Weigh In Time At Whangaroa

Weigh In Time At Whangaroa

Todays photo, dated 1938 by Tudor Collins ex the Auckland Museum via Glen Ngapuhi and Len Redwood fb shows several launch off the wharf at the Whangaroa Swordfish & Big GameFish Club.

Can we attempt to name the boats L>R? My contributions – I think of the two dark hulled craft, stern in, the one on the right (middle) is Ethel. 

INPUT EX NATHAN HERBERT – These game fishers are the Marlin, the Rosemary and the Wanderer II

Woody On Wheels

Last year on fb John Bertenshaw posted the photo below of a 1963 woody MGB , photo taken at the 60th anniversary of the MGB model.

Monita

MONITA


Tony Brewer contacted me regarding his recent purchase of – Monita a 17’ Mason Marlin which was built by Sutton Mason & Co. Ltd in Mt Roskill, Auckland sometime in the 1950’s.  She is powered by a 2003 90hp 4stroke Honda, which Tony feels maybe to heavy.  He is considering re-powering with a 2013 Mercury Mariner 50hp ELPTO 2stroke. Tony’s not interested in a high top speed but would like to be able to travel at between 15 to 18 knots.  Fuel economy is not an issue as they do not travel far and there would usually be only 2 people on board.


So woodys – the question of the day is – would the boat be under powered with the 50hp motor?

Marlin

MARLIN
The above game boat photos was included in the bundle of Ken Warne’s photos of his launch Marline – can we uncover more about her, a very distinctive looking woody. Also maybe Jason Prew could just walk across the boat shed at the Slipway, Milford and ask Ken – he is there most days working on Marline.

Speaking of Marline the ’new’ / stripped down dog-house is coming along nicely – photos below. 

RSVP to waitematawoodys@gmail.com

Marlin

Marlin a

Marlin c

Marlin b

MARLIN
Woody Baden Pascoe recently sent in the above photos of Marlin seen here in the top photo at Whitianga c.1968 after being re-powered with a Caterpillar 320. 
At this time she was owned by Alf Clow (photos are courtesy of the Clow family). Alf bought Marlin off Rolly Smith who used her for game fishing. It is believed that prior to Rolly Smith she was owned by the Thames Harbour Board (who went bust).
 
The thinking is Marlin was build by Sam Ford, but there is know knowledge as to the launching date.
The second photo shows the new Cat 320 being lowered into Marlin, seems a rather large donk for the size of the boat. Thence the last photo of her flying along with Clow family on board.
The dinghy on the stern is from the hands of Howard Pascoe 🙂
Any woodys able to shed more light on the history of Marlin?
Input from Barbara Cooke – Rolly Smith was my uncle. He purchased Marlin during the early years of WW11 for the purpose of deep sea fishing but due to government fuel restrictions this wasn’t permitted. He and his young family farmed at Fletchers Bay, top of Coromandel. After the war they returned to Whitianga where Rolly operated Marlin for chartering and game fishing. In later years his son Bruce skippered Tuatea, another game fishing vessel in Whitianga.

 
Input from Ross Dawson – Papers Past, Thames Star 11.3.1926 tells us…”the Harbour Board’s new launch Marlin, was brought down from Auckland on Tuesday by the Dredgemaster,..Mr Roche” and in the same newspaper 31 March 1926 says…”…the launch passed government inspection on 10.3.1926….fit to ply with 8 passengers within extended river limits when not towing and with suitable canvas over the cockpit, or with 16 passengers within river limits proper….length 31.75 feet, breadth 8.25 feet, depth 2.87 feet, horsepower 30-35, crew 2. Registered as “Marlin” …” So, no builder but it shouldn’t be too hard to find a reference to the launching about Jan – Feb 1926, in the Auckland newspapers.

The Thames newspaper notes Marlin being in Whitianga in 1933.

