Category Archives: Sailing Sunday

Tern II – A Big Project

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TERN II – A Big Project

On Friday I was contacted by Mike Lyon regarding the 52’ yacht Tern II, built by Stow and Son, in Shoreham, UK.- back in May 2021 we ran a wonderful story on the yacht and how it ultimately to be Mike’s care. It is a great read, full of insights and photos (link below)    https://waitematawoodys.com/2021/05/23/tern-ii/   

I’ll let Mike share todays story with you – 

“Hi there, we have a project boat that we are looking to find a new home for, her name is Tern II, and she was built in the UK in 1899, and briefly owned by Claude Worth, a well-known sailing writer of the time who included her in his book “Yacht Cruising”.

She was sailed out to New Zealand in the 1950’s by Ben Pester, a returning Naval officer who wrote about the voyage in his book “Just Sea and Sky”.

We came across her in Tonga in 2004, where she had been abandoned after a failed passage to Hawaii. I had worked as a shipwright in the UK restoring similar vessels and so we decided to take her on as a project.

We had her shipped to NZ in 2006 where we had her in storage for several years before moving her to Whangarei where she is now. 

We have replaced the old elm keel with greenheart, wrought iron floors with puriri and 1″ copper keel bolts. There is a large stock of puriri for the framing and the stem and sternpost, and the deck beams.

Due to other work and life commitments, we haven’t been able to work on her for the last few years.

It’s looking like the lease for the shed where she is currently being stored is coming to an end as the whole area is earmarked for development, and so we are looking into ways to secure her future and are putting the word out there to any interested parties who would be willing to take her on.”

Mike can be contacted via email woodshedboats@hotmail.com

Lola – NZ37 + Easterly – Picnic Boat

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LOLA – NZ37 + EASTERLY – PICNIC BOAT

Todays story comes to us from retired boat builder Allan Hooper, just back from an extended trip to visit family the USA (Carlsbad just north of San Diego). I’ll let Allan tell the story :-

Prior to leaving I made contact with Morgan Spriggs the current owner of Lola, an NZ37. Lola was built at Jim Young’s NZ Yachts in 1969-70 while I was the foreman. 

I was very keen to see the boat after all these years. Morgan has spent  a lot of time restoring Lola and she looks as good as the date she left the factory apart from a few alterations and replacements. Morgan was excited to meet me and be able to talk about the build of the boat.

The hull construction is 4 skins of 1/4’” Kauri cold moulded with all of the back bone, floors, transom and bulkhead boundarys set in the mould. The hull was sheathed in Epoxy and glass. After the hull was taken off the mould the bulkheads and the interior were put in place and gunwales fitted.

The cabin,  cockpit and decks were built on a separate mould complete with paint work, glazing and hardware. Then in an operation taking only a couple of hours, was lifted and placed on the hull, located over the bulkheads, glued and fastened down.

The techniques developed to build these yachts enabled a NZ37 to be built from start to finish in 4 weeks.

Read and view more on Lola here https://www.latitude38.com/lectronic/lola-55-year-old-kiwi-sloop-finds-home-san-diego/

Morgan‘s father Robert owns a beautiful picnic boat, Easterly (photos below), an ex  Maine lobster boat on which we toured the San Diego bay.

It was used by Denis Connor is a chase boat when he was sailing in the Americas cup. Robert Spriggs has owns the boat for 22 years and it is in as new condition, you could have eaten your lunch of the engine or engine room floor.

The teak cockpit sole is the best laid teak I have ever seen, the timber selected is absolutely perfect, as was the whole boat.

The waterfront at downtown San Diego has a beautiful collection of maritime exhibits including a sailing immigrant ship the “Star of India” which was a regular visitor to New Zealand in the 1800s, once a year it is taken out for a sail.

Further along the waterfront is the USS Midway launched in 1945, she was finally laid up in the 1990s. If you’ve never been on an aircraft carrier it’s well worth a visit. 3.5 acres of 3 inch thick steel makes up the flight deck. It is an interesting harbour to visit and extremely busy as it is alongside the international airport, a military airport, a naval base, several marinas and the city. When you go out on the bay you see it and hear it all.

