A bonus 2nd post today – Some South Island Eye Candy

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Some South Island Eye Candy
I’m going to drift a little from the topic of boats & point you in the direction of something very cool. The ww followers that are Classic Yacht Association members will be familiar with Chris Miller who had the launch Rorquel. Well Chris swapped the boating life for life on the road (bought a camper van) & did something that would be tempting to some of us but few would have the balls to do it  – he has rented the house out for a year & hit the road. First part of the adventure is a tour of the South Island.
I had been beating Chris up for a long time to start a blog & even came up with the name for him  – ‘bugger it….. we are off’, well the blog is live & given that Chris is a professional photographer the photos he is posting on the blog are pretty wow. Check it out here http://buggeritweareoff.com/

Patiki Yachts – Sailing Sunday + a trip to Waiheke

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PATIKI YACHTS – SAILING SUNDAY
photo ex Michael O’Dwyer

The rather serene photo above shows a number of Patiki yachts tied up in Ahuriri Lagoon, it was taken just 4 days before the February 3rd 1931 Napier earthquake. The earthquake reduced the size of the lagoon considerably when the seabed in the area lifted (up to 2.7 metres just north of Napier) spelling the end of lagoon sailing to the far Poraiti hills. The photo is hanging on the wall at the Napier Sailing Club.

Updated – to appease Robin E I have added a wee bit more sailing to ‘sailing sunday’ 🙂

Kahurangi (below x2) at Napier – Michael O’Dwyer commented that the Patiki Kahurangi was last owned by a current NSC member Peter Parvin, about 30 years ago. He had replaced some broken ribs and had it moored in a creek awaiting further work. Unfortunately some scallywags deciding to go for an adventure untied it and let drift off into a storm grate which destroyed it.
Peter told Michael they had sailed her once in about 10 knots of breeze and recalls it being quite scary with her massive rig and no ballast.

Maroondah (below) off Westshore Beach

 

Some Chat
Yesterday several classic launch owners & friends went to Waiheke Island for the inaugural Oyster Festival held at the Rangihoua Estate Olive Grove, the day was a brilliant mix of live music, fine local wines & craft beers + the most succulent Te Matuku Bay oysters cooked every which way. And for the non oyster lovers there were plenty of other dishes to sample.
On route we had a a little scare that thankfully was a false alarm, while motoring along approx. 1k from the island we spotted something in the water & turned around. It was a body & the mood on board sobered up pretty fast, closer inspection revealed it was a dummy that Coast Guard had planted as part of an exercise. There was a note explaining this attached to the dummy. All very relived that the day was not going to be distributed by a ‘floater’.

A peek below at the venue & food.

Passed Nereides heading home

 

Eastern Stars

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EASTERN STARS
photos & details ex Laurence Oliver

Laurence has owned Eastern Stars for 24 years. She was launched in 1968 & is 30′ long & currently powered by a 72hp Ford diesel (ex a 1979 Fordson truck motor), when launched she had a petrol engine. In 1988 the Ford motor was rebuilt.
Eastern Stars is carvel kauri planked & last painted (2 pot urethane) in 2011, at the same time her topsides were fiberglassed.
In recent years she has been the recipient of what we call a rolling restoration focusing on rewiring, new pumps, new fuel & water tanks.

Laurence is unsure of the designer/builder but has been told that she was one of 3 identical boats used on the Waitemata by a Mr. Brian Walden – anyone able to comment / confirm this ?

Eastern Stars is currently hauled out at Half Moon Bay hardstand & getting a face lift 🙂 the reason for this? – after 24 years its time for Laurence to move on, so Eastern Stars is offered for sale at a very reasonable price, making her an affordable entry point to the fastest growing boating segment – classic wooden launches.

The collection of photos above were taken 2 years ago while hauled out at Panmure Bridge. The photo below was taken at HMB marina, date unknown.

Eastern Stars can be viewed at HMB hardstand – contact Laurence to arrange a viewing & for more details. Her owner is open to sensible offers.

laurie@conchem.co.nz or 0274 978 874

Note: a swing mooring opposite PYBC ( Tamaki Estuary ) is available for purchase also. The shackles, chain, top rope were all replaced less than 3 years ago. Mooring features heavier gauges than normal on the bridle & 2x train –wheels.

