Category Archives: Yachts

Tebor- Sailing Sunday

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TEBOR – Sailing Sunday
photos & questions ex Russell Ward

A little while ago on ww we posted up the motor-sailer Korara which generated a huge amount of interest, comments even from the Channel Islands.
Russell mentioned on ww at the time that John Gladden built a Francis Jones? Sole Bay design in the early 1970s. The photos above of the vessel Tebor hauled out at Westhaven could be the Gladden built vessel. Can anyone confirm this & supply more info on her & the origin of the name – Tebor.

She has a near sister-ship at Bayswater, Tara-Nui (photo below). Tara-Nui is owned by a friend of mine, Richard Poor, & has been the recipient of my fine sanding / Uroxsys skills.  Unfortunately Tara-Nui is now lacking the original varnish on the wheelhouse. Richard is not a big fan of the cold, so is currently basking in the sun in New Caledonia aboard Tara-Nui.

A Little Classic Yacht Sailing Eye Candy

Seeing its Sunday I have also posted below a little treat – click the link to view the ‘Classic TV’ feature on the recently restored 1915 Herreshoff 48′ NY Class – Chinook’. The brief film gives you a chance to experience a race aboard during the Panerai Classic Yacht Challenge in Cannes.

http://www.classicyacht.tv/journal/2015/6/5/racing-with-the-competition

Tairaroa / Tairoa

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TAIRAROA / TAIROA
details from Russell Ward- photos RW & NZ Herald (screen grabs)

Russell reports that sadly Fridays big blow in Wellington put his old cutter, the Athol Burns Tairaroa onto the rocks. From the NZ Herald news footage you can see that she has nibbled through her mooring pendant. Russell’s Maroro chomped through hers at Devonport and ended up going walkabouts for the previous owner. she was a third of the way through her new one when Russell saved her. He has put a chain on Maroro’s Mahurangi mooring in case it became a habit- gets windy out there.

View NZ Herald footage here   http://www.nzherald.co.nz/national/news/video.cfm?c_id=1503075&gal_cid=1503075&gallery_id=151530

Can any one post an update in the comments section as to whether they were able to crane her off?

Russell’s comments on owning Tairaraoa

I bought her in a rather decrepit condition 25 years ago. She had not long gone walkabouts from her Okahu Bay mooring and ended up on the bund rocks at Tamaki Drive. Happily she was floated off and served as a mussel and kelp farm for a long time until I read the riot act to her owner. He responded by offering her to me as is where is.
I put a diver down and he verified that there were deep gouges and as far as he could see, she was in reasonable nick.
I got him to clean off as much as he could –including three bags of mussels for which he thanked me warmly.
Buck Rodgers and I towed her to Bayswater –where there was a welcoming slipway.
Merv Sefonte put in a lot of dutchmen and graving pieces, repaired the edges of several planks so there could be recaulked and she was a lovely member of the Ward family until I bought Gloaming.
She was an amazing yacht. Buck reckoned she’d be a rocking horse with her hull shape but no so, she’d just put her shoulder down and rip into it. She’d keep her weigh in a slight breeze because of her weight. We could sneak up on and overtake much bigger boats to their horror. The cutter rig made her very easy to sail on and off the mooring –yes Alan I had a swing mooring there in those days. The engine was an Arona single and had to be started on a pull cord -it was kind of hard in a confined space to manipulate the decompressor and pull. Easier to sail everywhere.
No electrics –a real boat.
I took her out in a snorter of an Easterly gale to see what she could do. Got her on her beam ends several times and she never developed any nasty helm traits. Could have/should have taken a few rolls down but she was a real Cook Straiter with a very heavy rig and I wanted to try her out.

21-06-2015 An Update from Russell Ward

Thanks be to Ward Minor (Caroline) for these pix. High tide at 8.30 am 9 pm. The pix below were taken 1500 Saturday amid feverish activity to get patches in place.
She has been floated off. Russell’s spy will take more photos later in the week. Russell’s guess she is at Evans Bay haul out.
Cranes????!!!! This is a proper ship and a proper salvage job! She is well repairable by the looks. Those planks are thick!
BTW the name can be taken to mean “spending ones time in a pleasant way” but Russell will leave it to HDK for the definitive translation.

22-06-2015 – Russell Ward Update

To quote Russell “Solid planking pays off eh what? Taiaroa lives!”

