No boat story today – one of lifes finest blokes has left us as the result of an accident during the Coastal Classic yacht race – fair winds Simon Smith ⚓︎
WW does not normally do memorials but Simon Smith was not normal he was a rare free spirit in todays grey world – called a spade a spade and kept his friends close.
Amazingly Simon taught at West Lake Boys for 35 years – loved and admired by all – a touching note below from a past pupil – Logan Stevens
RIP SIMON SMITH
I was saddened tonight to learn that the yachtsman accidentally killed during the Coastal Classic was Simon Smith, one of the finest men I have had the pleasure to meet via the classic boating movement. From the first meeting – Simon a true blue yachtie, made me a launch owner, very welcome, we continued to converse regularly and he wore his WW cap well.
I’m sure there are many woodys readers that have rubbed up against Simon and will band together to offer condenses to Simon’s wife and family.
Why is it always the good buggers that we lose way too soon 😦
Condolences also to Simon’s twin brother – David , another good man who I had the pleasure of spending time with in Hobart at the 2023 Australian Wooden Boat Festival.
A note- when my dog of 16 years died Simon wrote me a wonderful, touching letter, as only someone that shared the friendship of a four legged pal would do – he was lots of things but first and foremost he was a gentleman.
ARIES
Earlier in the week WW was contacted by Steve Burrett in regard to his father’s old boat – Aries. Aries was designed and built by Owen Woolley c1958.
Steve was having a review (tidy up) of some of the families old photos and came across the above. Steve commented that the first two were taken by the editor of Seaspray magazine who did an article. The photos were taken in Islington Bay. The third photo was taken going up the harbour on an Auckland Anniversary day very soon after the boat was launched so probably about 1958 as there was no boot top. Also there were no bow rails which were laminated up sometime latter. Also note the family were dressed in Whites which was the custom of the day.
Its a special photo for the family as Steve’s grandparents were also on board.To quote Steve “I’m the little tacker to the right of the mast.” 🙂
As well as wanting to share these photos with us, Steve is also keen to make contact with the present owner, as they may like copies of the photos. contact waitematawoodys@gmail.com
Steve also commented that he believes the original profile looks a lot more attractive without the ‘oxygen tent’ that was fitted many years latter. I think we would all agree on that . Link below to past WW story. https://waitematawoodys.com/2019/11/30/launch-with-no-name/
22-10-2023 UPDATED HISTORY ON ARIES EX STEVE BARRETT
“Aries was built in 1957 for my parents Bill and Joan Burrett who at that time were living in Old Bridge Rd a short distance from Owen Woolley’s yard.
Dad was quizzed as to why he would use a relatively unknown boatbuilder to design and build a then anticipated 40’ launch.
Owens first boats were a 26’ Sedan for Ross Reid of Ross Reid Earthmovers and a 32’ Sedan for Don MacMillan the then Manager of Bitumix of Lunn Ave.
Dad had great faith in Owen and Aries was the first of five Launches either designed or built for the Burrett Family. ( Bill Burrett- Aries, Proteus then Nereus. Steve-son. Firstly ‘Hine-awa’ then “V”(Five).
Aries was designed as a 40’ but when the Kauri log was felled it had a useable 45’ of timber so the plans were stretch to 42’. She had a diagonal and full-length carvel planking.
The initial engines were war surplus 6cyl Chrysler Crowns. These came from England in the original packing cases (together with a host of Simpson Lawrence gear. Anchor, winch, chain, toilet and other sundry essential equipment). 110hp with 2/1 mechanical boxes. The engines were a marine salt water cooled unit complete with instrumentation. They had a downfall in that the salt water pump was a gear pump and often would not lift the water. The exhaust note dry was significant!
Carrying petrol was not desirable so diesel engines were investigated. Fords were considered but the then HP rating was under 100 hp. TS3 Commer diesels were chosen due to power to weight, height for under the floor. and their smoothness. Two Truck engines were purchased. I remember one straight out of the truck being started whilst sitting in a truck tire. Very smooth with instant start. These engines were stripped and rebuilt by Ernie Williams uprating the hp from 85 to 117hp. @2300rpmBorgWarner boxes were fitted, a Lees Heat Exchanger and the cast truck manifold wrapped with a copper jacket. The performance bettered the Chryslers but exhaust noise was significant. Elastomufflers were tried but the insides tended to expand too much with the TS3’s supercharger putting through too much volume..
