Category Archives: Tales & Yarns

Lady Karita – 1960’s Flashback

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Motuhe – 1960
On the hard Okahu Bay 1961 – Gordon Newman (standing)
Bottom of Waiheke – 1963
Maraeti – 1963

LADY KARITA – 1960’s Flashback
Recently I was contacted by Robert Phillips in regard to the 1934 Sam Ford built 43′ classic launch – Lady Karita, Robert’s parents Jack and Zena Phillips owned Lady Karita for 14 year. They purchased her in 1957 in a very run-down state and during their ownership undertook numerous upgrade changes both internally and externally.
Robert commented that he thought the WW readers would like some historical photos to continue to build to the current photographic heritage of Lady Karita on Waitemata Woodys.Some of those changes and upgrades, all done personally by Robert’s father, were as follows:-

  1. Removal of the four forward bunks and installation of a slide out double bed and toilet and hand basin. Still there today.
  2. Installation of a fridge in the galley and a stainless bench
  3. Removal of the 105 hp petrol Gray marine engine and installation of a Leyland 75hp Diesel, ex truck engine, marinized and fitted with 2:1 Paragon gearbox plus Onan diesel generator. The exhaust for the diesel engine was unique in that is was routed up through the Bridge deck inside rear left window by the Safe, and across the top of the Bridge deck and up through the leading edge of a steel fabricated, galvanised and white painted mast on top of the Bridge deck, replacing the original wooden mast Since all replaced when upgrade later, by subsequent owner Jim Ratcliffe, who installed a 130hp 6 cylinder diesel Ford. The exhaust system and the Leyland diesel were extremely quiet and totally fume free at idle and when under way versus the transom exhaust of the original petrol engine. The power output was not high , but she still cruised happily at 8 knots and timed measured mile max of 10 knots. Various props, 3 blade and 4 blade, were experimented with, and I think the 4 blade was settled on. Average fuel consumption over 9 years for the Leyland was 1.75 gallons/hour versus 4.5 gallons per hour for the Gray marine petrol engine.
  4. Installation of a freezer in the rear right hand seat box in the Bridge deck. It was almost too effective. On the 31/2 hour run to Kawau from Westhaven the freezer would totally freeze beer and lemonade bottles sometimes blowing them apart.
  5. A unique galvanised steel bow (removed by later owners) seamlessly overlaid and attached to the original wooden bow stem to give a forward angle in side profile versus an almost rearward dreadnought look of the original bow stem. You can see it in some of the photos above.
  6. Installation of an ex-war assets auto pilot and Furuno depth finder. The auto pilot worked well but found it a little hard in a following sea to keep up.
  7. Attachment of the rear transom duck board/landing platform and removable step ladder for swimming from the platform that went down into the water.
  8. Removal of a rear auxiliary steering column and engine control in the left side of the cockpit shelf, used for game fishing in the 1950s.

Robert apologised for some of the photo’s lack of sharpness but some them are 60+ years old. He also asked that I commend all subsequent owners for the sympathetic and well thought out, further upgrades over time. She always was a lovely looking boat and looks even better now. Robert has undertaken to send in more photos soon, so fingers crossed 🙂

View previous WW story here https://waitematawoodys.com/2022/01/01/lady-karita-summer-2021-22/

27-04-2022 NEW INPUT – from Mark McLauglin (as told by Mark)

“The attached Marlborough Express newspaper feature contains a few factual errors in it (i.e Harold Kidd confirmed years ago that Lady K had ID numbers during WWII, as did most launches at the time, but she was never commandeered in the NAPS as incorrectly stated here, and I have never seen any evidence of watertight torpedo-proof bulkheads in her either! I also doubt the teak decks (now sensibly replaced by new owner Murray Shaw) were original. Otherwise the article might be of some interest as it records a significant period in Lady K’s life for the 30 plus years since she left the Auckland/Northland region in the late 1980’s.

