Category Archives: Sailing Sunday

Sailing Sunday – Neil Chalmers

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Sailing Sunday – Neil Chalmers

Now if there was an award at next months CYA Prize Giving ( May 20th @ RNZYS – 7.00pm) for ‘Nicest Bloke’, Neil would win it, in fact every year. You would have to walk a long way to find anyone that did not have a nice thing to say about Neil. He will be embarrassed that I said the above but its true. Always there when you need some advice or encouragement & most of what he does goes un-noticed.
Now Neil attended the 2015 Australian Wooden Boat Festival in Hobert & packed his box brown – below is a selection of ‘stuff’ that caught his eye. I think he included the zoom zoom boat to keep the launches happy 🙂

Check out the price on the dinghy……………….

 

Duetto Sailing Sunday

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DUETTO

I spotted Duetto at the 2015 Mahurangi Regatta & took the above photo on an early morning row. She looks very salty & no doubt has a few blue water miles under her keel.
Possibly lives at Gulf Harbour marina. Interested in more details – I am assuming she is wood……… I’ve been wrong before 🙂

Hopefully as you are reading this the Easter bunny will have found you & they is some chocolate on the diet today. Not sure that bunnies can swim so I might be out of lucky on Raindance.

02-12-2015 Duetto Update
photos & details ex Ken Ricketts. rewritten by Alan H

Firstly all those in the comments section that picked her as a swimming pool (ferro cement) were right. Putting that to the side she is very salty.
Some details – she is 35′ at the waterline with a 12′ beam & was built to a Jay Benford design, a prolific American custom boat designer. She was constructed by William (Bill) Hooker & launched in 1986 at Napier NZ. Shortly after she was brought to Mahurangi by the original owner & spent the next 4 years sitting on her moorings unused. Sadly her owner contracted cancer during this period & died, with Duetto still brand new effectually & unused. Her Isuzu 50 hp diesel had under 100 hours on the clock & her sails were unused.

The present owners Geoff Plimmer & partner Pat bought her in 1992 off the original owner, 2 weeks before he passed away.
Geoff & Pat spent 10 years from 2002, circumnavigating the world in her, as per the map photo below. Duetto’s worldly travels are recorded in the book ‘Around the World in a motorsailer’ penned by Geoff Plimmer, copies are still available for purchase ($28), you can contact Geoff here duetto1@xtra.co.nz

Duetto presently calls Gulf Harbour home.

 

 

Wee Tawera

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WEE TAWERA
photos ex Baden Pascoe

A group of kiwis (& CYA members) led by Mike Mahoney recently attended the 2015 Australian Wooden Boat Festival in Tasmania, Australia, whilst the show is one of the worlds leading classic wooden boat events – their main objective was to partake (compete & win) in the events for the very popular St Ayles rowing skiffs. To this end Mike had commissioned one of the skiffs to be built in Auckland at the NZ Traditional Boat Building School & shipped to Hobart for the event. The skiff was christened ‘Wee Tawera’, Mike owns the magnificant 1935 Arch Logan yacht Tawera.
Little Tawera carried a little extra weight as the boys set her up to carry a little canvas, which she did very well in the events that this was permitted.
Baden or Steve Cranch I’m sure will chip in with their results from the regatta’s – lots of wins.

To see more photos of Wee Tawera & read about these craft, check out     http://nzcoastalrowing.org/about-2/

Mystery Yacht – Sailing Sunday

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Who can ID this?

photo ex Rod Marler

Unless you saw her hauled out, ID’ing this classic yacht will be  a challenge 🙂 but we have some serious train spotters out there, so lets hear your picks.

The ww follower that gets it right will win a copy of Baden Pascoe’s great book ‘Launching Dreams – Percy Vos- the boats & his boys’

T&C’s

1. The owner is not going to win, you are already a winner 😉

2. Anyone that ‘hangs out/works’ around Westhaven is not going to win 😦

3. The judges (thats me) decision is the final  & no correspondence will be entered into 🙂

 

Marie – A call for help – Sailing Sunday

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Marie L2 – Lipton Cup Jan 1933
Marie L2 – Lipton Cup Jan 1934

MARIE – A Call for help
photos from PapersPast – NZ Herald

There are very few yachts that so clearly reflect the essence of our kiwi yachting roots, that evoke the memory of days gone by & that rekindle the desire to relive ones past as does the ‘Mullety’ . There iconic yachts are unique in that even today there is a strong active fleet & they are still competitively sailed. The Lipton Cup is one of the events on the sailing calendar & in 2012 will celebrates its centenary.

