MERRY CHRISTMAS – Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Wishing you and your family all the best for 2024. If your are afloat – safe boating and remember to email in any woody photos.
JOHN STREET RIP – sad to learn of the passing last week of John Street- one of the leading visionaries and supporters of New Zealand’s maritime scene. There wasn’t many boating activities that John had not rubbed up against.
MILFORD CREEK FLASH BACK
Wouldn’t it be great if we still had businesses like the above around today. One stop shops.
I was up and down the creek today myself – giving the 95 year old a bottom tickle up – 2023 was such a crap season Raindance didn’t get the normal amount of use. So from entering and exiting the creak the watch said 38 minutes – service with a smile, well almost …… things a tad busy at The Slipway Milford with only 96>hrs till closing the door.
VIOLETTA
Back in October WW was contacted by Jeff Giddens who advised that his father, Spencer Giddens, has been the owner of Violetts, a 36’ Swanson launch. Which the family regularly cruised the Marlborough Sounds on. The Sounds was her birthplace – she was built there in Queen Charlotte Sound by the well known boat builder Bob Swanson, for a Mister Jack Hutton. It was built to cross Cook Strait as the owner lived in Paremata. It did many crossing, often in rough seas and was known for its sea keeping abilities. In approximately 1983 , it was sold to Jeff’s father, who still has it today, but now in his 80s is regretfully, looking to sell. She is 36′ by 11’-6″ feet, with a 3’6″ draft. Violetta is powered by a 6 cylinder turbo charged Ford diesel, and will do 15 knots. It is a hard chine planing hull, which is double planked kauri, a
full inch thick.
Included above s a copy of a Sea Spray magazine article on Violetta dated November 1962. Top photos show the before and after of the alterations Jeff’s father made to the boat eg windows and I top roof dodger, all made to slightly modernise her look.
Out & About – went to a little backyard gathering yesterday and came away with a serious case of blokes shed envy 🙂
SIERRA – A Peek Down Below –4sale The 40’ ex work-boat Sierra was built by Joseph Fell at Kohukohu on the Hokianga Harbour in 1917, making her 105 …
Sierra – A Peek Down Below – 4sale
What Happened To – IKA
The photo above comes to us from Papers Past > NZ Herald 5 March, 1928 and show the 35’ launch – Ika after she had been salvaged and towed into Whangarei Harbour.
The launch had set out from Auckland on a fishing trip but her (near new) 15hp engine broke down near Tiritiri Island and she started to drift off shore. The weather on Tuesday 27 February 1928 saw her drift approx 50 miles and in addition she was taking on water. The crew of 3 put a mayday call out and the R.M.S. Niagara located Ika near the Hen & Chicken Islands. Her owner/crew made the difficult decision to abandon ship and Ika was left to drift with the expectation she would sink.
While the crew were steaming to Sydney aboard Niagara, the vessel Eva put out to salvage Ika and towed her to Whangarei.
Question of the day is – who designed / built Ika and what became of her
(Photo sent in by K Ricketts)
BAYSWATER 12M MARINA BERTH – SHORT TERM RENTAL / PURCHASE – very attractive pricing. Email waitematawoodys@gmail.com
SOORY FOR LATE POSTING OF YESTERDAYS STORY – I SET THE CLOCK TO PM INSTEAD OF AM
WHISKEY HILL – Looking for help to identify this wooden boat
If you haven’t discovered it, there is a very cool fb page titled ‘ Sitting There Rotting, Help Save Me’ lots of junk on there but the occasional woody that deserves a 2nd chance.
Todays woody is named – Whiskey Hill (pretty good chance there has been a name change) and that all we know about her. The story comets us via a Lew Redwood link.
Can anyone throw some light on the vessel.
ORDER HERE https://waitematawoodys.com/2021/11/11/58095/
SPEEDWELL – Vanishes At Sea
Todays woody story is a deep dive back to 1927 and concerns the mystery surrounding the reported loss of the 33’ game fishing launch Speedwell.
In the photo above ex Papers Past, ex Lew Redwood via by K Ricketts, we see a 215lb swordfish across the stern of Speedwell. The fish was landed by a Mrs. Dunville listing from Ireland. Some sniffing around in Parers Past told us that the photo was dated 11 Feb 1926. The photo was used to highlight the plight of the launch after it went missing on a passage from Auckland to Russell in the Bay of Islands. The launch owner / skipper – Mr. Edwin Walker departed Auckland on 26 September and was last seen off Leigh, Warkworth by a local fisherman..The NZ Herald covered the unsuccessful search and also reported on the discovery in June 1937 of a hull washed in the Whananaki Inlet area.
Below are press clippings of the event.
Can anyone tell us the design / builder of Speedwell. I’m assuming no more information / finding surfaced on the vessel.
Article above es NZ Herald 7 October 1927
RIWAKA INLET STROLL
My part time resident (1/2 year in Tasman area and the other 1/2 in Germany) has just returned to NZ and wasted no time checking out the Riwaka Inlet waterfront – todays photos shows a recent addition – the very funky Kahurangi Boat Shed Coffee House. Tied up alongside is the launch Aurora II. Rumour has it that you can get a good fix of caffeine there, when its open 🙂 (closed when John Burland was there).
