Whangarei Town Basin 1943

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Whangarei Town Basin 1943


Todays photo, ex the Navy Museum, is captioned  ‘ Outer Patrol Launches Whangarei c.1943’. We have an interesting mix of vessels tied up.
The two on the right should be easy to ID – being Q Class patrol vessels i.e. motor launches built in the 1930s and used by the NZ Navy during WW2. John Clarke has supplied ex this site, a listing – Amakura Q04, Lady Gay Q00, Lady Margaret Q08, Lady Shirley Q11 later Q12, Maristella Q02, Movarie Q05 , Rawea Q06, Shenandoah Q03, Te Rauparaha Q07, Wirihana Q01. All navy inner and outer patrol vessels. John commented that if the WW list is correct, the vessels moored at the head of the line in the photo would be Maristella (Q02) and Lady Shirley (Q12). Maristella was a 40 footer, built by Sam Ford in December 1936 for Mr R.W. Wills of Epsom and fitted with a 50hp Ailsa Craig diesel. During WW2 RNZN patrol service she was fitted with a Gray for spares rationalization purposes. Lady Shirley was a 36 footer, built for Mr C Sinel of Auckland by C Bailey & Son in 1938. Both are still afloat and well-loved launches, search their names in the WW search panel for more photos / info.
 
Are we able to ID the launches astern of the Q Class boats?
 
I was contacted last week by Whangarei boatbuilder, Mike Hughes with a heads up that the little Harrison Butler ‘Omicron’ (below) was back in Mike’s workshop for a little regular maintenance.

She is a rather pretty looking yacht – but she should be given she was built by Percy Voss in 1945.
Omicron is kept at Parua Bay, Whangarei.
 
annual maintenance

Marguerite + Patio Bay Party

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MARGUERITE
Earlier this year woody Nathan Herbert was mooching around Whitianga and spotted the 1920 Collings & Bell built launch – Marguerite, hauled out getting some serious TLC.
As you can see from the b/w photo, also ex Nathan, she has always been a very pretty woody. Association
Read / see more of Marguerite at the link below

WHY SHOULD YOU JOIN THE NZ CLASSIC YACHT ASSOCIATION………..

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…….the answer is simple – so you can attend the best classic woody boating party of the year.
The CYA Patio Bay BBQ / Xmas Party is the jewel in the crown on the CYA calendar and its happening next weekend – November 30th > Dec 1st. at the bottom end of Waiheke Island. Check out the montage below from previous years.
More details here https://classicyacht.org.nz.  The bun fight ashore kicks off around 4pm, but woodys – get to the bay early to secure a good anchoring spot in close 😉 then watch the stick and rag boys finish their race.
I could be in a festive mood – so there might be some WW merchandise up for grabs.

Silens

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SILENS
Another woody making the trip to Clevedon was the 1912 Harvey and Lang built launch – Silens, owned by Rosanne and Brian Fulton. Pictured above on the outside of Trinidad.
As fate would have it, she popped up yesterday on Derek Hislop’s fb page (b/w photos above).
There are four great photos at the WW link below showing the evolution of Silens.
A Call For Help
Recently Errol Keegan’s vehicle was stolen and in the boot was his 34′ Carl Augustin Bonito – rudder and sleeve ( shaft housing and admiralty gland ). Errol is wondering if any woodys would have a second hand one or plans, so he can have a replacement made?

Matira – A Peek Down Below

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MATIRA – A Peek Down Below
 
At last weekends Woody Classics Weekend cruise to Clevedon I had a peek aboard Matira. I first spoke to owner Barrie Abel back in 2017 when he was looking for a classic sympathetic insurer to insure his recent purchase. I pointed him in the direction of David Cooke, who helped Barrie out. At the time the vessel was ’sitting’ on Barries front lawn while he addressed some mechanical issues.
I mentioned to Barrie that Matira was a bit of a mystery boat to me, my only exposure to her was seeing moored in the creek off the Te Atatu Boating Club. She was to my eye an unusual mix of styles.
Her builder and launch date are a little unclear – there is talk that she is a Lanes c.1912, but Harold Kidd has previously commented on WW that this is possible except that “Lanes” is usually just a default for ‘old boat’. HDK also commented that he thought she could be a bit earlier than 1912 by when there tended to be a built-up foredeck and a break in the sheer aft of that. She was certainly not built as MATIRA. Probably a well-known early launch whose provenance has been lost / blurred by one or more name-changes.
 
