Sorry for the overtly commercial message today, but have you seen the price of diesel lately , if I don’t sell a boat, I’ll be staying on the marina this summer ;- and we have marina berths for them (rent or buy)
The 35’ launch Lourena was built c.1963 by Watson Brothers in Wellington to an Athol Burns design, using 1 1/8” kauri carvel planks. With a 11’6” beam she has a healthy interior for a 35’ boat, the draft is 3’6”. Forward motion is via a 70hp D series 4 cylinder Ford that gives her a 7 knot cruising speed.
Lourena is a well traveled woody having spent time in Wellington > Marlborough Sounds (15 yrs) > Opua (20 yrs),
Thanks to Ian McDonald’s heads up re the tme listing, today we get to have a peek down below.
Just over two years ago I ran a story on WW about the 42’ classic launch – Mahanui and how her ‘owner for life’ had found a new love (another woody) and was offering her for sale.
I described her as follows “Mahanui is offered in almost as new condition and presents as a hop board and go boating vessel – a snapshot of her package includes – dinghy, outboard, cockpit table and chairs, fenders, cutlery, pots, pans, glassware, tools (particular to the vessel), almost a spare of everything, cushions etc etc.”
We were beating would be buyers off with a big stick, until along came a family that met the approval of the seller 🙂
In the last two years of ownership the new owners have – upgraded the galley water system, new remote set-up for electric dinghy davit, new tender and outboard, undertaken a refurbishment of the interior (new – upholstery, carpet, blinds and refreshed bright work) and just commissioned a full engine service. So woodys why am I telling you all this – because due to a change of circumstances – her owners have made the hard decision to pass Mahanui onto the next owner. So Mahanui is Offered For Sale.
Mahanui presents in suburb condition and while retaining her distinctive appearance her most recent owners have carefully integrated modern systems and technology to ensure the very latest in comfort and safety. One of the most livable classics on the Waitemata Harbour, she offers an instantaneous summer cruising solution – grab your togs and toothbrush and you and the family (>8 berths) are boating this summer. And I’ll finish on a scary thought – ONLY 8 WEEKS TILL CHRISTMAS DAY 🙂
Poco Lento (Lady Janet)My Girl & Royal FalconWaikaro
KokoruMontereyTrinidad
Woody Classic Waterfront Picnic
Given I have had a very light summer boating wise, we decided to head out on Friday afternoon to Rakino for the night and partake in Auckland’s best wood fired pizzas at Woody Bay.
Again everything lined up – food, good wine and another spectacular sunset. Had a late evening visit from Jason Prew on My Girl, the wife “what’s that noise”. Then we were ‘entertained’ by a plonker and his partner on a Formula 4000, singing karaoke 1/2 the night ……….. they seriously thought they were good, they weren’t 😦
Saturday we headed over to the Weti River at mid day for the Woodys Picnic at the Stillwater Motor Camp. So lucky to get access, with the wharf it just makes the ideal venue for a catch up. Covid made a few gun shy but we had 11 woodys attending and a further 3 owners arrived via car – all in all a great afternoon. Lots of new (restored) woodys and new to the movement owners. The woody launch scene is getting more and more popular.
Post the picnic I pointed Raindance to a new (to me) anchorage and we enjoyed another wow sunset.
NEXT WOODY EVENT IS SATURDAY 26 MARCH – UPPER HARBOUR LUNCH CRUISE TO THE RIVERHEAD TAVERN – More details closer
The answer to yesterdays – name the yacht quiz was ‘Frances – A11’, the 1905, Arch Logan classic from the Class Yacht Charitable Trust stable. Photo below. And no one picked the right answer. So the WW t-shirt, gets to be put up again.
MAHURANGI REGATTA 2019 – The biggest & best classic wooden boat regatta in NZ – 90+ photos
FRIDAY NIGHT
SATURDAY – REGATTA DAY
SATURDAY NIGHT AT SCOTTS LANDING
SUNDAY MORNING
MAHURANGI REGATTA 2019 – The biggest & best classic wooden boat regatta in NZ – 90+ photos
WoW what a woody weekend – simply stunning on all fronts – sun > wind > location > people & of course the boats. On my estimate, the biggest turnout of classic wooden craft ever. Record numbers for Saturday mornings launch parade.
