Earlier in the week a nugget of gold dropped into my inbox – Mark Newcomb sent in a copy of his families yacht – TAMATEA A20 log book (refer PDF file link below to read)
The log book covers the background to the building of the yacht and her first race + some wonderful insights into life in the WWII period.
Tamatea was designed by A.C. Robb and built by A. Couldrey, launched in Jan 1937.
Amazingly the yacht was built from one kauri log, grown on the owners property in Waitakere (note: log was from a ‘dead’ tree)
Click on the blue text below to open the PDF file, the original of the log book is in the hands of the Maritime Museum, so probably this file is the only record, given the Museum’s track record with ‘losing’ things 😦
Ian Smith from the Sydney Wooden Boat School has just aired a new video he shot during the recent Aust Wooden Boat Festival in Hobart. Its titled ‘Around the Boatyards Ep2’ – and focuses the Cygnet Wooden Boat yard and we get a great overview of the recently relaunched 1896 C&W Bailey (NZ) built 45’ yacht Te Uira.
Also an overview of other CWB projects recently completed or underway. Enjoy.
Special thanks to Andrew Christie for the heads up on the video
Lots of background on Te Uira and photos of the restoration at the links below
Last month I bombarded you with a several photo galleries of the 2023 Australian Wooden Boat Festival. As part of the wrap up of the festival, the organising crew have pulled together a 3min short film that utilises a lot of aerial film footage. The video gives us a wonderful overview of the festival, the Hobart harbour and waterfront – if there is any saw dust in your blood – Hobart February 2025 needs to be circled on your calendar. As festival director – Paul Stephanus says “This festival is one of a kind” . And its the largest event of its kind in the Southern Hemisphere and surprise surprise woodys – its free, no charge – we like that.
Find a comfortable chair and prepare to be wowed.
TIP: To enlarge screen size – scroll over the screen above and click on the icon I have highlighted below
“Dad had a pretty good memory and for many years we asked him to write his memories down, at last he and I got cracking. Dad grew up in Lyttelton and the sea was a great part of his life. The Sanders Cup left a lasting impression on him, the article on HUIA and the Sanders Cup was taken from his book (Just George). His love of the sea continued all of his life and at one time he was the proud owner of Cherub #1. Like the owner who gave HUIA a new lease of life, Dad did the same for Cherub #1. My Brother David and I were also keen yachties
Unfortunately my photos of the HUIA sailing in the Sanders Cup leave a lot to be desired, I would be interested if anyone has a good copy as I am in the process of updating Dads book, I am now up to the chapter of the HUIA and the Sanders Cup and that’s how I came upon the waitematawoodys site when I put HUIA into the Google search engine. Thank you for your interest.”
Extract Below From George Hemsley’s Memories (2.8.1913 > 29.7.2010)
It was the year 1939 when my Brother Bill Hemsley’s yacht “Huia” the Canterbury representative won the Sanders Cup. This event was sailed on Bluff Harbour with the first race starting on the 20th January. She was skippered by W A Tissiman with the crew of Bill Hemsley, S Sillars and H Brodie.
Her placings were as follows:-
Race #1 – Third
#2 – First
#3 – Huia did not start as she was unable to reef:-
#4 – second or third
#5 – First
#6 – First
HUIA wins the Sanders Cup.
“The Sanders Cup” yes it would seem that salt-water activities create bad feelings between yachties. Take the “Americas” cup today, what do we have, well when I was still at school the “Sanders Cup” was the same as the “Americas Cup” capable of stirring up the people of New Zealand to great enthusiasm between each province that competed. The reason that I do remember because my brother Bill (William Roy Hemsley) had bought the 14 footer HUIA.
Now in Lyttelton we had a man that built these 14 footers they had to be the exact measurement set down to fit a mould and no excuses for any mistakes. Mr Fred Dobbie was the man who built most of these 14 footers. Well brother Bill’s yacht was built by a different builder – from memory his name was Dick Tredenick.