Sadly my father passed away last year but he was caretaker and skipper of Lady Karita in Havelock from 2001 until she was sold to current owner, Murray Shaw in 2016. The owner during this period was Dad’s cousin, Carroll Smith, who operated the Pelorus Lodge in Havelock. Guests at the exclusive lodge were treated to a complimentary picnic cruise on Lady Karita, usually to Chance Bay in the Pelorus Sound, but occasionally up the Kenepuru Sound as well. I crewed on her quite often with Dad and took some of the other photos of her featured elsewhere on WW during this time – she is certainly a spectacular classic vessel and a fine example of Sam Ford’s work. A number of prominent overseas guests cruised on Lady Karita during this period, including ex-pat Havelock old boy Sir William Pickering, who was a well-known figure in the space race with NASA in the 1960’s. Sir William enjoyed a great day out on Lady K during his final visit back to NZ.”

Paeroa Historical Maritime Park & Museum

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Paeroa Historical Maritime Park & Museum

Following on from Easters Woody Cruise up the Waihou River to Paeroa, today we get a sneak peak at the venue for the weekends activities – the Historical Maritime Park & Museum. The Museum is located just above the banks of the river on State Highway 2, just before the township of Paeroa, you can’t miss it. Map at the bottom of todays story.

The Museum building and the surrounding Park grounds hosts an amazing collection of memorabilia from both the area and New Zealand’s nautical past, do stop, you will not be disappointed.

Read / view more at the link below.

https://historicalmaritimepark.co.nz/

Things You Really Need

This Saturday, 23rd, at 10am there is a once in a ‘long time’ auction of marine stuff, serious stuff, stuff that deserves to be on display at the entrance to a marina, or as an outdoor sculpture. Check out the photos below of two of the items – lots more – view here.   https://auction.abauctions.co.nz/auctions/4-5OS4EN/engineering-woodworking-farm-auction

The address is 111 Riverland Road, Riverhead, West Auckland or bid on-line

Woodys Classic Launch Easter River Cruise To Paeroa

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Woodys Classic Launch Easter River Cruise To Paeroa

The Easter weekend cruise was always going to be a biggie – with most launches having to travel upwards of 10 hours to reach the final destination – the  ‘waterfront’ Historical Maritime Museum & Park in Paeroa. Most of the woody fleet gathered Thursday evening in Chamberlain Bay, Ponui Island in anticipation of an early start across the Firth of Thames, to rendezvous with the launches arriving from Thames and to collect our guide / navigator for the trip up the Waihou River. I’d have to say that the straight line trip across the Firth of Thames was 4 hours of my life I’ll never get back 🙂

We meet just off the old Kopu Swing Bridge which was opened specially for us to pass thru – and the welcome / turn out on the old bridge was outstanding. Must have been a quiet day in Thames, maybe  it was that it was Good Friday and most things (pubs etc) were closed 😉

We shot thru the gap and 10 minutes later our lead boat, with navigator on board, found a mud bank and were ‘stationary’ for over an hour. Once moving again the remainder of the 4+ hour journey was fun to travel together in close proximity, but the scenery got very repetitive and at 5 knots max – the going was slow. The skippers were kept awake by lots of locals who had gathered at wharfs and in paddocks to wave as we went past. The dodging of the occasional ‘grassberg’ (floating mid-stream) also kept skippers on their toes.

The final short leg from the main river to the Museum dock again saw the lead boat aground and a wait for more tide. 

We sneaked in just before dusk, a very long 10 hour day. 

Jason Prew and Peter Vandersloot  oversaw the shoehorning of the 10 woodys into the docking area. Then it was ashore to stretch the legs and a BBQ dinner/ catch up. The Museum had set up an impressive and most appreciated dining / BBQ area for the crews to enjoy. Post dinner most returned to the boats for an early night. 

Observation- it’s bloody cold up a creek in the middle of the Waikato, thank god for hot water bottles. 