The purpose of todays post is to plant a seed in the minds of our classic boating community, that hopefully will result in this rather famous mullet boat being on the start line of the 100th Lipton Cup.
How will this happen?  by someone – an individual, a group of enthusiasts & or a corporate sponsor stepping up to the mark & taking custodianship of Marie. Lets be very clear, we are looking for a genuine restorer no dreamers, no gunners i.e. “I was gunner do it but now its in the shed”.

I’ll let Harold Kidd tell her story

“Errol Fensom has done a great deal to foster and preserve old mullet boats. He still owns the 24 footer MARERE (I1) but, some years ago rescued the 22 footer MARIE (L2) and preserved her for restoration.
Errol reckons it’s time to pass MARIE on to an energetic restorer or syndicate of restorers, so she’s available for free to a good home.
Her history is impeccable.
Roy Lidgard built her in 1918 on his return from WW1. He was working at Lane Motor Boat Co at the time and built her in their yard in Mechanics Bay. She was an instant success, eventually winning the Lipton Cup 5 times, 1923-5 and 1930-1. Her owners over the years have included Roy, Fred and Vic Lidgard, Ashton and Berridge Spencer, Milton Wood, Gordon Kells, L.R. Matthews and R.H. Wood, A.L. Barker and several others more recently, all sounding like a Who’s Who of Auckland yachting.
She’s had a strake or two added and the centreboard removed, although the case remains. A lead deadwood has been added of considerable weight and that goes with the yacht, almost enough to recast and provide the 1 ton of internal ballast required by the Restrictions, usually a major outlay. There is no rig.

This is a great opportunity to restore an authentic and important 22ft mullet boat in time for the centennial Lipton Cup race in 2021 which the Ponsonby Cruising Club will most certainly promote widely.

Contact Harold Kidd or Alan Houghton for more information.”

Harold@hklaw.co.nz      or     waitematawoodys@gmail.com

 

As always ww is interested in more photos & details so if you have any – send them in.

Update & photo from Dennis Rule
I believe I owned this boat in the early 1970’s, approx. 1973 – 1978, although she was then named Vagabond. I was told by her previous owner that she was Marie and the racing history he supplied supported that theory. She was certainly relatively narrow in the beam which I believe was a point of difference in Marie. She had been built up, cabinised, and her rig shortened by then and had a Ford 100E petrol engine with no reverse. The centrecase leaked like a sieve (recall that 1,000 pumps at a pint a stroke was the daily routine when sailing her). I shudder to think that I took my wife and two infants all over the Gulf in her in that condition with floorboards often floating. When I sold her to buy a Southerly 23 I thought she was a gonner, so it is fantastic to know she may have another chance.. I kept her on a mooring at Bucklands Beach (the pics are at BBYC hardstand).
Incidentally my brother Arnold Rule and his son Alan have owned the 26′ mulletty Bluestreak since 1973. I believe there is a story there.
I would love to know if the boat I owned is the Marie.

2015 CYA Classic Yacht Regatta – Sailing Sunday

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2015 CYA Classic Yacht Regatta – Sailing Sunday

This weekend we have been enjoying the CYA Classic Yacht Regatta – a weather bomb meant the 2014 event was canceled so as they say ‘it did had been a long time between drinks’.
The event was moved to late Feb to give skippers a break between some of the other classic events & to also link in with the Volvo Round the World race festivities. As they say timing is everything & no one was watching the on-line race track more than Tony Stevenson – an early arrival might have meant we did not get to enjoy the swanky surrounding of the VIP hospitality area as our race HQ.
Friday was Race 1 & the fleet to quote most “experienced 4 seasons in one day” – but there was not a face without a smile on it as the boats returned to dockside.
Friday nights ‘de-brief’ & prize giving was a hoot & most walked away with booty.
Saturday normally sees 2 races held but huey had not got the message & after 4 1/2 hrs of floating around in the sun – the race committee pulled the pin & the crews retired to Race HQ. Just in time to witness some spectacular one day cricket on TV.

Fingers crossed today sees some more puff 🙂 If your at a loose end, get down to the Race HQ later today. Food & drinks available + the legendary prize-giving.