Fast forward to September (this year) and Barrie made the long haul from Clevedon to attend the inaugural Woody Classics Weekend event at the Riverhead Hotel, an impressive undertaking considering the weather on the day. During the lunch ashore, a group of us chatted about wanting to do the Wairoa River trip to Clevedon, as a member of the Clevedon Cruising Club, Barrie volunteered to be our liaison person – the rest is history, scroll down to Mondays WW story for the full trip report.
 
While tied up together at the CCC wharf, with Barries permission I popped aboard Matira with the camera, photos above. I have to say I was very impressed with the fit out done by Matira’s previous owner (ex Lidgards boatbuilder) Dan Kamphuis. Dan purchased the boat in c.1997 and as you can see in the photos below, totally rebuilt the boat. She was relaunched in 2004. 
 
Everyone walking the dock over the weekend loved her, including my wife and she has high standards – well she married me after all 🙂
 
You can see / read more here
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Riverhead – Sept 2019

Movarie

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MOVARIE
In the photos above we see Movarie in the 1953 welcome fleet for SS Gothic. To her left in the 2nd photo are two other launches, the closest I would pick to be Nor’West the Lane  (Panmure) built c.1948>50. You can see/read more on Movarie here https://waitematawoodys.com/2013/05/12/movarie/
 
The one on the hard left, is a mystery me – anyone able to ID her?
 
We do not score many wins in the game of ’spot the block of flats’ game but Kerin Owen deserves recognition – last week I received an email from Kerin and the subject line read “No Chainsaw Was Used”, opening it up I found  before and after photos of Kerin’s Jorgenson built launch  – Sharnda Leigh, they were taken during a recent haul out at Manganui. Now with a 1988 build date, she almost fits into the ’ spirit of tradion’ category, helped along by being triple skin diagonal planked. She is powered by a 135hp Ford Dover. 
Well woodys – all I’ll say is – what a difference a haircut makes 🙂
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Woody Classics Weekend BBQ Cruise to Clevedon Cruising Club – 60+ photos

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Liberty

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Impressive Haul Out Area

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Heading Home

Woody Classics Weekend BBQ Cruise to Clevedon Cruising Club – 60+ photos

Morning woodys, as you will see from the above photo gallery the weekend woodys cruise up the Wairau River to the Clevedon Cruising Club was a great trip – had the 3 F’s that always make for good times – Fun, Friendship & Fraternity.
To hit the right tide window it was a very early start for most i.e. 6am at the marina – the smart ones, left Friday night.
We assembled at the river mouth around 9.30am and were met / piloted up the river by Barrie Abel, and woodys I have to say – just as well Barrie volunteered, because if you believed Navionics at times we were traveling over dry land, when in fact we had 3m of water under us. So a big thank you Barrie. Barry owns the 1912 woody – Matira, I will do a WW story on her on Wednesday.
Several boats missed the rendezvous but still safely made their way up the river.
After arriving at the clubs jetty late morning, the group split up – some went walking, some snoozed, and the rest hopped in the dinghies and ventured to the upper reaches of the river. We got very close to the Clevedon township before the fuel starting running out. Luckily a few had spare fuel so it was passed around like a good wine and everyone took a slip. I was aboard Dave Gidden’s dinghy and we had about 1cm in the tank when we switched off. Spotted a few interesting woodys along the way – Nathan Herbert and I would love to hear more about the launch – Liberty (tagged below).
Some wowser decided that 5pm would be drinks time, so a few of us had to retire to Dave Giddens floating man bach – Allergy for a cup of tea…..
The evening centred around a BBQ at the CCC, which is a fantastic set up and the members hospitality was first rate.
As a thank you for hosting us, we presented a donation to the club and rewarded Barrie Adel for his services with a bottle of Appletons finest Jamaican Estate golden rum. Club Commodore – Bruce Robson also now sports a WW T-Shirt 🙂
In return we have a CCC burgee for our virtual clubhouse.
On a personal note I would like to thank all the woody boat owners for ‘opening’ your boats up for the club members to inspect thru-out the day. Good chat was had.
We must have behaved ourselves, as we have been invited back – so woodys, more details to follow, but we will be repeating the cruise early 2020 e.g. April.
🙂 a visit to the GENTS was amusing – the uninitiated were in for a foot wash – the system was good old kiwi DIY at its finest 🙂 I can report that the LADIES was Regent Hotel standard.
Photos: myself and Nathan Herbert
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Now I’ll bore some of you with the below video of my Raindance, taken by Nathan Herbert aboard Jas Prew’s launch – My Girl. I think it’s the only time Jason has ever let me pass him 🙂