Saturday was another cracker autumn day. The crews enjoyed a trip on the classic launch – Ariana (skippered by Peter Vandersloot) to the Paeroa township for morning tea at the local RSA – hot scones and pastries – always a winner. To balance out the catering, the river trip was split in two – with 1/2 the crew travelling by bus and boating back and same same in reverse for the other 1/2.

The day saw a great turn-out of locals visiting the Museum and walking the docks. I would encourage you to search the following words Kopu Bridge / Waihou River / Maritime Museum & Park on Facebook – the weekend was covered by so many people – lots more photos and videos to see.

Special mention must be made to Peter Vandersloot who masterminded the weekend and was on hand to provide so many insights into the heritage of the area, vessels and personalities. The Museum’s Chairperson Colin James and partner Gloria (a trustee) who were everywhere when needed and helped the weekend run smoothly.

Lastly none of this would have happened without woodys Jason Prew from The Slipway Milford, and Kerry Lilley for pulling everything together – well done guys.

The return trip back down the river had its challenges, very complicated tide table – but to the best of my knowledge no one is still there 🙂

The Museum and their boat trips are a must do if you are passing thru or around Paeroa. And big ups to the local council and business association – Paeroa is a healthy, well presented town, and a credit to everyone living there. 

Over the next week I’ll do additional WW stories on the Museum, the river trip to Paeroa on board Ariana and a few of the launches that made the trip.

(Woodys who attended – My Girl, Raindance, Awariki, Lucille, Summer Wine, Ngarimu, Lucinda, Maroro, Cindy Jane, Kaikoura, and guest appearance by Ariana – refer photos below)

(Photo credits to – Jason Prew, Linus Fleming, Andre Thomas, Andrew & Mechaela Dobbs and yours truly)

THE FLEET

AWARIKI – 1967 – Owen Woolley
MARORO – c.1905 – tba
NGARIMU – 1945 – Fred Goldboro
KAIKOURA – 1951 – Percy Vos
SUMMER WINE- Noel May – 1992
CINDY JANE – 1975 – Pelin Empress
MY GIRL – 1925- W H Hand Jr
RAINDANCE – 1928 – Lane Motor Boat Company
LUCILLE – Logan 33
LUCINDA – 1930 – L Coulthard

Summer of 1932/33 Cruise Aboard Scout – Ships Log – Part II

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Woody Paeroa River Raid Report

Very long day yesterday, 10 hours motoring, all 10 launches around at the dock just on dusk. A few challenges along the way. Full report later😄

Summer of 1932/33 Cruise Aboard Scout – Ships Log – Part I

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TO BE CONTINUED TOMORROW

Summer of 1932/33 Cruise Aboard Scout – Ships Log – Part I

Last Sunday I ran an old b/w photo of yacht with the sail # C2, very quickly the stick and rag WW followers ID’ed the yacht as Scout. Then Denis O’Callahan (ex MV Tasman owner) contacted me to advise that back in the 1930s Scout was owned by one of Denis’s father’s buddies Ted Hay. Denis recalls that he thinks is was Ted Hays that changed Scout from gaff to bermudan rig. From 30 December 1932 to 20 January 1933 Scout cruised to the Bay of Islands, the crew being Ted Hays, Jack Callagher, Bob O’Callahan (Denis’s father) and Copper Speight, who represented New Zealand at Rugby in 1893, playing 7 matches on tour. Copper was older than the rest of the crew and died at 65 years in 1935.

Denis commented that in 1932 it was the depression time, and Ted, Jack and Bob may well have been unemployed and reading between the lines Copper may have  subsidised the cruise. He enjoyed it so much that he had a log typed up and Denis inherited a bound carbon copy. Denis have passed his copy of the log on to the present owner of Scout, Martin Farrand, after thankfully scanning it and keeping an electronic copy.