Eventually a galv steel muffler was built which sorted the problem. I still have the design. Aries was sold to Ed Carter who later on sold. Pete Walsh bought her and she was taken to his Transport company’s yard and he replaced the Engines with brand new TS3’s rated at 135HP. @2300rpm.The mahogany coamings were stripped back and revarnished. He did a great job.
In the meantime, Dad had Owen build the 36’ Proteus again with 2xTS3’s. He later had a follow up with the 34’ Nereus with a single TS3. It was about this time that the Rootes group had developed a 4cyl TS4 which was to produce 175hp however we could not obtain one as Chrysler bought out the manufacturer and canned production, wanting to replace the Commer with a Chrysler 6cyl diesel 225hp.
We lost track of Aries for a while until Mike Wiles bought her. We then learnt that the TS3’s had been replaced with heavier Fords and the oxygen tent had been added.
She has a great hull easily driven and with the TS3’s would cruise comfortably at a good 10k and would achieve 13k easily.
I often wonder how these hulls would perform with today’s light weight high horsepower engines. The modern 225 hp ,4cyl engines would be superb in a hull like this.
BABY LU
Earlier in the week Ken Ricketts sent in the above photo of the launch Baby Lu. The photo is ex the NZ Herald 12 October 1929 issue, and comes to us via fb.
The NZH story was highlighting the fact that the previous week, Baby Lu had been stolen from her Auckland mooring and was found abandoned several days later afloat off Bucklands Beach.
Back in March this year we ran a story around a mystery launch ist photo below, at the time Nathan Herbert commented that (with a few alterations) Baby Lu could have morphed into this launch. NH also pointed out the similarities to another craft – named Waratah, 2nd photo below) that has appeared on WW.
Now that we have a tagged Baby Lu photo – what to the brains trust think around the DNA of these craft.
01-11-2023 UPDATE – Photo below of Baby Lu > Waeatah ex Harold Kidd
15-01-2024 UPDATE – photo below ex K Rickettsis probably Baby Lu (confirmed by Nathan Herbert)
EPIC WOODYS DAY + How To Tips
Yesterday was a very big day at the world headquarters of waitematawoodys – we passed the 10,000,000 views mark. Seems just yesterday when I watch the counter tick past 1,000 and thought – ‘wow, maybe other people are interested in what I am’.
Some history – In the beginning I chose a blog format not a website, forum or a facebook page , this decision was a winner as using a blog allows me to keep the site pure to its DNA –
the study & appreciation of wooden boats. We do this via telling stories about the history of our classic wooden boats, the craftsman who built them & characters that owned & crewed on them. Along the way the site has morphed into a resource tool for classic woody boats and everything else connected to the movement. On any given day approx. 1/2 the site visitation is research driven e.g. people looking for a particular boat , a person or help with a problem. Covid did amazing things for the site – the number of individuals visiting the site and signing up for the daily email alerts more than doubled and most of them liked what they saw / read and have stuck around. I made a decision a while ago and commenced loading a lot more stories on boats that maybe a few years ago wouldn’t have passed the grade in terms of the wow factor, the reason being to build a more extensive ‘library ‘ of content – so if sometimes you think “what the …. how did that make it onto WW, its there for historical reasons 🙂
I’d be lying if I told you writing a daily woody story and maintaining the site was undemanding – as the numbers have grown the email inbox swells, so I apologise if my email etiquette isn’t always to your liking.
Some Suggestions On How To Best Use The Site
1. If are aren’t already – sign on to receive email alerts when new stories go live
2. Use the COMMENTS section – there is no such thing as a dumb question
3. LIKE (click) a story, that way if new content or comments are added, you’ll get an alert
4. Use the OLDER POSTS button, the site only shows a limited number of current stories, this speeds up your access to the site
5. Use the SEARCH box to find anything on the site
6. Use the POPULAR TAGS to find the most viewed content
7. Use the FIND STUFF tags to search by category e.g. all work boat stories
8. Use the SHARE links e.g. email the story to a friend, post the story on your facebook
9. Buy the WW merchandise – it helps oil the wheels – hosting over 50,000 images in cyber space isn’t cheap and WW has to pay to stop advertisements for products like Viagra and hair transplants appearing on the site 🙂 https://waitematawoodys.com/2021/11/11/58095/
10. Support the advertisers on site
11. If you have a business in the marine game – consider advertising on the site.
AND LASTLY – Send in any photos or information you have, it might not be enough for a story, but more often than not someone else sends in something and -snap – combined we have a story
Big thanks to everyone for helping make waitematawoodys what it is and special thanks to those that send in material
DOLLY AK1901
A bit of a sober story today, probably brought on by its Election Day in NZ and probably the biggest one in my (voting) life time. Most of the time WW is politics free, so I’ll bite my tongue today.
