Category Archives: Tales & Yarns

CLASSIC 1948 WOODEN LAUNCH – MAKURA

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Ex Sea Spray Magazine

CLASSIC 1948 WOODEN LAUNCH – MAKURA

In late November 2024 WW attended the relaunch of the very salty 24’, 100 year old ex workboat named  – MARISSA at the Te Atatu Boating club. While there her owners, the Monaghan family, very generously shared an old photo album. One the woody craft included in the album was the Collings & Bell built bridge-decker – MAKURA. Seen in the first two photos above.

MAKURA last made a cameo appearance on WW back in 2013 when Harold Kidd and Russell Ward contributed to a WW story titled ’The Collings & Bell Bridge-deckers’ – link below https://waitematawoodys.com/2013/07/09/the-collings-and-bell-bridgedeckers/

In the story we learnt that MAKURA was built in 1949 for W D C  & C H Leighton and fitted with a 6 cylinder Chrysler Crown. They sold her to Phil Seabrook of Seabrook & Fowlds in 1957. He fitted the Nordberg a year or so later. Phil Seabrook had Billy Rogers design and build LADY DIANA for him in 1950 and fitted her with the Austin Skipper from new, replacing it with a 155hp Nordberg sleeve-valve engine in 1956 shortly before he sold LADY DIANA to Monte Winter and bought MAKURA. 

Later owners were V F Adams (1966) and W G Boughtwood (1973). Back in 2013 she was in Picton.The photo of MAKURA above was taken by Russell in 1961. Russell commented at the time that she was a fine looking ship. Also shown is a photo of MAKURA as built from the July 1951 edition of Sea Spray magazine.

MYSTERY CLASSIC LAUNCH + COASTGUARD TO THE RESCUE

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MYSTERY CLASSIC LAUNCH + COASTGUARD TO THE RESCUE

The b/w photos above were sent in by Mark Sorrenson (MV ), Mark spotted the framed photo in a 2nd and shop in Thames last week. The sale sticker said ‘Auckland Pre WW2.’

Mark bought the photo with the thought that someone following WW may own this boat and would like the photo. Mark commented that he was happy to hand it on. So woodys – can we ID the boat. My guess is – LINDA or WIRIHANA

INPUT ex NATHAN HERBERT – the vessel is ALCESTIS refer HAROLD KIDD input below.

INPUT ex HAROLD KIDD – Nathan is right, it’s MOLLIE, built by Joe Slattery in 1919 for Percy Colebrook, heavily modified by Colin Wild for the Guthries in 1928 and renamed ALCESTIS. Alf Seccombe of Lion Breweries bought her in 1936 and renamed her RAIONA (Maori version of LION). The image from the book came from Richmond. My memory is that it was miscaptioned “MARION D” at Richmond. MOLLIE, as originally built in 1919 looked nothing like this image. It’s not the first time people have been confused about the boat. Even at the time she was confused with GLADYS II / RONGO as well as IMANOTA (I) / MARION D which were also extensively altered out of recognition.

COASTGUARD MEMBERSHIP CAN BE GOOD VALUE

The owners of the launch – WAIKARO got their monies worth from their CG membership over the weekend. WAIKARO was off Leigh on route to Whangreai when they had a mechanical issue (the two joined sections of the water pump pulley decided they no longer liked each other and parted company). Kawau Volunteer Coastguard towed WAIKARO to Tiri where they handed WAIKARO over to theHibiscu CG to continued the tow back to her Auckland marina berth. The Kawau CG commented that conditions weren’t pleasant – “20 knots+ from west-southwest with gusts over 30 knots + a confused 1m sea” Check out the video below. I think the skipper of WAIKARO was very fortunate that Mrs WAIKARO wasn’t on-board 🙂

The boys at the Slipway Milford came to the rescue with a replacement pulley harvested off CONNIE V.

HAPPY NEW YEAR WOODYS + A Peek Into Why WW Is NZ’s #1 Boating Media Hub

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HAPPY NEW YEAR WOODYS + A Peek Into Why WAITEMATA WOODYS Is NZ’s #1 Boating Media Hub

As the first day of the new year I thought I’d give you a peek into the big black box that stores all the data behind the waitematawoodys weblog. Only a peek because some of the intel is very revealing in terms of what and when the classic boating community consume online, and I’m not interested in helping other marine media that struggle to maintain their existing channels and grow online.

SOME STATS: 

• 2024 site visits and viewing numbers – highest ever. To date the site has received in excess of 13 million views.

• Followers / subscribers – grew in 2024 by 73%. A reflection that at last people have accepted the tech and now receive daily updates on new and updated stories.

• Biggest Single Viewed 2024 Story – 36,384 views in a 24hr period.

• Most referenced stories – still Chris McMullen’s learnings on electro-chemical damage in wooden boats – links below. https://waitematawoodys.com/2023/03/18/loving-your-boat-to-death-electro-chemical-destruction-underwater-rot/ https://waitematawoodys.com/2016/04/28/electro-chemical-damage-in-wooden-boats

• Most popular viewing day and time – after 10 years its changed – quite a surprise, possibly reflection on the ageing database.

