Category Archives: Tales & Yarns

Pescador – In The Late 1980’s

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PESCADOR – In The Late 1980’s

At the start of the month, we got a glimpse of the 1968 John Lidgard designed and built launch – Pescador. WW link below to that story. At the time I was contacted by Phil Vining with the promise of more details on the boat.  https://waitematawoodys.com/2021/12/01/pescador-a-southern-woody/ True to his word, Phil contacted me yesterday – I’ll let Phil tell the story:

“The WW story about ‘Pascador’ – A Southern Woody certainly brought back some fond memories for our family. I have also noticed Pascador in the
Motueka Marina looking very smart and well looked after – she is a real credit to her current owner. The last time I visited the area I also took a photo of her to show my father who owned her back in the early 1980’s. I have good memories of taking my very young family out cruising on her in the Sounds at the time. Not long after dad sold her she went to Havelock and was lengthened by the next owner to create a bigger cockpit. At this time I owned Vining Shipbrokers Ltd and we had her listed, probably late 1980’s.
Early this week I visited the Vinings Office and owner Ian Michel has done a great job of keeping the records from back in my early days. He has digitized all the old typed up listings so good to find a listing for Pescador in the system. As you can see, she was a quality design & build by John Lidgard back in 1968 … the good thing is she looks in better shape now than back then.”

TOMORROW ON WW – THE NZ CLASSIC WOODEN BOATING MOVEMENT – WHAT DOES THE FUTURE LOOK LIKE?

Eldon

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2021
2012
Peter Flood

ELDON

The launch Eldon was built in 1971 by Tauranga Boat Builders, so slips into the spirit of tradition woody category. The original owner was Eldon Jepson – thence the name.

Her specs are 48’ long and built with single skin kauri. It is believed that during construction, Tauranga boat builder Ted Gilpin, was often on hand, to assist in various ways, adding, the ”Gilpin touch,” which is very evident in her design & styling. When launched she was powered with twin Perkins 6-354 6 cyl. 130hp diesels.

Jepson sold her to an unknown person, not too long after she was built, who in turn, sold her to John Mayson, around the mid 1980’s. During John Mayson’s stewardship, of around 20+years, she was kept at Pine Harbour and used extensively for game fishing, from Tutukaka, up to North Cape, as well as general cruising, around the Hauraki Gulf.

She changed  hands again (06-05-2008), to Dean Pollock, who continued to keep her at Pine Harbour and later sold her (22-07-2010) to her present owner, Peter Flood. She was transported by road to the Kaipara Harbour, where she was initially moored at Pahi, but they had a major bird mess problem there, so she was moved to Tinopai, where she presently lives. 

In 2015 Peter Flood replaced the original 6-354 Perkins,130 hp with 2 x 6-354T, artificially aspirated 6 cyl. 1978 model Perkins, rated at 185 hp each. These had come out of 2 Commer fire engines, which had only done around 50,000Km., & having been in fire engines, had naturally been fastidiously maintained. Being a farmer and very handy, Peter marinized them himself. The engines were matched to the original Borg Warner gearboxes and heat exchangers off the original engines. He left the new engines with uncooled exhaust manifolds, which whilst they get warm, have created, no problems, in any way, as her engine room, under the bridge-deck floor, is apparently very well ventilated. The engines are mated up with a truck type silencer on each exhaust, with wet stainless steel exhausts for the last 4 feet, before they reached the hull skin fittings, so they are almost completely silent. 

Peter Flood commented to Ken Ricketts that Eldon is an important part of his family and she is used all the time. In the last photo above of Peter at her helm, on the Kaipara Harbour that Eldon appears to be in excellent condition.

Thanks to Ken Ricketts for pulling the core of this story together and special thanks to the following gents for sharing details and photos – Harold Kidd, Brian Worthington, John Mayson, Dean Pollock and Peter Flood.

Valezina – Ready To Sail Away This Christmas

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VALEZINA – Christmas Afloat For $34,500

The owners of Valezina acquired her as a 2020 post lock-down project and sent 6 mths full time restoring the yacht to a better than new standard.
Valezina is a 1939 Colin Wild design, known as the ‘Val Class’, most of the sister ships sported ‘Val’ names e.g. Valkyrie, Valderon and Valhalla. She was built in 1957 at the Salthouse yard in Bayswater, Auckland.

At 27’ she comfortably fits into the big little category – everything about her – looks, volume, sailing performance says Valezina is a serious classic yacht from one of the best combinations (Wild / Salthouse) we had. And she is built of gold – double skinned kauri, carvel planked.For when the wind is absent, a 10hp Yanmar inboard is there to help out.

