CLASSIC WOODY BOAT FESTIVAL AT THE WHANGAREI TOWN BASIN – 48 Photos & Videos
The weekends weather in Auckland certainly wasn’t conducive to boating so on early Saturday morning I pointed the car north and headed to Whangarei for the 2024 Maritime Festival at the Town Basin.
Year two and a quick overview, – more tie-dyed tee shirt vendors and food trucks, a lot more general public – less launches, more large cruising yachts. Steam boat rides were the most popular offering – long queues of kids that probably walked away with a life time memory – well done to all the steam boat skippers and crew.
Nice to see a couple of woodys from the Waitemata make the trip north – RAWHITI and JOHN DORY.
As always when she makes an appearance anywhere Dick and Colleen Fisher’s ex pilot boat – AKARANA was the start of the show.
THE AUCKLAND WOODYS HAD AN INTERESTING TRIP HOME ON SUNDAY AFTERNOON 🙂
Back in Jan 2023 (linked below) we shared some photos of the 40’ Keith Atkinson designed / built wooden launch – SHANGO anchored in Little Oneroa, Waiheke Island. Today thanks to Ian McDonald and tme we get to have a gander below decks. Construction is stripped plank kauri. Built c.1970’s.
SHANGO is powered by a Ford 200hp 2728T diesel engine that gives her a 9 knot cruising speed. At some stage in her ownership life someone must have done some serious cruising her her – she has 1000L fuel capacity.
LABOUR WEEKEND CLASSIC WOODY BOATINGAT KAWAU ISLAND
In recent years the Kawau Boating Club have probably been the must progressive boating club in town with their upgrades to facilities – clubhouse, jetty, fuel dock etc and securing the longtime tenure on the clubs assets.
In addition to all this the club, spearheaded by Mike Mahoney, have been planning to create an icon event for the club – well sometimes looking backwards is a smart thing – for decades the KBC hosted every Labour Weekend an OPENING WEEKEND REGATTA, but for all the wrong reasons the event had slipped off the calendar. Fast forward to 2024 and opening weekend at Kawau is back – bigger and better than ever.
KBC will be holding hands with the Ponsonby Cruising Club to offer up an action packed long weekend of boating activity – afloat and ashore. See below for details.
While most of the on-the-water activity is sailing focussed, WW have been working with KBC and PCC to encourage classic woody launches and classic cruising yachts to attend.
The plan is to hold a classic woody event on the Sunday where woodys will participate in a parade around the bays / baches in Bon Accord Harbour – along the lines of the Mahurangi Weekend launch parade. Meeting time will be 11am off KBC wharf.
We will spice it up with prizes for things like – Best Dressed Craft / Longest Traveled / Oldest Boat / Lucky Draw etc – + all woodys in the parade will also go in the draw for a haul-out at the Slipway Milford yard. On the Saturday there will be a waitematawoodys gathering ashore to catch up and enjoy each others company. There will be lots of opportunities over the weekend to enjoy the recently refurbished clubhouse – so make plans to be there.
So for now
1. Circle Oct 25 > 28 in the diary
2. View / download the file below to read all about the weekend.
3. If you own a yacht or crew on one – down load the entry form at the link below
And there is always a woody boat story – check out the photo below ex Ken Ricketts of two woodys in Whakatakataka Bay (Orakei, Auckland), can we put a name to the boat in the foreground. Excuse the image quality – pulled off TV screen.
INPUT ex NATHAN HERBERT – It’s Natasha which kept sinking and then was hauled at Okahu and presumably left by road or bin. The other is a Kempthorne / Salthouse KB760 type, presumable fibreglass. https://waitematawoodys.com/2017/06/07/natasha/
Todays woody is only a mystery because there is no name visible on the vessel or mentioned on tme (thanks Ian McDonald).
What we know is she was built from triple skin kauri (+glass) in 1979 by Shipbuilders and is powered by a 180hp Nissan turbo diesel engine, given her length and engine size she cruises nicely at 10 knots.
I have spotted her several time moored at Waiheke Island and she always looked well cared for.
The 1979 build and some of the design elements (flybridge, stern profile) keep her out of the true classic group but she gets away with it, which isn’t easy on a sub 30’ vessel.
Can we put a name to the launch.
