Naiad 361 – Sailing Sunday

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NAIAD 361 – Sailing Sunday

Today’s woody – Naiad,  resides in the Bay of Plenty and I know little about her , other than she was built by Lou Tercel, of Ranger fame. The question of the day would have to be – is she distended for a beehive restoration or will she be saved and sail again? Photos come to us from Jason Prew.

Input from Robin Elliott –

Naiad was built 1914 ‘1915 by Tercel Bros to a modified C.D. Mower/T. Fleming Day (Rudder Magazine) Sea Bird design and launched possibly late 1915. She was entered in the 1916 Regatta but recorded a DNS and appears to have done no racing until 1916/17 season.
From 1916 onwards she was a regular entrant with the Ponsonby and Victoria Cruising clubs.
She had many owners and had a lot of mods done to her over the years. She was converted to a yawl in 1949.
Last registered with YNZ in 1999.
There is a lot more info in the book Ranger by Sandra Gorter and Aroha Tercel.


Anyone Able To Help ID The Design /Build Of This Run-About 


I was sent the photos below by Matthew Farrant who is hoping that someone can ID the design/builder of his 20’ double diagonal stripped kauri run-about. Matthew believes it was built in the 1960’s and originally had a shaft drive but has been converted to stern drive. Engine is a 3 litre  Ford Essex. 

Name The Launch

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Name The Launch

Todays woody shouldn’t be too hard to name, from Lew Redwood’s fb we know that it was owned by Edward Bullmore and in the photo which is dated 1993, she is afloat on Lake Tarawera. And then there’s those rather distinctive ‘decorations’.

So woodys – boat name, builder, year ? The Drake brothers will be able to enlighten us I’m sure.

Ngahere L34

Have been contacted by Jonathan Edmeades whose grandfather – Graham Cole, owned Ngahere back in 1947/48. On a WW story, there is mention that she is now owned by Chris Harris, Jonathan would love to contact Chris and if possible, view the yacht. Could anyone that knows Chris email me his contact details  – Jason Prew? (thanks JP – passed on) waitematawoodys@gmail.com

And remember woodys – on Saturday May 1st we have the 100th birthday of the Lipton Cup. Details below

Moa Ra and Menai Update

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MOA RA

The above photos of the launch Moe Ra just popped up on Lew Redwood’s fb (via Te Papa > Christopher Bede).They are dated 1969, not sure if thats the build year of photo year, could be both.
The boat draw a total blank with me, so suspect its had a name change along the way. Can we learn more about her?

Harold Kidd Input – MOE RA was built by Alan Orams in Whangarei in 1966.according to APYMBA records when first owner Eric Lane registered her.


MENAI – Has a new owner 🙂 after many years of being almost a permanent structure at the Classic Yacht Association’s viaduct marina – yachty Bruce Tantrum has in his words “moved over to the dark side” and bought the classic launch – Menai. (Disclosure: not a Wooden Boat  Bureau sale) We look forward to seeing her out and about again on the Waitemata.

Speaking of the CYA marina (Heritage Landing) if you are a CYA member and have a well presented (NZ designed & built) classic launch and are looking for a marina, Put your name on the CYA waiting list (I’m told its a very short list e.g. no one on it) Added bonus I understand it costs less than $100 a month 😉

The Minerva

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The Minerva
Talking with woody – John Wright the other day and he mentioned that he spotted an old framed photo in the dump bin at the Te Atatu Boat Club, a quick bit of bin diving reduced the photo, which John sent me a copy of and asked for more intel on the vessel – The Minerva, the photo is captioned – ?.N. Jones Family 1986.The rear of the family has a lot of detail, but sadly very hard to read – it says she was built by Chas Bailey, most of the other detail is just too hard to read.
Well jackpot – Minerva featured extensively on WW back in March 2015 and we uncovered a lot about her provenance.Snapshot – built in 1910 as a Auckland harbour ferry, she had a very shallow draft for negotiating creeks and estuaries. Her original power was steam via a coal fired boiler, that fuelled two 14hp George Fraser & Son engines. Around 1922 she moved over to the Kaipara Harbour and worked there until the late 1940’s. Around this time she was converted to diesel power and remained a work boat until c.1945. Around then she came back over to the east coast and was rallied and rolled into 1964 when she dropped out of site. There was a reported sighting of her back in 2015 under a cover in Kerikeri.
Read / see more here https://waitematawoodys.com/2015/03/04/the-minerva/
Does anyone know her current status / condition?

Photo below dated July 2019 ex google + link to TVNZ story on the restoration project. Both ex K Ricketts

https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/countrys-oldest-ferry-set-restored-in-northland?fbclid=IwAR2PRIosZVyh7_7ye19Y-19GYO26jnT1DPaaj6ViNq8MzCjjggxEbVtDCKc

Sad Woody Day Across The Ditch

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Sad Woody Day Across The Ditch
Received a note from one of our Australian WW followers – Andrew Christie given me the heads up on the recent demise of – Nering, the 42’8” Percy Tripcony (Breakfast Creek Brisbane Australia) carvel hull cruiser built in 1950 – that went ashore on Double Island Point south of Fraser Island.

