Woody Fathers & Grandads

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Woody Fathers & Grandads

Be an instant hero and take the kids out for a day trip – this weekend the Matakana School are hosting the – Matakana Model Boat Show. Over 200 boats static and afloat + races.  And if there are no siblings around, even better – more time to enjoy it. See flyer below for full details.

If you go Saturday – take in the Matakana Market, I was there last weekend – great food, produce & coffee. Opens at 8am. And the new express way makes the trip a doddle 🙂

Special thanks to Mark Lever (MV Nereides) for the heads up + photos

CAN WE NAME THESE YACHTS – Prize To Be Won – XANTHO & ILEX

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CAN WE NAME THESE YACHTS – Prize To Be Won – XANTHO & ILEX

Must be overdue for a quiz – the photo above was taken on Christmas morning 1905, location is Russell in the Bay of Islands. ID’ing the two yachts will be a challenge to most of the WW crew but I’m sure the stick & rag woodys will work it out. So to make it slightly easier – correctly ID’ing each yacht equals a chance in the draw i.e. get one right = one chance, two right = two chances. Close off is 8pm 19-04-2024. ENTRY BY EMAIL ONLY to >>>>

 waitematawoodys@gmail.com

23-04-2024 INPUT ex HAROLD KIDD – The 40 footer XANTHO was launched as XANTHE in Wellington in 1888 by Henry Berg using timbers from the dismantled yacht MINNEHAHA. She was traded in to Robert Logan in part exchange for WAITANGI which he sailed down to Wellington and won the NZ Championship in January 1895. He sailed XANTHE back to Auckland in the smart time of 7 days and put her up for sale. There were no takers until 1897 and she lay off Devonport with the rig out when one Spraggon bought her. She was driven ashore at Devonport and badly damaged soon after. She was sold in April 1898 to G. Cook of Whangarei. The pic with ILEX was taken at Russell around 1905. I have no clues on what happened to XANTHE/XANTHO/ZANTHE/ZANTHO after that. Possibly she was converted to a launch?

She was considered incredibly old fashioned by the time she was launched and had the cod’s head and mackerel tail of earlier yachts and a large camber on the deck.

PRIZE: A WW burgee 

LAUNCH DAY MYSTERY – MANAIA

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LAUNCH DAY MYSTERY – MANAIA

Another photo sent in by John Dawson – to some of the WW workboat group the answer to ’Name the boat’ is probably very easy. Not for me however – things that help –

• 1st three letters of the name are  – MAN

• home port is shown as Whangarei

• lack of varnish suggests a workboat

• style suggests pilot boat• funnel may have the letters WHB on it > Whangarei Harbour Board

So what say the workboat brains trust

UPDATE – Thanks to several woodys we have confirmation that the vessel is Manaia – Designed by AJ Collings and built at the P. Los yard in 1963, for the Northland Harbour Board as a toilet boat.  LOTS of photos and detail in the links below https://waitematawoodys.com/2018/01/26/manaia/ https://waitematawoodys.com/2021/04/05/manaia-a-peek-down-below/


MYSTERY MAHURANGI WORKBOAT – RURU

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MYSTERY MAHURANGI WORKBOAT – RURU

Todays woody comes to us from Dave Balderston via hid cubby Dave Stanaway. 

Dave B. spotted the boat hauled out at the Cement Works Marina up the Mahurangi River in Warkworth.

The Daves and myself are keen to learn more about the boat and what the plans are for her.

18-04-2024 Input ex Ari at the Quayside Boat Yard – Yes, Ruru was designed and built by Chris Robertson for John Spencer to help them transport gear and maybe the odd animal between John’s island farms in the Coromandel and the mainland. As can be seen by her condition, she had been left unused for years, with the Spencer’s having larger barges to do this kind of work nowadays. One of Chris’ Son’s, Martin, has since acquired her and collectively with the crew here at Quayside Boatyard, plan to bring her back to her former glory and utilise her as a river/harbour work boat.

WAITERE II SOS

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WAITERE II SOS

Looking for a very cool winter project – 1913, Joe Slattery built 26’ Mullet Boat is in need of a new guardian. Her tme asking price is $1 but its more about finding the right person/persons to take her over, so her owners are open to all offers. Originally an H2 class. Has been in the same family for the last 50 years.