It came time to race to determine who was to represent Canterbury – it was sailed in Lyttelton. To the best of my knowledge Huia won the first three races outright, so was the winner, but no they had to sail another three races, which she also won, now she had won six out of six races, but they the ”opposition” was determined that a Dobbie built boat was going to go, so they counted another three races which HUIA refused to enter and another boat was the winner of the next three races. This caused bad feeling especially when Brother Bill was asked to lend his set of sails to send the other boat away.
However the next year when HUIA again won the races there was no doubt. The HUIA did represent Canterbury for the 1939 Sanders Cup and did win the Sanders Cup for her province. The racing was held in Bluff with Bill Tissiman as skipper.
Between 1921 and 1946 Canterbury won the Sanders Cup 9 times, with the racing being sailed in Lyttelton 5 times and between 1921 & 1946. There was no racing during the war years of 1942-43-44 and 45.
I remember reading about a rowing race that was held for the visiting reporters as well, before the commencement of cup racing. I don’t know if this was always the case but the race in question was 1928 at Stewart Island. This caused a great deal of hilarity as well and was fiercely contested. Boats of supporters followed each reporter yelling encouragement to them and the opposite to the opposition. I do wonder if the same spirit is still as evident today.
06-03-2023 INPUT BELOW EX ROBIN ELLIOTT
Bit of an essay here but …. it’s complicated
Recollections are tricky things and although correct by and large, several seasons in your father’s memoir, 1936-1939, appear to have been conflated into one major story. I recommend a serious trawling of Papers Past to straighten out the kinks.
As unfair as it sounds, it was not uncommon for Sanders Cup committees to ‘swap out’ crew, or sails from one winning boat onto their chosen representative, such was their desperation to be successful. Many skippers angrily resented this practice and refused to comply with requests to turn their boat over to their Sanders Cup Selection committee to have the best bits pinched off it. Here is the justification.
Huia also suffered from being regarded as ‘an old boat’. Back in 1924 R. Tredennick and Fred Dobby built Pioioi, Dobby’s first 14-footer, which was wrecked during its maiden race. It seems that 8 years later, rather than go back to Fred Dobby for a new boat, Tredennick may have used these 1924 moulds to build Huia. She was often referred to as a Dobby boat ‘built by Tredennick’.
Either way, Huia was launched in November 1932, carried sail number X-7. She did little of note until sold to Bill Hemsley around 1935 who installed Sanders Cup winning skipper Elliot Sinclair on the helm. She was suddenly a very competitive boat.
This caused a problem for Sanders Cup selectors because Canterbury had won the previous 4 contests in the newer Dobby-built boats, Avenger and Irene. The Huia design, if from the Pioioi moulds, would have been over 10 years old, and amateur built at that. Maybe too much risk?
The committee selected a proven winner, the Dobby-built Avenger, put Huia’s Eliot Sinclair on as skipper with one of his crew and two of Avenger’s normal crew.
Avenger won the 1936 Sanders Cup so it was all seen as justifiable in the end.
It is unclear when Bill Hemsley sold Huia, possible as early as 1937. For the 1936/37 Sanders Cup Trials he sailed with Bill Tissiman on Colleen, won selection and was Canterbury Rep that season, coming a close second to the winner Lavina from Wellington.
In the 1937/38 season Huia was sailed by R. Hendry, and in 1938/39 Bill Tissiman was on the helm when she won selection for the 1939 Sanders Cup at Bluff.
It doesn’t look like Bill Hemsley was in the crew of Huia that season. He may have accompanied the group to Bluff but he was not selected as crew.
Just to complicate matters, I have a copy of the Wheatley & Reid’s Sanders Cup book which has, facing page 169, a ‘photo of the crew of Huia’ at Bluff 1939 (the same as your ‘crew of Huia’ photo above).
X-class historian, the late Murray Stark has noted on my copy of the book, ‘Facing page 169 NOT the 1939 crew’ and lists the crew as per the Papers Past articles above.
I suspect that the ‘crew photo’ is that of Colleen from 2 years earlier with Bill Hemsley in the crew.
You may find more details in a trawl of Papers Past.
Whoever owned Huia sold her to W. Pool of Akaroa in 1941 and she was still racing with the Akaroa Sailing Club as late as 1948.
