Category Archives: Working Boats

Rata Revisted

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RATA REVISITED

Last month (Oct 16th) we dd a story on the launch – Rata based around a Lew Redwood fb photo, then Ray Morey came on and embellished the story with lots more details  – link below to that story.

Next up Mark McLaughlin drops a note advising he had found the above photos in his late father’s collection, which Marks thinks would be from the 1950’s. He wondered if it could be the same boat? and commented that whether or not the boat is Rata, he was 99% certain it will be one of the Johnson’s mail boat fleet of which Rata also belonged to, operating from Havelock. Mark had heard his Dad mention Rata many times. I’ll let Mark tell the rest of the story – 

“The forward bulwark and twin masts are obviously missing here but the hull is a good match and the end of the aft lower belting lines up with the aft cabin porthole in the same location. The forward cabin appears shorter though in the Rata photos in the original post. 

Regardless, the photo underway is a great look back in time at how the commercial boys used to roll. The safety police would be having heart attacks if they saw that now. As per most of the Johnson’s mail boats of the time though, she looks like she has a good turn of speed (and nobody fell off).

Most of the clinker dinghies in Havelock at the time (like the one in the photo) where built there by Tom Hutchison out of Kahikatea. They were large and heavy but could take a good beating in day to day use.”

Mark also did a google search and uncovered the photo below of Rata from the ‘Johnson’s Barge Service’ website, showing her well laden with logs. This is an earlier photo of Rata but appears to support her being the same boat in Marks photos. The photo is tagged ‘1930’s – Rata was built by Eric and his brother Frank in Havelock. White pine for the construction was cut in the Nydia Bay by the Wells family’ 

LINK to Johnson Barge Service websitehttps://www.johnsonsbargeservice.co.nz/about-us/

So the question today that would be nice to confirm – is boat above the same boat that appeared in the Oct. 16th WW story https://waitematawoodys.com/2022/10/16/rata-3/

MV Tauranga

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MV TAURANGA

Recently I was contacted by Darren and Toni Anger, the owners of the ex workboat – MV Tauranga – below is Darren’s note to WW

“We have owned Tauranga for a couple of years now and we would love to hear any stories out there about her. The above photos of her show the different cabin configurations from her original to now.

Tauranga was built 1957 by Miller and Tunnage, Timaru for the Tauranga Harbour Boards pilot vessel.  During her time in April 1982 she was stolen and run aground at Matakana Island, Tauranga Harbour Board completed a major refit and refastening of the hull, she continued her pilot duties until around 1990.

When sold to private ownership she was sailed to Havelock Marlborough Sounds for her pleasure vessel refit which was completed approximately 2004, this is when we first saw her in Havelock Marina at the start of our own world circumnavigation.  

2020 we returned to Havelock to settle and saw Tauranga for sale, she now spends her days cruising the Sounds or on her mooring in Kaiuma Bay.

Tauranga is still powered by her original 8 cylinder Gardner.”

So woodys, can we help out with any tales from the workboat days and then the period starting 2004 > 2020 when Darren and Toni bought her.

INPUT EX NIGEL DRAKE –

“When I joined the Bay of Plenty Harbour Board as harbour pilot in 1982, Tauranga was in the middle of her major refit at the port slipway at Sulphur Point. She was outside but under a temporary cover while the 8 cylinder Gardiner was in one corner of the adjacent shed and the wheelhouse in the other corner. The relief pilot boat in use was the chartered Whitianga based fishing boat Defender. When Defender had to be returned to her owner after Tauranga’s refurbishment was prolonged the Mount Maunganui based fishing boat Sea Bee was chartered and used until Tauranga was ready for service again.

When built in 1959 by Doug Robb in Timaru Tauranga was fitted with a towing hook just aft of the forward mounted wheelhouse. The port did not own a tug at that time so some towing and ship assist duties would have been necessary in her early days. The arrival of the ports first tug Mount Maunganui in 1960 would have alleviated this requirement somewhat.

The refurbishment in 1982 followed the theft from her berth and subsequent beaching on the sea side of Matakana Island in 1979, I don’t think they had turned on the fuel. This second refurbishment following the incident gave the opportunity to move the wheelhouse from forward to aft now that towing requirements had long gone. This was a great success resulting in a large clear area of deck for the pilot and deck hand to operate in when alongside a ship always under the watchful eye of the launch master. The decision was also made to paint the hull and wheelhouse top rescue orange to aid in the easier identification of the boat by ships masters. This was a little controversial and non traditional but proved very successful and it is now normal for pilot boats world wide to have strong colour recognition.

