176th Auckland Anniversary Day Regatta

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Akl Ann Day

176th AUCKLAND ANNIVERSARY DAY REGATTA

Today’s photo is from the Mac Taylor collection & shows what I suspect is one of the Colin Wild ‘3 sisters’ my pick is Lady Gay, I’ll need help with the two yachts 🙂

Hopefully the weather gods will smile today & there will be some exciting racing to watch.

One of the real hoots of the day is the Tug Boat Race – it starts at 10.00am off Princess Wharf – course chart below + viewing points map.

Recent WW Posts – Sorry if some of the recent posts have appeared at ‘odd’ times but the platform that WW runs on has been upgraded & I have been having a few teething issues.

Just returned from the Mahurangi Regatta – amazing number of classic woodys in residence for the weekend – a big WW post on Tuesday 😉

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Full details here  http://www.regatta.org.nz/for-spectators/

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A collection of photos ex Martin Turnwald on the day, taken from North Head.

Onehunga Beach 1954 – Sailing Sunday

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Onehunga Beach 1954  – Sailing Sunday
photo ex A. Turnbull Library via Historic NZ photos

This Whites Aviation photo from Feb 1954 shows an unidentified beach in Onehunga with Mangere Mountain in the background.
Given the number of young children playing in the water & the low number of adults I wonder if there was something else happening on the day e.g. group picnic etc.

Remember Folks Tomorrow is Auckland Anniversary Day Regatta, so dust off the boat & get out there. No boat? make your way to one of the many excellent harbour side vantage points across this city.
More details here  http://www.regatta.org.nz/

02-02-2016 Input from Bruce Pullan

The beach in this photo was further west than the beach that Ken has referred to. The beach in the photo was accessed from a drive off Beachcroft Ave near where Arthur Street and Pleasant Streets join onto Beachcroft (the towns gas tanks where near here also). The houses to the right of the trees in the photo were on Seacliff Ave, some of these houses were taken as well as the beach for the motorway. The MY&MBC had a marker bouy out from this beach it was referred to in the yacht club course sheets as Mill Bay. When the MY&MBC racing was moved to Mangere and before the new club house was built the patrol boats were moored here and layed up for winter with chocks on the beach where the children are swimming in this photo.

Auckland 100th Ann Regatta 1950

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Auckland 100th Ann Regatta 1950
photo ex A. Turnbull via Historic NZ photos

Today’s photo by Whites Aviation shows a classic bridge-decker with a crowd of spectators on board watching the 1950 (100th) Auckland Anniversary Day Regatta. Bastion Point on left in the background.
At first glance I thought the launch was Valsan but its not, so what say the woodys?

It’s a big call given what we can see but anyone want to take a punt on ID’ing the other bridge-decker?

Big day today at Mahurangi for the annual classic regatta – lots of photos next week 😉

Remember Monday is Auckland Anniversary Day Regatta. More details here  http://www.regatta.org.nz/

 

Majestic

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MAJESTIC

Details & photos ex ‘Nelson Mail’ via John Burland (edited by Alan H)

The 14.5m Majestic started life back in 1937 as a commercial trawler & cray boat in Nelson. Built at the famed Wells family boatyard at Whakatahuri at the head of Pelorus Sound by her ex owner Lionel Wells and his late brother Gordon. She was built to their father Claude’s design, using Marlborough Sounds kahikatea (white pine) for the double-skinned planking, and heart rimu for the deck beams and stringers.
The brothers fished out of Port Nelson for many years, trawling for snapper, gurnard and flounder. Wells eventually bought his brother out and took the Majestic cray fishing from Milford Sound for 15 years.
He sold her in 1978 and Majestic continued its fishing career from Greymouth before finally being brought back to Nelson.

Two & half years ago Majestic was facing the chainsaw but was saved by the Motueka owner of Cotton Heavy Haulage in Richmond, Lynn Cotton who gradually restored her at the Richmond boat yard. The fish hold has gone and the accommodation has grown to allow for eight people. The few rotten planks were replaced and rimu and macrocarpa were specially milled to fit out the interior.
Most notably, the old superstructure was removed and replaced with a new one, each to their own but I would have chosen something closer to the original.
In the six years the boat had been idle the 190hp Gardner diesel had seized, but that was soon remedied and on the trip across Tasman Bay to its new mooring at Port Motueka it produced an average 8.2 knots.

Below are photos from her re-launch. One shows 95 year old ex owner/builder Lionel on the left with Lynn Cotton.

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Stone Pony

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P1210093

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STONE PONY

Over the xmas / ny period I dropped the anchor in Matiatia Bay, Waiheke Island for a few hours & spotted the Stone Pony getting some TLC. Its an usual name so there must be a good story there. I was impressed to see the young lady painting at anchor between ferry washes 🙂 I did point this out to the wife & suggest she could get a few tips from her, fyi its hard to duck a backhand on a launch the size of Raindance 🙂

Anyone know anymore about the boat & owner?