We apologise for the quality of the reproduction, but folks it was nearly 90 yrs ago since this was stamped out on a typewriter and in fact this was a carbon copy.

Please note the “swastika” on the cover, which was originally in gold leaf. Back in 1933, before the Nazis, this was a religous symbol and meant good luck and prosperity.

Unfortunately there are no photos from the 1932 cruise.

Scout – I know very little other than she was built in 1909 to comply with the “6 Metre” rule, by 3 brothers in Whangarei. In 2009, to celebrate her 100th year, owner Martin Farrand took Scout to Newport, Rhode Island to sail in an international 6 Metre regatta. She was the oldest boat in the fleet. The story is told by Sandra Gorther in her book ‘Scout, 100 years astern’. These days Scout sports the sail # NZL-1.

So woodys thanks to the generosity of Denis O’Callahan we get to read the Log from the summer cruise – it’s a cracker read – I have split it over 2 days, so come back tomorrow for PART II – Enjoy

EASTER WOODY WEEKEND UPDATE – As you read this, weather permitting, around 12 classic woody launches will be weaving their way up the Waihou River to Paeroa on the Inaugural Waitemata Woodys Paeroa River Raid. The trip involves a special opening of the old Kopu – Thames swing bridge and takes approx. 4 hours. We will be berthed for 2 nights alongside the Paeroa Maritime Museum. WiFi reception etc permitting I will post some updates – should be a hoot – I can see a few WW prizes being ‘won’ for examples of accidental ‘touch hydrography’ 🙂

Nereides II

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NEREIDES II

Nereides II would have to one of the biggest woodys built in NZ in terms pf length and volume – the Oliver and Gilpin built launch was launched in 1974 and is 66’ in length, with a 15’ beam. Tripe skinned diagonally laid kauri with some of that ‘fg’ stuff on top.

A one owner boat she has sent most of her life cruising the Kings and outer islands on fishing and dive trips, hence the fuel tanks – 5,455L. Powered by twin GM Detroit 671s rated at 275hp a side.

Being ex survey, and reviewing the tme photos (thanks Ian McDonald) Nereides II is very well spec’ed.

Kokoru Ravaged In Marina Fire – A CALL FOR HELP

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Where it started – if only the wind had been blowing the other way

KOKORU RAVAGED IN MARINA FIRE – A CALL FOR HELP

Late on the afternoon of 14-03-2022 I started receiving messages from woodys about a fire at east Aucklands – Pine Harbour Marina , that was / had desecrated 5 vessels. Looking at the early photos coming thru on social media – one of the vessels appeared to be a classic launch. Within minutes another image appeared that clearly showed that the woody was the 1960 Jack Morgan built 38′ woody – Kokoru. A woody that less than 4 weeks before I was crawling over taking photos of, post a 18+ month restoration that included her owners spending most of the CV-19 lockdowns working on her. On that day do not think I have seen more proud and happy boat owners and a week later they attended the Woodys Picnic at Stillwater and Kokoru was rafted up on the wharf for everyone to view. 

While taking photos the owners asked that I just use only a few exterior ones on WW and that when she was 100% dressed up, I could reveal more. Well woodys sadly that day never came, as Kokoru was one of the vessels at Pine Harbour that through no fault of their own, was left in ruins by an onboard fire on a neighbouring boat – with the combined size of the insurance claim being seven+ figures I won’t speculate, other to say the dockside chat is that the explosion > fire was related to a battery installation. 

I posted one photo of Kokoru the following day, but in respect to her owners, refrained from showing more. 

Last Friday talking with the owners, who are still distressed with the whole affair, I was thrilled to be told that the decision had been made to rebuild Kokoru – a mammoth undertaking, that has some big hurdles upfront – the first being – where to find the kauri, that magical timber that sadly these days you can not just order from Placemakers. 

