Category Archives: Trailer Boats

WORLDWIDE CLASSIC BOAT SHOW- FREE ACCESS TICKET

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WORLDWIDE CLASSIC BOAT SHOW- FREE ACCESS TICKET FOR WW READERS

As you read this I’ll be winging my way to Hobart for the 2025 Australian Wooden Boat Festival. There will be daily posts of the best thats on display so check in each day.

Readers of WW will be familiar with my addiction to the USA based v-blog OFF CENTER HARBOR, one of the super cool gigs these guys pull together is the annual WORLDWIDE CLASS BOAT SHOW, which waitematawoodys is co-sponsoring this year. The online show kicks off on February 14th – and as a WW reader you get a Free Ticket to the Worldwide Classic Boat Show

See over 1,200 of the world’s best wooden boats at the show. The show is 100% online/virtual, February 14 to March 2nd, so you’ll get free access to everything from your favorite lounge chair at home.
You can CLICK HERE TO GET YOUR FREE TICKET/PASS.

WHAT’S AT THE SHOW? 

  • World Map – Everything related to classic boats on one interactive world map
  • Boats – Beautiful photos and details of 1,200+ of the world’s best classic boats
  • Organizations – Explore festivals, boatbuilders, clubs, museums, schools, etc.
  • Live Presentations – Inspiring presentations featuring experts on a variety of topics
  • People – Connect with other attendees anywhere in the world (right on the map)

Your free ticket will get you into all of these presentations:

  • Arctic Solo Sailor Veronica Skotnes
  • Yacht Restoration w/ Dave Snediker
  • Indigenous and African Maritime Legacies w/ Akeia de Barros Gomes
  • Why Are These the Best Boat Festivals? w/ Port Townsend, France, and Australia
  • Two-Tim Race to Alaska Winner Jeanne Goussev
  • Marine Systems w/ Kevin Ritz from NWSWB
  • Small Boat Design w/ John Welsford, Clint Chase, and Ross Lillistone

+ SUBMIT YOUR OWN BOAT:
They’re still accepting boat submissions too, so you can CLICK HERE to submit your own boat to be in the show.
Enjoy the show

A CELEBRATION OF THE CLASSIC WOODEN STEAM BOAT – ROMANY

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03-02-2025 INPUT ex COLIN BROWN – photo below of a painting Colin has of ROMANY in the shed at Whangateau boat shed.

A CELEBRATION OF THE CLASSIC WOODEN STEAM BOAT – ROMANY

The top photo above is on my permeant laptop screen saver rotation i.e. one of my favourite woody boating images. The craft is Russell Ward’s steam boat – ROMANY and I have been taking photos of her for over 10 years. Just after I took this photo myself and Murray Deeble joined Russell for a very special early morning cruise around Lake Rotoiti. 

The year was Feb 2014 and the annual Lake Rotoiti Classic & Wooden Boat Parade had been postponed 24 hrs due to inclement weather (mainly fog). Given that ROMANY takes several hours to fire / steam up Russell was keen to head out anyway, so Deeble and I hopped aboard. A very memorable day, made even more special by ‘visiting’ (gate crashing) several waterfront holiday homes along the way.

What prompted todays story was Russell sent in two photo of the new engine for ROMANY, in the final stages of assembly – I would not like like to be funding that project – looks very $$$. I’m sure Russell will had some details on the new engine.

Enjoy the photos, mainly taken at LRC&WBF’s over the last decade.

AND REMEMBER THIS YEARS LAKE ROTOITI CLASSIC & WOODEN BOAT PARADE IS ONLY 8 DAYS AWAY – 8th FED 2025 – details here https://www.woodenboatparade.co.nz/wooden-boat-parade/

2025 MAHURANGI REGATTA WEEKEND – 75+ Classic Wooden Boat Photos

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2025 MAHURANGI REGATTA WEEKEND – 75+ Classic Wooden Boat Photos

Well that wasn’t the woody weekend I‘m sure we all planned, but it was still a magic weekend and just goes too prove that classic wooden boat enthusiasts don’t let a lot of wind and rain get in the way of a good time. 

The trip up on Friday afternoon / evening as uneventful (unless your woodys named – TAWERA, who ‘lost’ 2.5m off the top of her mast) and most anchored in and around Scott’s Landing.

Then it went down hill on Saturday morning – confusion around the start time for the launch parade – 1/2 the boats thought 10am, now I’m told it did say 9.30 in the classic yacht club newsletter, but……. the % of launches there that were members would have been less than 20%, so the parade was very patchy with skippers joining at different times. Numbers were down and the loop of Sullivan’s Bay was embarrassing- less than 20 people on the beach and I suspect they had no idea what was going on. BUT – still good to get together.  Parade aside there was an impressive number of classic wooden launches in the harbour, in terms of pure classic craft , launches would have out numbered yachts by 4:1Most turning up to just enjoy the weekends activity on the water.

