Tag Archives: Pirate

Woodys Classic Beach Picnic Review + Open Boat

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Woodys Classic Beach Picnic Review

On Sunday we held a woodys gathering ashore on Motuihe Island – trip down was commonly described as ‘lumpy’, except for the large woodys skippers who just smiled.

The bonus of a lumpy passage was almost zero trailer craft or pwc’s, so had the beach to ourselves. Very sheltered and sunny afternoon – always good to catch up with other woody owners and swap tales. Trip home was perfect with wind and tide assisting.

Nice to see both Lady Crossley and Pirate after there winter hibernation / haul outs.

My boat of the day was John Wright’s latest project the uber cool double-ender – Kiwa. That man has a wonderful eye for bringing the best out of any classic craft. Photo below when she was at Te Atatu Boating Club + links to previous WW stories on her 

2014  https://waitematawoodys.com/2014/09/30/boat-on-the-move-kiwa/

2021 https://waitematawoodys.com/2021/09/10/what-happened-to-kiwa/

KATHERINE  ON DISPLAY @ WESTHAVEN – THIS WEEKEND – INVITATION ONLY

Considering an upgrade or a boat for summer – the 38’ Conrad Robertson designed classic – KATHERINE, has been relocated to Westhaven Marina for one weekend only – inspection by invitation.

More details on this immaculately presented, ready for immediate delivery craft – click here https://waitematawoodys.com/2022/06/13/katherine-a-peek-down-below/

To book a viewing time email waitematawoodys@waitematawoodys

The waitematawoodys X Factor – PIRATE

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The waitematawoodys X Factor – PIRATE

One of the great things about the WW site is its ability to bring together past owners of woody classics with the current owners. Two examples in recent weeks

1. Alan Warren dropped me a note re the launch – Pirate , that was owned by Keith Warren in the period 1989>1994. Alan included the above stunning photo and commented that the photo was mounted near the kauri saloon table. Collectively we were able to get a high res copy of the photo to Pirate’s new owners.

2. Over the last year I have been trying to coordinate with Kennedy Warne for his 90+ year old father Ken Warne, son of Leone Warne who designed and built Pirate, to visit the boat – covid popped it’s head up every time there was a planned meeting – well last weekend the stars aligned and the family got to visit Pirate at Pine Harbour marina . Owners Tracy and Alan were shocked and thrilled when the Warne’s handed over the original line drawing done by Leone Warne for the boat. 

UPDATE ex Kennedy Warne

The below photo (of Dad with the Gilders in Pirate’s saloon) was taken when we meet the owners. It was just so good to reunite Dad with a launch that he had seen being built when he was a nine-year-old boy at Russell. We were able to supply Alan and Tracy with a couple more photos from when she was launched, and, as you noted, with the pencil plans, with their edges well chewed by sliverfish. Interestingly the plans showed she was originally planned as a 42-footer. At some point Leon must have decided that wasn’t enough, and she grew. 

There is an interesting story of how she was named ‘Pirate’ – it’s recounted in Neil Illingworth’s book ‘Fighting Fins’, refer the relevant pages below. 

Tracy & Alan Gilder + Ken Warne

01-10-2022 UPDATE: There was a NZ National Film Unit movie made under the same name ‘Flying Fins’ the youtube link below was sent in by K Ricketts. An interesting insight into the Big Game fishing scene in the far North – but all too cruel for me. As an aside I tracked down a copy of the ‘Fighting Fins’ book mentioned above – stashed away for summer cruising reading.

Beautiful Boats Attract Beautiful People

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Beautiful Boats Attract Beautiful People

Friday was one of those special woody days – I travelled out to Pine Harbour marina to see the re-launch of Pirate, the Leon Warne 1939 built, 46’ launch.

Why was it special? Well back in March the launch Kokoru was ravaged in a dockside fire, just weeks after a total refit / restoration, links below to Kokoru. One of the few salvageable items were the brand new twin Yanmar 75hp engines. 

The owners made the tough call and decided to purchase another classic and use Kokoru as a donor. The lucky woody purchased was – Pirate. And she became the recipient of Kokoua’s engines.

For the last 6 weeks the transplant and associated bits – new shafts, props etc and a lot of work to the tankage – size and location, has been happening.

Still a work in progress but back in the water and ready for the next stage of the project. Amazingly Pirate did not take on any water, probably the result of her owners hosing the hull down twice a day while hauled out.

WW will visit again when Pirate is ship-shape and knowing the owners – sparkling 🙂

A big shout out to the owners – it takes special people to (1) restore a woody (2) recover from seeing her destroyed (3) leaping back in and buy another – well done Tracy and Alan. I read somewhere the other day a quote that “beautiful boats attract beautiful people” – seems to fit this story 🙂

( fyi – Kokoru went to a good home and we understand, overtime will be rebuilt, so a happy ending)

KOKORU https://waitematawoodys.com/2022/02/11/kokoru-a-sneak-peek/

PIRATE https://waitematawoodys.com/2021/06/14/pirate-a-peek-down-below-4sale/

30-10-2022 – input below from owners

Marina Mooching – Warkworth / Mahurangi River 

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Pirate – Leon Warne 1938
Anam Cara – Logan 33
Leisure Hour – Jimmy Reid 1937

Marina Mooching – Warkworth / Mahurangi River 

Over the weekend I had cause to visit an area that I had often passed by boat but never on land – the area I refer to is the ‘Old Cement Works’. Home these days to the very funky Mahurangi Marina. Its just 5 minutes from the Warworth township and as well as dockside berths, offers halibut and hardstand facilities.

