Category Archives: Yachts

WHERE IS THE MOTOR-SAILER SOUTHERN BELLE TODAY

Posted on by
2

WHERE IS THE MOTOR-SAILER SOUTHERN BELLE TODAY

Todays woody story features the 35’ ketch rigged motorsailer- SOUTHERN BELLA, launched in 1960. She featured in the August 1961 edition of Sea Spray magazine.

In the top photo we see her preparing for launching at the Devonport Yacht Club. In the Sea Spray article , below, they described her as amateur designed and built by Barney and Peter Soljak (father & Son), alongside they Devonport home.

When launched she was powered by a 50hp BMC Commodore Diesel engine + a 4.5hp Lister auxiliary engine. 

(Story and photos ex Sea Spray magazine via Ken Ricketts)

Southern Belle and Raiona B.O.I. – date unknown

Back in 2019 in another story, DYC related, Chris Leech commented at SOUTHERN BELLE had suffered fire damage and been restored. Chris supplied to photos , the first hauled out at DYC and afloat post repairs. Can we learn more about what happened and what became of SOUTHERN BELLE after this.

CHRISTMAS 2025 – NEW YEAR 2026 CLASSIC WOODYS CRUISE 

Posted on by
1

CHRISTMAS 2025 – NEW YEAR 2026 CLASSIC WOODYS CRUISE 

I have talked previously about the weather that we all experienced at the start of the annual cruise, so I’ll skip that other than to quote Billy Connolly – “ There’s no such thing as bad weather, only the wrong clothes”.

Life on a small launch with a wife, dog and a paddle board can be challenging – normally takes us 2>3 days to get used to living in close proximity, but we have managed this for 18+ years. The bad weather days / nights that include having to take the pooch ashore for a pee in 40+ knots at 6am are quickly replaced with good food, good books and good booze 🙂 One of the positives of evil weather forecasts is low boat numbers, when things improved and we moved to Oneroa for a supply stop, the only other craft in the bay was a yacht and that was ‘washed up’ on the beach.

Today is a bit of a photo bomb from the 10 days  – anchorages visited, food, boats we saw, boats we nearly bumped into and general good times afloat. 

Hopefully the lucky ones are still out there enjoying the weather.

ps check out the woody champagne flute in the last photo – I have the bug bad 🙂

CLASSIC WOODEN BOATS ENJOYING SUMMER CRUISING

Posted on by
2
THETIS – HAURAKI GULF
GAY DAWN – HAURAKI GULF
ROA -HAURAKI GULF
WAIARI – HAURAKI GULF
AOTEAROA – HAURAKI GULF
JUANITE & MARINUS – Oneroa
ARETHUSA – BOI
KOROWAI – BOI
POSEIDON – BOI
KAIKOURA – BOI
SOUTH SEAS – BOI
RATBAG – BOI

CLASSIC WOODEN BOATS ENJOYING SUMMER CRUISING

Over the 2025/26 xmas / new year period a couple of woodys have been sending in photos of classic craft that they have seen out and about. Angus Rogers onboard the motor launch CENTAURUS has been mooching around the Coromandel / Bottom End of Waiheke Island and Murray Deeble on his Townson yacht MORGANA in the Bay of Islands. 

The evil weather we had around the 27th >31st keep a lot of boats in the marina and those out were not moving around much . Angus recorded winds of 68 knots in Te Kouma at anchor. 

Quite a few washed ashore and sales of SaltAway will be high this month with a lot of dinghies / outboards flipped over in the high winds. 

PHOTO BELOW FROM ABOARD CENTAURUS

CLASSIC WOOLLACOTT YACHT GETS A SECOND CHANCE

Posted on by
Reply

CLASSIC WOOLLACOTT YACHT GETS A SECOND CHANCE

In mid December we ran a story on the Woollacott yacht – JANACE ANNE and reached out for some help saving her from the land fill. Link to that story https://waitematawoodys.com/2025/12/21/classic-woollacott-yacht-jance-anne-needs-a-helping-hand/

Chris Leech sent in the update below – “Great progress has been made over the break on Janace Anne. Below the waterline is just about ready for anti foul, the topsides have been stripped back, and given two coats of primer. The cabin top has been water blasted and ready for attention. Down below is has been tidied up, but the current plan is to only get the engine running. We have had the offer of a complete running engine (Bukh 10) if required. The original was handled by Moon Engines.
Please visit woollacott.org.nz for more photos in info + some below.”

Janace Anne – Terry WilmerDownload
Janace Anne – Malcolm DickensDownload

— WAITING ON A WW T-SHIRT ? – A few orders over the break went into the spam file – so if you think Im rude and have not got back to you – sorry – can you re0send your email – thanks

CIRCLE THE CALENDAR

SUMMER CRUISING ONBOARD CLASSIC YACHT RANGER

Posted on by
2

SUMMER CRUISING ONBOARD CLASSIC YACHT RANGER

During a deep dive in the WW files I rediscovered an email received from Paul Garnham concerning the classic yacht RANGER. Refer below (edited)

“It was suggested to me that you might be able to assist me locate the current owner of Ranger.  I’m currently digitising my Grandfathers old photos slides from the 1960’s and 70’s and discovered a bunch of photos of Ranger and crew sailing in the Bay of Islands as best I can tell.  The owner of Ranger, Mr Tercel? features in a couple of them.  I wonder if the current owner of Ranger might be interested or even your website?

I assume it was my Grandfather, Charles Garnham, who took the photos, and I can also identify one of the crew as Mac Redmond, who is my father’s cousin”.

Now I’m hoping I did connect the two, but if not hopefully todays story will.