The photo above of the launch – Dolly comes to us from a fb post, via Ken Ricketts. It shows the early 1900’s 33’ launch – Dolly that was lost at sea in early December 1927. On board were owner/skipper Joseph Henery Maslam and crew Thomas Hook.
I have done some research and the story goes like this –
Maslam left his home town of Whangrei on November 14 with the intention of buying a small fishing launch and returning to Whangarei, the launched purchased was Dolly.
About November 18 he engaged Hook to work for him as a fisherman, on the same day Maslam had the Customs Dept. inspect the launch and confirm the Marine Dept. fishing license number AK1901 was painted on the side of Dolly. The departed Auckland on November 22, heading to Little Barrier to fish, and the intention was to take the catch to Whangarei. The departure date was confirmed in a telegraph that Hook sent this wife on November 22.
On December 3 a fisherman named Matthew Janovich, owner of a launch named Busy Bee, who sited Dolly that night in Nelson Bay, Kawau Island. At the time in a conversation with one of the men he was told Dolly had been fishing for Hapuka. When Busy Bee left the bay the next morning, Dolly was still there. Janovich is on record stating that there was a strong southerly gale for a couple of days after he had seen Dolly, the weather compelled Janovich to return to Auckland.
Dolly was not sighted again and a hearing in Auckland Magistrates Court found that Dolly was lost at sea on or about December 5.
(Thanks to Sun Newspaper – December 8 1927 and the Northern Advocate = 31 May 1828 for intel)
Question of the day – do we know who designed / built Dolly and when she was launch – she was 33’ x 9’ x 3’ – and possibly powered by twin engines
Milford Cruising Club – A Peek Back In Time
Following on from Saturdays WW story on the MCC 100th Anniversary weekend, today thanks to the photo gallery the club hosted. We get to see what the area surrounding the MCC looked like in the late 1920’ > early 1930’s. Sadly most of the infrastructure we see in the photos is long gone, but the club and marina have never been in better shape.
We also get a look at a few of the clubs on-the-water outings.
Some of the local businesses in the area took the opportunity to join in on the festivities – well done The Slipway Milford for dressing the yard, special thanks to the ‘gent’ that lent me the navy signal flags and pennants 😉
On the Saturday, despite the weather the MCC held a parade of club craft out of the estuary and along Milford Beach – as always the quicks couldn’t help themselves – video below filmed from Jason Prew’s classic launch – ‘My Girl’, the motorboat attempting to kept up is – ‘Waikiore’,owned by Murray Deeble .
Another view 🙂
MILFORD CRUISING CLUB 100TH BIRTHDAY 1923 > 2023
Rather a big weekend in and around the Milford Creek – the Milford Cruising Club is celebrating its 100th anniversary this weekend. I would have lost money on that – for some reason I wasn’t aware there had been woodys sliding in and out of the creek for that many years.
Yesterday I joined a group of past commodores, life members, patrons and quests for afternoon tea – so many familiar faces . Clubs need to do more of this, the collective age in the room would have been seriously high, and sadly the numbers are dropping.
Todays photos are to give you a snap shot of the amazing photo gallery that has been pulled together recording the clubs history – the club rooms are open Sat & Sunday from 10am > 4pm for anyone and everyone to visit and experience the exhibition.
Also today at 2pm there will be parade of vessels out of the marina , down the creek and along Milford Beach.
Clubroom address is 24 Craig Rd. Milford
KOURA – a sunset cocktail cruiser
Koura the 24’ launch, built c.1930s possibly built by Ford Craft, Ellerslie, Auckland – popped up on WW back in June 2019, at the time her owners were looking to sell her via tme. Fast forward to last month and her new owner contacted WW to advise they purchased Kora in Jan 2023 she had a new mission in life. Koura has been de-commissioned and now resides in the Whangarei area, alongside a jetty that is on land with no direct water access.
Her owners undertook several alterations, completed in the same style and livery as the original. The hull is yet to be painted with anti foul, to keep the original look.