The growing port saw the 9 knot displacement speed of Tauranga to be somewhat of a disadvantage and in 1985 the 18 knot Tauranga 11 arrived. An alloy Striker design built by the then Wanganui Engineering, now QWest, she relogated Tauranga to standby pilot boat. She enjoyed a somewhat sedate life in this role until being replaced in 1999 by a newly built 12m Naiad hydrographic survey launch which was also set up for piloting duties.
Tauranga was put up for sale and departed under new ownership for Doves Bay in Kerikeri, Bay of Islands.
This ended 40 years of very successful service at the port in Tauranga.”

12-04-2023 Updated photos

UPDATE 12-07-2023 Tauranga hauled out at …….. Tauranga. hotos ex Alan Craig

WOODY BOAT – BOOT SALE

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WOODY BOAT – BOOT SALE – THE SLIPWAY MILFORD 
Two years ago we ran one of our most popular woody events – a classic woody ‘BOOT SALE”, hosted by the Slipway Milford. Well folks its on again, circle Saturday 26th November in the diary. 
Lets be honest, we all collect / hoard boat bits. Could be a good time to gain some more space and earn a few dollars. Waitematawoodys and The Slipway Milford are hosting the sale at their boat yard in Milford, Auckland. Details below. So woodys, be brave and get together anything boat related that you think needs a new home and bring it along – there is only one rule – items must fit in a car boot 🙂 But we will make an exception for grandad’s kauri clinker dinghy. Most of the items will be displayed outdoors and space will be limited so drop me an email to reserve some space  waitematawoodys@gmail.com
AND IT IS CASH ONLY.

CLASSIC YACHT BIRTHDAY CELEBRATIONS
7.00PM THURSDAY 10 NOVEMBER at the Royal NZ Yacht Squadron.
The Classic Yacht Charitable Trust would like to invite you, your family and your friends, to celebrate the 125th birthday of Thelma, the 1897 Logan gaff-rigged cutter, and the 130th birthday of Gloriana, also a Logan built gaffer. 
Our special guest will be David Barker, the world-renowned maritime artist, who has extremely generously created a new painting, which features our classic fleet and entitled “Start”, to assist in our fundraising effort. Come and meet David and find out how you can take home this fabulous artwork.
This fun evening, with like-minded classic boating enthusiasts, will also be a crucial fundraising event for all seven of the boats in the trust – Thelma, Gloriana, Waitangi, Ida, Frances, Ethel and Rainbow II.
So, please support this event and we know you will have a fun evening.Tickets: $30pp   Order your tickets here

Mystery Opua Big Game Launch – Its Noelani

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MYSTERY OPUA BIG GAME LAUNCH – Noelani

The above photo recently popped up on Maurice Sharp’s fb and generated some speculation as to the identity of the launch. The photo is dated 1976.

Several suggested Lady Doreen but the LD that I’m aware of didn’t have any forward portholes and the ones on this boat are very distinctive being a combination of oblong and circular. 

Brian Worthington suggested Noelani (Oliver & Gilpin) but nothing like the 2015 photo of Noelani that has appeared before on WW (refer below) unless there has been some major work done to her or maybe there were more than one sharing the name?

Can anyone correctly ID the launch?

UPDATE – Quite a bit of chat in the comments section, it would appear that the launch above is the Oliver & Gilpin designed and built – Noelani (not the one below). Thanks to Greg Philpott for sending in this link that tells the back story of the Oliver & Gilpin boat building dynasty https://sunlive.co.nz/news/10869-days-when-boats-were-wood.html

(The launch above was launched as Lady Rosaland designed by Owen Woolley and built by Oliver and Gilpin – input ex Brian Worthington)

Southern Woodys

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SOUTHERN WOODYS 

Todays photos come to us via Len Redwood and Paul Hansen ‘s fb – in the top photo from L>R we have the Earnslaw (obscured), Mountaineer , then Ben Lomond and finally Muratai.

In the second photo we see the bow of Mountaineer tied up at the Kingston Wharf, Lake Wakatipu. 

While the Earnslaw is well known to most of us, keen to learn more about Mountaineer and Ben Lomond. There is a brief mention of both vessels in this WW story https://waitematawoodys.com/2014/03/18/thelma-vera/

Muratai has made a WW appearance here https://waitematawoodys.com/2020/11/20/muratai-ii/

30-10-2022 Input ex Greg Philpott – Mountaineer featured on a New Zealand stamp – see below. Greg also uncovered a ‘glass lantern slide’ for sale on ebay that is tagged ‘P S Mountaineer Lake Wakatipo’.

