A COMMUNITY RALLIES TO SAVE A STOLEN & SHIPWRECKED CLASSIC LAUNCH — ALMANA

The classic wooden launch – ALMANA, appeared on WW back in August 2017 when Nathan Herbert sent in a photo of ALMANA asking if we could uncover her designer / builder and what became of her. Link here waitematawoodys.com/tag/almana/

Harold Kidd commented that she was built in 1940 by Cliff Roberts and Alder.

Fast forward to 2019 and we received several photos and comments from Nathan Herbert and Jason Prew as the launch ‘moved’ around the Waitemata Harbour – those photos are below.

Fast forward again early this week and WW is connected by Kathy Parlane who discovered ALMANA on WW while searching for historical photos of my family’s boat, ALMANA. I will hand over to Kathy to share with us an unknown chapter in ALMANA’s life –

“My parents owned Almana in the early 1980’s. After leaving her moored in Mangonui Harbour following a wet Christmas, my father intended to return from Auckland once the weather improved. Before he could do so, the vessel was stolen by three escaped convicts who attempted to sail her toward Australia. They ultimately abandoned her on 90 Mile Beach, Northland, during a spring tide.

Residents of Pukenui and Houhora assisted in recovering Almana, and she was transported back to Auckland for restoration. Many of those involved became lifelong friends of our family.

My father, Doug Parlane, passed away in 2015, so my remaining records are limited, but I wanted to contribute this part of Almana’s story for your archive. I’ve also included a link to the video of the rescue from 90 Mile Beach”

The video mentioned above was pretty ropey and one hour long, so we have uplifted images from the video – as seen above.

Can anyone tell us who undertook the restoration and where she was between the early 1980’s and 2017. 

Also in the photos below, the last one shows her alongside a Harbour Master vessel, most likely for an appointment with a back-hoe. Do we know if this happened.