SAD END TO A WOODEN BOAT

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SAD END TO A WOODEN BOAT

South Island (Waimate) woody – Russell Wallace reported in earlier in the week of a sad sequence of events at Oamaru Harbour. Russell tells the story below –  “Oamaru harbour has been the refuge of a number of old small double ended fishing boats which have over the years succumbed to both their age and the elements.

The above photos show the latest sad victim which I took from the Oamaru Today Facebook page (credit to Oamaru Live and Oamaru Today for details and photos) Maybe some of your fans may know of this particular boat” edited

The story ex the fb posts goes like this – she broke her mid-harbour mooring and drifted to the inside of the breakwater and sank. From there she was towed to the Stanford’s berth.

From the photos a decision must have been made to hoist her out – the question is – was the breaking up intentional or was there an oops with the lift ?. Either way it is a very sad end to what looked to be a pretty woody double-ender needing restoring.

CIRCLE THE CALENDAR – UPCOMING CLASSIC BOATING EVENTS

JUDITH AIMEE – Classic Wooden Launch

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JUDITH AIMEE – Classic Wooden Launch

Woody Geoff Fiebig sent in the above photo that he took while doing the Coastal Walk at Ti Point (Omaha / Leigh area, Rodney). The launch was moored in the entrance to the Whangateau Harbour. An interesting blend of styles and a rather large poop deck on her stern.

Can anyone tell us more about the vessel.

INPUT ex SHANE ANDERSON – Shane pointed me in the direction of the Percy Vos book – Launching Dreams – where we learnt she was built in 1966 to drawing by Ken McCormick. 42′ and when launched powered by a 75hp Gardner 6LW

INPUT & PHOTOS ex DONNA LEWIS
M father – Don McMillan and his father Neil McMillan went out on the JUDITH AIMEE when she was in Whitianga. My Grandfather retired to Whitianga from the Bay of Islands.

My best guess on the photos is between 1958 & no later than 1962 ( I was 4 years old then and did go boating with my Dad) but never on the JUDITH AIMEE.

I don’t know who owned her but have a feeling it may have been Malcolm Cruikshank who lived next door to My Grandfather on the esplanade.Pictured on the bottom photo is my grandad Neil – we called him Grandad Dick- sitting on top of the cabin with beret facing forward..I wish I new who the others are/ were. I will go on a fact finding mission

24-08-2025 INPUT ex Liz Needham – The captain of Judith Aimee was my Uncle Jim Needham

And on the subject of additions – we have a new leader in the craft that most resembles a block of flats. I wonder what they grow up there 😉 The woody that sent in the photo below should probably remain anonymous. The location looks like Kawau Island.

NEW CLASSIC YACHT OFFERED 4SALE – $13k

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NEW CLASSIC YACHT OFFERED 4SALE – $13k

Todays woody isn’t really a project because all the hard work had been done, a buyer just need to decide on the finishing touches and they would be sailing this spring.The yacht was designed by Denis Brown and according to the plans is tagged a ’10.6m Ocean Cruiser Cutter’ and is a sister ship to – TAMARA that has been on WW, link here –  https://waitematawoodys.com/2017/06/04/tamara-sailing-sunday/ (photo also below of TAMARA)
FYI – TAMARA was built by Denis in the Bay of Islands and launched in 1990. He then sailed her to the States and returned a couple of years later.Her cruising pedigree is undeniable and there is a very interesting article in Wooden Boat November/December 1994 regarding Tamara’s trip, “The Evolution of an Ocean Cruiser”. Denis now lives just outside Hikurangi and is still sharp as a tack aged 90 years, what a life of experiences he has lived.

Todays yacht was built in a barn just outside Kaikohe over a period of 40 years by engineer Bruce Edge. Built from treated 28mm kahikatea, strip planked, concave-convex epoxy edge glued. Her deck is laminated timber. Unfortunately Bruce Edge passed away without seeing his yacht touch the ocean.
She is beautifully finished and there really is only cosmetic work, external paint, some internal paint, as well as a mast and rigging needed to complete her.Included is; 

  • main mast extrusion for the gaff rig
  • a steel keel and three ton of available lead for pouring before the keel is bolted to the Keelson
  • a Yanmar motor (condition unknown)
  • four brand new sails made by Willis sails –
  • lots of miscellaneous hardware 
  • two Murray winches for the inner headsail already fitted to the boat
  • a set of plans which Denis has kindly supplied. 

Her current owner (an experienced boat builder) acquired the yacht just over a year ago with the intention of completing her but life circumstances changed and how she is for sale.Her owner had two experienced boat builders check her over and they both commented she is very well built 

The location of the boat is just outside KeriKeri and has good access for transportation.
In terms of price, the owner is only seeking to recover costs to date and mentioned that $13,000 will see her change ownership. That woodys is a very fair price, so do not bother looking if you think a low ball offer will get the boat.
Initial enquires to Hamish at  vcstcere83@gmail.com

Sistership – TAMARA

SPIRIT OF TRADITION CLASSIC DOUBLE-ENDER WOODEN LAUNCH – BONITA

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SPIRIT OF TRADITION CLASSIC DOUBLE-ENDER WOODEN LAUNCH – BONITA

Over the weekend I was mooching around the upper harbour and came across the very smart looking double-ender above.

