Woodys On Tour – Hobart – Australian Wooden Boat Festival – 50’ HALVORSEN MOTOR LAUNCH
Hello Woodys
While the Australian Wooden Boat Festival is done and dusted the woody camera is loaded with photos – today we feature the 1947 built, 50’ Halvorsen motor launch – Minocqua. Designed and built by famous Australian boat builder Lars Halvorsen, she was one of seven built in the late 1940’s. If my memory is working, the Australian Americas Cup legend – Ian Murray owns one (possibly this one).
76 years later she is still a very imposing vessel and stands out anywhere.
Something for the petrol heads – check out the video below of a 1945 Tasman Marine engine, two stroke, 3hp, single cylinder. Built by the Tasman Engineering Company.
Woodys On Tour – Hobart – Australian Wooden Boat Festival – Day 5
Hello Again Woodys Felt slightly guilty this morning when I called home to advise Air NZ had cancelled my Hobart > AKL flight. Next available – 7 days away…. A little bit of online work and I found a flight out of Sydney on Thursday night. So 2 more days in Hobart 🙂
One big plus – I get to see the very cool kiwi singer- Marlon Williams live in concert.
Anyway back to the boats – today is an extension of yesterdays gallery – there is just so many woodys to see.
FYI – WW viewing numbers spike when the weather is bad and people are at home, so yesterdays numbers were approaching an all time high. Today (Tuesday will be another bumper day)
Boat Of The Day – HEATHER BELLE, a 24’6” gaff rigged pilot cutter, built in 1990 by Andrew Wilson to a Lyle Hess design. She is a sister-ship to Larry Pardey’s – SERAFFYN.
And compulsory food shot – lunch = seafood chowder 🙂
Woodys On Tour – Hobart – Australian Wooden Boat Festival – Day 4
Hello Woodys – Day four of the trip, day 3 of the festival. As compared to yesterday (Saturday) it was a lot less crowded with less rubberneckers 🙂
I went on several guided walking tours of the docks, very insightful, as you inspect individual vessels and meet the skippers.
As promised today (Monday) story is a photo gallery of craft at the festival – no particular order, just as the camera found the boats. FYI – the festival organisers mix the vessels up, so you have sail/power/big/small all together, which makes for a good vibe.
Boat Of The Day – Green Moon
Check out the impressive berthing of the Tall Ship – Windeward Bound in the video below – well done skipper and woodys not being sexist – BUT I meet HER the other day.
And discovery of the trip Iron House Tasmania Ginger Beer (6%alc) and scallop wontons
Woodys On Tour – Hobart – Australian Wooden Boat Festival – Day 2
Morning Woodys
Todays was the first official day of the festival, commencing with the – Parade of Sail, that see 200+ wooden craft arriving in mass into Hobert Harbour. Where they join 100’s more that have already berthed dock-side.
My day started at 6.45am for a coach ride to Woodbridge where we boarded the 110’ brigantine – Windewood Bound for the passage to Hobert. Conditions we a little damp and overcast, but things improved later in the day. You know me, so I struggled with the first 4+ hours of ’sailing’ at 4 knots but once we joined up with the fleet it was a special experience. The Windewood led the fleet into the harbour that was lined with spectators and craft of all types, size and construction.
Todays story is on the Windewood + a taste of dockside life. I’ll cover the passage and all the Parade of Sail fleet in a later story. And tomorrow we will jump into the expanse of wooden craft on show
Boat Of The Day – this very smart picnic boat
Enjoy
Below – the scallops on a stick were smash hit and washed down with my attempt to get some goodness into the body – all fresh juice – pineapple, apple, lemon, ginger, orange, vitamin C and a double shot of vodka. Sounds like a good idea for breakfast…
Woodys On Tour – Hobart – Australian Wooden Boat Festival – Day 1
Hello Woodys – As they same ‘I’m In Country’ and a little in awe for the scene here in Hobart. The festival doesn’t start till Friday, so the docks are only starting to fill up but already I’m gobsmacked by the woody craft tied up.
Went for an early evening mooch around the water front and today you get a wee tease – a ‘roughly’ filmed dock-side walk video of just one pier and my boats of the day pick – being Saona and a smaller woody, that I’ll have to get the name of – and yes Neil Chalmers – surprise surprise – both yachts 🙂
Today (Friday) I’m up at 6.30am heading to Woodbridge (36k south of Hobart) to meet / board – ‘WINDEWARD BOUND’ (see below) a 110’, brigantine rigged Tall Ship for the ‘Parade Of Sail’ into Hobart Harbour. The Parade of Sail marks the offical opening of the festival.
And it would be Australian without a serving of calamari and an ice cold IPA and a flat white.
