Aqualeda

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AQUALEDA
photos & details ex Graham Jefferys. edited by Alan H

Last month I asked on ww if any of the Southern woodys knew the history of Aqualeda. Yesterday I achieved an email from her owner Graham Jefferys who advised he had just sold Aqualeda after the privilege of owning her for 13.5 years.
Graham commented that she will be in good hands, the new owner has been in boats all his life & is known for maintaining any boats he has owned. She will be staying in Nelson.

Graham was able to research the Aqualeda’s history & was fortunate enough to have meet the youngest son of her builder, George English, the son Noel was 82 years old at the time. Noel had a raft of information, including photos of the Aqualeda’s construction, and it was Noel, as a cabinet maker, who fitted the cabin out.
Graham had been made aware it was George English who built her by Eric Wilkes, whom he entertained along with his wife at his Picton home some 12 years ago and shared many a tale of his pleasure in owning this lovely boat. Both Eric & Noel visited the Aqualeda at the Nelson Marina about 10 years ago.

Graham sent me a selection of photos of Aqualeda during construction, launching & later years, the colour photo shows Noel English [son of the builder] & his wife alongside Aqualeda.

Photos of Aqualeda as she is today can be viewed here  https://waitematawoodys.com/2016/03/17/aqualeda/

Mystery Launch Quiz

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Mystery Launch

Mystery Launch Quiz
Win a copy of Robert Brooke’s book – ‘Beautiful Boats’

Ok woodys the first woody that can supply the boat name, designer, builder & year of launch will win a copy of Robert’s just released book ‘ Beautiful Boats’. The first reply in the ww comments section with all 4 answers correct – wins.

Robert has been collecting classic yacht designs for over 50 years, amongst his collection is work from our most talented & recognized designers – Arch Logan, Chas Bailey, Charlie & Alex Collings, Colin Wild, Bert Woolacott, Bob Stewart, Des Townson, Alan Wright & Robert’s father – John Brooke.
From his collection Robert has chosen 50 & redrawn each design, tracing off the original drawings to present them in a similar format. To add to the wow factor, Robert used the drawing equipment & ships curves that were once used by either Arch Logan, Charlie & Alex Collings or his father.

The 105 page, A4 size book allocates 2 pages to each vessel with specs & photo/s on the left & the drawings – hull lines, profile, half breadths, sections, diagonals & sail plan on the right hand page (refer Rainbow drawing example below). Its a must have in all serious woodys library.

Robert has very generously donated 4 copies of the book to waitematawoodys so over the next few weeks I will be giving them away as prizes. In addition I also have a framed 380 x 300 rendered copy of one of the Beautiful Boats. I have not decided yet how this will be ‘won’, details soon.

There are thousands of ww followers out there so do not get your hopes up on winning a copy 🙂 I would suggest you visit Boat Books at 22 Westhaven Drive, Westhaven, Auckland & grab a copy for yourself, cost is $60. For out of towners or those who refer the web – copies are available on line at  https://www.boatbooks.co.nz/
Its a very limited print run & Boat Books are the sole outlet. Boat Books also have framed copies of the prints for sale – David Glen was one of the first to race in & buy a print of his Rainbow.

Cover, Tawera

Rainbow

A tour of the waterfront

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A tour of the waterfront

After the decision on Sunday to pull the pin on racing, David Glen took Rainbow for a wee cruise around the waterfront docks to check out the talent. Below is a pot-pourri of vessels – some classic, some wood, some glass & some very exotic.

Enjoy the cruise, we did 🙂

Rainbow
Frances
Wairiki
Pursuit
Corinthia
Orin II
Thelma
Ethol
Jonquil
Jonquil
Rainbow crew
A very tight fit
Marksman
Marksman
RAYC

 

Sea Devil was hauled out at the hard stand for some TLC, if she was mine I would be taking the power plane to those anti-roll bilge fins. Very agricultural, the ones on my Raindance were similar & post some feathering / shaping the drag effect was noticeably reduced.

Patricia

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PATRICIA

I arrived at Orakei Marina yesterday morning a little early so wandered over to the Okahu Bay haul out area & spied Patricia in the travel-lift slings so wandered over & when up close got a very big shock, something very ugly has happened to her. Scroll down……………… remember click photos to enlarge.
And fyi – no sailing on Rainbow yesterday, zip wind so we motored to the start line, mooched around, said hi to the other boats doing the same & then had a crew vote – 100% hands up for a cup of tea & chocolate cake back at the marina 🙂 Will have to wait for another day for that sail. We zig zagged around Westhaven checking out a few classics & the odd super yacht – will post on Tuesday.

