Category Archives: Yachts

WHAT HAPPENED TO THE CLASSIC WOODEN YACHT – NAOMA

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c.1961

WHAT HAPPENED TO THE CLASSIC WOODEN YACHT – NAOMA

As covered off in Fridays WW story, Mike Prigg is looking to learn what became of his father , John Prigg, old classic craft. John owned two woody’s in the 1960’s. We featured the launch – TINA MARIA on Friday and were successfully able to ID her as the launch – OCEAN QUEEN.

Today its the turn of his yacht named NAOMA, that was sold in about 1961. NAOMA was kept in Westhaven during John’s ownership.

The name NAOMA does not appear in WW search records, so both Mike and WW are keen to uncover more on her.

Link here to the Friday TINA MARIA > OCEAN QUEEN story 

15-04-2025 INPUT ex Jason Prew – Jason reports in that the above yacht is most likely under wraps at the Milford Boating Club yard – see below.

CLASSIC YACHT – WHIRLWIND

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CLASSIC YACHT – WHIRLWIND

Todays woody is the 40’ blue water cruising yacht WHIRLWIND, designed by Holman & Pye and built c.1972 by Ted Ottway. Triple skin kauri.

WW was contacted by Deb George on behalf of her father who is looking to find a new custodian for the yacht. Deb’s dad has owned WHIRLWIND for 30 years and sadly the yacht is just too much for him at this stage of life.

Lots of positives about this craft including new engine. She appeared on the cover of the July 1985 issue of ‘Cruising Helmsman’.

Anyone looking for a very well priced 40’ yacht that provides two options – sail away and enjoy her as is or invest in some upgraded electronics and point her offshore’For details contact Deb George >.  debbgrg@gmail.com

NEIL COLEMAN’S CLASSIC POND YACHT 

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NEIL COLEMAN’S CLASSIC POND YACHT 

Inspired by the recent WW story on the 100 years old pond yacht – MARANUI, Neil Coleman made contact with WW in regard to the yacht his father, Bill Coleman, owned and sailed.

Neil commented that he understands the model was built by his father’s uncle – George Dacre, ,who was a boatbuilder for Baileys Yacht Builders in Devonport / Northcote, possibly around the 1930s. . 
The original sails were long lost, but Neil has restored the model to what he thinks it may have originally looked like . 
The sail reg # B57  is in homage to Neil’s  Dad i.e.  B for Bill Coleman, and 57 was the reg # of Bill’s first yacht – a Zeddie called WILD ROSE.     

Neil spent many hours sanding and painting this exquisite hull, and decks along with the pen lined boards .The rig is based on an existing Auckland B class keeler called NGATIRA B2 (owned by Steve Horsley and recently relaunched after a 5 year rebuild – refer below photo ex Rogers Miles fb)

NGATIRA B2

BAILEY & LOWE SCHOONER – ENDEAVOUR

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BAILEY & LOWE SCHOONER – ENDEAVOUR

During the week Owen Aspden sent in the above phot of the 1904 schooner – ENDEAVOUR.

Owen commented that she was once a familiar sight around the New Zealand coast. Bought by the Aspden Shipping Co. in the 1930s then sold to the NZ Navy for service on the NZ coast in 1943 and bought back again by the Aspden Shipping Co. after the end of the war.

In April 1940 enroute from Auckland to Portland at night she encountered a small yacht upside down 3 miles off Tiritiri Island. The yacht was hoisted onboard and later by phone from Portland to Auckland it was established that three young Naval Reservists had been on the yacht and had drowned. 

Again in June 1940 at the time of the Niagara sinking she was leaving Portland for Auckland with a load of cement when the call came through that the Niagara had sunk off Whangarei Heads. She proceeded to the site but there was only oil to be seen on the surface.  

In in her later life it was used on Stewart Island to service salmon farms and from there sailed across the Pacific as a floating circus, unconfirmed. Do we know what became of ENDEAVOUR.

When your morning dog walk looks like this

You do this 🙂 

We are enjoying a stunning late summer in Auckland, made even better by the arrival of hot cross buns from Beabaes Bakery in Westmere, voted best in Auckland. But you better get there early Dave Giddens (ALLERGY) lives down the road and is a ‘seasoned’ regular 🙂

INPUT ex DENIS O’CALLAHAN – The round bottom coastal trading vessels, like the ones built by Meikeljon at Omaha, were always called schooners, irrespective of the rig.