So woodys todays story has two parts:

(1) to congratulate the owners on making the rebuild call – to quote them “you can’t take it with you but you can leave a legacy”

(2) to shout out to the classic wooden boating community for a source for the kauri Kokoru needs  – which is approx 8 lengths approx 150mm x ideally 8 metres. But beggars can’t be choosers so it’s what ever can be found. Obviously prepared to pay – any ideas on who we can talk to – contact me on waitematawoodys@gmail.com

Kokoru has made several appearances on WW before so I have included the links below to her back story. Its interesting to read that she is no stranger to incidents that would have been the end of most modern day vessels – back on 10th April 1968 during Wellington’s Wahine ferry disaster (loss of 51 lives on the day), Kokoru was one of the vessels that went out to assist the rescue of the passengers – after returning one load she headed out again and was rolled on her beam by a monster wave, the force of which ripped one of engines from its bed. Kokoru limped back to port, taking on water. But as a testament to Jack Morgan’s boat building skills, Kokoru was hauled out and repaired. 

WAHINE DISASTER https://waitematawoodys.com/2015/02/26/kokoru/

POST RELAUNCH (11/02/22)  https://waitematawoodys.com/2022/02/11/kokoru-a-sneak-peek/

FIRST EXTENDED TRIP (28/02/22).  https://waitematawoodys.com/2022/02/28/woody-classic-waterfront-picnic-weekend/

The gallery of photos below are reproduced purely as a record of the craftsmanship and mastery that went into the refit of Kokoru and to provide inspiration and reference during the rebuild. As always click on photos to enlarge.

Flashback Friday – Menai and Valsan

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Menai c.1947/8
Menai c.1947/8
Valsan c.1947/8

FLASHBACK FRIDAY – MENAI AND VALSAN 

Recently I was contacted by Pat Menzies the youngest son of Clive Menzies who bought the launch Menai from Arnold Baldwin. In a previous WW story Harold Kidd refers to Clive as ‘C.B. Menzies’, link to that story below. After reading the numerous WW stories on Menai, Pat decided to share a little more information that he hopes may be of interest to us. It is a good yarn so I’ll hand over to Pat and let him tell the story.  https://waitematawoodys.com/2013/09/02/menai-valsan-her-owners/

“First, a little background about Arnold Baldwin “Baldie” to his friends (unsurprisingly). He is referred to as “involerd in the paper and printing industry”. But he was a bit more significant than that. Born in Canada, he emigrated to New Zealand some time pre-war and founded Universal Business Directories Ltd. By the 1950s and continuing through most of the next half-century UBD’s metropolitan provincial editions were the first place to look for detailed information about businesses of all and any sorts and the advertising revenue they engendered had made Baldie quite a rich man. Very rich by the standards of the day. I presume he must have been in the RNZ Volunteer Reseve pre-war and was appointed skipper of the Menai during the war years when it was commandeered the Navy and put to Coastal Patrol duties.  (I believe that virtually every harbour which had a fleet of launches had some commandeered by the Navy for this purpose, but the Menai is the only one I know about. After the war I understand Mr Reynolds, the original owner did not want it back and Arnold was able to buy it. By the late 40s he was looking for a bigger boat and bought the Valsan, selling the Menai to my father.

Dad and Arnold were at the time (and for a number of years thereafter) flag officers of the Auckland Motor Yacht Club and were able to organise the various transfers to suit their calendars and cash flow. Dad sold the “Taufale” a 28 footer launch which he had bought in 1944 (I think. May have been 1945.) I was only about 5 at the time so my memory of such details is non-existent.

Dad owned the Menai through to some time in the early 1960s when he sold it to a then well-known local architect – surname Dalton. I did know his first name but have long since forgotten it. He, after quite a short period on-sold it to Alan (I think) Martin who was at the time CEO of TVNZ Auckland and did a lot of work on the boat. It then went through a number of owners before Peter Smith bought it and turned it into the film star beauty she is now.