Can anyone advise what happened to her & what the plan is for her?. She was obviously a very well loved classic & deserves to be restored, fingers crossed.

And folks, what is the go with these guys – do they have an exemption to the 12 knt. limit ?

Input from Robin Elliott

Patricia was a very early H28, built by Phil Barton in 1953 and registered as F-89, Owner S.S. Thorington.
In the mid 1950’s the F’s and E’s were re-jigged and Patricia came out of it as E-89.
Subsequent owners were:
J.N. Wrightson 1957/59+?; O.P. Martinengo 1960?/61; R. Thode 1961+?; G.J. Stern 1962/66; C.J. alexander & J.R. Court 1966/73+? (Still Registered as Owner NZYF 1978);
No registered owners after 1978.

Her NZYF number is/was 489

AYMBA reg card says blt 1953
SS Aug 1962: Sloop rigged H28; Martinengo’s Patricia caused many upsets with her racing performances
SS Nov 1962: Back racing with RAYC again.
SS Apr 1966: Entered Balokovic Cup with RAYC.

Registered dims as at 1957:
28’x 23’6″x 8’9″x 3’9″, 349 sqft sloop, 3350 lb outside, 5cwt inside. 220 sq ft  sloop 8 hp stuart turner 1961

RAYC: Henry Slyfield Cup 1960
AAR: Hcap 1961, Moana Cup 1968

For sale on TradeMe Feb 2012: $30000

Not currently registered with YNZ

Input from Neil Chalmers
Greg Parkinson , a contemporary of Flap Martinego told me how in the early 1960’s Flap had a headsail made ( probably by ‘Sails &Covers’ ) for Patricia from the new fangled material – Terylene ( dacron) .. Greg and Flap had always had cotton sails. A Terylene sail in those days was real state of the art . They couldn’t wait to try it out , so after work they headed out of Westhaven in Patricia .The crackle and noise of the new sail and extra speed is still remembered by Greg. !!

Input from James Mortimer
Patricia is owned by Dave Palmer. He is a long time member of the CYA.
She broke her mooring in the big NE’er of late Feb, and founded on the rocks adjacent to Tamaki Drive.
Dave wrote to me and told me it has been an extremely difficult incident for him to come to terms with having just spent six months and hundreds of man hours restoring her to reflect the appearance expected of such a classic. It was a sad ending for a yacht with such a colourful history.

Mystery Yacht – Sailing Sunday

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Mystery Yacht – Sailing Sunday
photo ex Max Pike ex Auckland Weekly News (23 April 1930)

I’m sure the stick & rag woodys will be able to ID the above yacht, the only info I had was the caption which was something like ‘yacht off Freemans Bay preparing for race’.

Speaking of races I’m venturing over to the dark side today & crewing on Rainbow in the Ponsonby Cruising Club’s Vintage & Veterans race. Hopefully we will get some wind, I have been the kiss of death weather wise when aboard other classic yachts 🙂

Mystery Launches & Location

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1927 guess names and place

Mystery Launches & Location
photo ex Nathan Herbert

The above photo is dated 1927 & show an amazing collection of launches. The challenge today is what’s the location, the reason for the gathering & how many can we name?
On my estimate I can count 38 people on the ‘dark’ launch in the foreground, the Harbour Master compliance nazi’s would wet themselves these days if they saw that, & no sign of any life-rails 🙂
This launch is sporting the #6 on her & the passengers have a very high % of females on board which makes the occasion very interesting, I look forward to the replies.

Manuroa

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manuroa

MANUROA
photo ex Jeff Norris
Jeff sent in the above photo of the Manuroa which is berthed next to him at  Westpark, thats now  called Hobsonville Marina. Jeff was wondering if any of the woodys knew any of her history. She looks like she may have been a work boat originally.
SomeoneManuroa was very economical when they cut the plywood sheets i.e. not a lot of wastage, I think I can see where the ‘bridge-decker’ cut outs were used 😉

So woodys can we help Jeff out?

Advice Wanted – Canvas Work

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Advice Wanted – Canvas Work
I get a lot of requests from people looking for good trades people. Just recently I have had several asking about companies that make/repair boat canvas / clears.
So woodys who out there is doing good work at fair rates?
Reply in the comments section or if you prefer email me.    waitematawoodys@gmail.com

UPDATE 11-04-2016 I received a great e-mail from Frank Warnock – given all his good deeds, I have posted it below.

Hi Alan, need a Sailmaker, Marine Trimmer or Upholsterer? Stop looking for I am your man. Here is my CV
 
1 I am a CYA member and my yacht Offshore is in the year book.
 
2 I make all the launch numbers for the CYA, ask Joyce.
 
3 I am the official flag maker to the Squadron (and also a member) for divisional and race management flags, ask Georgia.
 
