DAY SIX – BULLETIN – TUES 11TH
On the big silver bird today heading back to Auckland. Today we have a glimpse at a rather fine speed boat – MISS JAMAR that caught both my self and Angus Rogers eye.
Powered by a 383 ci Chev V8.
DAY FIVE – BULLETIN – MONDAY 10TH
DAY FIVE – BULLETIN – MONDAY 10TH
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.
Lunch was a shared pizza – very good 😋
DAY FOUR – BULLETIN – Sunday 9th
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 😄
DAY THREE – BULLETIN – Saturday 8th
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.
OFFICIAL OPEN DAY
DAY TWO – BULLETIN – Friday 7th
OFFICIAL OPENING DAY
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.
DAY ONE – BULLETIN – Thursday 6th
Hello woodys
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?
Your free ticket will get you into all of these presentations:
+ 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
CLASSIC WOODEN LAUNCH – ATHENA
The 1962 Des Donovan designed and built launch – ATHENA has made several appearances on WW and has had a very colourful life.
She is 48’ in length, has a beam of 12’11” and draws 5’5”. Forward motion is from a 127hp Gardner 6LX.
When I arrived last Friday night at Scotts Landing, Mahurangi I dropped anchor alongside ATHENA and was greeted by an old friend Dave Holmes who had just purchased her.
A great back story – owned by a Coromandel farmer who undertook a 10 year refit on her. All the interior wood was felled and milled on his property. Dave had been aware the ATHENA had been on/off the market for over a year and approached the owner and made an offer – sold.
So the Mahurangi Regatta weekend was really the shake down cruise.
I was invited aboard for a sun-downer and took the photos above. A few exterior items that need addressing but Dave is the man for that, having once owner the launch – WAIMIGA.
One of the things that makes ATHENA so special is she is a member of the sub-mariners club – Cameron Pollard told us the story a few years ago – “ATHENA ran over a bit of NZ ( like many still do) and sadly when the tide dropped so did the boat and she filled up and skidded off the rock. Story has it she was lost for quite a few days as the tide took her for a underwater voyage. When she was later found and salvaged the mud and foul inside her was quite unreal.” Photo below (ex K Ricketts) of the opps
So to see her on Friday living her best life was very special and testament to the skills of the tradespeople that have worked on her in recent years.
CLASSIC WOODEN LAUNCH – ROSELLA
Todays woody is the launch – ROSELLA. I was sent the above photo by John Dawson who saw it in a classic yachting newsletter. Accompanying the photo was an update on the craft from her current owner – Danvers Devereux.
“We rescued ROSELLA a few years ago due to our connection with Great Barrier Island, producing the Great Barrier Island Bee Co range of body care products. We were fascinated with the island’s history as well as classic boats.
ROSELLA was built in 1928 by the Voss boat builders at Westhaven for the Blackwell family. She became well known for carrying the Barrier Island honey and produce back to the wharfs in Auckland to be traded. Because of this she became known as “the honey boat”
She also made many mercy missions with Adam Blackwell to help the sick or injured off the “Barrier”. She was like the Westpac helicopter back in her day!
We found her by chance and luck, high in the Coromandel ranges, ironically next to some beehives! No trucking company could assist due to 4WD access, so it was down to some Kiwi DIY, a long trailer and a Land Rover, followed by a 7-hour drive back to Matakana. She is now parked outside our Great Barrier Island honey gallery/museum.We hope to explore opportunities this year on how we can go about possibly restoring her.”
Back in Oct 2022 W ran a story on a launch also named ROSELLA,, as seen in the photo below. At the time we were trying to learn more about her – ex a Lew Redwood fb story we learnt that the photo was from the Auckland Library Heritage collection and was tagged 1930>1939. The location was Falls Park, Henderson, West Auckland. Sadly we learnt no more.
So woodys – todays question is – are these two craft the same or just share the same name.
24-01-2025 input EX HAROLD KIDD – I think that the Falls Park launch is the 24 footer ROSELLE (not ROSELLA) built in May 1914 by/for Peter A Smith of St Mary’s Bay for Reeves Currie with an Alpha engine.
CROSSING THE BAR
Pretty short post today – lacking a bit in motivation.
Yesterday afternoon we celebrated the life of David Cooke, one of the classic boating communities seriously good guys.
I had the pleasure of spending a lot of time with David on and off the water and any conversation with the man always made me smile.
The photo above of David aboard his motor launch – TRINIDAD was taken in the Marlborough Sounds in February 2018 , the Cookes had invited myself and Jamie Hudson to share the Whangaroa > Picton leg with them on their circumnavigation of New Zealand. Probably the best time afloat I have had. This photo is David in his happy place – peeling the spuds for dinner, a glass of chardonnay nearby and tray of snacks.
Link to the cruise here – so many memories https://waitematawoodys.com/2018/02/26/my-big-woody-adventure/
David and Barbara were one of the tightest couples I know and there is a quote that I think goes like this – “Death ends a life, not a relationship”, so woodys to those that had the pleasure of knowing David and Barbara, going forward don’t be a stranger, make the effort to keep Barbara in the communication / invite loop.
RIP David Cooke 04-12-2024
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