Of course she is for sale, you will have worked that out by now 🙂 her owners are now oversea reconnecting with another of their passions. So the instructions are – sell the yacht.

In addition to the shiny stuff (sanding, painting and varnishing) Valezina is the recipient of – new mast & boom etc. / all new standing & running rigging / new tracks, blocks & winches  / new electrical including batteries and lighting / new safety gear / new plumbing including head and holding tank / new galley / new Raymarine auto heim and a lot more.And as an added bonus – her Westhaven marina may be available to rent.


To learn more about Valezina’s  – email waitematawoodys@gmail.com
Below is a selection of photos from her early days + details on the Val Class and some interesting event entry paperwork. Click on the blue link at the bottom to view.

Hobson Bay dinghy lockers 1959
Skipper looking into sun
History Of ValezinaDownload

Lady Gay – Australian Holiday Update

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2013 Classic Regatta + Waitangi

LADY GAY – AUSTRALIAN HOLIDAY UPDATE

Previously on WW we documented the holiday the 1935 Colin Wild  built Lady Gay was having in Australia (links below).  Now thanks to Colin Grazules pointing us in the direction of an online article in the December issue of Afloat magazine, we get to see and read what owner Graeme Wildon has been up to and his plans to explore more of the Australian boating scene.  Enjoy the read 🙂

https://waitematawoodys.com/2020/10/11/lady-gay-australian-holiday/ https://waitematawoodys.com/2019/10/07/lady-gay-on-sydney-harbour/

Click images below to enlarge, but if the the pages are too hard to read – click on link to view on-line 😉

https://afloat.partica.online/afloat-magazine/december-2021/flipbook/26/?fbclid=IwAR0pYCNJ1GViqDrg1i2Q9rLYnLtzkc9OQq_Is-qal4SObmZi2Jt-IZok2qs

28-11-2025 Input ex Michael (surname unknown) – I recently found this picture taken by Tudor Collins  I assume during secondment to the RNZN during WW  2 .


Pescador – A Southern Woody

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PESCADOR

Its summer so that means our friends from Germany are in NZ escaping winter – John B was mooching around the Motueka marina and spotted a few woodys, one of which being the launch – Pescador, featured above.As Sargent Schultz used to say “I know nothing” so keen to learn more about this woody.

Santa Sack Stuffers – Lake Rotoiti Classic & Wooden Boat 2022 Calendars 

Fresh from the printers and a bargain at $15 + $4.5 p&pTo order – click on link   https://form.jotform.com/213147061275854

TELL US WHAT ANNIVERSARY THE CLUB IS CELEBRATING NEXT YEAR AND YOU ARE IN THE DRAW TO WIN A COPY ENTRY BY EMAIL ONLY TO waitematawoodys@gmail.com  Close off is 8pm 01-12-2021

Resurrection Of Avalon

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RESURRECTION OF AVALON

Back in February 2020 a friend was cruising the streets on Auckland’s North Shore (he is allowed to – drives a car with a strip of lights on the roof) when he spotted the woody launch – Avalon, resting on a residential properties lawn. Turns out the 80+ year old owner has owned Avalon all her life – you can read and see more at the link below https://waitematawoodys.com/2020/02/17/mystery-sam-ford-launch/

Fast forward nearly two years and it turns out that the launches owner , Marjorie Mumme is Tobias Forsyth’s grandmother. Tobias owns MV Callisto and his Dad, Iain Forsyth has MV Meola. Tobias being a good grandson has stepped up to the mark and taken on the restoration of Avalon. To quote Tobias – no rush, first step = put her in a shed, the fear was she would end up as a garden sleep-out.
Avalon was designed and built in 1954 by Sam Ford and is a one owner boat (Lloyd and Marjorie Mumme) , in fact still has the original Morris Navigator petrol engine. When launch she was 24’ but has 2’ added to the stern soon after.These days health & safety would lock you up for transporting a boat like we see on the truck above.  The video was filmed by Tobias.

30-11-2021 INPUT FROM Carol Forsyth  (nee Mumme)    From birth to bikinis and boyfriends, my sisters and I grew up on Avalon. Motuihe, Browns Island, Islington Bay, Waiheke, Coromandel and Kawau was our playground and oh the stories that boat could tell!  Dad loved Avalon as much as we did and when he passed on Mum took over Dad’s loving care. Now that Mum has finally handed over Avalon to my son Tobias and his family we look forward to seeing her in the water again.The black and white image of Avalon under sail was taken off Kauri Point and I would assume Dad had the Morris Navigator ticking over, but maybe she was under sail only.   