Below is an edited version of what been done to Koura – read on, I think this is a wonderful use of a craft that may have struggled to find a traditional home.
“The engine and gearbox have been removed along with battery and fuel, and all previous wiring updated with additional instrumentation and more accessible switch panel. Power is 230v through an all weather RV cable and socket from the jetty. A timer with back-up turns nav lights on at 6pm and off at 12 midnight whether we are there or not. The jetty lights are solar red and green approach lights, as well as white walkway lights. I rewired the original instruments so that when the new “ignition” key switch is turned on, the rev counter, oil and water instruments indicate an engine running at about 1400rpm. In a further burst of eccentricity normally reserved for the clinically bewildered found Spotify sound tracks of a marine diesel starting up and of a diesel engined boat swishing though waves. A master switch allows me to isolate certain functions, including the new compressed air fog/ nav directional warning horn so it can’t be operated by kids or inebriated adults.
The hydraulic lines to the rudder have been retained to give an authentic resistance, along with the engine/ gearbox throttle, and the winch with its loom ( disconnected as the 100amp draw is not available, but could be reinstated with a closed gel battery if we ever wanted to).
The vessel has a new call sign as we remain members of Coastguard. We removed the VHF and antenna as we didn’t want it played with, but keep a good hand- held in the house.
Existing lights are retained but mostly fitted with LED, and all new lighting is of matching style. When in night Nav mode, concealed blue lights illuminate the curved cockpit ceiling to appear as sky, and the original brass compass is illuminated with red light. A short raked flag pole on the transom allows us to fly the NZ maritime ensign or other flags.
The cockpit cover was built by our builder who is both a master builder and talented cabinet maker. The side of the hull was opened up and double doors fitted that open out, and some port hand cabinetry removed to allow a swivelling skipper’s chair with adjustable height to be installed. A ramp of low slope from the jetty meets the doors and grab handles were installed to enable me to enter the vessel and move around, as I am partially disabled and can only manage shallow steps. We found a company that still makes wooden grab rails identical to the ones on the forward cabin roof, and fitted them, not withstanding the fact that they are now purely decorative. By inserting a packer under them rain water on the curved surface is channeled away from the new windows that are top hinged with insect screens.
Removing the engine and retaining original seating allows for 4 to sit in the cabin in comfort, and the two forward bunks were also retained. All re upholstered. The front hatch which had a bit of rot, and which was not easy to move, was replaced with a tinted acrylic vent that can pop up in any of 4 directions or just up for ventilation. It circulates air even when closed while remaining water tight. It also has a fitted insect screen. The cockpit can seat 3- 4 people.
The overall result is that Koura is now a sunset cocktail lounge with wide cove and harbour views. The line of classic vessels and more recent vessels just off the beach give an air of being part of that little fleet. It is also a sleep out, for which we have installed a compliant fire extinguisher and smoke alarm. Insurance was another odyssey, persuading our Insurer that it was no longer a vessel, but rather a “boat shaped” building extension for the purposes above, but our Broker did a great job navigating those shoals.”
COMING TO THE STILLWATER WOODY PICNIC THIS SATURDAY – RSVP TODAY waitematawoodys@gmail.com
WHANGAREI MARITIME FESTIVAL
Today I wanted give you a heads up about an upcoming woody event – the 2023 Whangarei Maritime Festival , October 14>15th, at the Town Basin.
The venue is already a very cool destination for anything maritime based, but over the weekend it will buzz with non stop activities – 30+ boats on display, free boat rides, food and entertainment, trade displays, talks and movies, arts and crafts market. Check out the Festival Sound programme below + the link to the festival website.
https://www.whangareimaritimefestival.co.nz
Check out a previous WW story on the venue https://waitematawoodys.com/2020/03/27/wooden-boats-whangarei-town-basin/
Saturday is a big day for NZ – hopefully the nation awakes up and heads off to a polling booth. Depending on the result I’ll be at the festival on Sunday, if the worst happens on Saturday night, probably best I’m not behind the wheel of a vehicle – I’ll be investigating setting up bryonbaywoodys 🙂
FESTIVAL SOUND PROGRAMME
Downloadable Event Booklet Below
WHANGAREI FLASH BACK
The photo below has appeared many times on various social media sites, but this is the best reproduction I have seen – comes to us ex Dean Wright via the Tauranga Library collection.
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