Today woodys we have a gallery of photos of the 1895 Bailey Brothers built yacht – TE UIRA. She was one of the first NZ designed and built racing craft to be exported to Australia (Victoria, Melbourne).
TE UIRA has had a colorful past and been very close to a Beehive restoration several times. Luckily she found the right owner who commissioned a full restoration that was only completed late last year by Cygnet Wooden Boats.
Won’t bore you with the full details but lost my IPhone yesterday, spent hours visiting lost & found + police etc but there are some honest people out there and later in the day I recovered it. So relived.
Four seasons in one day today on the weather front but all good post mid day.
Some serious culture today via museum and gallery visits then dock mooching to snap the woodys I’d not photographed and then some R&R at the local watering holes. Public holiday on Monday so crowds could be a little OTT.
Bumped into anyone and everyone that matters in the trans Tasman classic wooden boating scene and made a few new friends.
Lots of activity at the Pacific exhibition, with Johnny Wray’s – NGATAKI, stealing the limelight.
Back at the hotel our wallaby mate came around for dinner and bought the whole family 😄
The first gallery of photos above were taken early evening yesterday, taking advantage of the best light.
Today was overcast all day and a tad cold. A little bit of sightseeing and dining then the ‘Dinghies After Dark’ function at the City Hall. Lots of Kiwis in attendance which is always nice.
It was also time to move on from the fish diet – Beef Cheek Wellington and discovered a new ginger beer ✔️
Also woke up very early and meet a visitor on the lawn, could have been worse eg a snake.
Today was when the waterfront comes alive, yesterday you could have fired a shotgun and not hit anyone but overnight and thru out the day the classic wooden craft kept pouring into the surrounding areas.
The highlight of day one is the ‘Parade of Sail’ that sees 11 Tall Sailing Ships and over 200 craft sail up the Derwent River and into Sullivan Cove to mark the start of the festival. At the 2023 festival I was aboard the 110’ brigantine – WESTWARD BOUND, this year I choose the very fast and stable media boat. A perfect platform to capture the event.
Today woodys I post a snapshot of the day and share our culinary highlights- the seafood is next level in Tasmania.
I’m now in wooden boat heaven – attending the 2025 Australian Wooden Boat Festival in Hobart, Tasmania, Australia. Arrived yesterday mid morning and to use that wonderful Aussie saying – ‘ I’m as happy as a dog with two tails. I attended the 2023 festival and quickly became hooked – search Australian Wooden Boat Festival in the WW search box to view that trip.
I’m adopting a different reporting style this festival – rather than doing massive photo posts each day – there will be some narrative on what we have been up to and some BOATS of THE DAY photos, then at the end of the trip there will be one big story. Why you may ask – well last trip I spent 1/2 my time bent over my laptop editing photos and loading up via very average hotel internet services.
This year I will be trying to enjoy the occasion more and meet more woodys and visit their craft dockside.
Each year the festival has a theme – The 2025 festival celebrates Australia’s deep maritime connections across the Tasman Sea, featuring the debut of Te Karangatahi, the Māori waka taua, and a lineup of NZ vessels including NGATAKI, LADY GAY and TE RAPUNGA. There will be talks, open to the public, on the restoration of NGATAKI and the saving of the DEEMING. These vessels are well known to the followers of WW, so the cameras will be mainly focusing on the hundreds of stunning Australian wooden craft that make up the festival – so I apologise in advance to the connections of these Kiwi boats. 🙂
Lots of activity down at the waterfront as all the festival crew are setting up.
Tomorrow I’m out on the water for the event that marks the start of the festival – the Sail In’ – it’s very spectacular.
WORLDWIDE CLASSIC BOAT SHOW- FREE ACCESS TICKET FOR WW READERS
As you read this I’ll be winging my way to Hobart for the 2025 Australian Wooden Boat Festival. There will be daily posts of the best thats on display so check in each day.