She is moored just off the old Salthouse yard / wharf and looks very new.

At a guess I would say approx. 28>30’ , would love to see the wheel house sans the covers.

Can anyone provide more intel on the vessel.

Ken Ricketts pointed out the she made a cameo appearance back in Feb 2023, photo below, nice to see the wheelhouse, James Hutchinson also commented that the boats named BONITA, built by Lanes. Details here for a peek inside the cabin. Amazing the difference a paint job makes. https://waitematawoodys.com/2022/07/07/borato/

INPUT ex CHRIS SALTHOUSE – The Vessels name is Bonita not Bonito and yes Eric Lanes of Picton built her in 1923, I bought her 2 years ago, steamed her across the Cook straight then trucked her to Auckland were we are slowly getting her in shape as time permits. Thanks for the interest.

MV FRIENDSHIP – A Peek Down Below

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MV FRIENDSHIP – A Peek Down Below

WW was recently sent details on the 59’ motor launch – FRIENDSHIP by Peter Noble. Peter commented that she was formerly operating out of Deep Cove under the ownership of Fiordland Travel as the company was called 40 years ago.  She was used as a tourist boat, taking people out onto Doubtful Sound.  Nicknamed the Friendly Ship, she originally had two GM 353 diesels, these produced plenty of smoke and noise but not a great deal of power.   Peter also pointed us in the direction of a gent named –  Lance Shaw who lives in Manapouri, who hopefully he will be able to tell us more about the vessel.

The listing states that she was built by someone named Robb in 1956 and is made of wood, thats all we know because the ad is all about it being the best live aboard available. Well woodys given the sellers decorating approach thats very subjective, but they do say that ‘furnishing can be separately negotiated’ 🙂

INPUT ex JOHN GANDER ex Dean Wright – “Friendship was built for Les Kenny of ‘Friendship Launches Picton’ by Doug Robb a well known boatbuilder in Timaru. and ran for many years along with the smaller Friendship ( built by Ernie Lane) in Queen Charlotte Sound. Both vessels were powered by G.M. diesels. I remember in the 1960-70s there were three main launch companies, ‘Queen Charlotte launches’ ‘Friendship Launches’ and ‘Red Funnel Launches’ owned and run by Les’s brother Bill Kenny and there was quite a bit of rivalry and competition between Friendship and Red Funnel”

ARANUI – Can You Help Locate This Wooden Boat

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ARANUI – Can You Help Locate This Wooden Boat

During the week WW was contacted by Peter Pickett in regard to a classic launch named – ARANUI, built c.1920>30. I’ll let Peter tell the story. 

“Don’t know if you can help us but several of the families descended from our Grandfather, Jim Ross of Cambridge (in those days  a co-owner of Cambridge Transport) are trying to locate his beloved ARANUI a former and possibly current waitematawoody, in a new guise. Grandpa Ross also crewed on the legendary ARIKI 

We believe ARANUI was built around 1920 to 1930 but we are not sure of the original builder or owner. The Yates family (of seed fame) owned her up until around 1950 when Grandpa JW Ross purchased her. He kept her on a double mooring at Westhaven. ARANUI was originally powered by a 6 cylinder Ailsa Craig petrol engine, but in the late 50’s Grandpa re-powered her with a 4 cylinder Fordson diesel. Our fathers were regular crew but few of the remaining grandchildren ever got to go on board as our grandfather passed away in 1961. We were mainly a little on the young side to be of much use prior to 1960 but most of us are life-long boating enthusiasts and own boats of varying descriptions. 

We believe a Mr Fisher may have purchased her in the early 60’s and taken ARANUI to Whitianga, where she was possibly moored up the river somewhere. We have heard that the Yates family may have re-purchased her at some stage before or since and may even own her still, but the latter aspects are unconfirmed. 

We are extremely keen to track her down again and dependent on various factors, may even consider purchasing/restoring / displaying her. Condition is not necessarily an issue as she could become a display in a Museum created by one branch of the family, that being the Ross Bros Muscle Car (and heaps of other stuff) Museum in Cambridge. Its mighty spectacular and there is an ARANUI  space if that is the best remaining option. 

We would greatly appreciate any help you can offer in this search, and look forward to hearing from you. Cheers, Peter R Pickett, on behalf of the Ross, Peake and Pickett families.”


So woodys can we solve the mystery of what became of ARANUI 

01-07-2024 INPUT ex MITCH PASCOE (via Baden Pascoe)- Yes it used to moored in back bay, Whitianga. Owner by a guy called Des Fisher ,a block layer ,who lived up by Coghill Street . He had a Mk1 Vanguard car made into a Ute .