She was a very similar boat to the South Passage also from the same builder. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N2aFp8lLK24  She was of note in that she had a passage connecting the forecastle cabin to the trunk cabin under the bridge deck on the starboard side a layout used in a few Moreton Bay bridge deck cruisers of her period.

Nering had fallen on hard times recently and had sold twice in the past few years at rock bottom unloved wooden boat prices. Reports are she was on her way from Coffs Harbour in New South Wales to Maryborough for a restoration. Double Island Point is a stopping point for boats heading north across the Wide Bay bar. 

Social media chat reports that Nering was beached as she was taking on water and sinking. Her crew managed to safely get ashore and call the alarm. Always sad to see a woody come to an endlike this, but you have to question the decision to take her to sea, given her condition and again on-line chat says her bilge pump/s were worked overtime before she left the dock.

100th Birthday Party – Ngaio

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100th Birthday Party – Ngaio

At the weekend I attended a celebration to mark the 1921 Arch Logan built launch – Ngaio reaching the grand age of 100 years.

In the last decade Ngaio has been blessed with very good owners, starting with Ian and Lancia Kohler who commissioned the 2013 refurbishment of Ngaio and then passed ownership onto Jan Barraclough, the host of the birthday party. The launch is a stunner but you expect that from the Logan stable.


I was dockside admiring the finish on the hull and I was advised by an old boy that she had been splined and fibre-glassed (I had forgotten), obviously in his eyes not what you should do to a Logan. In the interests of not wasting any more time getting to the bar, I wasn’t going to let him know that 1/2 the Logan A-Division yacht fleet were glassed 😉


You can see/read more on Ngaio including the restoration that the WW links below.
https://waitematawoodys.com/2013/07/23/ngaio-2/
https://waitematawoodys.com/2013/12/11/ngaio-3/

Riwaka Waterfront Walkabout

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Riwaka Waterfront Walkabout


Following on from Sundays story on Matahorua the sailing cutter tied up at the Riwaka river / estuary , today we follow the camera of Tim and Pauline Evill as they explore the craft that call Riwaka their home ‘port’.

A fine collection of woodys, all appearing to be well loved – if you had the Riwaka agency for marine varnish , you wouldn’t remain in business for long 🙂

Enjoy the stroll

Matahorua

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MATAHORUA

Friends Pauline and Tim Evill managed to get a day away from the grape harvest at the Lawson Dry Hills vineyard and were mooching around their old home town of Mapua, Nelson.Tim never likes to be far from the sea so its not surprising he ended up down at the Riwaka river/estuary where there is always an impressive fleet of woodys berthed.

Today’s woody is an open cutter named Matahorua, which my suspicion of being an ex Outward Bound boat was confirmed with a quick google search – she is stretching the WW ethos a bit as she is made from ply and fiber-glassed but her salty looks get the tick. Would have to be a contender for the boat with the highest number of individuals that have sailed / rowed her 🙂

Mystery Launches at Orakei

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MYSTERY LAUNCHES AT ORAKEI – Prize To Be Won
Todays photo comes to us from the Auckland Libraries Kura – Heritage Collection via Nathan Herbert. We have 3 very smart looking woodys hauled up at Orakei for I suspect their winter maintenance.All quite distinctive looking so hopefully we can ID therm L > R.


During the week we had a prize on offer of a copy of Brian Peet’s book ‘Des Townson – A Sailing Legacy’, it was won by Albert Birnie . Albert advised that he was given a copy last Christmas so kindly asked that his prize be given to another woody – so Woodys, here we go – all entries that correctly ID the 3 launches (L>R), go into the draw for the book. Entries via email only to waitematawoodys@gmail.com. Entry closes 6pm 21-03-21

Delfino

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DELFINO
A few months ago while trying to follow some very vague instructions on where to find a woody berthed at Westhaven Marina I stumbled across Delfino. As Sargent Shultz used to say on Hogans Heros “I know nothing” – so can anyone tell us more about her – obviously crying out for some TLC 🙂


The stern escape door is an unusual feature.

Updates

Bill – The original name was Carla and built by John Lidgard early 70″s had a 180hp ford engine was in one of the Atlantic 100 Rallies I think won the launch section built from double diagonal kauri. The first owner I think was Charlie Gilberd

Nigel Armitage – John Lidgard design and built , I was an apprentice there at the time of construction. Built for Charley Gilbert in the early 1970’s

Harold Kidd – There is a discussion about CARLA in Sea Spray of September 1971, comparing her to VINDEX. C.G. Gilberd of Sarsfield St owned her new. She had a 180hp GM diesel. Took part in the 1978 Atlantic Power Boat Rally, came 7th overall and was the heaviest of 66 entries.

23-03-2021 Input from Alan Sexton – The article below was sent in by Alan, ex the July 1971 issue of NZ Boating World.PDF file here – might be easier to read

carlaDownload