The 38’ launch Aurora II was possibly built in 1927 by Collings & Bell, that is if we believe her 2016 tme listing. Thanks to Harold Kidd for the input on a WW story from Feb 2016 – link below
FEB 2016 https://waitematawoodys.com/2016/02/13/aurora-ii/
Auroroa II’s semi permeant spot at the end of the Riwaka Wharf has been taken by a launch that was once named ‘Hatterleys’ (last photo above) that at first glance has Lidgard written all over her. But a call to the 4sale phone number on the front screen told me it was built c.1960 in Whangarei, Northland by a M. Ryan. Anyone able to better ID her / confirm the build details. The seller is contactable on 021 026 23890 – if not sold by xmas she is off to the landfill 😦
08-12-2023 UPDATE ex John Burland
The owner of Aurora II is named Oli and he the back story to the boat is – Aurora II is 1923 built, kauri, worked as a whaler out of Akaroa, has a massive V8 up forward and that when the owner retired from whaling, he took off and replaced the superstructure and used her as a pleasure boat.
Oli was selling coffee from a the boat shed but the Tasman District Council (TDC) had issue with that so he moved the set-to the boat – But guess what ‘you can’t have commercial activities in a coastal environment (plus some other bylaw) and there is a $700 daily fine – so sadly the poplar cafe has now closed.
John commented Oli has a cart at the Motueka Sunday Market, so if you’re local, make sure you support Oli. (photos below ex JB)
In the photo below we see the wreck of the ship – Janie Seddon, laying at rest on the beach at Motueka. Read more about the wreck at the link below https://mainzdailyphoto.com/2011/06/08/the-wreck-of-the-janie-seddon-1353/
PHYLLIS M > WAINUNU > PHYLLIS M
Back in 2016 the launch Phyllis M popped up on WW and was harshly listed as a finalist in the Husqvana Chainsaws Boat of the Year Awards. She popped up again in 2020 looking very smart after receiving a ‘top chop’. From these stories we learnt from Harold Kidd that she was built by Fred Mann in 1919 and named Phyllis M, when sold in 1953 her new owner, Clive Power, who renamed her Wainunu, and then later changed back by another owner to PM. Search either name in the WW search box for more details and photos.
Fast forward to yesterday and WW was contacted by Vic McDonald, Vic and partner purchased Wainunu in 1995 from Mark Power, Mark is the nephew of Clive Power. The McDonald’s owned her until August 2005. Mark Power and family restored and refurbished the craft after she had been stolen and scuttled in Big Muddy Bay, Waiheke Island.
In the photo above Phyllis M / Wainunu is seen during the McDonld’s ownership period. Vic commented on the original butterfly wing hatches, brass portholes and 2 masts with roller furling sails. The Lister engine had a dry exhaust from the top of the forward mast.
The craft has had a very interesting and colourful history, a lot of which was covered in a Jan 1995 Boating NZ article – refer below (click on photo to enlarge)
Also below a very early photo.
Quick Classic Launch 4sale – Romance II
Its not often you see the words classic and quick in the same sentence when reading about one of our classic launch fleet – there are a few exceptions out there and probably the quickest is the 1919 Bailey & Lowe designed and built launch – Romance II.
Back in c2012 Romance II was rescued by Pauline Kidd and taken under Harold Kidd’s wing. I remember Colin Pawson who went with HDK on the post purchase delivery trip to Gulf Harbour, scoping out suitable locations on the eastern shore for a potential beaching, the water ingress was a tad worrying. HDK’s answer was to have the throttle wide open the whole way to keep the bow up 🙂 An old salt told me once that Romance II ran like a skinny hogged i.e. 18+ knots. Check out the video above.
Romance II sent a few years at Gulf Harbour before the decision was made to transport her to Marco Scuderi’s Helensville yard (MSN Shipwrights) for a major refit – photos of this work above.
HDK and family used the relaunched Romance II at many CYA launch gatherings before making the hard decision (HDK had waited 10+ years to acquire her) to find new owners that would use and enjoy her more. A partnership was formed and the future looked promising. Sadly life things like young children and work got in the way and now the Wooden Boat Bureau has been tasked with finding a new custodian for Romance II.
As she presents today the hard-to-do structural stuff is complete, leaving work that an average do-it-yourselfer could carry out e.g. clean her out, paint her up and you will have a very fine boat to enjoy. Because Romance II is plainly finished without brightwork (varnish), she’d be easier than most her size to maintain. Her owners have just completed a mechanical service (including diesel tank cleaning), 2x new start batteries, and re-bedded the tram top windows, so as stated her needs now are largely cosmetic.
Romance II’s zoom zoom is via a marinised Hino W-06e 162hp diesel engine, several years ago James Mobberley at Moon Engines fitted these engines to several woodys, including at the time his classic launch Falcon. Falcon and My Girl are probably the only two woody launches that would come close to pipping Romance II in a straight line.
So woodys this is a special opportunity to acquire one of the fleets icon classic lunches for entry level dollars – $35k will buy her – interested? Initially email waitematawoodys@gmail.com.
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