REMEMBER BOAT YARD SALE AT TE ATAU BOATING CLUB TOMORROW
CLASSIC WOODEB CLINKER – MISS MARAETAI – Where Is She
WW was recently contacted by Rowan Muir re Seacraft runabout named – MISS MARAETAI, read below
“We are compiling a history of sea rescue out of Maraetai as it has operated from 1975 and it will be fifty years in 2025. I am trying to locate the present owners of “MISS MARAETAI” the original rescue vessel that the Maraetai Beach Boating Club owned.
She was a 16 foot Seacraft clinker built runabout with a petrol inboard Falcon motor. The last information I have is about 15 -20 years ago was that Rick and Viv who we think they lived in Manurewa somewhere owned her.Can we help Rowan and the MBBC track down what became of MISS MARAETAI.
NAME THE PENNANT – AND WIN A WW BURGEE In my recent travels around Auckland I spotted this on a club wall – I rather like the design ;-)First woody that can ID the pennant – wins a WW burgee. NOTE: entry via the WW comments section. Here’s a hint – not NZ, but not too far away………..
Its’ not often we see two Dave Jackson boats together, hauled out side by side. Gregs Lees sent in the above photos from the yard at the Sandspit Yacht Club.
On the left is the launch – KARROS, Dave’s own boat, built in 1974 and on the right LADY BEV, the first boat of his own design, which he built in 1957 for his father.
Back in July 2023 the Oliver and Gilpin 1972 designed and built 48’ launch – SAPPHIRE made a guest appearance on another story (LADY LYNN) as seen in the top b/w photo that came to us ex the Tauranga Museum via Dean Wright.
SAPPHIRE has recently popped up on fb and she has obviously been on the growth hormones over the years – as seen in the second photo, quite an increase in stature………… as they say no navel architect got rich on the additions 🙂
But – each to their own – nothing a tungsten tipped chainsaw couldn’t fix 😉
Today thanks to the eye / camera of Dean Wright we get to have a virtual Fiordland woody cruise aboard the launch – MONOWAI III.
Lets start with some background – Dean and partner Deb are ‘frequent flyers’ when it comes to these cruising grounds. They were back there last in May 2019. As before guests of Andy and Brenda Bell aboard their launch – MONOWAI III for a week in Fiordland mid July.
This time they flew into Dusky Sound and worked their way North, Breaksea, Charles Sounds before flying out of George Sound a week or so later. They aced it with brilliant, calm weather and just a bit of rain. The photos above show a few of the amazing anchorages down there.
MONOWAI III is a 47’ Saunders, built by Harold Saunders in 1976, carvel kauri construction. Her beam is 11’10” and she draws 4’6”.
The owner of the 36′ classic launch IONA II currently midway thru a total refit at the Slipway Milford is currently mooching around in Venice and sent in the above photo gallery of the hard working Venetian woody water taxis. Nice to have window into the other side of the world and to see the sun 🙂
The scope of the work on IONA II is next level and includes conversion to electric powered – there will be no combustion engine or generator i.e. not a hybrid. Really looking forward to following the project. IONA II was designed by Bruce Askew , and built in 1994 from strip planked wood + some f/glass, all good on a 1994 craft. Link below from when the work first commenced. I’ll get down there later in the week for an update, or maybe Jason Prew could put the tools down for a minute and send in some iPhone photos 😉 https://waitematawoodys.com/2024/05/28/iona-ii-gets-a-birthday/
SPIRIT OF TRADITION CLASSIC DOUBLE-ENDER WOODEN LAUNCH – BONITA
Over the weekend I was mooching around the upper harbour and came across the very smart looking double-ender above.
She is moored just off the old Salthouse yard / wharf and looks very new.
At a guess I would say approx. 28>30’ , would love to see the wheel house sans the covers.
Can anyone provide more intel on the vessel.
Ken Ricketts pointed out the she made a cameo appearance back in Feb 2023, photo below, nice to see the wheelhouse, James Hutchinson also commented that the boats named BONITA, built by Lanes. Details here for a peek inside the cabin. Amazing the difference a paint job makes. https://waitematawoodys.com/2022/07/07/borato/
INPUT ex CHRIS SALTHOUSE – The Vessels name is Bonita not Bonito and yes Eric Lanes of Picton built her in 1923, I bought her 2 years ago, steamed her across the Cook straight then trucked her to Auckland were we are slowly getting her in shape as time permits. Thanks for the interest.
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