As the morning wore on the wind and seas picked up – resulting in some spectacular sailing in the Mahurangi Regatta yacht race. Amazing that they was no carnage, that I’m aware of. 

Below is a selection of photos that Jason Prew took from his launch – MY GIRL. I have several videos put have tech issues with uploading – will sort and add asap. I’m sure there will be more fleet coverage on social media. 

Post the boating activities the weather turned ugly and the smart people left Scott’s Landing for Pukapuka Inlet. The shore based activities would have been dampened down by the weather but the true blue woodys partied on. Big ups to Nick Atkinson and mates who entertained the revellers from the back of a truck. The normal 20+ piece jazz band was absent this year but from everyone I spoke to – I think Nick has a permeant gig. 

The forecast for Sunday was evil, anything that has 50 knots in it is a big red flag. Then the heavens opened up and we had everything- wind , rain, lightening all night. Not a lot of sleep was had that night. Woke to no rain and wind down a little but forecast wasn’t good so made the call to cancel heading to Kawau and waited in Pukapuka for the weather to improve enough for a dash (not sure 8 knts is worthy of that term on RAINDANCE) home. Which we did.

Sad I missed hanging out at the Kawau Boating Club on Sunday night, but the upside was I scored a ride on Jason Prew’s – MY GIRL in the anniversary day launch race – full report tomorrow.
Enjoy the photo gallery 🙂 And remember to click on photos to enlarge.

I KNOW ITS NOT WOOD – BUT IT CERTAINLY LOOKS THE PART

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I KNOW ITS NOT WOOD – BUT IT CERTAINLY LOOKS THE PART

Last week we ran a story on the Okura Gig clinker dinghy that the owner of the the Logan launch NGAIO had just restored and ‘fitted’ to the launches stern.

Todays story is in response to the number of emails I received asking for more details on the dinghy, and in the fact I got tired of sending responses.

Back in 2016 we ran an extensive story on the Okra Gig craft, which included an extensive back school on how them came to be. Link below https://waitematawoodys.com/2016/02/28/okura-gigs-sailing-sunday/

2025 AUSTRALIAN WOODEN BOAT FESTIVAL – The Perfect Xmas Present

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2025 AUSTRALIAN WOODEN BOAT FESTIVAL – The Perfect Xmas Present

Starting to get a little excited about heading over the ditch in early 2025 (Feb7>10th) for the 2025 AWBF. Have confirmed by support crew, booked flights and accommodation = so its locked and loaded.  NZ is getting its day in the sun this festival with a focus on the pacific region. But 95% of the show content will be beautiful varnished wooden craft, which WW will be reporting on.

If you’re at a loose end in early Feb and have a few pennies to spare – consider treating yourself this Christmas and get over to Hobart. Air NZ fly direct these days, and I can assure you as a woody lover you won’t regret it.
Link here to the offical 2025 Festival https://www.australianwoodenboatfestival.com.au

DANCER – 30’ STEAM LAUNCH 

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DANCER – 30’ STEAM LAUNCH 

Todays wooden is the 30’ steam powered launch – DANCER, designed by Peter Sewell and built by owner John Olsen. DANCER is strip planked cedar (+ f/glass) and has a beam of 6’ and draws 2’6”.

The short video of DANCER on the Waikato River was filmed (drone) by Wesley Harcourt. The steam engine is diesel powered – more details in the video narrative.

DANCER is a frequent visitor to the Lake Rotoiti Classic & Wooden Boat Parade and appearance in a lot of my post event coverage on WW.

Back in Feb 2021 DANCER appeared on WW – link below https://waitematawoodys.com/2021/02/20/ss-dancer/

One of John’s many talents is making traditional rope fenders. John very kindly made a pair for my launch RAINDANCE – see below. + link to how to make the fenders https://waitematawoodys.com/2021/05/01/classic-rope-fenders-how-to/

CAN ANYONE HELP OUT WITH A WOODY STORAGE PROBLEM 

Paul Hinton is considering acquiring a 1903 W.H.B. ex pilot boat that is currently hauled out in Diary Flat – she appeared on WW – link here https://waitematawoodys.com/2024/05/31/mystery-1902-pilot-boat/

The problem is Paul is currently finishing another project and needs to temporally ‘park’ the pilot boat for >6 mths. 

