CLASSIC WOODEN LAUNCH – LADY CAROLE – UPDATE #8 – LAUNCH DAY 

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CLASSIC WOODEN LAUNCH – LADY CAROLE – UPDATE #8 – LAUNCH DAY 

After a full few months co-owner Patrick Crawshaw reports in on the big day – as always Patrick tells the story…….

“ LADY CAROLE was relaunched on Saturday with much fanfare with about thirty people turning out to see her.   

It’s taken four months’ to restore her exterior to her original lines and design. Next year the interior will be restored to her original layout and a new motor put in so we will start all over again and I will send posts on this final phase two part of the project. 

I would like to say a big thank you to Waitemata Woody’s for the help in retrieving items that were lost and also the great advice they have given me over the past four months. 

A big thank you also to the Bay of Islands Yacht Club who have also supported the restoration of LADY CAROLE  with such great spirit.   The club works on a volunteer basis and everyone helps out and works together. It’s been a privilege to be there five days a week among the great community that is the Bay of Islands Yacht Club.  It was also a great honour that LADY CAROLE  was asked to be a regatta boat. I am sure she will enjoy being in service to the club. 

So now a new chapter for LADY CAROLE  begins.  She has to date had a very full and eventful life: Some of her adventures include slipping her mooring in the sixties and getting jammed under the Waitangi Bridge.  A great petrol-vapour explosion happened in Whangaroa in the early 1970’s, after which her engine was changed to diesel. She almost sank on her pole at Waipapa Landing during a Kerikeri flood in the sixties and sailed out to witness the re-sinking of the Rainbow Warrior in 1987.  She has been all over New Zealand from Whangaroa to the South Island and everywhere in between. These are just a few of the stories I know about – there are many, many more I am sure…

On Friday night she was put on display for the weekly dinner held at the yacht club. Saturday was busy doing last minute jobs. She went in at 4pm and sat in the cradle for ten minutes as we looked at all the water pouring into the hull hoping that once we were off the cradle, the bilge would keep up. The motor started up with a great plume of black smoke and she reversed out and sped off, very happy to be free from the cradle and parched environment she had been in for four months. 

Friday Evening

Launch Day – 28th September

CIRCLE LABOUR WEEKEND IN THE DIARY – OCT 25 > 28TH – MORE DETAILS LATER IN THE WEEK BUT THIS IS SHAPING UP TO BE THE CLASSIC WOODY WEEKEND OF THE SEASON

MYSTERY TUTUKAKA CLASSIC WOODEN LAUNCH – MERLIN

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MYSTERY TUTUKAKA CLASSIC WOODEN LAUNCH – MERLIN

Todays woody story is the last from my recent trip to Tutukaka marina. The woody seen in the above photos looks a tad familiar but my brain search mode is a somewhat slow these days 🙂 Not sure if she is midway thru a varnish job or just crying out for some TLC, hopefully the first.

Can we put a name to the vessel and anymore intel on her. – Its MERLIN, but we still know very little about her.

CLASSIC WOODEN LAUNCH – GLENIFFER – A Peek Down Below

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CLASSIC WOODEN LAUNCH – GLENIFFER – A Peek Down Below

Todays woody is the 39’ classic wooden Bridgedecker – GLENIFFER. A recent addition to tme (thanks Ian McDonald) – as always seems to be the case a few factual discrepancies, so in the interests of getting right on WW , we will go with what Harold Kidd advised in a previous WW story (linked below – great b/w photo there) that she was built by Chas Bailey & Sons and launched in October 1930.

GLENIFFER also made a cameo WW appearance in April 2017 (linked below)

WW April 2013 https://waitematawoodys.com/2013/04/11/glenifer/

WW April 2017 https://waitematawoodys.com/2017/04/13/woody-on-tour-havelock-marina/

Her name came from her original engine make -a Gleniffer. These days her forward motion is via Ford D series 6 cyl engine.