Used to go out and stray line big snapper , they were always in washing machine bowls stewing in their own juice with no ice in the sun . I think it had a Ford in with exhaust out the side ..

01-07-2024 INPUT ex HAROLD KIDD – She was owned around 1920 in Coromandel then by W.H. Stevens of Tauranga in the late1920s until 1937. It’s possible that she was rebuilt from the hull of a large auxiliary mullet boat ARANUI built 1912-3 by David Reid.

MYSTERY YACHT AGROUND WINNER – Hugh Gladwell with the correct name – NGATIRA. Amazingly 95% of people said LITTLE JIM and gave the location as Rangitoto Island. NGATIRA’s owner STEVE HORSLEY supplied the photo, Steve was given the photo from Ian Littler, his father owned NGATIRA from 1916-1919. Photo is thought to be the aftermath of the 1917 storm off Devonport somewhere. Burgee in the letterbox tomorrow Hugh 🙂

MYSTERY YACHT HIGH & DRY – NGATIRA

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MYSTERY YACHT HIGH & DRY – ITS NGATIRA

Had a few mystery launches on WW high and dry recently so seems fair that we feature a yacht today.

For once I know the answer, so lets make it a quiz – all correct answers emailed to waitematawoodys@gmail.com before 6pm 29-06-24 go into the draw for a WW Burgee.

So correct boat name = one chance in the draw, correct boat name and location = two chances in the draw.Hint > location is Auckland area.

MYSTERY WOODEN LAUNCH AGROUND -C.1960

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MYSTERY WOODEN LAUNCH AGROUND – c.1960

During the week the story on MARISTELLA and her several episodes of touch hydrography prompted Gavin Pascoe to send in the photo above of an unidentified launch run aground on Pukerua Bay rocks in the Wellington region. There are some impressive rollers coming in so I’d be surprised if she was re-floated.

The photo caption had a date of c.1960’s on it and the comment that the photograph was taken for the Evening Post newspaper of Wellington by an unidentified staff photograph. The origin is c/o the National Library collection.

Anyone able tout a name to the launch.


WESTHAVEN COMPETITION – Dockside chat tells me the waterfront marine community are running a sweepstake on when the classic yacht CAPLIN will leave its new berth and venture out on the Waitemata Harbour. One old salt commented that maybe its new prime position was viewed by her new owner as an ornate gift to the neighbourhood…………….. 😉

UPDATE 11-07-2024 – I can confirm Caplin has ventured out 🙂

CLASSIC BIG GAME LAUNCHES HAULED OUT

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CLASSIC BIG GAME LAUNCHES HAULED OUT

Todays photo popped up yesterday on a Bill McQuinn fb feed and shows the Orams yard in Whangarei. The photo is dated 1967.

From left to right the game boats are (1) ’something’ GLEN (Lance Reid has suggested MONA’s GLEN , Lew Redwood says MONS GLEN and Nathan Herbert commented that could be MONA’S ISLE (2) BLUE FIN (3) RUTH.

• Keen to confirm the correct name of launch #1 . From the chat on the fb page it would appear that boat #1 is Monas Isle / Rakanui Read more below –https://waitematawoodys.com/2017/06/17/rakanui-mona-isle-ii/

• BLUE FIN has featured on WW before https://waitematawoodys.com/2021/04/27/blue-fin-2/

• Very interested to learn more about RUTH.

CLASSIC LAUNCH – MARISTELLA – Sinks, Catches fire, Goes on the rocks……

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CLASSIC LAUNCH – MARISTELLA – Sinks, Catches fire, Goes on the rocks……

The 40’ Sam Ford 1936 built launch – MARISTELLA has made several appearances on WW, one story back in 2019 (linked below) created a lot of chat in the comments section. https://waitematawoodys.com/2019/08/27/mystery-launch-27-08-2019/

Chatting to Nathan Herbert yesterday prompted me to do a deep dive in the WW files and jackpot I came across some correspondence from Murray Bridge back in Jan 2020. Murray’s family owned the boat for approx. 20 years (1959>1999) and he sent me a clipping of an article from Boating NZ. Reading the article it appears that MARISTELLA has been a very lucky boat, if she was a cat she would have used up a lot of her nine lives 🙂 

In her past life she joined the sub-mariner club when she hit a uncharted submerged rock in Queen Charlotte Sound, was successfully re-floated and refitted. Then on another trip caught fire in Bluff, again repaired. And later ran aground on rocks near Mana in Wellington. I have included an enlarged section of the BNZ article below – click image to enlarge.

The good news is she survived all those oops and is still with us today as seen in the above photos. The real reason for the story today is her newish owner is in Nathan’s words ‘rejuvenating’ the boat and needs a pair of opening portholes (approx. size = 8.5”), so we are doing a shout out asking if anyone has some gathering dust. FYI – when we ask for help locating fittings its for woody folk deserving a helping hand, not owners that are doing $100k+ work at professional yards. WW points them to https://www.toplicht.de/en/

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