Paul can be contacted at pm.hinton@gmail.com

A tip sign an agreement re max time frame, and state that if exceeded Paul will be responsible for any removal / disposal costs 😉

SO MANY CLASSIC WOODEN CRAFT TO BE VIEWED HERE – 1971 One Ton Cup

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LINK LINK BELOW TO VIEW

https://www.nzonscreen.com/title/the-one-ton-cup-1971

SO MANY CLASSIC WOODEN CRAFT TO BE VIEWED HERE – 1971 One Ton Cup

During the week John Bullivant sent in a link to a very cool film of the One Ton Cup series held in Auckland in 1971. So many classic craft out and about watching the racing. Personally my eye is drawn to the classic launches but there are 100’s of craft afloat. The 34 minute video is narrated by Chris Bouzaid. If you have the time watch the entire film but if time isn’t your friend – most of the spectator footage is around the 7:00 minute and again between 14:00 > 18:12 minutes. I think Lady Crossley makes a cameo appearance around 24:20 minutes.

Enjoy the film and thanks to NZ National Film Unit and NZ ONSCREEN for the original footage. 

WOODEN LAUNCH NICOLA  + LABOUR WEEKEND WOODY DETAILS

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WOODEN LAUNCH NICOLA  + LABOUR WEEKEND WOODY DETAILS

Todays woody photo was sent in by Ken Ricketts who ‘uplifted’ the image off fb.

The 36’ launch in the photo is named – NICOLA and from the NZ Herald press clipping (29th August 1930) we learnt that NICOLA was referred to as a ‘Hired Launch’, which I assume means she was in charter eg day cruises / trips.

She drifted from her mooring at Devonport and came ashore on the new city side waterfront road, again assume in the Orakei area.

The press clipping stated that NICOLA was extensively damaged – do we know what became of her and who designed / built her.

WEEKEND – OVERVIEW

Hopefully by now you will have been significantly exposed to the boating activity at Kawau Island this Labour weekend – so much on, starting on Friday with the ‘race’ , open to all vessels, from Westhaven to the Kawau Boating Club, this is a combined KBC and Ponsonby Cruising Club  gig and sees the inaugural hosting of the SPRING SPLASH REGATTA, an event to mark the start of the summer boating season. Saturday, Sunday and Monday have action a float and shore side – see flyer below for details.

IMPORTANT INFO FOR CLASSIC WOODY SKIPPERS

# WOODYS ARE MEETING ASHORE AT 5PM AT LIDGARD HOUSE FOR A CATCH UP – ALL WELCOME BYO (note if wet > KBC clubhouse, but not BYO)

# SUNDAY MORNING AT 11 AM THERE WILL BE A PARADE OF CLASSIC VESSELS AROUND BON ACCORD HARBOUR – MEETING OFF KBC WHARF.

LOTS OF COOL waitematawoodys  PRIZES TO BE WON, INCLUDING A LIMITED EDITION BREW OF THE WORLD FAMOUS IN DEVONPORT TOMATO SAUCE AND THE BIG PRIZE – A HAUL OUT AT THE SLIPWAY MILFORD RAILWAY HAULOUT YARD, INCLUDING 3 DAYS ON THE HARD. To be eligible for the haul out prize draw you must during the parade by flying one of the following burgees – KBC, PCC , waitematawoodys.

REGATTA OVERVIEW (CLICK BELOW TO ENLARGE )

SOUTHERN WOODY MASON MARLIN RUNABOUT + Riverhead Tavern Lunch Cruise Details

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SOUTHERN WOODY MASON MARLIN RUNABOUT

I was contacted about todays woody earlier in the year, at the time the boat was based in Queenstown and was looking for a new owner.

Her then owner had spent a lot of money on her, the Honda 50 hp 4-stroke would have broken most peoples budget.

No name visible – keen to learn if she sold and where she ended up.

EXCITED ABOUT THE UPCOMING LABOUR WEEKEND WOODY SPRING SPLASH AT KAWAU ISLAND. Below are details on the next woody event after Kawau – circle the calendar. 

RSVP to waitematawoodys@gmail.com

CLASSIC WOODY BOAT FESTIVAL AT THE WHANGAREI TOWN BASIN – 48 Photos & Videos

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CLASSIC WOODY BOAT FESTIVAL AT THE WHANGAREI TOWN BASIN – 48 Photos & Videos

The weekends weather in Auckland certainly wasn’t conducive to boating so on early Saturday morning I pointed the car north and headed to Whangarei for the 2024 Maritime Festival at the Town Basin.

Year two and a quick overview, – more tie-dyed tee shirt vendors and food trucks, a lot more general public – less launches, more large cruising yachts. Steam boat rides were the most popular offering – long queues of kids that probably walked away with a life time memory – well done to all the  steam boat skippers and crew.

Nice to see a couple of woodys from the Waitemata make the trip north – RAWHITI and JOHN DORY. 

As always when she makes an appearance anywhere Dick and Colleen Fisher’s ex pilot boat – AKARANA was the start of the show.

THE AUCKLAND WOODYS HAD AN INTERESTING TRIP HOME ON SUNDAY AFTERNOON 🙂

RAWHITI
JOHN DORY