13-10-2018 UPDATE – She is being restored.

Her new owner Otto Schutte has advised that the name of the boat in the photos above is actually Tairoa not Tairaroa. Otto found this carved into the transom while stripping the paint off. All the planks and corking have been done on the hull below the water line But still a work in progress – photos below.

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13-10-2018 Input from Robin Elliott

Tairoa was registered in Auckland in 1965 as E-194 as designed by Athol Burns and built by her owner Mr. A. Bland. Her launch date is unknown. She was still registered to him as late as 1978.
Other Owners: R. Shipman (Mt Roskill) 1987?/93+?; S. Hall (Waiouru) 1999+?

Dimensions 25’10in x 20’10in x 8’10in x 4’6in; 240sqft sail; ballast 300lb inside, 2ton outside. She was allocated NZYF number 594 in 1969.

Mansion House Bay On A Bad Day

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Mansion House Bay On A Bad Day
photo ex Juliana Cooke (nee Turnwald)

Not sure of the date on the above photos but the presence of all the plastic fizz boats & the navy vessels in Mansion House Bay, Kawau Island, must make dating the photo easier.
If you look at the top photo & out into the bay, it must have been the start of ‘the end’ 🙂 i.e. the arrival of plastic fizz boats & plywood Vindexs .There is a cluster of classics in the right hand corner.
In the 2nd photo, who can ID the launch at the wharf – given the origin of the photos, the Turnwald family, I would suspect its ‘Robyn Gae’ but it does not look right to my eye.

Sylvia – Sailing Sunday

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SYLVIA
photo & details ex Juliana Cooke (nee Turnwald)

Sylvia the mullet boat (L33) pictured above on the Waitemata harbour, c.1950/51, was owned by John Turnwald, John & Juliana would be interested to hear if anyone knows what became of her.

Input from Harold Kidd
SYLVIA was built by Harvey & Lang in November 1912 for Horace Parker and W Shraffe. She spent many years on the Manukau in the 20s. John Turnwald owned her with Sumich 1945-51 at least. She was being restored in Kawhia in 1989 and was in Raglan in 1992. I suspect that her bones may still be in that area.
Input from Robin Elliott
Not sure where she went after the Turnwalds owned her. I have them owning her from around 1946 to 1954 at least. After 1954, no mention of her at all until she crops up in the Taranaki area and is offered for sale in Sea Spray October 1964 by K. Risch of Waitara.
I also have a note taken from one of the Panmure Boating Club committee records around 1946 that she had a stove fire alongside Panmure Wharf while burning off, and 3 children were killed.
Papers Past haven’t got up to 1946 yet so I can’t provide any more details.
In the 1945/46 lists she is ‘unregistered’ but appears under J.B. Turnwald’s name in the 1946/47 AYMBA registration book.
Also…… I suspect that photograph may be older than the 1950’s. I’m not sure who the sail maker was but that style of applying the registration numbers on a piece of cloth that was sewn onto the mainsail was quite common on photographs I have seen from the 1920’s to early 1930’s. Separately applied letters and numbers were, I guess, a bit more expensive but were pretty much the norm from the 1930’s onwards.
Either that or its a very old mainsail.

Update 15-06-2015 ex Barry Davis
The  photo below was taken 2012 in the Henderson Creek off Te Atatu. She was still on this mooring at least 12 months later.

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Photo below ex Nathan Herbert – same Sylvia?

RAWHITI IS SOLD

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Rawhiti – NZ’s #1 Classic Yacht Has A New Owner

It is with a mix of happiness & sadness that I can announcement that Rawhiti has been sold. She could not be going to a better home –  the owner/s are outstanding people at the forefront of the classic wooden boat movement & she will be joining the CYA racing fleet.

I would be amiss to not mention the part Greg Lee played in restoring Rawhiti, boats like her only come along once in a lifetime, blokes like Greg are even rarer, the name Greg Lee is now permanently etched into her provenance.

