Today woodys we have a gallery of photos of the 1895 Bailey Brothers built yacht – TE UIRA. She was one of the first NZ designed and built racing craft to be exported to Australia (Victoria, Melbourne).
TE UIRA has had a colorful past and been very close to a Beehive restoration several times. Luckily she found the right owner who commissioned a full restoration that was only completed late last year by Cygnet Wooden Boats.
Won’t bore you with the full details but lost my IPhone yesterday, spent hours visiting lost & found + police etc but there are some honest people out there and later in the day I recovered it. So relived.
Four seasons in one day today on the weather front but all good post mid day.
Some serious culture today via museum and gallery visits then dock mooching to snap the woodys I’d not photographed and then some R&R at the local watering holes. Public holiday on Monday so crowds could be a little OTT.
Bumped into anyone and everyone that matters in the trans Tasman classic wooden boating scene and made a few new friends.
Lots of activity at the Pacific exhibition, with Johnny Wray’s – NGATAKI, stealing the limelight.
Back at the hotel our wallaby mate came around for dinner and bought the whole family 😄
The first gallery of photos above were taken early evening yesterday, taking advantage of the best light.
Today was overcast all day and a tad cold. A little bit of sightseeing and dining then the ‘Dinghies After Dark’ function at the City Hall. Lots of Kiwis in attendance which is always nice.
It was also time to move on from the fish diet – Beef Cheek Wellington and discovered a new ginger beer ✔️
Also woke up very early and meet a visitor on the lawn, could have been worse eg a snake.
Today was when the waterfront comes alive, yesterday you could have fired a shotgun and not hit anyone but overnight and thru out the day the classic wooden craft kept pouring into the surrounding areas.
The highlight of day one is the ‘Parade of Sail’ that sees 11 Tall Sailing Ships and over 200 craft sail up the Derwent River and into Sullivan Cove to mark the start of the festival. At the 2023 festival I was aboard the 110’ brigantine – WESTWARD BOUND, this year I choose the very fast and stable media boat. A perfect platform to capture the event.
Today woodys I post a snapshot of the day and share our culinary highlights- the seafood is next level in Tasmania.
I’m now in wooden boat heaven – attending the 2025 Australian Wooden Boat Festival in Hobart, Tasmania, Australia. Arrived yesterday mid morning and to use that wonderful Aussie saying – ‘ I’m as happy as a dog with two tails. I attended the 2023 festival and quickly became hooked – search Australian Wooden Boat Festival in the WW search box to view that trip.
I’m adopting a different reporting style this festival – rather than doing massive photo posts each day – there will be some narrative on what we have been up to and some BOATS of THE DAY photos, then at the end of the trip there will be one big story. Why you may ask – well last trip I spent 1/2 my time bent over my laptop editing photos and loading up via very average hotel internet services.
This year I will be trying to enjoy the occasion more and meet more woodys and visit their craft dockside.
Each year the festival has a theme – The 2025 festival celebrates Australia’s deep maritime connections across the Tasman Sea, featuring the debut of Te Karangatahi, the Māori waka taua, and a lineup of NZ vessels including NGATAKI, LADY GAY and TE RAPUNGA. There will be talks, open to the public, on the restoration of NGATAKI and the saving of the DEEMING. These vessels are well known to the followers of WW, so the cameras will be mainly focusing on the hundreds of stunning Australian wooden craft that make up the festival – so I apologise in advance to the connections of these Kiwi boats. 🙂
Lots of activity down at the waterfront as all the festival crew are setting up.
Tomorrow I’m out on the water for the event that marks the start of the festival – the Sail In’ – it’s very spectacular.
WORLDWIDE CLASSIC BOAT SHOW- FREE ACCESS TICKET FOR WW READERS
As you read this I’ll be winging my way to Hobart for the 2025 Australian Wooden Boat Festival. There will be daily posts of the best thats on display so check in each day.
Readers of WW will be familiar with my addiction to the USA based v-blog OFF CENTER HARBOR, one of the super cool gigs these guys pull together is the annual WORLDWIDE CLASS BOAT SHOW, which waitematawoodys is co-sponsoring this year. The online show kicks off on February 14th – and as a WW reader you get a Free Ticket to the Worldwide Classic Boat Show
See over 1,200 of the world’s best wooden boats at the show. The show is 100% online/virtual, February 14 to March 2nd, so you’ll get free access to everything from your favorite lounge chair at home. You can CLICK HERE TO GET YOUR FREE TICKET/PASS.
WHAT’S AT THE SHOW?
World Map – Everything related to classic boats on one interactive world map
Boats – Beautiful photos and details of 1,200+ of the world’s best classic boats
Organizations – Explore festivals, boatbuilders, clubs, museums, schools, etc.
Live Presentations – Inspiring presentations featuring experts on a variety of topics
People – Connect with other attendees anywhere in the world (right on the map)
Your free ticket will get you into all of these presentations:
Arctic Solo Sailor Veronica Skotnes
Yacht Restoration w/ Dave Snediker
Indigenous and African Maritime Legacies w/ Akeia de Barros Gomes
Why Are These the Best Boat Festivals? w/ Port Townsend, France, and Australia
Two-Tim Race to Alaska Winner Jeanne Goussev
Marine Systems w/ Kevin Ritz from NWSWB
Small Boat Design w/ John Welsford, Clint Chase, and Ross Lillistone
+ SUBMIT YOUR OWN BOAT: They’re still accepting boat submissions too, so you can CLICK HERE to submit your own boat to be in the show. Enjoy the show
03-02-2025 INPUT ex COLIN BROWN – photo below of a painting Colin has of ROMANY in the shed at Whangateau boat shed.
