Tag Archives: George Gould

CLASSIC WOODEN YACHT ASTRID – ANOTHER PIECE OF HER STORY SURFACES

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CLASSIC WOODEN YACHT ASTRID – ANOTHER PIECE OF HER STORY SURFACES

Sundays WW story on the classic wooden yacht – ASTRID,  https://waitematawoodys.com/2026/10/04/where-is-astrid-the-search-for-a-classic-wooden-yacht/  , prompted Mark McLaughlin to send in todays update / input. Over to Mark 

Further to Sundays storyon Astrid, there was an Athol Burns thread on Boatdesign.net about 14 years ago where the topic of Astrid came up. An ex-owner (now residing in the USA) came forward and provided some colour photos from his ownership and he made the following comments:

I was partnered with a friend we owned ASTRID in Auckland for a few years. I too was wondering what became of her and stumbled onto this forum. I have included some photos.

She had a single banger gas engine with a huge flywheel crank start. The name eludes me. It was kind of cool in it’s annoying way. Cranking made for some funny times.

She sailed quite well with a bit of a struggle pointing as you can imagine. We decked her out with some Lidgard sails including a full radial reaching chute. From memory she was built in Kawhia. I had a copy of the Seaspray article but it has since disappeared.

She was in Westhaven when we bought her. 

https://www.boatdesign.net/threads/who-is-athol-burns.38688/page-2

WHERE IS ASTRID – THE SEARCH FOR A CLASSIC WOODEN YACHT

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WHERE IS ASTRID – THE SEARCH FOR A CLASSIC WOODEN YACHT

Last week WW was contacted by Mark Panther who is trying to track down the current location of the Athol Burns designed 23 foot double ended cutter ASTRID. I’ll hand over to Mark to tell the story. The Sea Spray articles area get read.

“I believe ASTRID was built by George Gould in the early 1950s. This boat is of some significance to me, as my parents sailed her to Tonga, Fiji and back home in 1957. The story of the trip along with photographs was published in serialised form in the 1960 August, September and October editions of the Sea Spray magazine.

From all accounts, she was a bit on the slow side, but handled a number of adverse weather events on that trip very well. 

Bluewater sailing in those days differs from the current methods. Windvanes or autopilots were not available, so it was watch on, watch off hand steering, and safety consisted of a small folding canvas dinghy rather than a liferaft, with sextant sites when you could get them.

The top photo shows her hauled out on the old WWII seaplane base concrete ramp at Sawene Bay, Fiji for an antifoul. 

I believe she was owned by a Mr Brian Brown at Waiheke in the early 1990s, and I had heard a rumour she was located at Whagapoua on the Coromanel some time later.”

So woodys can we help Mark out with an update on what became of ASTRID and where she is today.

PART ONE – SEA SPRAY AUG 1960

PART TWO – SEA SPRAY SEPT 1960

PART THREE- SEA SPRAY OCT 1960