LAKE ROTOITI 2023 PARADE OF CLASSIC & WOODEN BOATS – 150+ PHOTOS
As has become my norm for Waitangi holiday weekend early on Saturday morning I pointed the car south and made my way to Lake Rotoiti in the middle of NZ’s North Island.
2023 marked the 26th anniversary of the event and after a horror week of ‘once in a 100 years’ rain storms I had concerns that the parade might be postponed or cancelled. Well woodys as you’ll see from the above photo gallery, my fears were redundant.
The day started overcast with some light drizzle but this passed thru before the parade kicked off at 11am. Numbers were down a little from last year but conditions were perfect on the lake.
Enjoy the gallery above – if you’re craft is featured above and you want a high res copy of the photo, drop me an email at the address below. Apologise if I missed your boat or if the odd photo is a little out of focus – just me in a run-about jiggling the throttle, looking out for other boats and holding the camera 🙂
My pick of the boat I’d most like tied up at my imaginary lake jetty is – ELLEN (#14), 26’ in length, built in 2004 in strip planked cedar from a plug taken off an old abandoned hull found in Kopu. Thought to be a ‘Milkmaid’ design by Bailey & Lowe. Powered by a 29hp diesel. In my eyes just perfect. Photo below
Special thanks again to Dave and Glenys Wilson for the loan of a boat to get me out on the lake.
As always – click on photos to enlarge.
Lastly I never tire of the sound of big V8 (5.7L) water exhausts. Shawn Vennell, the owner of Judy H, was lining me up for a prop shower – a few words of warning as to what my reaction would be, made him change his mind 😉
Today we should have been floating around the Mahurangi Harbour enjoying what has become the biggest one day, on-the-water boating event in New Zealand – the annual Mahurangi Regatta. I have posted a link below to a previous regatta to remind us all how good it can be.
Sadly the weather gods dealt us a crap hand and we all get to stay at home. I understand and support not going ahead with the event this weekend (Auckland’s 3 day Anniversary Day holiday weekend) BUT what I can not understand is why wasn’t there a back up plan in place to run the regatta the following weekend, which is also a 3 day holiday weekend. The organisers of the regatta should have just made the call to run with next weekend.
This lack of forward thinking means the wooden boating movement misses out on the fun, friendship and fraternity that is acquired rubbing up against like minded woody enthusiasts. We need this to maintain our passion for another 12 months.
As I type this I can imagine the team of volunteers at the Mahurangi Cruising Club and other groups involved – thinking “bloody smart ass, why doesn’t he put his hand up to help” – short answer – ‘already too busy with WW’ BUT at your next committee meeting how about adding to the agenda – How Do We Future Proof The Regatta’ and ‘Is It Time To Appoint A Paid Event Organiser’. If the regatta isn’t already as big as the Auckland Anniversary Day Regatta it must be very close – be brave and pull on the big boys pants.
Todays woody – the yacht MOKOIA (spelling?) was spotted by Barbara Cooke during the week in the Bay of Islands.
Looks like she is set up for some serious cruising.
Can we learn more about Mokoia?
UPDATE ex owner – Jim Loft – MOKOIA, 39′ Bob Stewart design (Camelot). Woody built c.1965 by Max Carter.
INPUT EX ROBIN ELLIOTT – Mokoia was one of 3 Bob Stewart design Camelots under construction simultaneously at Max Carters in 1965. Photo on page 63, Sea Spray Sept. 1965.
Mokoia for I. Falconbridge, Camelot for I. Broadfoot and Ilex for W. Macky.
She was registered in 1965 as B-54, taking NZYF number 154 in 1969. Dimensions at time of her 1965 registration were: 39ft x 34ft x 10ft 6in x 5ft, 324 sqft sail area, ballast 3 ton, engine Ruston rover.
Mokoia was raced and cruised by Falconbridge up to at least 1971 and was still registered to him in 1976. ………. but ???
According to Sea Spray April 1973, Mokoia was entered by ‘H. Vega owner/skipper’ of Mokoia in the Auckland Suva race. She was eventually registered to H. Vega in 1978.
As usual, NZYF registration details are plagued by conundrums and obsolete data.
From 1980 through to 2000, she had no registered owners with any of the published NZYF registers. My last recorded details are owners J.& K. Lott 2014-2021+
All details are subject to change 🙂
ONLY 2 WEEKS TILL MAHURANGI WEEKEND – 2 OF THE BEST WOODY GIGS – CLASSIC WOODY LAUNCH PARADE & BEACH BBQ + BAND ON SAT NIGHT @ SCOTTS LANDING. More details closer to the weekend
Earlier this month WW was contacted by Greg Philpott in regard to a comment on WW back in March 2018, concerning a gent named Ron Morgan who was trying to locate his old 24’ mullet boat named Echo. Echo had been at Whitianga but was taken to Beachlands to be rebuilt by a painter from the marina who Ron thinks went overseas before it was completed. Ron commented that the boat had a long history and was raced early last century. When Ron had it she was configured as a launch. Before selling it she had its cabin stripped off so could be just a hull. Enter Greg Philpott who recently posted the picture above on the ex RNZN Facebook page with the primary interest being the Naval Base and the warships HMS Diomede and HMS Dunedin. The photo came from the British Museum files. On the fb posting there was a comment added by a William Ohealy as below.