MARANUI – CLASSIC 100 YEAR OLD POND YACHT

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MARANUI – CLASSIC 100 YEAR OLD POND YACHT

Its no secret that I have a soft spot for classic pond yachts (a couple below) so when Chris Brummel contacted me regarding the pond yacht – MARANUI he had a captive audience.

MARANUI was built by Chris’s late father, Roy  when he was a boy, In the late 1920’s early 1930’s.Roy lived on Shelley Beach Rd, Herne Bay, Auckland and would walk down to Shelly beach  to sail MARANUI. This was in the days before Westhaven Marina was built.
MARANUI is made from horizontal layers of kauri, carved out, rib and then riveted. She is gaff rigged with a topsail, Chris still have the original linen sails, that his grandmother mother made for the boat.

She was open decked and still has the carry handle inside screwed to the lead keel.
The last two photos are of the inside looking forward and aft. Chris commented that he started restoring her when he started his boatbuilding apprenticeship in the 1970,s, but only built in her current configuration is Chris’s interpretation back then of what she might look like. Now semi retired, Chris would like to put her back to what she should look like.

So woodys the question of the day is  – would anyone be able to help Chris discover the origins of MARANUI. 

The obvious questions are • was she built from an existing design of the time or not •  does anyone have any info that might help in restoring her correctly.

From my experience the more original , unrestored a model is the greater the monitory value – but with MARANUI its all about the family connection. 

CLASSIC WOODEN MOTORSAILER – ASTROLINDA

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CLASSIC WOODEN MOTORSAILER – ASTROLINDA

WW was recently contacted by Matthew Montgomery regarding his 34’6” motor-sailer – ASTROLINDA, and whether she passed the classic woody test – short answer yes.

ASTROLINDA is an Athol Burns design, built for charter at the Morgan yard in Picton in 1966. Matthew has owned her for approx. 8 years.
Matthew commented that he doesn’t know if ASTROLINDA has been north of Wellington, but there are charts of Otago on board , so maybe she’s been south.  Matthew bought her ex Nelson, at the time her exterior was in reasonable condition but a worn interior and an engine bay that was a nasty rusty mess and engine not working.

Current home is Waikawa marina, but there are plans to get to Northland and Auckland later in the year.

Matthew has good woody credentials being a past owner of PIKO in the 1970’s in Auckland , KORAMA in the 1990’s (brought to Picton). He was also a broker at Vinings in Picton and sold THETIS to Paul Harris in the late 1990’s, who asked if Matthew would use her to keep her functioning while he was away flying airplanes for Royal Brunei, before relocating her to Auckland with  Paul.

INPUT ex MARK MCLAUGHLIN – Below is a design article by Athol Burns from Sea Spray for Astrolinda. She was built to the alternative configuration by Jack Morgan:

INPUT ex JOHN GANDER (via Dean Wright) – ASTROLINDA was designed as stated by Athol Burns for Trevor Johnson of Wellington. Built by Jack Morgan and launched as MANUTAI in 1966.

In about 1970 she was purchased by Bill Rutherford and Jack McMath who petitioned parliament for a law change regarding surveyed vessels to enable them to hire her as a sail yourself charter vessel, the first vessel to do so in New Zealand. Her survey certificate was for 15 passengers but reduced to 6 when hired to an uncertificated master.

Wife Bev and I together with Frank Derbyshire,  purchased her in 1973 and along with the yacht ASTROLABE ran our business as ‘Charter Yachts Ltd.’ 

When launched ASTROLINDA was fitted with a Coventry Godiva 4 cylinder 30 hp engine, we changed the engine for a Volvo Penta in about 1975.

There are many boat owners around who’s first boating experience was on ASTROLINDA or ASTROLABE.

CLASSIC IAN OUGHTRED WOODEN CLINKER DINGHY NEEDS A NEW HOME

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CLASSIC IAN OUGHTRED WOODEN CLINKER DINGHY NEEDS A NEW HOME

WW doesn’t normally do stories like this but the owner of this stunning clinker dinghy is a good friend and a long time passionate classic wooden boat owner. So here goes, in the owner words. 