Ilex Crew Visit Motukawanui Island

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ILEX CREW VISIT MOTUKAWANUI ISLAND

I came across this photo a while ago and just love – it is of the crew from the yacht ILEX catching up with the locals at either Papatara or Horseshoe Bay on Motukawanui Island (the largest island in the Cavalli Island group, northwest of Matauri Bay, Northland)

Can we ID the yacht hauled up the beach and the significance of the number – RL 27

The gent in the white hat + pipe, holding the piglet does look familiar for other old photos.

I hope the crew were not negotiating the sale of the wee pig 😦

09-08-2022 INPUT ex Robin Elliott – This was taken by Henry Winkelmann in January 1906 during his 4th cruise on the Ilex.

His negative register records this and several other images that day as ‘Cavalli Islands, Group of Maoris an crew’. According to the Vivien Edwards’ book ‘Winkelmann’, the Maori were residents of the Motukawa Village on the island.
There is no mention of the fishing boat in this picture.

The Ilex crew had stopped off at Motukawa for a spot of random goat shooting.

HDK has written extensively on the easy going gun culture of the day. Sitting on your boat while at anchor and taking pot shots at anything that moved on shore was generally regarded as ‘fair game’. See ” ‘Huntin’ Shootin’ and Fishin’ ” Boating World Magazine October 1994.

During that cruise Henry Winkelmann took 45 photographs, both Full Plate and quarter plate glass, of Whangaroa Harbour, Stevenson Island, Whangaroa township, as well as breathtaking shots from the top of St Peters and also from the top of the Dukes Nose. All the while lugging about those heavy glass plates and the unwieldy camera equipment to accommodate them.
The man was amazing.
His entire marine negative collection (or rather what has survived the last 100+ years or so) is held at the Auckland War Memorial Museum. Many images are online and well worth some time to trawl through them.
https://www.aucklandmuseum.com/discover/collections-online/search?pht=True&k=winkelmann&dept=photography

The Relaunch of Frances

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THE RELAUNCH of FRANCES 

 The 44’, 1906 Arch Logan designed / Logan Brothers built yacht – Frances is one of the lucky classic woody yachts on the Waitemata Harbour, in 2004 she came into the Classic Yacht Charitable Trust fleet and became one of the most regularly sailed yachts in New Zealand. But as we all know wooden boats need regular TCL and Frances returned to the water on Friday after a visit to Wayne Olsen’s yard – Horizon Boats ready for the next 100 years.

Todays’ photos come to us from Angus Rogers, a trustee of CYCT

Link below to the CYCT website where you can read and see more of Frances and the rest of the CYCT fleet.

http://classicyachtcharitabletrust.org.nz/trust_boats.htm?boat_id=6

43’ Classic Yacht With Exemplary Provenance 

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43’ Classic Yacht With Exemplary Provenance 

Very very rarely do I put a price on a classic vessel that is for sale on WW, but today is an exception. After over 50 years of ownership Tuahine is for sale and her owner is keen to sell, but only to the right person/s -so woodys if you pass the test -Tuahine could be yours for $100k. That is a bargain for a 43’ yacht designed and built in 1957 by the Dickson family, lead by Roy Dickson’s father (grandfather to Chris Dickson). Modern engine, her needs are mostly cosmetic, so give her some TLC and you will have a very fetching classic that should blow the b_lls off most of Auckland’s classic fleet 🙂

More photos and details at this WW link.https://waitematawoodys.com/2022/05/04/classic-yacht-tuahine-for-sale/

Classic Tender or Art

You decide – she is sub 10’, built of kauri ply (est. 65kg) and after 6 years of storage, has just had a birthday. Overseas owner says sell – not cheap but a very fair price at $4,300

Feel Good Sunday

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Feel Good Sunday

Today’s photo shows the yacht Nga Toa alongside the wharf in Mansion House Bay, Kawau Island and is dated 1933. It would appears that the bedding was getting some time in the sun. Photo ex Russell Brooke.  To me its one of the coolest old woody photos I have seen.