“That launch in photo is the Echo . We rebuilt her into a fine fishing boat / charter boat. But me dad got to old so was sold. We put a 6LW Gardner. Dam she was fast, 11 knots at 1100 rpm – sad to see her go. Last I saw her at Herald Island in the upper Auckland Harbour, sorry no photo. Put a forward wheel house on her. aft cockpit cabin and walk around deck. When first built was a 28 ft. mullet boat steamed up to Whangarei Harbour and added 7 ft. to the stern and made into a motor sailer. With a whole new keel. As a racing mullet was the fastest on the Auckland Harbour.”
So woodys, after digesting the above (some what convoluted) intel – can we ID the actual launch in the photo and possible join the dots to a Mullet boat link?
13-01-2023 Input ex Chris McMullen – Refer page below out of the 1945 Book “Little Ships” by Ronald Carter. It shows an early photograph of a Mullet Boat called “Echo” (top left). Mullet Boats have built down aft sections (no deadwood) Difficult to fit a propeller and make into a launch, but it has been done. The design weakness in Wooden Mullet Boats was the Centre board case. Once Toredo worm got in the case and keel the damage was a big job to fix. Enthusiast owners have done these repairs them selves. To have it done professionally would cost more than the boat was worth. So mullet boats were sold cheap. The new owner blocked off the centreboard slot, strengthened the keel, installed a motor and went fishing.
The 26 foot Mullet Boat “Corona”(now extensively rebuilt) almost suffered that fate. She disappeared for many years. As far as I know and fortunately the owners never worked out how to fit a propeller. Her hull was saved by some Mullet Boat Enthusiasts. Her Spars and Sails were long gone.
INPUT EX HAROLD KIDD – There was an ECHO launch, 29ft, originally with a 10hp Lozier built by James Reid and domiciled in Devonport around this time. She was hauled out on the Devonport Ferry slip in 1919 and took part in the first race run by the Milford Cruising Club in 1924. I reckon this is the boat. As for the 1900 Clare 24ft mullet boat ECHO, she went to Thames in 1904 and was still in existence at Whitianga in a terrible state in 1989. NOT this boat.
ATTENTION WOOLLEY CLASSIC LAUNCH OWNERS
WW has been contacted by Kerry Lilley, owner of the Woolley launch – Awariki asking for owners of Woolley designed/built classic launches attending this years Mahurangi Regatta (Jan 28th) to join Awariki in Saturday mornings launch parade – Kerry’s contact details are below, so drop him an email or call and he will explain in detail the plan to celebrate the Woolley marque. If you don’t own a Woolley but know someone who does – be nice and pass the message on 🙂
Classic Woody Summer Cruising – A Game Of Two Halves
Happy New Year Woodys – WW is back ‘live’ so no more oops boating photos 🙂
On Saturday when I was reviewing and editing the above photos I struggled to believe that we had a xmas/ny cruise, but as they say the truth is in the photos 🙂
I decided to break todays story into two parts:
1. Raindance related
2. Woodys Out & About
Mostly from my camera but assisted by Barbara Cooke (Bay of Islands), Mark Edmonds (Waiheke), Russell Ward, Jason Prew (upper harbour) and Alan Gilder (Woody Bay Rakino)
Raindance’s cruise / tiki tour mainly consisted of bouncing between Rakino Island and Waiheke Island. Left on 27 Dec and the weather was just stunning with crystal clear, warm water. On 01 Jan the forecast was starting to look very average and most concerning was all 3 weather platforms that I follow were saying the same thing. So early morning on 02 Jan we made the call to up anchor and head home. Turns out that was a good call because for the next 5+ days if it wasn’t raining it was drizzling non-stop + ugly seas and high winds.
So woodys the second half of our planned cruise was sent at home enjoying good food, wine, movies and watching almost every wooden / classic boating video on YouTube.
Very grateful we had 6 days of great weather before we pulled the pin. As an old salt told me once – when it comes to happy family boating – better to have a handful of fabulous days than an abundance of average days – very sage advise.
Enjoy the gallery.
UPCOMING ON-THE-WATER WOODY EVENTS
Circle the calendar:
28 January – Mahurangi Regatta launch parade – more details closer to the day
25 February – Stillwater Picnic + Dockside Raft-Up – more details closer to the day
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