 

Cora

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CORA

photos & details ex Bob Van Pierce

Following on from yesterdays post on the Logan motor-sailer ‘Eva’ which was pictured tied up at the wharf at Moturekareke Island & had the Logan mullety ‘Cora’ alongside, I have been sent a selection of stunning photos of Cora at the island in 2010 & under sail. Bob has owned her for 23 years (since 1992) & purchased her from a close family friend of Ivan Anderson, who inherited her from Charlie Hansen in 1944. Charlie being the resident ‘hermit’ on the island that unsuccessfully shuttled ‘Rewa’ as a seawall. Bob has done a wonderful job returning Cora to a look more fitting a 100+ year old lady. Harold Kidd told Bob that Cora was one of the few mullettys that flew topsails. Also included is one of Cora sailing along with SY Nina, that sadly went missing in the Tasman with the loss of all crew on board. This photo was taken during the Russell Tall Ships and Classic race.

Eva

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EVA
photo & details ex Baden Pascoe

Following along from last Sundays post, the photo above shows the 1904 Logan built Eva paying a visit to Charlie Hansen in 1936 on Moturekareka Island, the wrecked hull of Rewa can be viewed in the background.  Robert Patterson is standing at the end of the wharf and his crew Keith Penny in the white pants standing on the sailing vessel. On their return trip from Auckland they delivered supplies to Hansen and he gave them the wheel and other items off the Rewa. Baden understands it is now/was in the Onerahi Cruising club.
Eva was steamed to Auckland as Robert had installed a new K3 Kelvin diesel of 66hp. The agents were Vivian and Leo Walsh who had their business above Fosters in the AET building (Fosters). The brothers insisted that they inspect the installation so the warranty would be honoured.
Shame the government did not back them when they requested funding so they could set up an aircraft manufacturing business. The Government thought they were just silly young men mucking around with a vision that had absolutely no future 😉

Todays ww task is – what happened to Eva & anyone able to ID the yacht alongside?

Update below from ww follower ‘Ben’ ex last Sundays Rewa post

“I’ve been told by the owner of the 28ft Mullety (Logan Circa 1910) Cora, that she was once owned by the owner of the Island Moturekareka at the time of the scuttling, and that the principal reason for the ‘seawall’ was to provide him with an anchorage for Cora.
Cora’s now in the Bay of Islands, in good shape with a close-to-original gaff rig on her.
Whether this is her in the photos, I’m not entirely sure, but when the present owner bought her, she had a similar profile to the vessel in your photo.”

11/06/2015 Photo ex Geoff Brebner

Rewa – the wreck. Sailing Sunday

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REWA – the wreck photos ex Robert Brooke The 3 photos above  of Rewa at Moturekareka Island are from the Jack Brooke photo collection, sent in by son,Robert.Taken not long after she was beached. Anyone able to ID the motor launch in the photos ? a little trick – if you click on the photo & them click on ‘view full size’, then move the magnifying glass icon over the photo & click again (once only) you will get a really good look 😉 To read more about the island & the wreck click this link https://petertasker.com/2011/places/hauraki-gulf/moturekareka-island-hauraki-gulf-new-zealand Click the video link below to view the wreck today

Photo below of the AHB tug Te Awhina positioning Rewa at her grave site. Not well positioned as it turned out 😉 The photo was sent in by Russell Ward who received it from the late Bruce Fletcher & was taken by his father.

Photo below taken by Ken Ricketts in the 1950’s

REWA WRECK AT HANSONS ISLAND CIRCA 1950'S

Ngarunui

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NGARUNUI
photo ex Dean Wright

The photo of the above motor-sailer (or maybe its more a launch with a steadying sail) was sent to me by Bay of Islands based professional photographer Dean Wright so I’m assuming the location is ‘North’.

Can anyone ID the vessel & supply more info on her?

Details from Robin Elliott

Its Ngarunui. To my mind she is the best looking boat in the Bay. Could do with a more sympathetic colour scheme, the lolly blue doesn’t appeal to me,  but that’s just being picky.

Jim Young built about 1955, so I assume a Young design as well. Registered with the AYMBA by J.A.K. Spicer and C.R. Pollard in 1957 with dims of 48ft x 46ft x 11ft 8 in x 4ft 3 in and a 165hp diesel of undeclared make.

She was based in Whangarei when I moved up here around 2006 but has lately been moored in Te Uenga Bay (Parekura Bay). Haven’t seen her out much recently but we did sight her a couple of times over the summer.