Home is Port Tarakohe, Tasman, Sth Island.

CLASSIC WOODEN FROSTBITE GETS SOME SERIOUS TLC

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CHARISMA

CLASSIC WOODEN FROSTBITE GETS SOME SERIOUS TLC

The two photos above are of Colin Pawson’s Frostbite sailing dinghy – CHARISMA which Colin is currently giving a birthday. Interesting observation – the new ribs aren’t steam bent, but laminated with the aim to be much stronger and lighter. As we have come to expect from Mr Pawson over the years attention to detail is 10/10.

Owning a Frostbite is a Pawson family thing – son Adrian owns – KITEROA, (photos below) and both sail out of the Taikata Sailing Club in West Auckland which on a good day has 15+ Frostbites racing.

KITEROA

CYA YACHTS PLAYING CRASH & BASH AGAIN

The woody spies report that the classic yacht skippers haven’t learnt from the past – first race of the season yesterday and we have a collision in the inner harbour – details are unconfirmed but it appears WAITANGI and KATRINA ‘came together’ and Katrina lost her mast – I’m not getting into specifics but if I was a betting man I know which skipper I’d be pointing the finger at 😉 Hopefully no injuries and insurance sorts out the damage.

UPDATE – Both boats reaching down the harbour. Some how they came together so it will be a ‘windward boat keep clear’ or ‘overtaking boat keep clear’.You have to ask how two classics came together on a very nice afternoon, easy sailing on the harbour.Too much testosterone ……………

COULD THIS BE THE CLASSIC WOODEN LAUNCH – MANU-ITI

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COULD THIS BE THE CLASSIC WOODEN LAUNCH – MANU-ITI

Last weekend one of the woodys that we past on the Wairoa River was the launch – MANU-ITI, a rather striking small classic launch that was crying out for some TLC.

During the week WW was contacted by Kerry Alexander who posed the question – could the launch seen in the top photo above be MANU-ITI ?

Kerry commented that he I did not remember the build name but i think it may have been for Mr Yates sen , of the seed company. The builder Keith Atkinson is seen in the doorway. 

A possible date for the photo is c.1965 and the boat maybe a Bill Couldrey design.

So woodys can anyone comment / added to this mystery boat in the shed photo.

INOUT ex NATHAN HERBERT – yes, designed 1964 for Yates and one for Birkenhead and Northcote Yacht Club. Only the Yates boat built.

02-10-2024 UPDATE ex Chloe Salthouse – photo below of Manu-iti crossing Parekura Bay up in the Bay of Islands, with Norman Yates at the helm. Date probably not long after her launch in 1965.

LADY CAROLE RESTORATION – UPDATE #7

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LADY CAROLE RESTORATION – UPDATE #7

Today we have the latest update on the restoration of LADY CAROLE, as previously co-owner Patrick Crawshaw will walk us thru it – Patrick commented that there were a few things still to do like put the non skid on the decks and the mast and some more fittings. But LC is days away from touching the water – hopefully tomorrow ✔️

The last couple of weeks has been spent finishing the painting, getting the mast made, and trims fabricated for the aft deck curve. Next year the rub rails will be changed to stainless steel, but we used the existing ones for now. Most of the chrome fittings are on. Hull with anti-foul, prop speed, etc.  

Starting to come together with the chrome going on. 

Spring Equinox – The cover gets removed and we see her for the first time from a distance. 

RSVP – waitematawoodys@gmail.com

REEL THING / REAL TIME / MARY ANN + 2025 TALL SHIPS REGATTA 

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REEL THING / REAL TIME / MARY ANN + 2025 TALL SHIPS REGATTA 

Not often I start with an apology but todays craft wouldn’t normally be a lead WW story, a tad too much happening up top but I spotted REAL THING berthed in the Tutukaka Marina recently and the there is a very smart hull under the additions. I’m sure the addition would pass the Auckland Council Unitary Plan re height of new dealings 😉

Can any of th northern woodys tell us more about REEL THING.