UPDATE

I have done a wee google search on the name Brian Walden & discovered a very interesting character – see screen grab below that refers to his marine business – ‘Eastern Marina’ which included a charter business. Obviously where the launch got her name. If she was built for charter specs this is a bonus. The full story on Brian Walden can be read here.

http://www.localmatters.co.nz/Mahurangi+Matters/Local+Folk/Bryan+Walden+Seafarer.html

06-11-2015 Re-launched photos

The Smuggler’s Cave

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THE SMUGGLER’S CAVE

story by Peter Stein, movie ex Roger Guthrie

Back in the early days of ww (2013) I did a post featuring a really cool black & white ‘home’ movie from the late 1920’s. Peter Stein’s father (also Peter) featured in the movie & its production & Peter jnr. has kindly written an article, below, on the movie, the people featured & the location.

The cameramen doing the filming were Alec and Alan Lambourne.  The Lambourne’s house (now owned by the Brooks) is above the jetty in Arran Bay.  They had the jetty  built in the early 1920s.

The three girls were Joan Woollams, Cynthia Restall and Shirley Vicary.  Joan was the dark haired girl who rowed the dinghy.  The Woollams owned the house on the south side of our house (Arran House).  An early scene shows them picnicking at Bulls Bay (Anita Bay) at the north-eastern end of Waiheke.  The “Smuggler’s Cave” is in the main headland between Bulls Bay and Hooks Bay and is easy to find.

The smugglers were my father, Peter Stein who was a Master at Auckland Grammar School from 1918 to 1965.  He was the one on the oar.  The other smuggler was Arthur Nicholson also a Master at Auckland Grammar School who later became the first Headmaster of Tauranga Boys’ College.

Our boat the “Pelican” was their transport.  She was named after Sir Francis Drake’s round the world ship which during the voyage had a name change to the “Golden Hind”.  The Pelican was 14 feet long and was an ex ship’s lifeboat.  She was clinker built.  The motor was a 5hp single cylinder “Du Brie” which gave her a speed of between 4 and 5 knots.  Ignition was the current from 4 large 1.5volt dry cell batteries passing through a coil.  The motor was started by crank handle and had a dog clutch so there was no reverse.

The tender was the dinghy “Beagle” named after Charles Darwin ship “HMS Beagle”.  She was 10 feet long and was heavily planked which made her ideal for boating activities around rocky coastlines.

The Coastguard vessel was the “Waitangi” which I described in my article about “Beautiful Waiheke” (posted on 2 September 2015).  The skipper was my Uncle Tom Stein and his armed assistant was Dean Ellingham another holidayer from Arran Bay.

It must be remembered that this was the late 1920s and home movies were in their infancy.   The cast were a group of people who only came together when they were holidaying at Arran Bay.  My father told me that they all had a most enjoyable time putting it together which is evident from the film.

Special thanks to Roger Guthrie for forwarding this footage to waitematawoodys.

Wynyards (Lushington’s) Bay + Wirihana 1

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Wynyards (Lushington’s) Bay
photo ex Mac Taylor Collection

Now I’m sure to some / most of you the bay in the above photo will be very familiar but not to me. I have a good hunch but I’ll let you all chip in. Remember you can click on the image to enlarge & if you click again on the enlarged photo it will zoom in even more.

Wirihana 1
The 2nd part of today’s post is a great photo, below, I found in Mac Taylor’s album, the launch is the first Wirihana (1) – there is a great story found at the link below concerning Wirihana (1), which most likely became Lady Gay (1) + how Wirihana (2) & Lady Gay (2) fitted into the scene. Great reading & a fine example of the ww blog really working.

Wirihana Who ‘Built’ Her?

Update

Seems everyone is right on the button with ID’ing the location – Harold Kidd sent me a link to the Henry Winkelmann photos (post card) ex the Auckland Museum collection below, taken in 1899. It is ‘Rodmershaw’ the residence of Mr Lushington.

I’m very familiar with the location as early one morning during a Mahurangi Regatta weekend, I had to retrieve my #1 kauri clinker dinghy from the beach after it went walkies in the night & washed up there, undamaged. The gods were smiling on me that weekend 🙂

Update from Harold Kidd
The photo below, ex Auckland Museum collection,  shows Mrs Lushington sitting on the ballast of her husband’s Robert Logan-built yacht MURITAI in 1899 at the property.
The 22ft mullet boat on the beach behind MURITAI is the 22 footer BELLE built by Hewson & Melville in 1883 also owned by Lushington. BELLE was converted to a deadwood keel yacht & later renamed LOTUS.

Muritai & Belle (Lotus) c1899

Pam Cundy Input

Pam sent me the photo below of of her partner, George Emtage, grandfather Captain George Samuel Emtage. They lived in a bay just around the corner from the bay shown above and worked for the Lushingtons and the Chandlers on Motuora. The excerpt from the book Jade River tells the story of how George’s family inherited Motuora island.