 
Input from Harold Kidd – Can’t say I was confident about my last posting. Did some more digging and found that the Thames Harbour Board commissioned this launch from Sam Ford as a towboat, largely used for their dredge. She was unnamed but was completed in early 1926. Her dimensions were 31’6″ loa, 8’3″ beam and 2’6″ draft and 2.87tons displ. Things can’t have worked out as she was up for tender in August 1928 (again unnamed). The Secretary of the Harbour Board was later charged with embezzling a large sum from the Board and it folded shortly afterwards.
So the memories of all concerned were absolutely spot on!
Now we have to sort out what her name was before it was changed to MARLIN. Lovely boat! How nice it’s Sam Ford. 
I’m just in the process of preparing a series of Boating NZ articles on him. This boat just shows the breadth of his skills at much the same time as WHAKAARI and before his Art Deco cruisers.
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Marlin (M7) Sailing Sunday

MARLIN (M7) Sailing Sunday
photos ex Alan H & Nick Davenport

Today’s photos are from last weekends 2015 Sloanes Beach Regatta & Center Board Cup & focus on the M-Class Marlin. Nick was out on the water & took some stunning racing photos, below – remember to click on the photos to enlarge 😉

If you missed last Mondays ww post on the regatta – click this link https://waitematawoodys.com/2015/12/20/whats-the-coolest-yacht-club-10-minutes-from-queen-st/

Whats The Coolest Yacht Club 10 Minutes From Queen St?

Whats The Coolest Yacht Club 10 Minutes From Queen St? Sailing Sunday

Its not the rnzys or ponsonby cc or even the dyc (ferry ride) – its the Herne Bay Cruising Club (HBCC) & yesterday they hosted the 2015 Sloanes Beach Regatta & Centerboard Cup. I dropped in for what I thought would be 5>10 minutes to take a few photos & ended up staying 90 minutes, the Santa shopping list got pushed out a day 🙂

The HBCC club rooms & its location would have to be one of the best kept secrets in the city, located off Marine Parade & tucked away amongst a stand of pohutukawas its a magic spot to sit on the grass & watch some good-old-fashioned kiwi boating. The kids were even selling home-made lemonade & coconut ice 🙂
Its also rather special – its got major boating provenance – the club rooms were built in 1913 as the Richmond Yacht Club & was a hub of wooden boating activity prior to RCC moving to the Westhaven area.

The location sort of (as in impossible) makes it hard to launch a biggish boat there so its mainly centerboard stuff but there is a very cool membership feature – the club as a few boats that members can use e.g. a couple of Lasers, a Spiral & a dinghy for rowing & fishing + storage for who wish to kept their boat at the club.

Conditions yesterday were ‘very fresh’ as in SW 20>25 knots with 35 knot gusts – this scared a few city boys & girls off but as always the mullet boat’s fronted up + one Idle Along (IA12)
The photos below are from the pre-start & start, I left after that but driving over the Harbour Bridge I could see them stonking down the Harbour, I might be wrong but I think I caught a glimpse of the IA getting into a spot of trouble.

If anyone has the results – email them to waitematawoodys@gmail.com & I’ll add them to this post.

Photo below shows Gypsy (L) & Waione (R) hauled out c.1939 at Sloanes Beach. Click this link to read, view more about the club.

http://hbcc.net.nz/

21-12-2015 Results ex W. Muir

Yes it was a great day, thanks for the photos.  Mullet boat results were 1st on line, and on handicap,Orion.  2nd on handicap TaoToo, 3rd Rangi Manu. The IA broke her tiller while screaming down the harbour with her spinnaker up, she did a spectacular wipe out and was towed back by the PCC Rescue boat.
You missed another fab part of the day, music from jazz combo Hopetown Brown.
Looking forward to next year ( and a little less wind )

24-12-2015 On the water racing photos ex Nick Davenport – remember to click on any photo to enlarge. Also the M Class Marlin will be featured this coming Sunday on ww- lots more photos to see then 😉