“It’s an Auklet designed by Iain Oughtred (was one of the worlds leading small boat designers, now deceased).  7ft2in long. It was built in the South Island I think in Nelson. There is a builders plate, that says Walker boatbuilder. There is a boatbuilder Richard Walker at Brightwater just out of Nelson who has done some beautiful restoration work on Elray (see https://boatingnz.co.nz/2018/05/restoring-elray-iii/). I don’t know when it was built.  I bought it from a bloke in Blenheim who had too many boats and had to make room at home.  It had hardly been used.  I revarnished it with Altex Timbercoat. I’ve had it under cover for 3 or 4 years and used it for a sail when the urge took me and also for grandchildren.

Comes complete with all sailing gear, oars and US alloy beach tailer that comes apart for stowing.  Also the custom cradles for onboard deck mounting.

Selling as I’m getting older so with some regret I’m selling this bit of furniture”.

So woodys what ever the reason – embellishing your existing classic wooden vessel / rewarding the grand children or just treating yourself – this is the best opportunity to own what is probably NZ’s finest spirit of tradition clinker dinghy – and the price is a steal at $5,500

I dont like publishing personal contact details so if interested drop WW an email at waitematawoodys@gmail.com and I’ll join the dots.

CLASSIC EX WORKBOAT – WAIRANGI – Then and Now

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CLASSIC EX WORKBOAT – WAIRANGI – Then and Now

The 1933 Miller & Tunnsge built ex workboat – WAIRANGI has made several appearances on WW, links below.

Now franks to a social media story by Rakiura Herzhoff we get to see her in her early configuration. We also learnt that when launched she had twin masts and was powered by a Thornycroft engine.This was replaced c.1948/9 with a Gardner 6L3, which she may still have.

WW October 2014 https://waitematawoodys.com/2014/10/01/1934-millar-tunnage/

WW March 2016 https://waitematawoodys.com/2016/03/05/wairangi-3/

WW April 2017 https://waitematawoodys.com/2017/04/18/wairangi-4/

PICTON AND CLASSIC BOAT CLUB 

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PICTON AND CLASSIC BOAT CLUB 

One of the highlights each month is getting a copy of ‘DEADWOOD’ the newsletter the Picton Clinker & Classic Boat Club, in my email inbox. Its edited / pulled together by Roysie, sorry I do not know the surname. Each issue is a reminder to me that classic wooden boating isn’t all about launch and yachts kept on marinas. There is as much or probably more fun messing around in small clinker craft. 
In the latest issue Roysie reports on the clubs recent ‘Ngakuta Run’ on Saturday 15th. February .  I’ll let Roysie tell the story – 

“The day dawned fine & clear with light winds and nine boats arrived at the Ngakuta ramp including Ruru recently repaired by Dick. Unfortunately she stopped again on the trip and had to accept a tow from Riff Raff, Roy’s new boat, but came right and finished the run under her own steam.

It was a good turnout with 17 members on the water in 9 boats. The fleet motored from Ngakuta across the Sound to Umugnata Bay and along the northern shore to Bottle Bay, Houhou Point then back across to Iwirua Point and westward in and out of the bays back to Ngakuta.

The boats were retrieved and the barbecue set up in the shade of an oak tree. The weather was glorious and the setting perfect, we needed that shade from the sun which we’ve not really seen enough of this summer. Several club members arrived for the sausage sizzle and a very pleasant social occasion was enjoyed by all. “

CLASSIC SPIRIT OF TRADITION YACHT – ZACA 4sale

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CLASSIC SPIRIT OF TRADITION YACHT – ZACA

Todays woody – ZACA was built by the legendary Cal Crooks as his own boat. Launched in 1986 she is cold moulded 3 skin kauri.

It has been commented that her lines take cues from Herreshoff but below the water she is fin keel with a spade rudder. So woodys you have the classic look with agility and pace. Her approx. specs are 42’6″ LOL and 39’44″ on deck. ZACA has been graced with good owners who undertaken both annual maintenance and system upgrades – A new Yammer 40hp was installed in 2020 + new exhaust system, new shaft, new 3 blade feathering prop. You will see from photos that numerous other enhancements have been commissioned.
Her interior fit out is very special and matches her classic looks.

Video link for sailing footage https://youtu.be/3JjhERxZVtk?si=eE6RDPCEVqV1GsjT

Interested parties should initially contact Paul at villas@araroa.nz for more details .