Nancy Belle

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NANCY BELLE
photo ex Pam Cundy

The photos of Nancy Belle above were taken by George Emtage & Pam Cundy at Great Barrier Island.
Pam believes that she may have been built at the Whangateau Traditional Boat Yard by the Greenwoods. To my untrained eye there are some similarities to Awatere, which was built by Greenwoods at WTB.

Any woodys able to confirm this & or supply more details on her ?

UPDATE:  Hawke-eye Nathan Herbert ID’ed Nancy Belle as Siren (below) – featured already on ww https://waitematawoodys.com/2014/07/12/siren-2/

Now this has to be a great example how a vessel can visually ‘change’ when her varnished coamings are painted 😦

Update from Pan Cundy

Pam told me she thought Siren might have been a Greenwood  because Siren looks so much like the image below that Howard G sent her some years ago. She has subsequently heard that this was boat was built by Howard for the Ray brothers.

 

Bailey & Lowe

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BAILEY & LOWE
photo ex Angus Rogers ex Northcote Tavern

The only photo that I had of the Bailey & Lowe yard at Sulphur Beach, Northcote, was one I took with the iPhone from a library book & it was very average.
The above is hanging on the wall in the Northcote Tavern & was snapped (via iPhone) by Angus Rogers.

What Angus was doing there is a mystery, must have taken a wrong turn & missed the Remuera motorway turn off 🙂

Anyone able to ID the vessels hauled out?

Revenge

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REVENGE
photos & details from Michael Marston

Todays post features Revenge, an ex Kaipara Harbour work boat, converted to pleasure use. Her new owner Michael has just relocated her to Lake Rotoiti & she was relaunched there last Thursday (01-10-2015), photos below. Her details are as passed onto Michael so he would love to get clarification & if possible uncover more on her past. Revenge was built 1905 & is a carvel planked counter stern design, made from kauri with puri cross floors and pohutukawa ribs, fixed by copper nails and roves. Originally she had a mast which is now on show at the Matakohe museum
She is 36′ LOA with a 12′ beam & 3′ draft. Engine is 6.2 litre D-Series Ford truck engine 150 HP matched to a Newage gearbox. This all turns a 22″x18″ prop.

Until recently she spent all her life on the Kaipara Harbour. Early configuration was a small wheelhouse up front, with the deck fitted for cream can collection throughout the Kaipara Harbour. Its also believed she hauled logs throughout the Kaipara Harbour.

Her previous owners (from 1965) had her rebuilt in 1995 with new floor boards, wheel house and engine as per the condition you see today, for live aboard retirement cruising of the Kaipara.
Revenge will be a welcome addition to the Lake Rotoiti classic fleet.

So woodys what do we know about her – Zach what do the Kaipara guys say?

Launch Day – Lake Rotoiti

Harold Kidd Input

All I have is that she was built by Thompson at Aratapu in 1905 as a sailing fishing boat for Morgan Bros who sold her to Edgar Brown who sold to the Fisheries Department around 1930. She was skippered by Bunny Tilby as a fisheries protection vessel. In 1942 her then engine, a Kelvin Ricardo 24-30hp diesel, was removed and sold by tender. The Department sold her to Tilby in 1948. He sold her to Colin McPike who sold her to Bill Pook who sold her to Bob Moyle in 1968. Moyle converted her into a pleasure launch.
A lot of that is from the Matakohe Museum’s archives and may be pure anecdote.

ps I have since found confirmation that The Fisheries Branch of the Marine Department bought her in late 1930 and fitted the Kelvin-Ricardo in October 1930. That probably replaced the Twigg. The Kelvin-Ricardo was a “paraffin engine” rather than a diesel.

Zach Matich input

I know early on she had a Twigg 40hp in her, and I think she was towing metal from Green Hill for the Hobson county. She has very full underwater lines especially in the bow area,my great uncle said that she used to pound badly in a head sea so much so that all that was left on the cup hooks in the galley were the handles!! Bob Molye had Eric William convert her to pleasure ie new cabin,bulwarks and hull work etc. The Ford came out of one of our family boats which Bob brought just for the 6 cylinder ford and on sold it with Revenge’s old 4 cylinder ford. I’ll have a dig for some photos

Zach photos below  🙂

08-10-2015 Update from Michael Marston

Michael just sent in the photo below which he received from the last owner, who bought her from Bob Molye (who had her from circa 1965 – 2012).
Only the hull looks familiar, with the wheelhouse looking as though it is back-to-front compared to today.
Michael is hoping the picture will jog more memories, with stories to flow onto ww.
As for the where about’s of her mast at the front (see photo), one story has it as a flag pole on a front lawn at Tinopai whilst someone else says it is at Matakohe museum. The good news being it seems the mast still exists in the area.