Dockside (post Race 1)

Race HQ

Saturday (Race 2 & 3 – sailing cancelled)

Ngatira – Innismara
Rawene
Ngatira
Jonquil
Corona
Riada
Moana
Gypsy – Dolphin of Leith – Wairiki
Wild Duck
Whistleblower
Aramoana – Rawene
Ranger
Innismara
Dolphin of Leith

No wind but stunning sunsets

Waiapu – Sailing Sunday

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WAIAPU – Sailing Sunday

photo & details from Merv Stockley ex Don Ross

Now the photo of the keeler pictured above is named on the back of the photo as Waiapu and it shows N9 on the mainsail & came from Don Ross.  The photo was discovered by Merv Stockley when he was preparing / sorting out Don’s property in Whitianga. Don has lived there for 64 years.

Can any of the canvas & stick brigade confirm the yacht is Waiapu & possibly supply more details on her?

Harold Kidd Input

For a start, she’s a bona fide 20ft MULLET BOAT, not a keeler. WAIAPU was built in December 1912 to the Mullet Boat Restrictions for 20 footers by Harvey & Lang at Freeman’s Bay for Syd Eslick. Fred and Roy Lidgard bought her around 1920 and won the 20 footer Championship with her. Subsequent owners were F. Newman, J.C. Willcocks, L. French, A.E. Follas, the Douglas brothers, R.H. Wood who sold her to Ashton-Baker of Whangarei in 1937. She was eventually sold to H. Hemphill of Suva in 1940ish.
She had a spell on the Manukau between 1927 and 1929 owned by Leo Bouzaid, the rather famous sail maker.
When the alpha-numeric sail numbers were issued in 1922, she was allocated N9. The N Class was for bona fide mullet boats, 20ft loa and under. The V Class 18 footers of “mullet boat type” were not regarded as genuine mullet boats for a number of good reasons, the principal of which was historical, 18 footers were never used to net mullet, because they were too small to get a viable catch, commercially.
This image must have been taken after 1937 when she was converted from gaff to bermudan.

2015 Australian (Hobart) Wooden Boat Festival

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2015 Australian (Hobart) Wooden Boat Festival
photos ex Simon Smith & Baden Pascoe

Several CYA members crossed the ditch for the bi-annual wooden boat festival in Tasmania. A group transported the kiwi skiff  ‘wee’ Tawera over to take part in the rowing section of the regatta & I understand did us proud with a win.
Rumour has it that Neil Chalmers was cruising the docks & hopefully took the Box Brownie with him.
Simon Smith sent in the gallery of boating photos below + a couple of stunning scenery shots, love the one of Hobart town bathed in sunshine.
This event is on my bucket list. Enjoy 🙂

19/02/2015 – more photos ex Simon Smith

Mahurangi Regatta Bonus Photos – Sailing Sunday

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Mahurangi Regatta Bonus Photos – Sailing Sunday

A wee bit of a bonus today – CYA member Peter Mence, owner of the classic K-Class, Jeanne & the classic launch Linden (Eileen Patrica) sent me a usp stick with a collection of photos from the 2015 Mahurangi Regatta weekend.
The rag & stick brigade will enjoy the focus on sailing, but still plenty of launches there, including yours truely 🙂

Enjoy. Alan


Celox SOS

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CELOX – SOS      (Sailing Sunday)

photos from Harold Kidd + historical info. Salvage details ex Pam Cundy
1921 incident reporting ex paperpast

The 26′, 107 year old Logan Bros built classic mullet boat Celox sank last week while sailing from Opua to the Cavalli Islands.  She struck rocks off Motukawaiti Island.  Luckily her owner was rescued, but unfortunately Celox did not fare as well & while re-floated & dragged ashore, she is now in two pieces, the cabin & the deck have separated from the hull. The mast is intact & has been removed.
The owner shall have assistance with getting her back to Opua, but is feeling defeated at this point is offering her to anyone wanting to restore her.

Some history ex Harold Kidd
CELOX was built by Logan Bros (not by Arch Logan) in November 1908 for Tom Percy of Parnell. She had an illustrious racing history for many years.
Sadly this is not the first time she has sunk, in March 1921 she drove under while carrying her spinnaker sheet to weather (as was the rule at the time) between Motihe and Matiatia. Boatbuilder Dale Spencer owned her at the time. His 8 year old boy was trapped in the cabin and went down with the boat. Two boats were on the scene and sent out dinghies which got to the rest of the crew but, when Dale heard his son had gone, he refused to be hauled aboard the dinghy and sank.
She has been at Matauwhi Bay and thereabouts for 40 years or so.