Readers of WW will be familiar with my addiction to the USA based v-blog OFF CENTER HARBOR, one of the super cool gigs these guys pull together is the annual WORLDWIDE CLASS BOAT SHOW, which waitematawoodys is co-sponsoring this year. The online show kicks off on February 14th – and as a WW reader you get a Free Ticket to the Worldwide Classic Boat Show
See over 1,200 of the world’s best wooden boats at the show. The show is 100% online/virtual, February 14 to March 2nd, so you’ll get free access to everything from your favorite lounge chair at home. You can CLICK HERE TO GET YOUR FREE TICKET/PASS.
WHAT’S AT THE SHOW?
World Map – Everything related to classic boats on one interactive world map
Boats – Beautiful photos and details of 1,200+ of the world’s best classic boats
Organizations – Explore festivals, boatbuilders, clubs, museums, schools, etc.
Live Presentations – Inspiring presentations featuring experts on a variety of topics
People – Connect with other attendees anywhere in the world (right on the map)
Your free ticket will get you into all of these presentations:
Arctic Solo Sailor Veronica Skotnes
Yacht Restoration w/ Dave Snediker
Indigenous and African Maritime Legacies w/ Akeia de Barros Gomes
Why Are These the Best Boat Festivals? w/ Port Townsend, France, and Australia
Two-Tim Race to Alaska Winner Jeanne Goussev
Marine Systems w/ Kevin Ritz from NWSWB
Small Boat Design w/ John Welsford, Clint Chase, and Ross Lillistone
+ SUBMIT YOUR OWN BOAT: They’re still accepting boat submissions too, so you can CLICK HERE to submit your own boat to be in the show. Enjoy the show
CLASSIC WOODEN LAUNCH – CAN IT BE SAVED OR A BEEHIVE RESTORATION
Todays 22’ classic woody photos come to us from a tme listing, thanks Ian McDonald for the heads up.
I know if its wood a rebuild is always doable but there is always the maths to be done eg cost v’s what its worth restored.
Even though the asking price is $1, unless someone with deep pockets and a past connection to a vessel – sadly these craft end up as a Beehive restoration , if you aren’t familiar with the term, scroll down.
Looking at the photos the potentially most valuable items – the portholes – have been removed, combine this the the boats location – Blenheim, Marlborough. Things do not look too rosy.
So woodys can we put a name to the boat so that we at least give her a fitting end.
CLASSIC WOODEN LAUNCH –BON VOYAGE – A Peek Down Below
The 34’ 4” classic launch – BON VOYAGE was built in 1962 by Dave Jackson. Her beam is 9’8” and she draws 2’6”. The go forward is from a 6 cyl. 120 hp Iveco diesel engine that sees her topping out at 9 knots. Her current owner has had her for 10 years and during this period undertaken a significant amount of maintenance and system upgrades.In the 2023>24 period the Brin Wilson yard were commissioned to strip the hull, garboard planks re-caulked, transom boarding platform completely rebuilt, part of cabin top replaced and glassed, complete hull repaint + new stainless steel hand rails.
Given the provenance of the builder and the owners preparedness to commit to regular maintenance , BON VOYAGE appears to be a very good woody, with the bonus of fitting into a 10.5m berth. Thanks to Ian McDonald for the tme heads up.
03-02-2025 INPUT ex COLIN BROWN – photo below of a painting Colin has of ROMANY in the shed at Whangateau boat shed.
A CELEBRATION OF THE CLASSIC WOODEN STEAM BOAT – ROMANY
The top photo above is on my permeant laptop screen saver rotation i.e. one of my favourite woody boating images. The craft is Russell Ward’s steam boat – ROMANY and I have been taking photos of her for over 10 years. Just after I took this photo myself and Murray Deeble joined Russell for a very special early morning cruise around Lake Rotoiti.
The year was Feb 2014 and the annual Lake Rotoiti Classic & Wooden Boat Parade had been postponed 24 hrs due to inclement weather (mainly fog). Given that ROMANY takes several hours to fire / steam up Russell was keen to head out anyway, so Deeble and I hopped aboard. A very memorable day, made even more special by ‘visiting’ (gate crashing) several waterfront holiday homes along the way.
What prompted todays story was Russell sent in two photo of the new engine for ROMANY, in the final stages of assembly – I would not like like to be funding that project – looks very $$$. I’m sure Russell will had some details on the new engine.
Enjoy the photos, mainly taken at LRC&WBF’s over the last decade.
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