 

 

The Des Townson Story & The 2015 Classic Yacht & Launch Exhibition – Part 2 – Sailing Sunday

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The Des Townson Story & The 2015 Classic Yacht & Launch  Exhibition – Part 2 – Sailing Sunday

Today’s post features the yachts, both keel & trailer, that are on display at the Tino Rawa Trust hosted exhibition & gives you a peek at the collection of memorabilia & models also on display.
The show is open today from 10.00am > 4.00pm at the Viaduct – details in yesterdays post (scroll down). So if you are looking for something to do post chapel ;-), come on down.

I’ll let the photos tell the story. Enjoy

Remember click on only photo to enlarge 😉

Tony Stevenson
John Macfarlane
Sue Townson
Bill Townson
Brian Peet
Martin Tusker, Tony Stevenson, Peter Montgomery, Greg Fenwick

Updated – dropped down to the exhibition late this afternoon, primarilly because Colin Pawson told me I had over looked the best Townson yacht on show – Caper. I did have one photo of her, but most of the time I do what I’m told 🙂 so back I went.

So glad I went back & introduced myself to the owner & had a wee tour – simply stunning, & yes would get my best in show. Check out the bilge photo, I suspect the pump does not see a lot of use, a duster would be all that is required 😉

I also had a peek on-board the launch Aristos, she too is a work of art.

 

The Des Townson Story & The 2015 Classic Yacht & Launch Exhibition – Part 1

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The Des Townson Story & Aristos

Yesterday I was privileged to attend the opening of the 2015 Classic Yacht & Launch Exhibition, now if you have been living under a stone & are not aware of this annual event hosted by Tony Stevenson & the Tino Rawa Trust, the concept is simple but a winner. Each year one of our wooden boat designers is profiled & a collection of their craft is assembled & displayed. In recent years profiled designers have been – Jack Brooke & Colin Wild, in 2015 the event celebrates the life & work of Des Townson MNZM. In the nicest way, Des Townson was a freak, every boat from a 2.4m pram dinghy to a 12m cruiser/racer he designed was a work of art. A Townson will always be the prettiest yacht in the bay, their classic styling & purity of form was a winner on launch day & remains so to this day, over 3,500 Townson yachts have been built – that alone is impressive.

Today on ww I have featured Des’s one & only motorboat, Aristos, the 11.4m displacement launch built by Noel May. Tomorrow I will open the flood gates & post photos from the opening function & the fleet of stunning yachts on display at the Viaduct.

The event runs today & tomorrow, between 10am & 4.00pm at the Viaduct, alongside the draw bridge & in front of the old Team NZ base, entry is free & if you are passionate about beautiful boats you need to be there – the collection of craft on & off the water & Townson memorabilia is amazing.

As part of the celebration – the Tino Rawa Trust have produced a glossy journal profiling Des Townson’s life & designs – its available at the exhibition marquee for $20 & this wonderful publication complied by John Macfarlane, has to  be, a must have in your collection. I have two copies to give away to woodys – I’ll make it simple, the first two woodys that correctly name the design of the Townson yacht that was the most popular i.e the most built (excluding the Electron model yachts)- I’ll give you a clue- it shared its name with a popular model of automobile, wins a copy. Because some of you struggle to work out how to use the ww comments section 🙂 I’ll split the prizes – one via email entry at waitematawoodys@gmail.com & one via entry in the comments section. You can only enter once 😉

Now Aristos – even with the addition of a flying bridge & her once varnished coamings hidden under battleship grey paint, she is a Townson & that means that no matter what angle you view her, she is simply beautiful. Why only one was built I do not know, maybe there is a story there?

So folks, make your way to the waterfront this weekend & take advantage to this once only exhibition that showcases one of our most successful & talented craftsman.

Now the owner of Aristos, Ray Haydon, is a very clever & talented man with his hands – a wee example of his skills can be seen on the bow of Aristos, Ray has designed & crafted an anchor turner (ensures the anchor is presented correctly when retrieving by winch) – it looks a little like a big bottle opener, but I can assure you it will be ‘fit for purpose’. Rather than paying for the imported Italian ones, someone needs to market Ray’s design 😉