A CELEBRATION OF THE CLASSIC WOODEN STEAM BOAT – ROMANY
The top photo above is on my permeant laptop screen saver rotation i.e. one of my favourite woody boating images. The craft is Russell Ward’s steam boat – ROMANY and I have been taking photos of her for over 10 years. Just after I took this photo myself and Murray Deeble joined Russell for a very special early morning cruise around Lake Rotoiti.
The year was Feb 2014 and the annual Lake Rotoiti Classic & Wooden Boat Parade had been postponed 24 hrs due to inclement weather (mainly fog). Given that ROMANY takes several hours to fire / steam up Russell was keen to head out anyway, so Deeble and I hopped aboard. A very memorable day, made even more special by ‘visiting’ (gate crashing) several waterfront holiday homes along the way.
What prompted todays story was Russell sent in two photo of the new engine for ROMANY, in the final stages of assembly – I would not like like to be funding that project – looks very $$$. I’m sure Russell will had some details on the new engine.
Enjoy the photos, mainly taken at LRC&WBF’s over the last decade.
The top two photos came in late last night from woody John Dawson, who reported that the 26’ steam boat – KOTARE was on fire at the riverside dock in Warkworth, very sad images.
I took the photos below of her in May 2022 at the same location.
I have included below some intel on the vessel ex fellow steam boat owner John Olsen
ONLY TWO THROTTLE SETTING ON MY GIRL – IDLE AND FULL CHAT
Some woodys are pure speed demons eg MY GIRL (#51) below and others with the help of a heart transplant can still lift up their skirts and show a good turn of speed – NGAIO (blue boat) and PACIFIC (white) two good example below.
TUGBOAT RACE START
2025 ANNIVERSARY DAY INNER HARBOUR MOTORBOAT RACING
Due to the weather on the weekend I was able to attend the anniversary day regatta motor boat events on board Jason Prew’s launch – MY GIRL.
The two gigs are the Tug & Workboat Race and the Classic Launch Race – known around the waterfront as as the Tug Off and the Drag Race.
The commercial boats were first away and are always a sight to behold – so much horse power – and great to a mix of very old – WILLIAM C DALBY and current working waterfront tugs.
The main event for me is the launch race, pulled together each year by Jason Prew – it is a handicap race but the adrenalin kicks in and the launch skippers are going at full throttle most of the race. Race results below.
I wouldn’t be true to my DNA if I didn’t comment about the continuing demise of the regatta – each year less and less vessels turning out – aside from small beach launched yachts, the motor boats would have to be the two biggest categories in the regatta. And a very concerning sign – no Navy ship in the harbour as the VIP grandstand………. just saying.
Enjoy the photo / video gallery.
NOTE – AFTER A TECH ISSUE UPLOADING VIDEOS YESTERDAY – WE HAVE RESOLVED THE FAULT AND HAVE ADDED SOME GREAT SAILING FOOTAGE TO YESTERDAYS MAHURANGI REGATTA STORY – SCROLL DOWN TO VIEW.
Well that wasn’t the woody weekend I‘m sure we all planned, but it was still a magic weekend and just goes too prove that classic wooden boat enthusiasts don’t let a lot of wind and rain get in the way of a good time.
The trip up on Friday afternoon / evening as uneventful (unless your woodys named – TAWERA, who ‘lost’ 2.5m off the top of her mast) and most anchored in and around Scott’s Landing.
Then it went down hill on Saturday morning – confusion around the start time for the launch parade – 1/2 the boats thought 10am, now I’m told it did say 9.30 in the classic yacht club newsletter, but……. the % of launches there that were members would have been less than 20%, so the parade was very patchy with skippers joining at different times. Numbers were down and the loop of Sullivan’s Bay was embarrassing- less than 20 people on the beach and I suspect they had no idea what was going on. BUT – still good to get together. Parade aside there was an impressive number of classic wooden launches in the harbour, in terms of pure classic craft , launches would have out numbered yachts by 4:1Most turning up to just enjoy the weekends activity on the water.
As the morning wore on the wind and seas picked up – resulting in some spectacular sailing in the Mahurangi Regatta yacht race. Amazing that they was no carnage, that I’m aware of.
Below is a selection of photos that Jason Prew took from his launch – MY GIRL. I have several videos put have tech issues with uploading – will sort and add asap. I’m sure there will be more fleet coverage on social media.
Post the boating activities the weather turned ugly and the smart people left Scott’s Landing for Pukapuka Inlet. The shore based activities would have been dampened down by the weather but the true blue woodys partied on. Big ups to Nick Atkinson and mates who entertained the revellers from the back of a truck. The normal 20+ piece jazz band was absent this year but from everyone I spoke to – I think Nick has a permeant gig.
The forecast for Sunday was evil, anything that has 50 knots in it is a big red flag. Then the heavens opened up and we had everything- wind , rain, lightening all night. Not a lot of sleep was had that night. Woke to no rain and wind down a little but forecast wasn’t good so made the call to cancel heading to Kawau and waited in Pukapuka for the weather to improve enough for a dash (not sure 8 knts is worthy of that term on RAINDANCE) home. Which we did.
Sad I missed hanging out at the Kawau Boating Club on Sunday night, but the upside was I scored a ride on Jason Prew’s – MY GIRL in the anniversary day launch race – full report tomorrow. Enjoy the photo gallery 🙂 And remember to click on photos to enlarge.
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