Harold Kidd Update

According to Lloyds Yacht Register she was designed and built by J.H. Young in 1955 for J.A.K. Spicer and C.R. (Russ) Pollard. She is 48’x46’x11’8″x4’3″ and was originally powered with twin GM 165hp diesels of 1942 vintage (obviously ex-USN) + an 11hp Coventry Cub. Beautiful craft!

25-01-2016 Update

As ID’ed by Russell Ward (3 June 2015) Ngarunui has 2 prop shafts, one above the other. See Ken Ricketts photos below.

NGARUNUI 2 prop 4

27-01-2016 Update

Stewart Lodge (current owner) reports that Ngarunui had a single 165 6-71, and this was replaced with a 210hp version of the same. Always had the aux engine mounted behind the main with shaft above. The current engine is a Doosan (Korean) commercially rated engine at 200hp, solid mounted.

Ethel

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ETHEL
Info below ex Capt. Tom Leary    B.V.A. (Syd.)  C.L.M.  N.Z.W.G. – sent in by Judith Gardiner (+ b/w photos). Colour photos ex Alan H
Designed and built by the Logan Brothers at their Devonport shipyards in 1896 (Nov 16th) for H. Dawson the owner of Greater Mercury Island. She was 60′ LOA, 11’8″ beam & 5’8 draft. Triple skin kauri & copper roved. Ethel was built as a family cruiser/ racer with slightly more beam than those of her contemporaries. Ethel spent her early years cruising and racing mainly around Auckland but also in Wellington.

Around 1918 Ethel was taken along with other larger vessels into the snapper fleet and given the sail # 33. After the war years she moved to Waitara on New Zealand’s West coast where she remained for fifty years long lining for snapper, it was during this time she had an engine fitted. Whilst in Waitara where she had her own wharf, she was called by the locals ‘The Queen of Waitara.’

About 1970 she returned to Auckland and continued to fish out of Westhaven.

In approx. 1975 she was purchased by John Smith from Thames who did extensive restoration work including new decks new cabin, new interior work and restored her original yawl rig as the mizzen mast had been removed for fishing.

In 1999 I purchased Ethel from John and again an extensive refit began.

Half of her port side was replaced due to dry rot. New fuel tanks, a recond. engine was fitted, new electronics/ wiring including smart charging systems, electronic toilet  and fridge installed she was completely recaulked including scarfing in slithers to her garboard plank. All this work was done under the guidance of Nortel surveyors. 2003 saw more work done during a winter refit her coach roof was glassed over, her main mast and gaff had another two meters added to them to take her back to her original rig. Her cockpit area was increased with self drainage this was done to take six to eight people comfortably. Wheel steering was added and her decks were recaulked with sika. A yard was added and new sails cut to fit. All Ethel’s standing rig is new galv. most of Ethel’s running rig is also new. Ethel is a very well appointed and maintained classic and has been chartering successfully for the past three years.

The Auckland museum has many early photographs of Ethel, as with today, she is a much admired and photographed yacht.

Alan H – Ethel is now owned by Keith Munro & has again undergone an extensive refit & you will see from the photos below is looking rather smart.

Info ex Judith Gardiner on Ethel’s first owner – Herbert Dawson, who was Judith’s great grand uncle through her mothers line.

Herbert Dawson was born 19 April 1859 In Leeds Yorkshire. He married Jane Eleanor Darrell  on 29 December 1886 in Hutton Buscel East Yorkshire & they had two children –
Ethel Fanny Dawson
Born: 14.11.1887 – Lebberston, Filey, Scarborough

Eleanor Sybil Dawson
Born: 03.05.1889 – Falsgrave, Scarborough

Herbert, Jane, Ethel and Eleanor (known as Sybil)  emigrated to New Zealand and landed at Port Chalmers.  They had sailed on the ship Tainui which had left London on 12 May 1892. Herbert purchased Great Mercury on 02.10.1893. Herbert sold Great Mercury Island on 26.02.1912 to John Kemp of Epsom and Frederick William Kemp of Tauranga.

Herbert contracted Logan Brothers of Devonport shipyards to build a ‘boat’ to accommodate his need to transport to and from Great Mercury Island.  It was launched on 16 November 1896.  It was probably sold within the year that Herbert left Great Mercury Island.

Judith would very much like to know who owned it after Tom Leary any other information would be appreciated.

Herbert & Jane Dawson

Herbert Dawson Jane Eleanor Darrell