INPUT ex ERIC SANDERSON – the boat featured on WW back in 2023 under the name REAL Time (also once named MARY ANN) built in 1962 by ‘Tauranga Boatbuilders’ See/read more at this link https://waitematawoodys.com/2023/08/15/reel-time-mary-ann/

TALL SHIPS REGATTA 2025 – RUSSELL BOATING CLUB

Learn more here russellboatingclub.org.nz

CLASSIC MASON MARLIN WOODEN RUNABOUT MORPHS INTO A SPEEDBOAT

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CLASSIC MASON MARLIN WOODEN RUNABOUT MORPHS INTO A SPEEDBOAT

During the woodys trip to the Clevedon Cruising Club last weekend, one of the members brought along a recent project.

The speedboat SUZI Q started life as a Mason Marlin but her cabin top was toast so the call was made to start from scratch and the end result is what we see above.

Quite an impressive conversion and no doubt a flyer, did not get a chance to talk to the owner but it would be interesting to learn how she performs / handles at speed. I image a windscreen will be on the shopping list 🙂

THIS WOULD HAVE TO BE ONE OF THE STRANGEST COMMENTS ON THE WW SITE

CLASSIC WOODEN CRAFT ON THE WAIROA RIVER

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WE ARE OFF

CLASSIC WOODEN CRAFT ON THE WAIROA RIVER

Following on from yesterdays (scroll down to view) story on the woodys cruise up the Wairoa River to the Clevedon Cruising Club, today we have a gallery of craft that both Jason Prew and myself photographed on-route, some old favourites there, most looking a little worse for the lack of TLC over winter, but a few newbies.

Enjoy the journey – we did 🙂 (remember to click photos to enlarge)

#3 PONSONBY CC CLUB NIGHT – FEATURED VESSEL – Rainbow II

This Thursday – 26th – 4pm >> – Refer below

Classic Wooden Craft Overnight Trip Up The Wairoa River 

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NGARUNUI + LUCINDA ON-ROUTE TO CLEVEDON CRUISING CLUB
DOCKSIDE STROLL

Classic Wooden Craft Overnight Trip Up The Wairoa River 

Over the weekend we had our first woodys event for the classic boating summer season – a cruise up the Wairoa River to overnight at the Clevedon Cruising Club. Due to lock downs and weather bombs we had skipped a couple of years so the weekend was long overdue.

Given tidal access restrictions the weekend always starts with an early departure to the mouth of the Wairoa River, the smart ones leave on the Friday. 

The weather early (<5am)  Saturday morning was raining cats & dogs, but as if prearranged at 5.30am it stopped and we enjoyed a very pleasant dawn passage. The group gathered at 8.45am and journeyed up the river, always a tad anxious but it was a 3.6m tide so all good.

I snapped a gallery of photos of the woodys that are moored on-route – separate WW story tomorrow.

Our hosts , lead by Commodore Alister (Al) excelled themselves from the RIB on-hand to assist with docking to the world famous (on the river) Saturday night BBQ. The evening included raffles, outdoor fires, a singer and karaoke and even dessert provided. I can report no-one in the woodys group stepped up to karaoke the mike 🙂 Woody Dave Giddens donated several ‘old’ sails to the club which will be repurposed as shade sails around the clubhouse.

If you have never been on one of the trips you need to – the club facilities and hospitality is so traditional /  old school but in a cool way.

Included in the raffle prizes was a WW chopping board… I’ll need to talk to my copyright lawyer 🙂

We eat very well – sorry about the food pix but thats what you have to put up with 🙂

If you think that classic wooden craft are all sub 7 knotters check out the videos below of a couple of the voom-voomers.

(photos & videos ex Jason Prew & Alan H)

MY GIRL
LUCINDA

And a couple of the more relxed woodys

MOKOIA (fenders…….)
RAINDANCE