• Lowest viewing month – October.

• Viewing Numbers by country – NZ > AUST > USA > UK > CANADA – Its taken a long time but the UK numbers have finally hit the 4 digits.

• Most clicked on (enlarged) single photo 2024 – MY GIRL in the anniversary day launch drag race – photo above.

• Most viewed single photo ever – Classic Launch Parma Sinks Under Harbour Bridge – photo above.

• And if there was an award for the WTF is that boat & why we need to protect our classic fleet – the last photo above that I received a couple of days ago from a woody hunkered down at Kawau Island would be the winner. They commented “Attached is a photo of an alien craft that has landed in Bon Accord Harbour today. A small group of well weathered boaties here on the KBC deck tonight have declared this to be an unqualified failure in boat design and who ever was responsible was on some really bad stuff at the time. The owner has no right to position it amongst the fleet of Kiwi designed and built vessels anchored here in such a beautiful location.”

In 2024 I was interviewed for a feature story in my local newspaper, as part of the process I supplied the brief below.

Whats the waitematawoodys website all about Dedicated to the study and appreciation of classic kiwi wooden boats. WW was founded upon a desire to tell the stories and a need to archive history of our classic wooden boats, the craftsman who built them & characters that owned and crewed on them. Visiting the weblog is like a bunch of people in the boat club bar, there will be stuff discussed you know, stuff you know nothing about and stuff you want to know more about. That’s what waitematawoodys is about – gathering stories, photos, history, reminiscences.

Never in a blue moon when I started the waitematawoodys.com weblog could I have seen it becoming as popular as it has. Along the way the site has morphed to also become an awesome information source for just about anything connected to wooden boating.

Some facts:
• 13,000,000+ views • 20,000+ people visiting the site per day, 7 days a week • 3700+ stories available online • 46,000+ photos published online • A photo library of over 80,000 photos.

The site is search-able by style of vessel, size, age, designer, builder, method of construction, location, method of propulsion e.g. sail / power. These days in excess of 50% of the site visitation is research based, as compared to reading the story of the day. If it is wooden boat related everyone ends up at waitematawoodys

None of this would have happened without in the early days input from people way more worldly in the wooden boating community than myself. The list of people that have shared their family photo albums, stories and knowledge with waitematawoodys is huge and  the site just wouldn’t be what it is today without these people.  I’ve made so many friends, and been fortunate to rub shoulders with a lot in person. 

Here’s To An Even Bigger 2025

CLASSIC YACHT – ROSEMARY F6 – Looking for intel on this yacht & past owner

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CLASSIC YACHT – ROSEMARY F6 – Looking for intel on this yacht & past owner

Recently WW was connected by Phil Doyle asking for help expanding on his knowledge of the yacht ROSEMARY. I’ll let Phil tell the story.

“Going back to the 1960’s and 1970’s my father knew a group of then young architects who sailed with Major Johnson and I remember outrageous stories involving various misadventures involving the colourful Major including serving his crew porridge only discover he had used soap powder as the main ingredient. 
I had not given the ROSEMARY a thought until recently when Mr Paul Chevis who has an old Woollacot yacht said his father sailed on the ROSEMARY (he is seen in the above photo) and that the Major made a number of trips to the Three Kings taking scientists and that a number of plants were named after him in-recognition .  Wondering if any one can flesh out his story as he is part of a lost breed of adventurer.”

2025 AUSTRALIAN WOODEN BOAT FESTIVAL – The Perfect Xmas Present

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2025 AUSTRALIAN WOODEN BOAT FESTIVAL – The Perfect Xmas Present

Starting to get a little excited about heading over the ditch in early 2025 (Feb7>10th) for the 2025 AWBF. Have confirmed by support crew, booked flights and accommodation = so its locked and loaded.  NZ is getting its day in the sun this festival with a focus on the pacific region. But 95% of the show content will be beautiful varnished wooden craft, which WW will be reporting on.

If you’re at a loose end in early Feb and have a few pennies to spare – consider treating yourself this Christmas and get over to Hobart. Air NZ fly direct these days, and I can assure you as a woody lover you won’t regret it.
Link here to the offical 2025 Festival https://www.australianwoodenboatfestival.com.au

CLASSIC 1916 WOODEN CRAFT – MAKORA

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CLASSIC 1916 WOODEN CRAFT – MAKORA

The 35’’ woody – MAKORA was supposedly built by Baillie Bros in 1916 and started life as a yacht. To my eye she has a very fetching rear end, when it comes to lookouts hard to fault as canoe stern.

What we know about her is that she is 35’x9’6″x4′ and powered by a 40hp, 3 cyl. Fordson Dexter engine that gets her along nicely at 7 knots at 1600rpm. This we know thanks to Ian McDonald and tme.

Anyone know more about her past.