A lot of repair work has been completed and the current plan is to relocate the boat to Westhaven marina very soon. To view and read more about her just search Waitere II on tme.

The gallery of photos above are from varying time periods, reproduced to give you an insight into what she once was and her current presentation. 

COMPASS ROSE _ A Peek Down Below

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COMPASS ROSE – A Peek Down Below
The launch Compass Rose popped up on tme nearly a year ago and at the time we ran a story on her that generated a lot of discussion / chat in the comments section around her DNA. We never really established her origins but I tend to lean on the side of Allan Keane’s input – i.e. her builder and as launched  name is unknown but c.1986/88 her name was changed to – Arthur Daley. c.1995 she was sold again and renamed – Compass Rose. Allan’s ‘knowledge’ comes from having sold (brokered) the boat 3 times.

In the previous WW story – link here https://waitematawoodys.com/2023/05/02/lady-fay-arthur-daley-compass-ros/  there was speculation her launch name was Lady Fay and built by Orams & Davies in Whangarei in the early 1960’s. As often happens the collective memories get a little mashed up over the years so very keen to be able to clear up the question marks hanging over her. Thanks to woody John Dawson for the photos.

KAWAU ISLAND – The Hauraki Gulf Woody Mecca

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KAWAU ISLAND – The Hauraki Gulf Woody Mecca

Recently I was sent the above photos the trial goes like this – sent in by Ken Fyfe via Ruth Thomson from Jim Tatterfield.

The top one is tagged Squadron Weekend and the 2nd one Lady Gay, but I can not spot LG in the photo – both photos are ‘located’ at Mansion House Bay, Kawau Island.

Rather a lot of familiar woodys gathered in those photos.

Below the top photo is another from Jim Tatterfield of Little Jim (A16) in full flight. A looker when launched and still is today. The bottom photo of LJ is ex Mahurangi Regatta a couple of years ago.

LADY BEV

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LADY BEV

Todays woody has just popped up on tme (thanks Ian McDonald) struggling to read the name, either – Lady B or Lady Bee. . Its Lady Bev

We do not know a lot about her other than. – designed and built c.1956 by Dave Jackson, using kauri planking. Approx 32’8” in length and powered by a 6cyl. Ford diesel engine.

Given she has been around for qpprox. 68 years we must be able to learn more about her.

INPUT ex HAROLD KIDD – The launch is LADY BEV built by Dave Jackson for himself in 1957 in timber. 30ft 9ins loa but lengthened by 3ft later. First engine was an Austin Skipper 100hp. Dave owned her for many years (and may still do?).

SYBIL II

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SYBIL II

With the opening of duck shooting season only a few weeks away now seemed a good time to run the photo above of the 1910 launch – Sybil II.

In the photo which comes to us from a Lew Redwood fb post, we see the launch post a very successful mornings shoot. Must have been no ‘bag’ limited back then, today I think its 8 birds pre shooter.

Harold Kidd has commented that Sybil II was built by Bailey & Lowe for a WR Twigg.

Back in August 2018 Cameron Pollard sent in photos of Sybil II on the move to a new storage location. At the time Cameron had owned the launch since 2004 and she was being ‘stored’ in anticipation of a restoration in the future – any update Cameron?

2018 WW story link https://waitematawoodys.com/2018/08/04/sybil-ii/ lots of photos and details in the comments section.

MYSTERY LAKE LAUNCH

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MYSTERY LAKE LAUNCH

Well woodys it is only a mystery because the owner, trying to sell her chooses to not show the vessels name – a tad crazy when selling a classic – the name is what joins the dots.

What we are told (thanks IanMcDonald / tme) is that she was built in 1978 and is described as a Woolley 25, kauri planked, powered by a Volvo Penta 28hp diesel engine and calls Lake Rotoiti (Nth Island) home.

The ability to trailer the boat is a big bonus – but sadly the trailer is probably worth more than the boat 😉

Hopefully one of the Lake Rotoiti woodys can enlighten us more.