The poster below for the NZ Antique & Classic Boat Show (Lake Rotoiti – Nelson Lakes) is a stunning piece of nautical art – each year they step it up a level. I’ve been – it is always a goody so circle 4th>5th March 2023 in your calendar.

Classic Woody Boating Long Weekend Cruise

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Moturekareka Island
Sunset – Smelting House Bay, Bon Accord Harbour, Kawau Island
Sunrise – Smelting House Bay, Bon Accord Harbour, Kawau Island
Lady Adelaide
Vivian Bay, Kawau Island
Ngaio
Meola & Whio

Classic Woody Boating Cruise

For all the wrong reasons I didn’t do a lot of boating (on my boat) this past winter, so the looming long Labour weekend was always going to see me leaving the dock even if the weather was ‘inclement’. Luckily it wasn’t and I slid away early Friday afternoon with the ultimate destination being Kawau Island. The boredom of mostly straight line motoring was broken up by Team NZ cutting up the gulf in their AC40, so so quick.

Decided to spend Friday night anchored at Moturekareka Island, the resting place of the wreck REWA (unsuccessfully scuttled as a breakwater) , not the most settled of spots but the sunset and the bird song made up for it.

Moved on earlier Saturday to Smelting House Bay and picked up a pre-booked mooring, now before you all call me a softy, we had the new dog onboard for its 1st trip and wanted to be close to shore – didn’t want an oops on board. I can report she was an angel – woke me at 5.30am for a row ashore. Sadly she also seems to think the #1 bunk is hers 🙂 The bonus of the dog pee row ashore is catching the sunrise, almost as fine as the sunset.

Mostly just relaxed mooching around, had a drink and dinner catch up with the crews off Meloa, Ngaio, Lady Adelaide and Golandrina at the Kawau Boating Club, which had just taken the shutters down after the annual winter hibernation. Food and service was first rate – if you are not a member – join, they need good support to keep doing what they do so well. The next day we dropped the pick in Vivian Bay – very quiet and later in the day several woodys arrived – seems to be the go-to destination for the Sandspit marina crowd.

I spied a stunning villa on the waterfront in Vivian Bay – photos below, will need to keep buying Lotto 🙂

Trip home on Monday was just about perfect for a straight stemmer e.g. wind and tide on the nose – 3 hours 45 min from KBC > Bayswater, that’s a good clip for my 94 year old girl.

UPDATE 03-11-2022 – Photo below of Rewa as scuttled (incorrectly). Comes to us from Auckland War Memorial Museum libray via Maurice Sharp fb.

SUNDAYS MYSTERY LAUNCH QUIZ WINNER

Well done Ken Ricketts, the winner from the many woodys that correctly ID’ed the launch as Sobrine. The pool was reduced significantly by a large number spelling the boats name – Sabrine. Link to a previous WW Sobrine story below https://waitematawoodys.com/2016/05/31/sobrine/

Le Reine > Patina

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LA REINE > PATINA

Todays photos were sent in by Mike Mulligan and are of his families old launch Patina which his father sold to buy the launch Ngaranui (tomorrows story) in the 1970’s

The 39’ Patina was built  by Erine Lane at Picton in 1913, from double planked kauri. Lane built her for C.W. Philpotts of the Sounds Motor Launch Co. as a passenger vessel. Originally named La Reine (The Queen). 

As launched she was fitted with a 20hp Bolinder semi-diesel reversing engine. Late she went fishing out of New Plymouth with a Fairbanks- Morse and also spent time in Tauranga. Around this time she was converted to pleasure use.

In Sept 2019 she was for sale at Chaffers marina, Wellington.In Feb 2020 she was still for sale – photos below and here – https://waitematawoodys.com/2020/02/29/patina-2/

(thank to Harold Kidd for early details)

Challenger

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CHALLENGER 

Today’s story is another example of the effectiveness of WW – Grant Parker yesterday posted a comment on a WW story that appeared back in Oct 2014 – the 2014 story was on the c.1962 McGeady built launch – Challenger. 

I have reproduced Grant’s comments below, 

“The 38ft ” Challenger built by McGeady. was owned by my family in Tauranga in the late 1970’s > early 1980’s. After the Bradshaw family of Rotorua owned her  she was sold to the Finn family also  from Rotorua.

My father Bert Parker from Rotorua purchased the Challenger from Ray Finn. When he sold her she went to Havelock in the Marlborough Sounds where an older couple lived on her for a number of years.

