Tag Archives: Canoe stern

CLASSIC WOODEN LAUNCH KERERU ARRIVES IN AUCKLAND

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April 2026 @ HMB Marina

CLASSIC WOODEN LAUNCH KERERU ARRIVES IN AUCKLAND

Back in October 2025, Ian McDonald tipped us off that KERERU — a 35’ woody built in 1911 by Chas Bailey Jnr. — was on the market down in Picton.

At the time, we uncovered a rich slice of her history (link below), but by December there was still no sign of a sale. She was then powered by a Ford 80hp diesel and, by all accounts, was a tidy example of a Bailey built launch. https://waitematawoodys.com/2025/10/20/1911-classic-wooden-launch-kereru-a-peek-down-below/

Fast forward to this week, and Ian — never far from the action — spotted KERERU hauled out at Half Moon Bay Marina. A bit of quiet dockside sleuthing revealed she had made the journey north by road from Wellington.

A close look at the latest photo suggests she’s in need of a little TLC — nothing unusual for a 115 year old classic wooden launch.

The big question now is: what’s brought KERERU to the Waitemata. That’s a long trip for a simple spruce-up, so with a bit of luck we may be seeing another salty looking canoe-stern woody joining the local fleet. Can we learn more.

CLASSIC WOODEN CANOE STERN LAUNCH – NAOMI

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CLASSIC WOODEN CANOE STERN LAUNCH – NAOMI

Last week WW was contacted by Graeme Carr concerning a launch named – NAOMI, now back in the day that was a popular name and it pops up several times in the WW archives. In Graeme’s opening correspondence he referred to the launch as NAOMI II, but subsequently came to the view that this name came from his sighting the tender that was being used with the boat when afloat was labeled the NAOMI II. But the likelihood is that the main boat was just named NAOMI and the tender was named NAOMI II, as is the often the case.

Graeme commented that he first encountered NAOMI when it was on the hard located at Daimond Harbour, quite a ways from the sea and in a somewhat sad state, refer photos one and two above (dated c.1995/6).
His intention was to buy the boat and relaunch. There were many conversations with the young owner but no deal as he wished to keep it. Graeme lost touch with it after that only to find that he had planted the seed of its sale and that the owner had sold it to an older gentleman who had repaired and re-floated it. 

Graeme later (2015) came upon it again moored at Cass Bay close to Lyttelton. Refer bottom photo.

Can we learn more about NAOMI, Graeme is aware that there were sister ships built but unfortunately all records were lost in a fire at the boat builders (Bailey Bros.).

LAST WEEKEND AUCKLAND’s CLASSIC YACHTING ENTHUSIAST’S HELD THEIR ANNUAL REGATTA – woody John Dawson sent in a link to a brilliant you tube video filmed and edited by Roger Mills that showcases some of the cities best classic yachts. Enjoy