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Clarionet – Sailing Sunday

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CLARIONET – Sailing Sunday

Woody Alan Sexton sent in the above photos of the yacht Clarionet hauled out back in April at the Sandspit Yacht Club.
Interesting design, Alan suspects from the East Coast, USA.
I know one should never assume anything but we both assume her shallow draft accommodates a centreboard, also assume she sports a bowsprit.
Can anyone tell us more about Clarionet?
Hopefully with good luck as you read this, I’ll be moored a long way up the Wairoa River at Clevedon waiting for the tide to come in so we can make the trip backdown the river. Lots of photos from the Woody Classics Weekend overnight BBQ cruise to the Clevedon Cruising Club on Monday.
And A Wee Bonus Today – some wonderful sailing footage of the then just relaunched – Kelpie of Falmouth

 ID This Classic Launch & Win A WW T Shirt

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 ID This Classic Launch & Win A WW T Shirt
 
Photo ex Paul Drake, who uncovered it recently amongst his brother Nigel’s c1970’s colour slides.
The boat is pictured above in Lake Taupo’s Western Bay. 
I can tell you the boat is no longer on the lake and is currently being restored.
So woodys – all correct answers go into the draw for a WW t-shirt. Entries close off at 8pm 15-11-2019. Entry via email only – to  waitematawoodys@gmail.com
UPDATE – 1st time ever in a promo, no-one ID’ed the boat correctly – it is Kathleen M
And if you miss out on winning the t-shirt, you can always order one – click link below for details –
AND A REMINDER TO THE WOODYS DOING THE RIVER CRUISE TO CLEVEDON TOMORROW – SET YOUR ALARM CLOCK – ITS AN EARLY START. LOTS OF BOATS AND A GOOD WEATHER FORECAST, SO THE CAMERA WILL BE WORKING OVERTIME 🙂
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1967 Whangarei to Noumea Yacht Race Mystery Launch + Woody On The Rocks

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1967 Whangarei to Noumea Yacht Race Mystery Launch

Today’s photo comes to us from Lew Redwood’s fb and shows the spectator fleet that gathered to farewell the yachts heading off in the 1967 Whangarei to Noumea yacht race. We have a classic woody mid photo – my first thoughts were – Romance II but on closer inspection its not her.  So woodys – who do you think it is?
 
Southern Woodys – A question
Does anyone do or know of anyone that does, ‘private’ bare-boat charters in the Havelock / Pelorus / Kenepuru Sound / Picton / Queen Charlotte region? A very experienced woody is looking to come to a gentleman’s arrangement re the use of a launch in the Marlborough Sounds this coming February (2020). For more details email me on waitematawoodys@gmail.com
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SAD NIGHT ON AUCKLANDS WATERFRONT
Woody Angus Rogers sent in at around 10pm the photos below of the launch Rio Rita on the rocks outside the OBC breakwater. Coastguard were in attendance. It was high water so unless she was towed off, she will be high & dry. Very sad.

Parma

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PARMA

The launch Parma hasn’t made an appearance on WW, other than a small cameo appearance, mainly because many moons ago, back in the heady days of the CYA forum, I got my hand slipped for saying that Parma held the record for the longest appearance on trademe :-). While life moves on, my skin is thicker and I suspect she is / was in new ownership.

I note in her current trademe listing the question is asked about previous ‘rot’ issues which we are told have been righted, so today Parma finally gets a chance to shine on WW.

What do we know about her? – she was built in 1958 by Brin Wilson, carvel planked, measures a tad over 34’ and is powered by a 1970, 6 cyl. Ford (Fordson 2700 series) 40hp diesel engine.
She appears to be presented in good order and is well fitted out. Owner must have a taste for Heineken 🙂

UPDATE 07-07-2022 Parma had again been 4sale for an extended period of time and had reverted to ‘live-aboard’ status at Bayswater marina – please to be able to advise that she appears to have been sold and received some TLC – new paint job.