HELP NEEDED – Tobias would like to find out more about the petrol Morris Navigator in Avalon. He is looking for any one that may have spares or have had a lot to do with them in the past but any info or spare parts would be greatly appreciated as he would love to keep the original engine but it must be reliable. Mainly if there are some Morris car guys that know if this engine is just a marinised version of a car engine of some vintage possibly? I can email better copies of the above photos if that would help.

I like the sail set-up – very salty, if I put that on Raindance, I might qualify to be one of the chosen ones to berth at Chad Thompson’s yacht only, new 40 berth Heritage Basin at the Viaduct 🙂

12-11-2024 UPDATE – photo ex John Dawson. Sames owner Tobias is doing some soul searching re what the replacement cabin top could / will look like – older below, and considerations below that.

Schooner Dance Party

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SCHOONER DANCE PARTY

Our friends at Off Center Harbor captured some of the magic of Maine’s incredible schooner fleet as they finish their season with a final gathering to enjoy food, music, and a chance to sail in company. 
Make yourself a cup of something hot, head to your favourite chair and enjoy 5 minutes of Brooklin’s finest eye candy (turn your sound on).

Next week we will be telling you about a cool offer from the OCH team, the perfect Xmas treat to yourself or if you’re brave your partner 🙂

WAITEMATAWOODY CREW GEAR – sent a large chunk of yesterday packing up waitematawoodys crew gear orders – so keep an eye on the letterbox this week. Still have some stock, but low on the popular sizes. Order at this link  https://waitematawoodys.com/2021/11/11/58095/

Very Cool Row Boat – I get asked to help re-home a lot of woody items – the 20’ kauri row boat, possibly built in the 1890’s in Nelson (photos below) was one recent item – very pleased to say that the owner has confirmed she is now in safe hands. If I had had the space, it would have been in my hands 🙂 

Chris-Craft Runabout – Almost

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Chris-Craft Runabout – Almost

The above ‘woody’ is the latest from the workshop of John Bullivant and is based on a USA Chris-Craft small runabout design. John scaled the model up from 18” to 33” using an old late 1950’s plan. It’s made of balsa with a ply deck, and the hull is f/glassed. It has twin motors and the same smoke and water system he  installed in his models of the W1, Jaguar and Hartley.

Like the Hartley it is built-in bluetooth stereo, lights and engine sound. Runs very nicely and looks quite scale like on the water. Motors are hidden under the rear seat with the air pump and smoke system, and the water pump and batteries are under the hatches in the stern. Below are two YouTube  videos – sound quality average, but you get the idea 🙂 Photos sent in by K Ricketts

Lake Rotoiti Classic & Wooden Boat Parade

Nice to see the north island event getting a good plug in the latest issue of Boating NZ magazine. I provided the photos below to help the lake team get some exposure for the 2022 event – the 25th Anniversary – well worth a trip – details here https://www.woodenboatparade.co.nz

WAITEMATAWOODYS CREW GEAR & FLAGS 4SALE

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Waitematawoodys T-Shirts + Caps + Flags

T-SHIRTS

  1. Some background on the T’s – I only source top quality garments & use high-end (hand) screen printing for really tight detail & a durable finish. I’m passionate about WW & will only put the logo on something that is 100% quality. NOTE – SHORT SLEEVE ONLY
  2. In terms of colour – we are like Henry Ford, we only do one colour – a very dark blue (navy) with white logo. 
  3. Price – $39 (gst inclusive) + $8 p&p (one off freight charge, no matter the number you order). If that’s too much to pay for a quality T-shirt, well I guess you won’t be buying one, but I’m not prepared to compromise on standards.
  4. Sizes – Refer chart below. Not all sizes in stock.
  5. Ordering –  see below. I’ll advise payment details when I confirm your order.

CAPS .1. One size fits all.2. Light weight – 100% canvas cotton, 6 panel. 3. Colour is camel with brown embroidered logo, or black with whits logo. 3. Price is $40 (gst inclusive) + $8 p&p (

FLAGS – 100% canvas, printed both sides with the Waitemata Woodys logo (below) using old-school screen printing method (long lasting) and pennant shaped. Price is $40 + $5 p&p.

What’s next – email me at waitematawoodys@gmail.com & advise:

# Your name 

# Postal address

# Phone 

# Quantity, size/s and colour

SIZES

Woodys Around The World