The Cruise of Calypso – Christmas 1919 – Sailing Sunday

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The Cruise of Calypso – Christmas 1919 – Sailing Sunday

Story & photos ex Harold Kidd

The shot below of Calypso, Celox and Waitere II is from NZ Yachtsman and Calypso is on the left.

This photo shows Calypso under tow.

The hotel shot below is at the Duke of Marlborough.

Lastly the crew of Calypso

This log was written in indelible pencil in a notebook by C.B. Madden who, like some of the others, had just returned from active service (and survived the Spanish ‘Flu epidemic). So the cruise must have helped a great deal with the normalisation of their minds.

CALYPSO was a 26ft mullet boat built to the Restrictions by Tyler & Harvey in 1909 for the Wild brothers of Stanley Bay. Barkey Wild, Colin Wild’s older brother, was killed at Delville Wood in September 1916 and Harold Handley of 73 Calliope Road, Devonport bought her in the winter of 1919. WAITERE II had always been her companion 26 footer as she was owned by the Willetts family who lived close by in Stanley Bay. By a whisker, WAITERE II was probably the fastest pre-CORONA 26ft mullet boat.

The Cruise of Calypso Christmas 1919 (an edited version)

Crew: Skipper Harold Handley, R Rodger, A Madden, C Madden, Arthur Whitely, Tom

“24th December 1919; Left Calliope Dock 8.15pm. Wind SW, weather fine full headsail full main. Waitere waited half an hour for us to start. Reached Rangitoto Beacon 9.30pm. Ruahine with troops passed inwards. We kept watches all night and sighted Sail Rock at daybreak. SS Pakeha passed inwards at 7.30am SS Manaia at 9.30am. Had kept up with Waitere right up to Sail Rock. Several yachts and launches put into Tutukaka, also Waitere also us after short dinghy tow as wind very light. Arrived 8pm had grand Christmas tuck in with assistance of two of Waitere crew.

26th December; sailed North in a nice NNW breeze. Put into Whangaruru and anchored with Waitere. Went to Maori dance ashore.

27th December; ran up to Russell with Waitere in fine SSW wind.

28th December; Waitere was put on the beach for cleaning. The plate was dropped and taken ashore for local craftsmen to remove buckle. Caught 50 or 60 schnapper at Robinson’s Island.

29th December; Left for Whangamumu with Waitere under full sail. Gave caretaker at whaling station two fish. He was pleased to get news regarding liquor poll. We got rid of most of our surplus fish by giving it to the NSSCo’s auxiliary Tuhoe.

30th December; Set sail for Whangarei after cooking breakfast on beach.

31st December; Passenger launch Oleo offered us a tow in. Arrived at Onerahi at 11.15pm. Sailed up to town wharf. After some difficulty in getting a berth tied up alongside Seagar Bros Milly at steps. Went ashore had a look around got stores and had tea at Temperance Hotel.

1st January 1920; Put quantity of ballast and all cruising gear ashore and got ready for race which started at 10.30am. Confusion regarding marks. Result of race Waitere 1 Celox 2, Calypso 3. Race finished at 3.30pm. Had tea and sailed for the Railway Bridge. Launch Ranoni kindly offered us a tow to Town Wharf. Went ashore for a walk but did not get as far as yachtsmen’s smoke concert.

2nd January; Crew went by car to Kamo. In evening gave the pictures a go.

3rd January; Waitere crew entertained us at the Whangarei Hotel. A splendid dinner was put on for us. In the afternoon we all motored out to the strawberry gardens. Left Whangarei 7pm with a great sendoff. Anchored off freezing works for an early morning start.

4th January; Set sail at 5am in light northerly breeze growing in strength. Arrived at Mansion House Bay. Only 3 launches here. After tea hove anchor and moved across the bay for shelter. Had musical evening on board.

5th January; Set sail 10am for Waiwera. No yachts here. Went to Heads to fish. Arrived at Mahurangi Wharf at 9pm

6th January; Beautiful day, very light winds.   All hands went aboard the Waitere and we sailed up the river to Red Bluff where we inspected Morrison’s Orchard. Returned to Waitere and decided to proceed to Warkworth. Tide dead low. Stuck on the mud a few hundred yards from the Wharf. After lunch, floated off and proceeded to Wharf. Found Warkworth very quiet. Left Warkworth at 6pm. For 8 shillings a local launch towed us about ¾ mile past Red Bluff. At 9.30 back aboard Calypso.

7th January; Another day of the best kind. Very little wind early. Left Mahurangi as team for Tiri to fish. Left for Auckland 3pm. Put a good dinner on whilst lying off Tiri Light and entertained Waitere’s crew to their entire satisfaction.”

 

Ailsa

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AILSA
photo & details ex Harold Kidd & ww

Harold purchased the photo of the terribly well-dressed young people that appear to be on their way to Pine Island for a picnic in a ‘garage -sale’.
Initially he had no clue as to the name of the launch, just the photographer’s name, however given that the photographer was Guy Kelsey (born 1902) Harold is confident that the photo was taken on the launch Ailsa owned by Guy’s brother, Ernest Cracroft Kelsey (born 1900) a marine engineer, then of Parnell.

Ailsa was 23’x 7′ and was built in late 1913, probably on commission from Peter A Smith who fitted her 8-10hp Alpha marine engine and probably by a St. Mary’s Bay builder for one Graham. Devonport Dentist O.H. Wright sold her to Kelsey in 1919. She seems to have gone to Tauranga around 1926.

