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
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 .
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.
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.”
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.
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 🙂
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.
HOW DO I STOP THE ROLL Well woodys you can’t – all boats roll but you can minimise it – read on.
I was recently included in an email exchange where a classic launch owner was asking Chris McMullen why they should replace the mast (rot issue) on their launch given that there was no plan to make use of a sail. Chris shared with us both a copy of a 1909 extract titled ‘Ballasting of Motor Boats’ from an article by Charles G Davis in the book – ‘Motor Boat Handbook vol. 1’. The article provides all the information required for displacement launches. If the above images are too hard to read – below are links to downloading the articles.
FANTASY SOS – Sailing Sunday On Friday I received a heads up about the 30’ yacht – Fantasy, lofted by a Bill Spence, a Sheltans Islander and built in the Pattersons yard, St Aspeh Street, Christchurch c.1948. Her planked hull is Oregon and post launching her keel was moulded in the sand at Brighton Beach, try and get away with that today 🙂 Fantasy’s owners have had her for 40 years and sadly have made the decision to pass the yacht onto a new owner who will undertake the work required.Fantasy was accidentally sunk in Port of Terakoe and an exhausting legal battle followed, her owners do not have what it takes to begin the refit.
Her solid rimu interior is still in excellent condition and beautiful. As shown in the above photos, Fantasy is now in a cradle at the owners property in Golden Bay, Nelson and they would like her to go to someone who is able to restore her.
Fantasy has a great back story, having sailed in the Centennial race which resulted in New Zealand’s greatest yachting disaster, the owners have a lot of information and records relating to this, including Fantsy’s log of that race. The asking price on tme is $1 so there must be a woody out there looking for a project.
VICTORIA CLASSIC BOAT FESTIVAL – Vancouver – Dockside Tour
Last week we had a story about Peter Knowles and his travel to the Victoria Wooden Boat Festival vis his v-blog ‘Boat Life – Travels With Geordie’. Peter very briefly showed us some of the craft arriving – today we get a dock-side wander, complete with captions for the classic woodys.
I hope the people at Auckland’s maritime museum see this video – re their upcoming Auckland wooden boat festival next year. The stand out observation is the mix of yachts + launches + work boats + small craft – it is all mixed in together and thats what works all around the world – not rocket science……………..
INPUT ex Neil Chalmers – Great video , at 2 56 there is the NZ yacht ‘Two Sisters’ (was sail no. F3) . Has a Woollacott look about her. I often wondered where she got to .
A picture of her at Bon Accord Kawau appears in the ‘Cruising in NZ Waters’ by GR Paul (below). This was the go to book in the 1960’s before to the RAYC Cruising Guide was published.
REMEMBER BOAT BOAT SALE 11am SATURDAY @ MILFORD SLIPWAY – 5 OMANA ROAD, MILFORD $BRING CASH$WW MERCHANDISE FOR SALE
For several years I have been ‘following’ on-line a YouTube weblog named ‘Boat Life – Travels With Geordie’. The Chanel is hosted by a gent named Peter Knowles and Peter has been recording the restoration of 3 classic wooden cruisers, plus we get to go/see his annual cruises in and around the Vancouver, British Columba, Canada area. Amazing location.
Earlier in the week Mark McLaughlin posted on WW a link to Peter’s latest story that includes a visit to the 2023 Victoria Classic Boat Festival – see above. Well worth checking out, lots of boat porn to view + I would encourage you to check out the past episodes of – ‘Boat Life – Travels With Geordie’. Link to more details on the site here https://www.youtube.com/@TravelsWithGeordie/about Warning it can get slightly addictive 🙂
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