RANGER also made an appearance on the cover of the Dec/Jan 1961/62 issue of Sea Spray magazine (photo below via K Ricketts)

CLASSIC WOOLLACOTT YACHT JANICE ANNE NEEDS A HELPING HAND

Posted on by
2

HAULED OUT @ DYC

THE WORK BEGINS

CLASSIC WOOLLACOTT YACHT JANICE ANNE NEEDS A HELPING HAND

During the week WW was contacted by the Woollacott Association regarding the yacht – JANICE ANNE that had been recently gifted to the association.

The association have a simple objective – save her from the scrape heap. 

Some background – JANICE ANNE has been neglected for a few years and is in a need of antifouling and a bit of paint, along with some other work. 
The Woollacott Association has hauled her out at the Devonport Yacht Club for approx. two weeks, as you’ll see in the photos the first step was to scrap the weed off and give it a good water blast. Then its onto sanding ready for anti-fouling. Then if possible i.e. spare hands and time permitting, it would be great to get the topside’s sanded and painted at the same time, along with working through getting the motor running. 

So woodys I know its a crazy time of the year but if anyone has some spare time, any support and assistance would be most appreciated, or donations would be of great assistance to cover required materials and hauling/mooring fees. Bank Account Details: Account owner name: WOOLLACOTT ASSOCIATION Account Number: 02-0136-0030719-000

 If you can help out with labour – contact Chris Leech  dds@kcbbs.gen.nz

READ / VIEW MORE ABOUT THE WOOLLACOTT ASSOCIATION HERE https://woollacott.org.nz

LAKE ROTOITI CLASSIC & WOODEN BOAT 2026 CALENDAR

The perfect Santa stocking stuffer – great design and quality printing and only $15 To order a copy – click on this link https://form.jotform.com/253367514763867

ROMANCE JUNIOR – AUCKLAND’S FIRST IDLE ALONG CLASSIC YACHT

Posted on by
1

ROMANCE JUNIOR – AUCKLAND’S FIRST IDLE ALONG CLASSIC YACHT

During the week WW was contacted by Brian Peet regarding ROMANCE JUNIOR, the first Idle Along yacht to appear in Auckland. Brian commented that ‘Romance Junior’ was built by Sam Ford for Master Len Hodgkinson and was launched 3 April 1937. It was initially registered in the Y class as #18 and also carried the class name on its sail  – presumably for promotion purposes. By 1937 the class was already strong in Wellington.

The photographer that took the above photo was AW Powell, a professional photographer of Eden Terrace, Auckland.

Before his death, he passed the photo to his neighbour’s son who’s now passed it to Brian.

WORSER BAY BOATING CLUB – 100TH BIRTHDAY – 2026

Worser Bay Boating Club are celebrating their 100th Birth Day in 2026 and are looking for classic , old school sailing dinghies that were associated with Worser Bay in the early years, as static displays for the special weekend events  30 Jan 2026 to 1 Feb 2026.   As part of the celebrations the club is searching for a functioning ” Idle Along”  and a ”  Zeddie ” and other classic dinghies ( or even old launches used as pickup boats )  associated with Worser Bay for a rigged up static display.

There are lunches, dinners, book launching and club day sailing events for young and old and especially visitors and a classic boat club BBQ.

Our idea is that the sight of these old boats will trigger lots of stories and reminiscences. More Details Below 

  1. The events for the weekend registration. https://www.wbbc.org.nz/events/worser-bay-centenary-weekend
  2. Buy the book ” The Worser Way”.  100 years of dinghy racing at Worser Bay https://www.wbbc.org.nz/shop

HIGH PERFORMANCE AFFORDABLE CLASSIC SAILING 

Posted on by
Reply

HIGH PERFORMANCE AFFORDABLE CLASSIC SAILING 

Very rarely woodys will you see the above words together, but today they perfectly described the classic 29’ yacht – AOTEAROA.

Let me explain – Affordable # because the asking price is only $14,750 and that includes the trailer, which is probably worth more than the yacht #  no marina fees, keep at home or in low cost out-of-water storage

High Performance – # the Dragon classic yacht is a pure racing thoroughbred with the added bonus of drop dead good looks thanks to her sleek, graceful lines and its generous overhangs. # Her powerful rig delivers supreme on-the-water performance.

Classic Sailing – # built in 1967 AOTEAROA is registered with the NZ Classic Yacht fleet and regularly outperforms many larger classic keelers of a similar era, regardless of their size.

AOTEAROA IS COMPLETE AND READY TO BE SAILING THIS SUMMER HOLIDAYS – Treat yourself or the family this Christmas.  Whist it would be nice to see AOTEAROA back on the Waitemata Harbour she would be a very cool sight on Lake Taupo.

For a copy of the maintenance history, race results and inventory – contact Tim Hooson on 021 623 225 or via email thooson@outlook.co.nz

1930’S CLASSICS HAULED OUT AT JUDGES BAY 

Posted on by
3

1930’S CLASSICS HAULED OUT AT JUDGES BAY 

Todays photo pooped up on the time spanner fb and originated from the the Auckland heritage collection.

The caption reads – “Yachts on the shoreline at Judges Bay. Some of the known boats include: Royal Saxton, Royal Falcon, Lady Thelma and Kenya. The rigs have been removed so they could have got under Tamaki Drive to reach Judges Bay”. 1930’s NZ Herald image.

BOAT FIRE ON THE HAURAKI GULF – CAN WE ID THE VESSEL

News reports confirm a launch caught fire near Browns Island yesterday. Both crew on board we rescued.

Can anyone ID the vessel. It appears to be wooden.