The next owner was the owner of a trucking company in Nelson, he went bankrupt and she was sold again. The last I heard was she ended up North, maybe Bay of Islands, possibly the Opua area.

Our family had some great memories, the photos above of – Challenger, show her in her former glory with varnished coamings etc.

The photos show Challenger in :  downtown Tauranga, Whale Island off Whakatane and South East Bay Mayor Island.”

Grant maintained an interest in the whereabouts of Challenger and once tracked her down in Havelock, then the ship broker in Nelson supplied the copy of her 4sale listing.  

Purely from reference as to how our classics can morph over time and owners – I know which one I’d like to own 🙂

Link here to the 2014 WW story – lots of photos and chat there https://waitematawoodys.com/2014/10/25/challenger/

Update from a woody – photo below is captioned Onerahi Whangārei / February 2022. This is very sad……. 😦

Wairoa River / Clevedon Drive By Tour

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Wairoa River / Clevedon Drive By Tour

On the weekends Woodys Classic Weekend cruise to the Clevedon Cruising Club I had the services of a cabin boy (relax, he’s my neibour) so I handed the wheel to him for most of the trip up the river. This freed me up to snap some of the moored wooden craft, I’m sure a few might be f/glass or even steel – but still an amazing collection ’semi-hidden’ away, that us Auckland marina dwellers never see.

Enjoy the tour. AND make sure you check out the last photo below – seems the CYA A Class skippers have been playing bumper boats again.

Seems the CYA Classic A Class Fleet Are Playing Crash & Bash Again

One of the classic launch owners returning to their berth in Westhaven from the weekends Woodys Clevedon cruise – spotted a wee hole in Little Jim. Comment was it had the dimensions of a bow-sprite. 

Fingers crossed the culprit has good insurance………… A review of the RNZYS results page for Saturdays racing shows two classics with a DNF alongside their names – being Little Jim and Rawene, chances are that tells you the other vessel.

Things like this probably contribute to why only approx. 6% of the CYA classic yacht fleet race (outside of one-off events like the Mahurangi Regatta) their craft. Too much testosterone is a bad thing with a car steering wheel or yacht tiller in your hand – then again maybe it was too much oestrogen this time?

San Costanzo

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SAN COSTANZO

One can only assume the San Costanzo, built in 1969 by Curnow & Wilton started life as a work-boat and was then, date unknown, converted to pleasure use.

She is an impressive woody – built from kauri planks and 49’ in length, with a beam of 14’9″and draws 5’4” – that canoe stern gets a big tick from me.

A Cummins 250hp engine sips only 8>9 L of diesel per hour when cruising. Add to that the 2200L fuel tanks and that is a long time between trips to the fuel dock.

Very well spec’ed, with a good survey result you could doing laps of NZ. Recently for sale on tme – thank you Ian McDonald for the heads up.

INPUT BELOW ex Brian Kidson –

“While doing some background into Curnow and Wilton boats I found this out from various sources…

This Jack Guard designed double ender was launched at the end of July 1965 for Mr Salvi Rocco of Wellington. It was built for crayfishing and longlining out of Island Bay. St Costanzo is the patron saint of Capri from where the Rocco family come from.
While Rocco’s had her, they took the aft wheel house off and had a new one built forward by a Wellington boat builder.
Rocco’s sold her to a Chinese chap in Auckland who used her for catching blind eels out of Tauranga. He only owned her for approximately two years before selling her to Tom Fishburn who then set her up for trawling. He fished her for ten to twelve years with his nephew Marcus Fishburn. By the time Tom bought her she had had an engine change from a Gardiner to a Cummins NH250 which is still in her.
It is said that she is a good sea boat and fairly dry on deck which is a credit to her designer. Guard’s of Nelson were unable to build her at the time. Her stern is very tight and bluff double ended, almost a ‘transom’ a credit to her builders. Not the only Guard design like it. The Marconi being another that comes to mind.
At some stage the ‘St’ in her name was changed to San Costanzo.
There was an article in the local newspaper, Nelson Evening Mail, at the time of launching.
Other names San Costanzo

Length 50ft

Beam 15ft

Draught 6ft

Date launched 31st July 1965

For Salvi Rocco, Wellington

Subsequent Owners Name unknown, Tom Fishburn, Marcus Fishburn, Sean Reichardt, Robert Lynds,

Engine(s) Gardiner, Cummins NH 250″

EVERYTHING GOING WELL TOMORROW WILL BE A GOOD STORY WITH LOTS OF PHOTOS FROM THE WOODYS CLASSIC WEEKEND CRUISE TO CLEVEDON.