I’ll go out on a limb & repeat a comment made to me on the deck of Lidgard House, Kawau Island on Sunday night by one of our most prominent & influential classic wooden boat people – “Mahurangi is the real Auckland Anniversary Weekend Regatta” & after cruising back into Auckland today, & not seeing a lot of yachts, I would have to agree.
On Saturday between Jason Prew on My Girl & myself with Raindance we hosted three of the wooden boating world’s superstars – if you read or follow the WoodenBoat magazine, Classic Boat & the hottest property on the block – the vblog, https://www.offcenterharbor.com
then the names Maynard Bray, Benjamin Mendlowitz & Steve Stone will be very familiar to you. These gents were motored around the harbour & very selectively photographed / filmed our beautiful woodys. When I mentioned that I had cancelled my trip to next months Hobart Wooden Boat Festival, one commented “why would you go – it’s all here” & woodys – it was.
I have never attempted to understand the ‘politics’ / issues between the Mahurangi Cruising Club & The Friends of Mahurangi people – but between them they turn on a wonderful day, that equals anything on the world classic wooden boat calendar. As with anything, a few wee niggles e.g. crap PA sound system at the beach prize giving meant most people didn’t know the results – but I can tell you that Tony Blake & the crew on Thelma gave all the other A division skippers as master class in regatta sailing. It was wonderful to see the big 5 Arch Logan yachts – Thelma (1897), Rainbow (1898), Ariki (1904), Rawhiti (1905) & Rawene (1908) all on the same race track together, for the first time ever (I think I’m right – Harold?) The results were:
Thelma, followed by Rawhiti, followed by Ariki, then Rainbow & Rawene.
As a result of playing driver for the overseas crew – I’m a little light on sailing photos, but you can see from the gallery above that it was a special day.
Well done MCC and F. of M. for another magic weekend.
If anyone else had the camera out & captured some goodies, email them to waitematawoodys@gmail.com
We bailed out of Mahurangi on Sunday morning & headed to Kawau Island for some family R&R – photos below.
Question – what do you do when there is no shotgun to signal sunset & the lowering of the burgee? – well a few lads decided to bang some pots together, then drop the flags at Lidgard House – me thinks there might be a letter in the mail to certain members 🙂
A WEE BIT OF PR GOING ON HERE – WW T’s & OFF CENTER HARBOUR CAPS 🙂
THERE ALWAYS HAS TO BE A FOOD SHOT – KAWAU BOATING LUB, DINNER SUNDAY NIGHT.
Check out the video below of Rawhiti – sent in from Benjamin Mendlowitz from Off Center Harbour
Update – due to not all launches completing 2 laps of the launch parade – I missed photographing a few boats – photos below ex Justine Ricketts (edited by myself)
AND MORE – link below to the Off Center Harbour video of the 2017 regatta, featuring Steve Horsley’s stunning 1904 Chas Bailey Jnr – Ngatira
UPDATE ex Graeme Finch of the A Class fleet racing Saturday + one of Raindance showing myself & Steve Stone from Off Center Harbour filming / clicking away 🙂
As always – click photos to enlarge 😉
Also from Graeme – one of Bruce Tantrum’s pride & joy – Paramour + Graemes stunning ship – Te Arahi 🙂
UPDATE – An early Saturday morning drone fly-by over Sullivans Bay, Mahurangi. Filmed by Neil Lawton, heads up on the movie from Ian Gavin.
30-01-2019 Update – photos of Laughing Lady ex Jason Prew
WoW what a weekend – perfect weather, perfect location and as always stunning boats. We saw a record turn out for the classic wooden boat parade on Saturday morning – the crowd ashore at Sullivans was a little thin on the ground, but if we are honest, we do not do it for them – its all about us 🙂 , a little like going for a motorbike rumble. We need more events where we just ‘hang-out’ together.
The regatta’s main event – the yacht race appeared to be a big success, the A-Class Logan – Rawhiti, in the hands of her new owner – Peter Brookes, cleaned up all the major trophies. As has become the norm at Mahurangi races, the results process was a total balls up, it was very dark and late into the night before the final, final results were announced – fingers crossed its all kosher, last year it took days and numerous oops lets try that again announcements 🙂
The big band beach BBQ, was a hit, perfect on all fronts – weather, tide, the band, bbq’s and the people. Given the number of boats in Bon Accord Harbour, Kawau Island, most people headed there on Sunday. The Kawau Boating Boat was bursting at the seams but handed it well. I have split the photos into 4 galleries – Classic Wooden Boat Parade – Yacht Race – Beach BBQ – More (includes Kawau). If I missed your boat, you were somewhere I wasn’t, or in the wrong light , or your’e boats ugly (joking – sort off). Enjoy a peak at the weekend., click individual photos to enlarge. Next weekend I’m off to the Lake Rotoiti Classic and Wooden Boat Parade – its a biggie – they have 70+ entries
Labour Weekend Woody Cruise The last 3 days would have to be one of the best boating long weekends in a very long time, well thats if you own a motor-boat. The classic woody stick and rag boys racing in the Coastal Classic race to Russell in the Bay of Islands made very hard work of it – did any finish?, those I talked to pulled out on Saturday morning. A quick glance at the results show about 75% of the total fleet did not finish.