My Canterbury contact (the late Graham Mander who raced many times at the Akaroa Regattas) was fairly sure she had been converted to a runabout in the late 1950’s early 60’s.
It seems unlikely (though not impossible) that she is the X-class Huia since restored and appearing on the earlier Woodys post.
Wellington woody admirer Geoff Fiebig sent in the collection of photos that he snapped off while wandering around the Clyde Quay Boat Harbour , Wellington on Sunday.
Can we put some names to them – • I’m sure the top photo is well know, but the bigger question has to be – how come its so unloved?
• The blue open double-ender looks very salty, and cared for.
• The tender is probably best overlooked, several sheets of ply on display. But no doubt a very useful work horse to get to & from a bigger moored craft (love the boat sheds paint scheme).
A couple of weeks ago WW was contacted by Andre Vanwonderen concerning the yacht – Priccilla – a 32’ Plant Class yacht, designed by Claude A. Smith and built by Allen Smith in 1966.
Can we expand more on this class of yacht, quite a looker. Andre is considering selling – aren’t we all 🙂
Input ex Neil Chalmers – Alan Smith’s Planet class is similar to North Sea 24 and its smaller sister the Twister both from the well known English designer CR (Kim) Holman. All influenced by the RORC rule.
There is a Sea Spray article on the Planet Class design.
Todays woody is what appears to be a very smart sub 30’ double-ender launch, seen in the above photo anchored in Napier’s Inner Harbour.
The photo comes to us from a late 2022 Maurice Sharp fb post.
Would love to put a name to the launch and an approximate date to the photo.
Tall Ships At The 2023 Australian Wooden Boat Festival Short video to given you a quick overview of the Tall Ship eye candy at the festival – all earning their keep doing inner harbour cruises. Enjoy 🙂
WW was contacted recently by Rhys Hanna who back in 1972 had built and launched a 33’ Woollcott yacht named Caernarvon. She was based on the original plan of the Bert Woollacott designed Vectis , and redrawn by John Woollacott as a ketch with a more raked bow and a raised fore-deck. Caernarvon was built of kauri with much of it being demolition timber from the bank building on the corner of Queen Street and Wyndham Streets, in Auckland.
Rhys had built her to go cruising but the children grew up too quickly and she was sold in 1975. Rhys replaced her with 36 ft John Lidgard yacht named Mon Desir, which he renamed Caernarvon II. In 1976 they sailed out for a 3 year trip and returned to New Zealand in 1996. That is impressive.
Rhys last saw Caernarvon again in c.2014. He had been to the Burt Munro motorcycle rally in Invercargill and on the way back had a day in Picton waiting for the ferry booking and wandered out to Waikawa Marina and saw her there on a berth. She had been re rigged with a new main mast and a bowsprit. Res commented that he was really chuffed to see that there was only one plank seam showing (port side and close to the waterline) he had really worked hard to get the planking right.
Rhys did have a couple of phone calls from various people when she came on the market about 4 years ago. Is anyone able to update us on the whereabouts of Caernarvon?
INPUT EX CHRIS LEECH – photo below, date and location unknown.
Details on next Saturdays Woody picnic at Stillwater will be sent out later today – life catch up got in the way yesterday. 8 days away from home in the midst of a cyclone equaled a long ’TO DO’ list from the first mate 🙂
Master woody boat builder Colin Brown dropped me a note re the yacht Maori Lass at the Australian Wooden Boat Festival, so off I went to find her.
What we know is that Maori Lass is 30’, was built in 1950 by Ron Andrewartha to a H. E. Cox design from Celery Top Pine, using carvel construction. She was built as a club racer in Hobart, her show card stated that “ Maori Lass reflects post WWII optimism in Australia’.
So woodys the question today is – what’s the significance of the name. Has to be a good story there 🙂
GOOD BUGGERS
During Auckland’s recent cyclone I was quite concerned about my woody in her marina berth – on the night of the big storm (13/14th) at 2am NZ time I received the below txt message from woody Dan Renall who keeps his Herreshoff yacht on the same pier – and then an update later in the morning.
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