to do 4 circumnavigations, so Ces Watson knew how to build a good boat.

Thanks to Mike Elliott for the photos & details.

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Very Cool Classic Sailing Clinker Dinghy 4 Sale

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Very Cool Classic Sailing Clinker Dinghy 4 Sale

I was contacted last week by CYA buddy Dan Renall who pointed me in the direction of a woody that was looking to off load one of his dinghys. Wise man, very few that get bitten by the bug are able to let them go.

Owner Drew Hayward has a classic launch that he keeps in the creek on the way out of Kawakawa Bay. He also has another clinker so has decided to part with this one. 

Details are – 14’, built by boat building tutor, Keith Aitkenson of Carrington Tech. Kauri planks with steam bent hardwood ribs. Her sails are by Boyd & McMaster. Mast is solid Oregon, as is the boom & gaff. Drew commented that as pictured above the hull needs a little clean up – mainly mould.

Anyone interested in this woodys should initially contact Drew Hayward via email  drew1949@icloud.com A very cool gift for a young woody, so come on dads & grandads – its the perfect way to start the kids off in woody boating. 

Below is a photo from Lew Redwoods FB page that is titled ‘Yacht Racing, Auckland Harbour, NZ – any of the woody yachties able to advise the class of boat & which part of the harbour?

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Awatea – Sailing Sunday + Woollacott 4 Sale

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AWATEA – Sailing Sunday

The above photos of Awatea come to us via Bruno Redwood’s facebook page – & show the yacht Awatea in a tributary of the Henderson Creek c. November 1931.

Awatea was but in 1886 by Charles Bailey Snr in Auckland. She was sold to a Henry Swan c. 1897, & there is an urban legend that in1901 Swan reputedly told his friends that he was embarking on a solo world navigation, when in fact he sailed Awatea to the creek & spent the next 30 years living aboard or nearby. Harold Kidd has advised the story is “total bollocks” – Swan being a wealthy, retired solicitor, who owned a large property on the banks of the Whau River, on which he had large commercial orchards. He was also chairman of the Roads Board.

He died in November 1931.

Jason Prew had advised that these days Awatea is in storage at Whangaparaoa.

04-07-2018 Input from Colin Brown – Colin was a part owner of Awatea for a few years with Pete Mcurdy & his wife. Colin is in the process of building a scale sailing model (photos below). Colin confirms Jason’s comment above re her current whereabouts.

WOOLLACOTT Looking For A Home

I have been contacted by Phil Parks the Dockmaster at Sandspit Marina about a little Woollacott (photos below) on the hard at the Sandspit Yacht club.

Her present owner inherited her but has come to the realisation the project is too big for him so she is for sale for giveaway price.

She is complete, 6 winches, solar panels, alloy rig. Phil commented that she is a pretty little boat. She needs to be saved. So woodys – any one want a project?

Viewing at Sandspit or more details Phil can be contacted on 027 2828249