I’m unsure where the photo of Ailsa under power came from, possibly from classicgameboatnz. AH

Rona W

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RONA W
photo & details ex Ross Dawson, owner of the Askew ketch ‘Delight’

Rona W is moored in the Rotopiro Creek, a km east of the Wairoa River mouth at Clevedon. She is currently owned by Mr A Hayward of Kawakawa Bay.
Rona W is 26′ LOA X 6′ Beam X 2′ Draught. The long term previous owner Mr Doug Luke, a well known identity in the Clevedon area who supplied the following information….
Built 1936 by Warmington of Dargaville, originally powered by a Beardmore aero engine. Her hull form is a narrow hardcine which planes reasonably easily. Doug understands she was built to race on the Kaipara. Doug aquired her in about 1969 in somewhat run down condition from Mr Johnny Dill of Clevedon. At that time she was powered by a Chrysler petrol engine, salt water cooled and in tired condition. Also her hull needed refastening. The single skin Kauri hull was fastened by galvanised nails into floors one inch thick and not clenched or riveted. Over a period of time thicker floors and copper fastening was carried out. Doug installed an Oliver 70 petrol tractor engine which was then keel cooled. This motor was replaced c.2005 with a Ford diesel which is capable of pushing Ron W readily onto the plane.
She has been a well known local icon moored at the Luke property at Whakatiri between Clevedon & Kawakawa Bay.
The cabin arrangements have obviously been considerably altered since the original configuration. (there is a photo of the Rona W during her Kaipara days at the Matakohe Museum) She has been a comfortable family cruiser, albeit as Doug once commented….”with her narrow beam, you need to part your hair in the middle in order to stay upright”

Update ex Ross Dawson 21/01/2015

“Doug Luke rang me today to say he had copies of pics of Rona W in earlier guise. The two without dinghy are from the Matakohe Museum and depict Rona W on the Kaipara. They are rather fuzzy pictures but show original configuration. The third was taken in the Wairoa River, Clevedon when in the ownership of Johnny Dill. You can see the doghouse now has four side lights with the cabin being slightly extended aft into what was cockpit. Doug rebuilt the Dill changes to give a much higher wheelhouse giving headroom but at cost to the asthetics I think.
The foredeck and main cabin were unchanged through the three alterations.” Ross D.

Update 11-08-2020 Rona W has been in the care of the Pollard family for several years – last week they called her out at The Slipway Milford for some TLC 😉

Whangateau Traditional Boat Yard – A different view

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Whangateau Traditional Boat Yard – A different view

photos ex Geoff Steven

At the recent CYA launch group visit / open day my good friend & CYA member Geoff Steven (Awatere) grabbed my camera off me & took a few photos of the yard. Geoff has lots of interesting business interests, most based around the world of film & photography, so it was interesting to see the yard from a pros eyes. Enjoy 🙂

As always, click photos to enlarge 😉

You can have a peek at Geoff’s work here

http://www.ourplaceworldheritage.com

Dawn

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Dawn

photo ex Paul Drake ex ‘Boats of Taupo’

The above photo shows Dawn on Lake Taupo, seems they were a little care free in the old days in terms of safety & life jackets, at my count there are 19 people on board 🙂
If you are afloat today/night (New Years eve) you be careful out there.

1000th Post

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1000th Post

When I did the last post, my confirmation email  – told me it was post #999, so I could not let #1000 be a Joe Average post  – so not being shy – I thought must be time for a shot of my Raindance. Which I’m sitting on in Huse Bay at the bottom end of Waiheke Island, doing this post 🙂

 

 

Eros

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EROS

photo & details ex Harold Kidd

The above photo is of the 34ft launch EROS racing in the 1929 Anniversary Regatta in the race for cruisers over 12 knots.
Stan Parker of Parker Engineering bought her in late 1927/early 1928. She was supposedly “well-known on the Manukau” prior to that, but who built her, under what name and when HDK hasn’t yet figured out.
Maybe she was built by Les Coulthard?
Stan Parker re-engined her with a 100hp Hall-Scott (probably an aero-engine) and set about racing her with the NZPBA, Victoria Cruising Club and Devonport Yacht Club. She was an 18 knotter.
Stan sold her to W. Fullerton in June 1935 and took Fullerton’s NOMAD in exchange which he then handed over to Lidgards to completely rebuild, extending her from 35ft to 42ft and renaming her ARAWA. NOMAD had been built in 1919 as IRIHAPETI but is now a bridgedecker known as REHUTAI but supposedly with “Lanes” as her builder and a build date of “1949”.
Fullerton sold EROS off immediately to J. Gresham of Tauranga who had her until at least February 1938.
So, what were EROS’ origins before Stan Parker and what happened to her after 1938 in Tauranga?

Tradition

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TRADITION

photos ex Ken Ricketts ex boatbuilders website

I don’t know much about Tradition, as nice smart looking launch. I understand that she is owned by a couple that divide their time between Tauranga & Wellington. She supposedly originally came from Picton. Has had a refurbishment at Hutcheson Boatbuilders in Tauranga.

Anyone able to supply more details?

Waitemata Wakas – Sailing Sunday

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Waitemata Wakas

Motoring back from the CYA Patio Bay Race weekend, with Barb & David Cooke aboard Trinidad we passed this impressive fleet of Wakas off North Head, Devonport. Seems they had assembled to get a visiting Waka that was doing (I think) a circumnavigation of the world. An impressive site & of particular interest to the Cookes as their son-in-law Greg Salthouse built them. Very talented & diverse yard is Salthouse’s.

ps big day today – its my birthday 🙂