Sadly Nga Toa was wrecked in Wellington in the 1980’s

On the subject of the Brooke family and seeing its Easter I have reproduced below one of Jack Brooke’s drawing, recording the travels of their yacht Kiariki over Easter 1962, when they cruised to Kawau Island, Leigh and Waiheke Island and a few points in-between. Crew: John Brooke, R Hunt snr., R Hunt jnr., R Smith & W Bass.

Jack produced a hand drawing on each cruise, over 20 of them have appeared on WW thanks to son Robert making them available. Search Jack Brooke Cruise Collection in the WW search box to view more.

Mystery Yacht – C2

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Mystery Yacht – C2

All I can tell you is that the photo is dated c.1920/30’s and the yacht is sailing in a regatta in the Hauraki Gulf.

Should be an easy one to ID for those that have access to yacht registers ??

Input below from Denis O’Callahan –

“Back in the 1930s Scout was owned by one of my father’s buddies Ted Hay, who I think changed her from gaff to bermudan rig. From 30 December 1932 to 20 January 1933 Scout cruised to the Bay of Islands, the crew being Ted Hays, Jack Callagher, Bob O’Callahan (my father) and Copper Speight, who represented New Zealand at Rugby in 1893, playing 7 matches on tour. Copper was older than the rest of the crew and died at 65 years in 1935.

In 1932 it was the depression time, Ted, Jack and Bob may well have been unemployed and reading between the lines I think Copper paid for the cruise. He enjoyed it so much that he had a log typed up and I inherited a bound carbon copy. I have passed this log on to the present owner of Scout, Martin Farrand. (Of course I first scanned it and kept an electronic copy.) In return Martin gave me a copy of the excellent history of Scout “100 years astern”, written by Sandra Gorter, who also wrote the book about Ranger. To celebrate Scout’s 100th birthday in 2009 Martin took her to Newport Rhode Island to compete in a 6 Metre regatta where she was the oldest boat in the fleet. She now sports the sail number NZL-1. Unfortunately there are no photos from the 1932 cruise but I attached the cover photo from the book.”

Kotare – Needs A New Custodian 

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KOTARE – Needs A New Custodian 

The yacht Kotare popped up on WW back in 2018 (link below) having recently changed hands, now her owner Don Fraser would like to place the yacht with someone who will  maintain and use Kotare – I’ll let Don tell the story

KOTARE – Sailing Sunday

Don Fraser here. Back in Jan 2018 you posted a mention of my little 20′ cutter-rigged 1940’s keeler ‘Kotare’, having spotted me antifouling her in Rocky Bay, Waiheke where both the boat and I reside. 

That was my 3rd (or 4th?) season of ownership, after she was gifted to me by the previous owners – who were virtual strangers but had spotted me in the bay and thought I looked a suitable candidate… reasonably handy but not rich enough to buy anything substantial for myself, I was at that time ‘custodian’ of a friend’s dilapidated trailer sailer, also moored in the bay and since passed on to my friend’s nephew. 

Since then I have only sailed Kotare a handful of times – as work and family commitments continue to expand. On my youngest leaving home last year I thought Kotare’s time had finally come for a full repaint, cutting out some rot from the ply cockpit (added by the same guy who’d converted her to a keeler) and in the topper cabin trim, and some decent sail time. But alas covid came, then my mum needed a live in carer in the city, then my wife announced we will spend the next few summers walking the length of the country.

So Kotare needs a new owner / kaitiaki. One with the skills, time and energy to attend to her ongoing maintenance – and maybe even beef up her underpowered rig a bit. She is simple and fun (if slow) to sail – the running back stays and basic cockpit all very ‘yar’ as Gregory Peck once put it. The owners before me at given her a thorough resto with red lead interior paint, fijian kauri ply floor added, and every bit of rig removed and either replaced or given a good tickle.