19-12-2024 HAROLD KIDD INPUT – MAKORA was built by Chas Bailey Jr in 1914 for Fred Alison of the Devonport Steam Ferry Co as a launch not a yacht. Her original power was twin 9hp Andersons (Christchurch built) for which Bailey was the Auckland agent.

DANCER – 30’ STEAM LAUNCH 

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DANCER – 30’ STEAM LAUNCH 

Todays wooden is the 30’ steam powered launch – DANCER, designed by Peter Sewell and built by owner John Olsen. DANCER is strip planked cedar (+ f/glass) and has a beam of 6’ and draws 2’6”.

The short video of DANCER on the Waikato River was filmed (drone) by Wesley Harcourt. The steam engine is diesel powered – more details in the video narrative.

DANCER is a frequent visitor to the Lake Rotoiti Classic & Wooden Boat Parade and appearance in a lot of my post event coverage on WW.

Back in Feb 2021 DANCER appeared on WW – link below https://waitematawoodys.com/2021/02/20/ss-dancer/

One of John’s many talents is making traditional rope fenders. John very kindly made a pair for my launch RAINDANCE – see below. + link to how to make the fenders https://waitematawoodys.com/2021/05/01/classic-rope-fenders-how-to/

CAN ANYONE HELP OUT WITH A WOODY STORAGE PROBLEM 

Paul Hinton is considering acquiring a 1903 W.H.B. ex pilot boat that is currently hauled out in Diary Flat – she appeared on WW – link here https://waitematawoodys.com/2024/05/31/mystery-1902-pilot-boat/

The problem is Paul is currently finishing another project and needs to temporally ‘park’ the pilot boat for >6 mths. 

Paul can be contacted at pm.hinton@gmail.com

A tip sign an agreement re max time frame, and state that if exceeded Paul will be responsible for any removal / disposal costs 😉

CLASSIC WOODEN BOAT PUB CRUISE TRIP REPORT 40+ Photos

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NGARO

CLASSIC WOODEN BOAT PUB CRUISE TRIP REPORT 40+ Photos

Saturday was a great day for the classic wooden boating community – 13 classic craft (twelve launches and one yacht) made the journey up the river to the waterfront Riverhead Tavern for lunch.

In addition to the 13 woodys we were joined by 5 skippers and partners who made the trip by car.

As seems to always be the case – the weather and sea conditions was perfect for the trip and everyone had a great time.

Nice to welcome several newbies to the flock – these gathering are ideal for meeting fellow classic boating enthusiasts – the anchoring, coming ashore to the wharf and dining make it a shared experience and helps break the ice with ’strangers’. These days people seem loath to row up to another woody in a bay and say hi, some anything that grows the classic woody community is to be encouraged.

Saturdays cruise was the last event on the Classic Woody Calendar for the year, we will be back to you in the new year with details on more events. As always click on photos to enlarge – photos thanks to Margo Hudson & yours truely.

NEWSFLASH – as I have told anyone and everyone, the Mahurangi Regatta in late January is not to be missed. PLUS – details soon on an exciting new activity for the Sunday – the heads up – old school yachting and launch race/cruise to Kawau Island and a party at Kawau Boating Club on Sunday night. Perfect for those wanting to enjoy Mahurangi / Kawau longer eg not heading back to Auckland on Sunday morning.

A sad reminder that we were missing one of our family awaited us on the tables at the tavern – RIP David Cooke 😦

SO MANY CLASSIC WOODEN CRAFT TO BE VIEWED HERE – 1971 One Ton Cup

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LINK LINK BELOW TO VIEW

https://www.nzonscreen.com/title/the-one-ton-cup-1971

SO MANY CLASSIC WOODEN CRAFT TO BE VIEWED HERE – 1971 One Ton Cup

During the week John Bullivant sent in a link to a very cool film of the One Ton Cup series held in Auckland in 1971. So many classic craft out and about watching the racing. Personally my eye is drawn to the classic launches but there are 100’s of craft afloat. The 34 minute video is narrated by Chris Bouzaid. If you have the time watch the entire film but if time isn’t your friend – most of the spectator footage is around the 7:00 minute and again between 14:00 > 18:12 minutes. I think Lady Crossley makes a cameo appearance around 24:20 minutes.

Enjoy the film and thanks to NZ National Film Unit and NZ ONSCREEN for the original footage. 

SAD DAY YESTERDAY IN THE CLASSIC WOODY BOATING COMMUNITY

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SAD DAY YESTERDAY IN THE CLASSIC WOODY BOATING COMMUNITY

Yesterday, one of the seriously good men that I called a friend, – left us – David Cooke, skipper of TRINIDAD. David lost the battle in his amazing fight to beat the cancer that was razing his body.

Most other humans would have surcomed a long time ago but not Cookie, he amazed us and his doctors with his ability to counterattack and box on. But even the best can’t take the number of blows that David did for so long and the body said enough.

There will be a lot more said about David,  the ‘seriously good bugger’, but today our thoughts and love go out to Barbara and the Cooke family.