The reference to Horry Whimp as an owner is quite mysterious.  He was, as stated, the manager of the UBD printing works, had worked for Arnold for many years and had the perk of being boat husband, first for the Menai and later for the Valsan.  It could very well be that Horry had the use of the Menai over the 48-49 season while Dad and Arnold were trading their paths to each owning only one boat – and that Ken Ricketts (who is/was a couple of years older than me) simply assumed he owned it.

Menai was powered by a flathead Ford V8 with a marine conversion by OSCA, rated at 100hp. Whether that was as a car motor or marine I don’t know. It had a 2 to 1 reduction box and we cruised at 1750rpm on the rev counter.  Dad went through about three propellers and numerous re-pitchings and re-cuppings and finally achieved claimed figures of cruising speed of about 6.5 knots and petrol consumption of 1 3/4 gallons per hour. Pushing it up to 7 or 7.5 knots resulted in it squatting at the stern (“digging a big hole in the water” Dad used to say) and consumption soaring to about 4 gallons/hour.

Dad also fitted a Ford 8 auxiliary motor following a rather nasty experience when the motor stalled (a scale of rust in the fuel line, I believe) and left us powerless on a lee shore, either down the Bottom End or over on the Coromandel. I was about 11 or 12 and getting ready to drop the 45lb big pick when the motor fired up again. He also fitted another smaller motor to charge the batteries so we didn’t have to go cruising to have  electricity. He also fitted a gas powered freezer box under the starboard seat in the bridgedeck. Larger boats such as the Valsan generally had such facilities but the Menai was well up-to-date for its age and size. One of the perks of being one of Arnold’s friends was that ownership of the Valsan came with one of the boatsheds on Ngapipi Rd – the third from Tamaki Drive. Arnold ran a tight timetable. He had the shed from about Easter to near to Queen’s Birthday and then Dad and several other of his friends each had about 2 weeks or so, during which we worked hard to complete the season’s maintenance. Dad would go to the shed each evening direct from work and I would pitch on at the weekends working from dawn to as late as we needed. I remember varnishing the coamings in half-light of a winter evening was a truly awful task. But better than doing it in the open at Vos Bros or any other shipyard. At least we didn’t have dust to contend with”.

Aloha

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ALOHA

Last week Clive Ross asked on WW if anyone knew of the launch Aloha has he had some old photos of her in an old photo album that belonged to his parents.

I asked Clive to send in the photos, which we get to share today. The photos are dated 1931/2 and show Aloha both at Kawau Island and Great Barrier Island.

In the Gt Barrier photos things must have been cosy aboard, with a mixed crew of 10. Anyone able to ID any of the crew?

At Kawau we see Aloha at anchor with SS Duchess, in Mansion House Bay. From these photos it was obvious the Clive’s Aloha is the launch that Charles Robinson built in St Marys Bay, Auckland in 1926, Lots to read and view at the link below https://waitematawoodys.com/2015/02/24/aloha/

Always nice to be able to connect the dots 🙂

Bay of Islands – early 1960’s

ANY ONE KNOW WHO OWNS MOANAROA – the 34′ Jack Taylor bridgedecker , photo below, WW link https://waitematawoodys.com/2021/09/22/moanaroa/

Ecstasy

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ECSTASY

Todays story headline should do wonders for my google search score 🙂 but the stories all about the photo above, not the mood enhancing pills. How I’m sure a Yes / No score on the photo would be 50/50, as its one of those boats you either like or dislike. In fact it would be fun to do a vote – see below. The design wouldn’t be very practical for the Hauraki Gulf but its just so ‘right’ and her skipper looks like he has discovered divine happiness. You would have to assume there is an internal helm.

So woodys excuse the pun – but just sit back and smell the flowers 🙂 

VOTE BELOW ON TODAYS WOODY – Thumbs up = you like • Thumbs down = don’t like

FREE TO A GOOD HOME Curved hinged deck chain pipe – leads anchor chains from the winch through the deck and into the anchor well.