No money need change hands – the new owner has to just have the skills and enthusiasm to keep the old kingfisher going for another few years before they too might pass her on. Outboard not included but old 6 foot inflatable tender is. Interested parties can contact Don at fraserhoults@gmail.com

Kotimana –  25’ Gaff-Rigged Sloop – 4sale

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Kotimana –  25’ Gaff-Rigged Sloop – 4sale

Having spent a bit of time at the NZ Traditional Boat Building School, numerous times I bumped into one of the schools trustees – Kere Kemp and was fascinated to learn the Kere was having a yacht built in the USA, which would end up in NZ waters. 

The yacht is a ‘Dark Harbor 17.5 – gaff rigged sloop. Full specs below:

LOA 7.6M (25’), LWL 5.3M (17’ 6”), Beam 1.9M (6’ 3”), Max Draft 1.3M (4’ 3”), Sail Area 28.9 sq M (311 sq ft), Displacement 1,588 kg (3,500 lb)

I’ll hand over to Kere to tell the story –

“Designed in 1908 by American naval architect B.B. Crowninshield she was built by the classes of 2017-18 (under supervision) at the Northwest School of Wooden Boat Building (Port Hadlock, WA, USA).  She was launched at Port Townsend, WA, USA in August 2018 and arrived, to Auckland New Zealand by container in November 2018.

Dark Harbour 17 ½’s often, are described as “pure racing machines of great beauty.”  They were originally intended primarily for racing but have become increasingly popular for day sailing as well as overnight coastal cruising.

Construction is of traditional Western Red Cedar planking over White Oak frames with a Mahogany backbone, Teak deck and Spruce Spars.

She has a large self-bailing cockpit plus a small cuddy cabin with 1.1M (3’ 6”) head room and dual berths.  A low freeboard, slender hull lines, long ends, a deep draft and a large gaff rig makes her a powerful, fast and responsive boat.

Sails are from Northwest Sails (Port Hadlock, WA, USA) and include a full main with double reefs, a working jib and a storm jib.  Both jibs are club footed.

For added propulsion she is fitted with a Torqeedo through hull Cruise 4.0 pod drive.  This is a 9.9HP equivalent, electric (dual lithium-Ion battery) system.  This includes all shore charging systems, a morse key for forward / reverse and power control plus a computer which provides for a variety of informational outputs including Speed (GPS-based, over ground), range, power consumption and battery charge state.  In addition, hydrogeneration is possible via a fitted folding prop.

The Torqeedo system makes for easy “in and out” marina access and, also provides more than ample power when needed to go head-to-wind when reefing sail.  The onboard computer is further supplemented with a Raymarine Micro-Net 100-2 that provides digital read outs of true boat speed and depth.  All deck and rig fittings are in bronze.”

To view the A>Z building of Kotimana at the Northwest School of Wooden Boat Building click on the image / link below to view an amazing gallery of photos.

IMG_8243

I bumped into Kere the other day at Half Moon Bay marina, while he was doing the annual maintenance – and he advised that due to health issues, sadly he had made the decision to sell Kotimana – so woodys, if you are looking for a very manageable (1>2 crew), low maintenance, gaffer in immaculate condition, that sails like a witch, Kotimana is worthy an inspection. Perfect classic for a couple of woodys wanting to continue their classic sailing interest without all the downsides of a 50’gaffer that needs a crew of 10 to take out 🙂

Kotimana made an apperance of WW back in Sept 2018, post launching – link below – https://waitematawoodys.com/2018/09/09/kotimana/

Interested parties to contact waitematawoodys@gmail.com to discuss further > view Kotimana

Who Can Name This Yacht

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WHO CAN NAME THIS YACHT

Today’s woody photo comes to us from the Auckland Maritime Museum via Nathan Herbert. 

The only clue, I’ll give out is – its been restored and is regularly sailing on the Waitemata.

I’ll put up a WW t-shirt for the first correct answer sent in – via email only to waitematawoodys@gmail.com 

Photo below of the prize being modelled in Russia (not very PC)