waitematawoodys.com hits 2 MILLION Views + a Great Prize 2 be Won

Yesterday saw the waitematawoodys site hit 2 million views, something quite amazing for such a niche topic. As  stated in the site masthead, waitematawoodies was founded upon a desire to tell the stories & a need to archive the history of our classic wooden boats, the craftsman who built them & the characters that owned & crewed on them. A lot of people thought we would run out of content to write about in a few months, well that has not happened & given the size of my email in-box won’t  🙂

One of the things that differentiates waitematawoodys from traditional media is the ability for readers to interact with the site & with each other. So far there have been over 1,500 stories & 10,000 comments posted on the site, if you are one of the many that comments – thank you for your contribution, if you have not commented, maybe its time you did. Everyone has at least one good story to tell 😉

While at the start it was not the intention to create a reference library on classic wooden boats, we have ended up with one & its pretty awesome – I have Harold Kidd to thank for giving me a wee ‘fire-side chat’ about striving to get accurate data on the site. These days you can search by vessel name, designer, builder, year, length, category – launch/yacht/work boat, boats for sale & a lot more. Again if you have not tried the Search Box on waitematawoodys – give it a ago.

Cheers Alan Houghton

WIN – Now I’d like to offer up a very cool prize to mark the 2 million milestone. Regular ww readers will be aware that Robert Brooke recently published his book ‘Beautiful Boats’. Robert has been collecting classic yacht designs for over 50 years, amongst his collection is work from our most talented & recognized designers – Arch Logan, Chas Bailey, Charlie & Alex Collings, Colin Wild, Bert Woolacott, Bob Stewart, Des Townson, Alan Wright & Robert’s father – John Brooke. From his collection Robert has chosen 50 & redrawn each design, tracing off the original drawings to present them in a similar format. To add to the wow factor, Robert used the drawing equipment & ships curves that were once used by either Arch Logan, Charlie & Alex Collings or his father. The 105 page, A4 size book allocates 2 pages to each vessel with specs & photo/s on the left & the drawings – hull lines, profile, half breadths, sections, diagonals & sail plan on the right hand page. We have given away 4 copies of the book on waitematawoodys over the last few weeks, in addition Robert donated a framed 380mm x 300mm rendered print of one of the featured boats. Sample below
SO WOODYS – TODAY’S PRIZE IS YOUR VERY OWN FRAMED PRINT OF THE BOAT OF YOUR CHOICE FROM THE BOOK – BEAUTIFUL BOATS.

How to enter & a few t&c’s
1. The first woody that can supply the name, designer, builder, year & photo location of the large yacht on the right in the photo above wins the print.
2. Entries must be in the ww comments section & have all 5 answers correct. You can enter as many times as you like.
3. The judges (thats me) decision is final & no correspondence will be entered into.
4. The winner must collect the prize from Auckland.
5. HDK you are excluded – you have already got one 🙂
THE BOOK
If you would like a copy of the book – visit Boat Books at 22 Westhaven Drive, Westhaven, Auckland & grab a copy for yourself, cost is $60. For out of towners or those who refer the web – copies are available on line at https://www.boatbooks.co.nz/
ps I have also held back posting this on ww until 7.00am to give all woodys (not just the night owls) a chance to win 🙂

Cover

Rainbow