Update – I have been told that one of the two tools below would be redundant during the construction of this boat – the other would get a lot of use 😉

Update – A personal tale on ferro built vessels from Michael O’Dwyer

There are are a few subjects that I refuse to argue about(religion,politics,who should be in the All Blacks) because the opinions go round and round and depending on the ignorance or superior subject knowledge of the various protagonists combining that with different levels of blood pressure and room temperature the outcome can be rather quixotic.Plus no one really wins the argument anyway.
Ferro cement boats is a subject I would add to that list. Forums on the subject are filled with a plethora of opinions on the pros and cons of this now dated construction method.
I personally would not buy a ferro boat because my passion is wood but if my family circumstances had been different I would have kept the Hartley Tahitian (Quis Contra*) my father (Michael) meticulously built over a period of 37 years in our backyard.The boat was sold last year to one of the Auckland Harbour Pilots who plans to live aboard and eventually sail back to England.
If looked after and maintained this boat will last a very long time.It will always be original, no new planks,fastenings,caulking and putty there.In my adult years I helped fit the boat out to the point that no ferro can be viewed inside.People ask what it is constructed from because the hull finish is the result of my then 70 year old dad’s six month long fairing programme.
My sentimental opinion maybe somewhat biased but under some of these stoney boats lies a real gem.

Duetto built by Vince Hooker (not Bill) here in Napier is a prime example.

p.s. the cast iron heater in the saloon was the type used in the old railway workman’s cottages.The doors,roll top desk,saloon table leg and most of the trim is heart Rimu.The saloon table top was made from an old Tawa bookcase.There are 54 wire splices in the rigging, all worm,parceled and served.Just about everything you see in the above photos bar the heater,clock,oil lamp and seabird dinghy was constructed in dads garage.It’s a credit to him.

  • “quis contra” is Latin meaning “who is against us? It comes from Dius pro quis contra which means “If God is for us,who is against us?”

 

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Break out the whites – upcoming woody events

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Woody Update #1

UPCOMING CLASSIC WOODEN BOATING EVENTS
There is a lot of on-the-water woody activity in the next month/s so I thought I’d give you a quick heads up. Most of these events are a good opportunity to see some of the classic fleet up close. Even if you are not a CYA member, join in & say hi.

In case the above links did not work – repeated below

http://www.raidnz.org
http://www.woodenboatparade.co.nz/page/wooden-boat-parade-2016
http://www.classicyacht.org.nz

Chandos

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Chandos

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CHANDOS

I photographed the above launch in West Bay, Rakino Island in early January. She is a rather big girl & I would be surprized if the flight deck was an addition, looks like its been there since new. If not then it’s a good ‘fit’.
Anyone able to enlighten us more on Chandos?

Shelly Beach NY Day Regatta

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New Years Day Regatta Jan 1 1914

Remember Shelly Beach ?
photo by W.A. Price ex Historic NZ Photos ex A Turnbull Library

Shelly Beach, Ponsonby/Herne Bay, was a casualty of the Auckland Harbour bridge/motorway development. Back in 1914 it was the site of the New Years Day Regatta.
Any clever woodys able to ID the motor launch & any yachts?

Whironui

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WHIRONUI BY SHIPBUILDERS AT GULF HARBOUR HAVING TLC 28.12.15 - 3

WHIRONUI
details & photos ex Ken Ricketts. (edited by Alan H)

Whironui  is 34′ LOA & was home built & Ken suspects  in the earlier 1960’s, the reason for this being she has a Paragon mechanical gearbox, on a Lees Ford diesel & these boxes were phased out in the earlier 1960s. In terms of designer, Ken feels probably she is a Shipbuilders kit-set as one of a good number of similar hull type, designed boats were sold in this form by Shipbuilders between 30′ & 34′ from c.1960 to 1965. They all had individually styled coamings with 3 glued skins on opposite diagonals, kauri hulls.

Whironui is powered by a 90hp 6 cyl. Lees marinised Ford diesel, with a Paragon mechanical gear box & 2 to 1 reduction gear, most likely still the original set-up.

She is presently owned by Murray Brighouse who along with his son Tony, do a great job of caring for her, & using her as often as possible. They bought her off the late Sonny Cross in 2002, who they believe had owned her from about 1976, during which time she was moored for the entire period, they believe, in the Wade River, which is where she was moored, when the Brighouses bought her. She now resides at Gulf Harbour.

Anyone know anymore about her past & the home build element?

As a comparison – below is a photo of ‘Southern Seas’ which is rumoured to be a Shipbuilders kit boat.

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26-01-2016

Photo from c.1979 ex Ken Rickets

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