CLASSIC YACHT – MARERE I1* – Looking For A New Home
Recently WW was contacted by the owner of the mullet boat – MARERE asking for help finding a new custodian for the yacht.
MARERE was built by Fred Mann in 1919 at his yard on John St, Ponsonby. She was designed by Ralph Goodwin, who owned her until 1923, when she was passed on to Olie Goodwin who kept her until 1935. (*note – sail number is I ONE)
In the gallery of photos above we she her in 1922 in a Henry Winkelmann photo and in the more recent colour photos, given the outboard on her transom. I’d guess late early 2000’s.
In the last photo she is wrapped up for storage, waiting a someone with the passion and wherewith-all to return this 105 year old piece of NZ’s maritime history to her former glory.
WALL OF SHAME -I think I need to start a wall of shame – woodys whose owners need to better care for their craft or pass it on to someone that will.
First Photo On The Wall – LEXIA, the 1904 Chas Bailey Jnr. Built yacht.
You have to applaud the Ponsonby Cruising Club for their new initiative to get people interacting with boats on the water. Last Thursday (Aug 22) the club held their first ‘Featured Vessel Series’ , the name could do with some improvement 🙂 Simple idea – they host a vessel at one of the berths outside the Westhaven clubhouse and people can board and chat with owners / crew. Then afterwards there is a presentation upstairs at the club on the boats history.
The PCC kicked off with the famous (infamous) historic yacht – NGATAKI, from the Tino Rawa stable.
Unless you have been living under a rock, you’d know that NGATAKI was the yacht made famous in Johnny Wray’s cult classic book – ’South Sea Vagabonds’.
If you haven’t read the book – put it on the Fathers Day list – its a cracker. Myself and a lot of others reread it every few years, it reignites my passion for NZ and our wooden boating community.
Read the book to learn the link to why there is a bowl of oranges on the deck 😉
CHECK OUT DATE FOR NEXT PCC FEATURED VESSEL SERIES AT THE LINK BELOW
As a result of a story back in June where we asked woodys to ID a yacht that was high & dry we learnt it was NGATIRA and the location was Devonport.c.1917.
Today we have another classic yacht, that is still sailing today on the Waitemata Harbour, that has had an unfortunate oops – so woodys – all correct names of the boat go into the draw to win a WW burgee. If you also get the location correct you get two chances in the draw. Entry be email only to waitematawoodys@gmail.com Closes at 5pm 11-08-2024 – The sender of the photo and extended family are excluded 😉
PONSONBY CRUISING CLUB – NGATAKI EVENING
Check out the poster below, sounds like a great night – August 22
Back in June we reported that the owners of the 1902 yacht – JANET were looking for a new custodian. Of course they looked long and hard, it would be like looking for a rest home for your 122 year old grandmother, you would only want the best of the best.
JANET had an 11 year sojourn in the Hawkes Bay and was cared for by passionate Napier woody Micheal O’Dwyer and his sailing partners. Now thanks to their affection for JANET and their generosity, JANET arrived back in Auckland yesterday and into the arms of a new ownership partnership that are perfectly qualified and situated to care for her.
Some facts – Designed by Chas Bailey Jnr and built by the Sutherland brothers in Devonport. JANET was launched in1902.
Now if the new owners are wondering about who gets to go sailing and when – check out Mike’s 2016 b/w photo below – plenty of room 🙂
12-08-2024 UPDATE ex Richard Guy – My Grandfather Clement Menzies owned “Janet” many years ago (after WW1) and the photo below is from when he had it.
During the week I received an email from Otto Schuttle with the great news that the Athol Burns designed 26’ cutter – TAIROA had been relaunched after her unfortunate 2015 accident. Read below-
Back in June 2015 we ran a story on the yacht being swiped onto the rocks during a fierce storm in Wellington harbour. From the ‘news’ photos things looked grim but Athol Burns built his craft like the proverbial brick out house.
Thanks to the efforts of Russell Ward and family we received photos of TAIROA being salvaged. Then in Oct 2018 we received an update from her new owner (Otto) with some work in progress photo.
Otto’s note covers off the news and his happiness at finely getting her back afloat – I’ll hand over to Otto –
“It was a tremendously emotional day for me on Saturday 27th July 2024 when many friends and family gathered at the Evans Bay Boat yard to see TAIROA relaunched.
