LAKE ROTOITI 2025 CLASSIC & WOODEN BOAT PARADE – PART #2 THE PICNIC
Today again thanks to Scott Johnson we experience the post Parade picnic at Wairau Bay. Where after the formalities of the Parade, the skippers and crew get to relaxed and have a waterside party.
The venue being a lake (no tide) means that the craft can all nudge into the bank and everyone gets to meet, chat and swap boating stories.
LAKE ROTOITI 2025 CLASSIC & WOODEN BOAT PARADE – PART #1 THE PARADE
Today thanks to Scott Johnson we get a look at the 2025 Lake Rotoiti Classic & Wooden Boat Parade — stunning, weather and photos that matched the wooden craft.
The day began with the traditional three cannon blasts, signaling the start of a flotilla of 80 classic and wooden boats gliding across the lake – lead out by Teheka Whaka.
Spectators gathered along the Okere arm shore, enjoying a live commentary from the commodore, who shared insights into the history and craftsmanship of these beautiful vessels. The weather was perfect, making for a truly memorable day on the water.
The parade concluded with a picnic and games at Wairau Bay, where the skippers and crew relaxed and celebrated another fantastic year of this cherished tradition.
Enjoy the gallery of photos & remember – click on photos to enlarge ;-)- On Wednesday we will have part two – the lake side picnic.
Back in Jan 2022 we ran a mystery vessel story using sa photo sent in by Travers Reynolds, the photo was taken by a FG Radcliffe from the early 1900’s and the location was near the Whangarei Heads.
Thanks HAROLD KIDD and Janet Watkins we learnt the yachts name was NIOBE and the photo was taken near Manganese Point when owned by Janet’s grandfather – A R Pickmere, who sold her in 1906.
Fast forward to the xmas/ny break and Lew Redwood posted two wonderful photos of NIOBE on fb. The photos are tagged c.1904, so during the Pickmere ownership period.
BUMPER WW STORY TOMORROW (Monday) – TRIP REPORT / PHOTO GALLERY FROM THE 2025 LAKE ROTOITI CLASSIC & WOODEN BOAT PARADE
The 20’ c.100 yrs old ex workboat – MYSTERY GIRL last popped up on WW back in 2015, link below, since then she has had a wheelhouse added and is now back on the market. Thanks Ian McDonald for the tme heads up. Lots of intel and chat here – check out the comments section https://waitematawoodys.com/2015/06/06/mystery-girl/
You have to love the sellers comments, so upfront and honest, “ window framing in topside has rot and falling apart, needs attention. Old 4 cylinder Ford diesel is not running. Unknown hours and details” 🙂
With some TLC she has the makings of a cool little woody.
Todays woody made a brief appearance on tme (thanks Ian McDonald) and disappeared before I could record the details. So either sold in a flash or seller got cold feet.
So other than being located somewhere in the South Island and having a canoe-stern WW knows little about her, so keen to learn more.
KELVIN R4 75hp Engine – Needs A Home – Message below from Russell Ward “It is time to place the R4 Kelvin with you to find a new owner. It is 75 hp at 1500 rpm. I bought it from Sanfords -had been briefly the generator on Sea Harvester. Low hours.
So I’ve had it in the mancave for most of my life awaiting a boat. I got Athol Burns to design me a 40′ MS for it – his last design ever. It was great fun but I knew I could never afford to build new. But I wanted Athol’s last design and it was well worth the effort just to have the exchange of letters. I will always treasure his sage advice. “No hysterics with old time practices” was his best.
Conrad Bergius who was related to the Kelvin makers Bergius had a similar dream and I gave it to him when we left Bayswater. He took it apart and got many new parts for it from the company.
When I took over St Antonio, I bought it from him – it had been on display in Moon Engines foyer. I got a Niigata gearbox with a 3:1 reduction. I had it professionally fitted by Watts Engineering.
It went briefly in the river at Warkworth and has been rebuilt since. When I sold St Antonio, the new owner had an Isuzu in preference to the Kelvin so I kept it.
Very easy engine to live with and will see any of us out. I have a vid of the last time it ran. Interested buyer contact Russell” mrward@steam.co.nz
Todays photo comes to us from the ‘Old North Auckland – Northland Photos & Stories fb via Lew Redwood.
The photo was captioned “Steve Bignall and his crane truck, an American war surplus Diamont T putting a launch back into the water, Whangarei, 1940-50’. The location is where the swimming pool car park is now.
Any one with a good memory able to put a name to the launch.
Stories like todays make me very happy – its no surprise to regular readers that I’m not a fan of fly-bridges on classic wooden craft, particularly ones that have been added post the original launch date.
Last year when the Wooden Boat Bureau sold the 1967 Owen Wooley designed and built 32’ launch – AWARIKI there was a discussion with the new owners re the fly-bridge and I gave my standard line – “take it off now, otherwise you will get used to it and it will stay” 🙂
Fast forward to Monday night when I get an email asking about my thoughts on removing it. The launch was hauled out at the Slipway Milford and the crew there had been not so subtly suggesting to the owners to give the green light on removing it. The hardest working crew member at the yard – Maddie Malcom did some photo-shopping to a photo I took of AWARIKI in Chamberlain Bay (2nd one above) and the owners were sold 🙂
So flybridge gone, bow rail removed, coamings to be returned to vanish, new upholstery and some differed maintenance righted and she will be a ’new’ boat.
The photos above show Jason Prew in his happy place – top-chop is his middle name.
More to come as work continues ……. 🙂
INPUT ex KERRY LILLEY – previous owner and also worked on the build of the launch whilst doing his apprenticeship at Owen Wooley’s yard. The photos below were given to Kerry by previous owners.. She originally had a mast (mast step still there). Kerry commented ‘Nothing stays the same I built and installed that flybridge 30 plus years ago’
PRETTY SAFE TO ASSUME TODAYS WOODY WONT BE ON THE START LINE AT THIS WEEKS CLASSIC SAILING REGATTA…….
One of the WW crew was recently doing a dock-side mooch at Westhaven marina and spotted the K-Class yacht HELEN looking very sad and neglected. Check out the size of the oysters. Other than health issues there is no excuse for a craft like HELEN to be in this condition – Bob Stewart would not be impressed.
A Busy Time On The Wooden Boating Event Calendar – five events both local and overseas – circle the calendar.
4. Auckland Wooden Boat Festival – Mar 1>2 – a 2 day speaker series featuring topics such as the building of waka, navigation, women at sea, history, environmental and sustainability topics, and boat building. Venue – Auckland Maritime Museum. https://www.maritimemuseum.co.nz/events/auckland-wooden-boat-festival
5. Auckland on The Water Boat Show – March 6th > 9th – Venue is Auckland’s Viaduct Harbour.
waitematawoodys.com #1 for classic wooden boat stories, info, advice & news - updated daily - 14+ million views 