The biggest decision of the weekend was whether to turn left or right at North Head, I went left and made the right call, as the reports from the bottom end of Waiheke and Coromandel was it was a zoo 🙂 On the other hand Rakino was perfect – great weather and not too crowded. Only saw 3 other woodys – Gay Dawn and Juanita in Woody Bay and Mahanui just out from West Bay (very early Monday morning) and passed Felicitare
Highlight was a seriously up close encounter with some Orca while anchored in West Bay – they were rounding up a feed of stingray for lunch. I see Trinidad is making a star appearance in the AWLWOOD (Uroxsys) advertisements 😉
Update – Arohanui mooching around the bottom end of Waiheke and Coromandel
Buying or Selling a Classic Boat Without sounding too much like the late Jacinda Ardern (“be kind”) – when people ask me about classic wooden boat ownership, I normally say that owning a woody has a positive effect on your life i.e. you end up forging a life you don’t need to escape from.
So woodys in the interest of your mental well being we have listed below a sample of some of the boats that are currently berthed at the virtual Wooden Boat Bureau Sales Marina. We have others for sale, some owners request privacy. To read more about the Wooden Boat Bureau – click https://waitematawoodys.com/2019/12/01/wooden-boat-bureau-advice-for-buyers-and-sellers/ The Wooden Boat Bureau is uniquely placed to offer impartial, up-to-date market information and objective advice to both sellers and buyers. So if you are looking for a wooden boat or considering selling – email us at waitematawoodys@gmail.com
Or call Alan Houghton 027 660 9999 or David Cooke 027 478 1877
Over the last few days I have had cause to be in the vicinity of several boat yards
THE SLIPWAY MILFORD
Jason Prew has his 1925 Dick Lang built speedster – My Girl out and is in the process of re-powering her with a ’newer / better’ version of the 100hp Volvo that powers her. Given an engine box hasn’t been ticked off the To-Do List, this ones being pimped and blinged a little.
The new engine wasn’t the primary reason I called in, I had to see Jason’s just added, Riviera styled set up for his Robert Brook built classic dinghy. I’m told it all comes apart and tucks away out of sight for photo oppo’s. Thats a relief 😉
Also at the yard are Eileen Patricia , Peter and Jenni Mence’s 1933 Arnold Couldrey designed and built launch. Out for even more enhancements and a coat of paint.
Meanwhile Connie V the 1949, Lane Motor Boat Co. built launch waits her turn.
Jason Delamore who purchased the launch Mahanui off Angus Rogers, is a clever chap and very handy with the tools. Jason has just recycyled an old oak table into a very smart table that alternates between the saloon and cockpit, thanks to a ‘Langun’ base / mounting system (ex UK).
The flip hinges give both a small drinks table and larger table for dinner.
Jason commented that he was pretty happy with the result and breathed new life into some gorgeous timber that will last another 80-100 years on top of its current 80+ years.
Today’s woody story takes us on a woody tour of the Cowichan Bay Maritime Centre, in Southern Vancouver Island, British Columbia. Our host is Mike O’Brian, a few years ago I entertained Mike and wife Peggy in Auckland, they were on a cruise liner and just in port for the day. I picked them up and took them on a dock tour of a selection of our finest wooden classics, made even better by each skipper turning up and opening their boats up.
NEW WOODY OWNERS
Pleased to be able to report that the classic wooden launches Centaurus, Mahanui, Kailua and Haunui have all recently changed hands. All will remain in Auckland 🙂 and are in the care of passionate wooden boat enthusiasts.
SUNDAYS WOODY CLASSICS RIVERHEAD CRUISE – IMPORTANT DETAILS
(If you RSVP’ed I have sent you further details via email)
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