This has been a long journey with a vast amount of research and learning ,many hours watching YouTube. Trying things and scraping them locating materials online to find it wasn’t exactly what I wanted or it didn’t quite fit. . at times things went wrong and had to be redone, or just pack up and go home and come back another day and have another go with fresh eyes and mind. OH and going to work when things were going really well on a project and wanting to get back to it. having to pack up and go away and wait for the glue, varnish or paint to dry,
She is now afloat in the Evans Bay marina looking as if she belongs
I still need to have some sail modifications done to suit the furler, permanent mooring lines fitted to the berth and some interior work done but its a boat always work to do and things to buy don’t you just love BOATING”
Photos below from 2015 and 2018
2018
UPDATE: Todays story prompted two woodys to contact me re a photo of the yacht , not long after launching – the amazing thing was it was the same photo – below. Brian Peet commented – the photo was taken by my father John in the 1960s. Alby Bland was a member of the Glendowie Boating Club and he built the boat in his back yard. I used to walk past it everyday on my way to school. Russell Ward commented – the photo of her was when new. It was sent years back by the builder’s daughter. Fabulous ship. The spirit of Athol Burns.
A CLASSIC WOODEN TRAILER-SAILER YACHT – Yeap You Read That Right 🙂
As covered many times on WW the cost of a marina berth is the #1 deterrent to owning classic wooden craft. I have speculated that smaller trailerable woodys will be the future of the classic boating movement in NZ.
MERLN – todays 22’ clinker kauri built, gaff-rigged sloop is one such boat that ticks all the boxes. And most importantly MERLIN is a looker and we like that.
Built c.1902 as a motorboat she was converted in the 1920>30’s to a yacht (deadwood/keel added etc). Then in the late 2000’s restored by professional Christchurch boat builder – Davie Norris.
MERLIN received another birthday in 2015/16 with restored gaff-rig and ‘converted’ to tabernacle set-up, plus new sails and all rigging. Also included was a new custom trailer and new 4-stroke 6hp outboard.In the last 10+ years MERLIN has been shed stored and only used on Lake Hood, Canterbury, South Island.Her current status is in storage and as with all traditional built clinkers may need some tweaking / re-caulking to the garboard seam.
So woodys if you’re considering stepping up to life as a classic woody owner, MERLIN is the vessel for you and at the end of a days sailing you get to take her home. Interested parties to initially contact Andrew andrew@siseed.co.nz for more details. And almost forgot – she will sell for around $25k – a bargain.
Todays woody is the very salty looking Woollacott yacht – MAIA II. Built in 1949 she is one of the ‘Ghost’ designs and is 28’ x 8’ + a draft of 4’6”.Her owner asked for a plug on WW re her being for sale, and of course I said yes – the boats very smart and Devonport based so couldn’t say no.When required forward motion is via a 13hp Shibaura engine and the sale includes a spare engine.Again dont normally talk $$ on WW but at $12k ono it has to be a bargain for someone wanting to join the classic wooden boating movement.A very strong and active Woollcott owners association is a bonus. Initial interest via email – sazoriginals@hotmail.com
Sea Scouts Need Some Help
Recently WW was contacted by Keith Christensen from the Kotuku Sea Scout Group in Levin asking for help finding a new home for one of their boats – I’ll let Keith tell the story –
“This is a 17′ kauri clinker standard Sea Scout cutter, #112 Moutere, built in 1967. She has spent most of her life in a shed and on Lake Horowhenua with occasional trips to Wellington. Her greatest stress has been trailering across town from our boat shed to the lake. Her major challenges are a split strake, a few cracked ribs and a very interesting repair in the front. I have started renovation by stripping 95% of the paint. She comes with a trailer different than she is on in the photos which will need work as it has no mudguards. We have the rudder and some stretchers and can rummage up a mast (Oregon). Any money donated to our group will be used for our youth programs as well as repairs to our other 3 Cutters. It’s sad to let her go but she has spent 13 years untouched so we need to focus on our other boats. Because this is standard boat you will be able to find other people who have done refits. I think it’s common to put an inboard in them. The transom on our other one got a bit beaten up with a Seagull so I wouldn’t recommend it.” Contact Keith Christensen at drkchristensen@hotmail.com
We discussed in last Sundays WW story the sad demise of the 26’ mullet boat – CELOX and her tragic past life.
