Tag Archives: Judy H

LAKE ROTOITI 2023 PARADE OF CLASSIC & WOODEN BOATS – 150+ PHOTOS

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LAKE ROTOITI 2023 PARADE OF CLASSIC & WOODEN BOATS – 150+ PHOTOS

As has become my norm for Waitangi holiday weekend early on Saturday morning I pointed the car south and made my way to Lake Rotoiti in the middle of NZ’s North Island. 

2023 marked the 26th anniversary of the event and after a horror week of ‘once in a 100 years’ rain storms I had concerns that the parade might be postponed or cancelled. Well woodys as you’ll see from the above photo gallery, my fears were redundant.

The day started overcast with some light drizzle but this passed thru before the parade kicked off at 11am. Numbers were down a little from last year but conditions were perfect on the lake. 

Enjoy the gallery above – if you’re craft is featured above and you want a high res copy of the photo, drop me an email at the address below. Apologise if I missed your boat or if the odd photo is a little out of focus – just me in a run-about jiggling the throttle, looking out for other boats and holding the camera 🙂

waitematawoodys@gmail.com

My pick of the boat I’d most like tied up at my imaginary lake jetty is – ELLEN (#14), 26’ in length, built in 2004 in strip planked cedar from a plug taken off an old abandoned hull found in Kopu. Thought to be a ‘Milkmaid’ design by Bailey & Lowe. Powered by a 29hp diesel.  In my eyes just perfect. Photo below

Special thanks again to Dave and Glenys Wilson for the loan of a boat to get me out on the lake.

As always – click on photos to enlarge.

Lastly I never tire of the sound of big V8 (5.7L)  water exhausts. Shawn Vennell, the owner of Judy H, was lining me up for a prop shower – a few words of warning as to what my reaction would be, made him change his mind 😉

TURN THE SOUND UP

2021 Lake Rotoiti Classic and Wooden Boat Parade – 175+ photos & videos

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PICNIC

24th LAKE ROTOITI CLASSIC & WOODEN BOAT PARADE – 175+ PHOTOS & VIDEOS


As promised todays WW story is a doozy, we travelled down to the lake very early on Saturday morning and were hosted by the clubs commodore Dave Wilson and wife Glenys, who own the magnificent 1947 Colin Wild built bridge-decker – Haumoana. The launch is kept at the end of the lawn at their lakeside property (photos below) – More details on Haumoana here https://waitematawoodys.com/2014/06/05/haumoana/

Dave lent me is ‘fishing boat’ – the f/glass runabout seen the photo below, to use as a photo boat for the parade – fingers crossed no one got a photo of me at the helm 😉


Close to 80 classic and wooden craft of all shapes and sizes – power, sail, oar and steam participated in the days events – starting with a parade that snakes around the waterfront properties and vantage points. Post parade every one heads off to Wairoa Bay for an old school boating picnic – being lake based, no issue with tides or anchoring, people just nudge up to the shore – perfect for checking out each others woody.

The afternoon activities had something for everyone – adults and kids activities (egg throwing, bucket diving for sweets etc) + lots of cool prizes to be won.Without a doubt its the best organised and executed boating event I have been to – very slick and the bonus – lots of nice friendly people – we like that 🙂


Enjoy the photos. As always – click photos to enlarge 😉 If I missed your boat, sorry but one boat and one camera can only be in so many places at one time  – next year.


3/4’s a Woody – Wild Horses

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3/4’s a WOODY – WILD HORSES

Taupo woody’s Cathy & Shawn Vennell own a rather special zoom zoom woody, Judy H – a 19’6″ Chris Craft replica speed boat, which I have had the pleasure of skimming over the top of Lake Rotoiti in. For an 8 knot woody, doing 75kph+ is like space travel 🙂 You can check out Judy H here    https://waitematawoodys.com/2014/02/10/the-two-extremes-of-classic-boating/

Last weekend the Vennell’s turned up at the Lake Rotoiti Classic & Wooden Boat weekend with a floating bach – a Mason Clipper named Wild Horses. Now this addition to the Vennell fleet was not a total surprize to me as we had chatted on & off last winter about the suitability of a MC for Shawn & the family.

Wild Horses has a plastic (f/glass) bum but there is enough wood else where to get the ww tick. Zoom zoom comes from a very grunty V8 (Shawn will chip in soon with details)
Already Wild Horses has made a lot of Vennell love & looks stunning – can not wait till next year to see what else they will (tastefully) do to her 🙂

The Two Extremes Of Classic Boating

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Romany
Romany
Judy H

The Two Extremes Of Classic Boating

While at the 2014 Classic & Wooden Boat Parade on Lake Rotoiti at the weekend I had the opportunity to experience the two extremes of classic wooden boating.

Firstly on Saturday morning I was a invited for a tour of the bays by Russell Ward, the skipper of the steam boat ‘Romany’. I have a bit of a thing for steam so this was very special.

The days activities had been postponed due to crap weather- it drizzled all day, so getting out on the lake was a bonus.

Late in the day the opportunity arose to take a ride in Shawn & Cathy Vennell’s ‘Judy H’, a replica 19’6″ Chris Craft runabout powered by a 5.7 V8. Doing 75kph across the lake at dusk with a V8 roaring in your ear is stunning – the acceleration was like a drag car & the ride was so smooth. Now this may not appeal to the yachtie ww readers but myself & Chris Miller were ‘moved’ 🙂

When I get time tonight I will do a full post on the weekend (event ran on Sunday)

Launching video ex Chris Miller

Idling & Underway ex Alan H