4 I made the sails and all the covers for Rainbow, ask the owners.
 
5 I made and donated all the squabs for Gypsy.
 
6 I am making a new set of squabs for Stevo Cranch and Rainbird to go with the cover I made for him.
 
7 Although Offshore is a faster yacht than Paramour I still do Bruce Tantrum’s work.
 
It’s my Birthday tomorrow and I’ll be 82 so I am past crawling around boats fitting covers but I can do repairs, restitching and replacing clears etc. I have a double garage workshop at my home in Glen Eden and only charge $50.00 per hour for labour except if the customer is a lawyer when I charge $500.00 !!!
 
My main customer is Burnsco Marine who I make Safety equipment like Harnesses and tethers plus Rope tail bags, bosun’s chairs, Kevlar gear bags, canvas buckets etc. It is all nice easy work and keeps me off the street plus it helps pay the costs of owning a modern classic yacht which is “bloody expensive” as you no doubt know.
 
I served my apprentiship with Sails and Covers Ltd. In Fort Street then owned Shoresails Ltd for 36 years before retiring. Janet and I were away cruising in Offshore for January and February and had eight days away at Easter and we hope to get a couple more weekends away before winter arrives. We average about 20 hours a week working.
 
My contact details are Frank Warnock, 97 Rosier Road Glen Eden. Phone 8181131 or 0274 739 303 e mail address as above and I would love to be of more assistance to CYA members.
 
8 I almost forgot to say that I am a good looking guy.!
 
Cheers
 
Frank

San Cristobal (Pagan)

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San Critobal

SAN CRISTOBAL (Pagan)
photos from Peter Croft, Alan Good & trademe

Over the last few summers I have seen the San Cristobal anchored up around the gulf, she appears to be a live aboard at Matiatia on Waiheke Island & is regularly seen on the weekends in Man 0 War Bay. I understand that she is a 1943 60ft converted Scottish drift trawler & have heard that $100k was spent on reconditioning the 8 cyl. Gardner………
San Cristobal is currently for sale on trademe & the following details are ex there – she was built by the British Admiralty in Lowestoft in 1943. Built to take saboteurs and supplies to Norway. The German High Command had instructed the German submarines not to torpedo fishing boats. Bronze fastenings below the water line as not to set off the magnetic mines. After the War she sailed to NZ and was purchased by Sanfords. Name changed from Pagan to San Cristobal. Commercial fishing around NZ. Designed off the Scottish Drifter developed for the herring fleet in the North Sea. Built of larch on oak and measures – length 20m, width 5m with a 2m approx. draft.

She is a perfect example of the the magic powers of paint, from memory she was classic work boat green & looked like she had just escaped from the fishing fleet, then bang she is sporting a salmon / terra-cotta & cream colour scheme & looks a different vessel. It would have been a big call looking into the paint tin but it works a treat (in my eyes).

Any of the woodys able to supply more info on her past, must be a few woodys that have worked on or alongside her.

Update 19-12-2016 ex Ken Ricketts
She was sold by the insurance company 2 weeks ago to a Andre Botha, after she had come to grief in the Warkworth River sometime earlier this year.

He put her in the water last Friday afternoon & lifted her out again about 3 hours later, about 6 30pm, with massive quantities of water on the wrong side of the hull, which was all falling out of her, at high speed after lifting.

As shown in the photos below she is has a substantial recaulking exercise underway at the moment & the new owner hopes to have her back in the water in about a week, & will initially keep her at Gulf Harbour for a few days & will then move her to town to a mooring site in the central city area, as yet unconfirmed.

The owner told Ken he has bought her with a view to restoring her & ultimately he is considering living aboard in due course. The purchase of San Cristobal is his first ever venture in to the world of boating. He also mentioned she is built of oak & she still as the 8L3 Gardner diesel engine, which he says, has only done around 2500 hours.

 

Leilani

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leilani

LEILANI
photos & details from Brian Candy

Retired commercial fisherman, Brian Candy told ww that his friend, Michael Hayes,  who owns ‘Leilani’, which was Bill Hall’s first game fishing boat, has been trying to find out more on the history of her. They believe that Leilani was built by Tabbet and Cardot but that is all Michael has been able to find out.
Michael has spent a lot of money on her over the last ten years rebuilding and upgrading her to her former glory. Michael uses her for big game fishing and cruising & she is based at Whangaroa.

If any woodys  can come up with some history on her, both Brian & Michael would be very grateful.