The story prompted Nelson based maritime antarctic artist – Sean Harwood to send in the magnificent above photo of CELOX. Sean exhibited the painting in a 2021/22 exhibition he had at the Jonathan Grant Gallery in Auckland.The copy below accompanied the painting:
Mullet boat ‘Celox’ racing in the Hauraki Gulf 1914
Here we have the 26’ Mullet boat ‘Celox’ thundering down the Hauraki Gulf running under spinnaker before a south westerly in 1914. A steamer is heading down the channel towards North Head and into Auckland harbour. The painting actually has the viewer looking from another vessel as can be scene by the bow wave at bottom left. The painting illustrates the enormous spread of canvas these stout vessels carried. The other two Mullet boats behind ‘Celox’ are also racing.
‘Celox’ was built by Logan Brothers in 1908. Noted for her speed, over time she accumulated a very impressive racing history.
Mullet boats began life sometime in the 1880s as fishing smacks with retractable keels and shallow draft so they could easily sidle deep into the estuaries of the Waitemata Harbour to ply their trade. The lack of refrigeration back then made them fast – the quickest boat would have the freshest catch for the fish markets at the bottom of Queen St. As recreational sailing became more popular at the beginning of the 20th century, prize money and gambling took off, too, attracting more mullet boats to the weekend regattas and fuelling refinements in design. Fierce rivalries developed, often spilling off the boats and into the yacht clubs afterwards.
Sean also shared two more painting – the 2nd one above of the yacht VIKING rounding North Head, Auckland. The small launch is the Logan built DOREEN, which had the marine photographer – Henry Winkelmann on board taking photos. The bottom painting is of the Baileys Boatbuilding yard in Freemans Bay.
17-07-2024 – INPUT ex NIXON FRYER – I was reading your brilliant stories on the old Mullet Boat Celox. I though I better share this paint of Celox I inherited (below). My family (Craig family) had a part ownership in Celox however I don’t know when this was. The painting is definitely Celox as it is marked on the back of the Canvas as “Celox”.
WHATS HAPPENING UP THE TAMAKI RIVER / PANMURE BOATING NEIGHBOURHOOD
Recently woody John Bullivant had been smooching around the Panmure boating area – seems that the boating community have been have been overlooked by town planners or the likes that work in small windowless city offices and never actually see what their work actually ends up doing – I’ll let John tell the story –
“I recently came down from the Hibiscus Coast to buy some paint, and thought I’d have a look at the new Panmure bridge additions. Took a few more pics of NAU MAI, – looking very sad now. IMATRA is still afloat as well. A few interesting boats further up but out of camera range. Hoping to do a dinghy tour from Half Moon Bay this year to see what’s new and identify a few mystery boats. The old Panmure marina has gone with the new busway and cycle path over the area, and the slip is now cut off by a cycle path and the busway at the top of the road. Could have made a good boat ramp, but you know councils, – not a clue ! Not sure what the future plan is, as things are still under construction, with only the up stream access road open now. Another haul-out area gone, only the Panmure Yacht Club and Half Moon Bay left now for the whole of the Tamaki River.” (edited)
Can any of the river rats tells us more on the goings on to what was once a vibrant marine hub.
CLASSIC WOODEN YACHT – CELOX H8 – A Look Back In Time
I’m constantly sent via email and post details on classic boats that people have owned or rubbed up against – which is great.
Yesterday was different, one of the gents, Bruce Buccanan, that frequents my regular coffee shop, handed me a USB data stick with the gallery of photos above, all centred around the 26’ mullet boat – CELOX H8, built by Logan Bros and launched in 1908
I think the old school term jaunty best describes the gents that sailed or crewed on CELOX back them. Bruce’s father (a part owner or owner) is the gent in the last 2 photos , and thats all son Bruce knows about the photos.
CELOX has made several appearances on WW and the yacht had an eventful life, which may have ended in 2015 – WW would love to learn what finally happened to the yacht, we know she or parts of were salvaged but thats where the story stopped.
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