There is a nice selection of woody / classic craft tied up and with the ruins of the cement works as a backdrop, its very pleasant. The grounds I imagine would be a popular picnic spot and there’s even a fresh water lake, photos below.

Enjoy the gallery

HOW MANY MORE SUMMERS WILL YOU LET SLIP BY WITHOUT A BOAT …….

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HOW MANY MORE SUMMERS WILL YOU LET SLIP BY WITHOUT A BOAT ………

Waitematawoodys has a sister  – its called the Wooden Boat Bureau and we sell classic wooden boats – launches, yachts, big and small. We like to fly under the radar, as do most of our clients. Someone asked me what I did the other day – below sums it up (sounds a bit fluffy, in reality I just sell boats.

Inform and enthuse interest in the joys of owning and sailing traditional and classic wooden boats. And we do this by promoting partnerships between the boats, the sellers and the buyers, for the benefit of all. At the end of the day – its all about the boats, as most will out live their current owners.

To view a sample selection of classic woodys berthed at the virtual Wooden Boat Bureau dock, click this link –  https://waitematawoodys.com/2020/10/17/buying-or-selling-a-classic-boat/

Myself and David Cooke (MV Trinidad) are almost always available to offer advice to sellers and buyers – in the interests of marital harmony – in the first instance email to the below

waitematawoodys@gmail.com

PIRATE – A Peek Down Below

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Photo below ex Greg Philpott, of Pirate next to the Deeming’s boat shed at Tapu Point across the water from Opua. 

PIRATE – A Peek Down Below

Unless you are a Warkworth river rat, mooching around the upper reaches of the Mahurangi Harbour you wouldn’t have seen much of the stunning 1939 46’ launch – Pirate. Launched in 1939 at Matauwhi Bay in Russell, Bay of Islands, designed and built by Leon Warne. She has spent a large chunk of the last 18 years berthed alongside the old Cement Works. She always makes an appearance over the Mahurangi Regatta weekend and is one of those boats that just look right from any angle.

Pirate is constructed in full length kauri carvel plank and has twin Ford 6 cylinder 100HP diesel engines.

Pirate has an interesting provenance having been built for a German wool buyer (Otto Sommer), commissioned by the NZ Navy in World War II and used in degaussing operations, and subsequently in 1944, became Auckland’s second Police launch, replacing Tirimoana. Later she was a well known big-game fishing boat in the North, hosting among others Lord Mountbatten, who signed the Log Book. 


She is a fine example of a classic launch restored and cared for by passionate owners (18 yrs), these owners have just made the hard decision that it is time to pass Pirate onto her next custodian – so woodys, this is a unique opportunity to own a classic wooden boat of the caliber of Pirate.
Expressions of interest should be directed to waitematawoodys@gmail.com BUT – do not hang back, boats of Pirates size, presentation and provenance find new owners very quickly

 RSVP TODAY – Boat name & appox. # attending waitematawoodys@gmail.com

Pirate (Karo)

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Pirate (Karo)

PIRATE (Karo)
 

The owner of Pirate, Bryce Armstrong, sent in the above photo of the 32’  Bob Swanson built launch. She was launched in 1977 and was the last launch Swanson built. The original owner in Picton finished the topsides

When launched she was named Karo and her hull is 1” kauri.
That woodys is all Bryce knows about the launch and he would love to find out more. 
Any Southern woodys able to help out?

Liberty 446

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LIBERTY – 446
Earlier this month I featured the launch Liberty on WW, the story generated some good chat around her provenance and some b/w photos from her past (link to that story below). 
In the WW comments section Tom Morris mentioned that he had a photo of Liberty still with her wartime number on bow. Today that photo arrived in my in-box, and its just too good to ‘bury’ in the existing WW story.
 
Tom commented that the launch was built by Lou Burns and Stu McCallum at Te Papapa Onehunga. In the photo above we see Lou at the helm, and Tom’s late mother standing, Tom’s grandad is sitting in cockpit.Tom believes that Lou and Stu also built the launch Pirate and Stu McCallum built Avanti.
 
Liberty is for sale – someone needs to buy her & using the above photos reference,  bring her back to ‘as launched’ condition. She is a looker and with the right engine appears to be a zoom zoomer 🙂
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Woodys Waiheke BBQ & Pizza
BBQ RSVP: waitematawoodys@gmail.com

Woody Mooching Around Mana Marina

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WOODY MOOCHING AROUND MANA MARINA

Dean Wright was recently reviewing his extensive photo library (he is a professional photographer) and found a file labelled ‘Mana Marina’ and sent it off to me asking if he had already sent it to me 🙂 my answer was no, so today we get to enjoy Deanand his camera mooching around Mana marina, Porirua, Wellington.

The photos we taken last year, no doubt at the start / end of one of his southern cruises.
The windy city woodys are not afraid to splash a bit of colour around when painting their boats 🙂
Enjoy
ps each to their own opinion – but I do like the lines of Ajax.

Classic Woodys at Sandspit Marina

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Classic Woodys at Sandspit Marina

A couple of weeks ago I was up Sandspit way & spent an hour or so mooching around the new (ish) marina. Very impressive set up & with the yacht club’s haul-out facilities its a prefect spot to keep a woody. The real win win factor is the proximity of the ‘Greg Lees Boatbuilder’ yard, in recent years Greg & his talented team have rubbed the magic wand over some of our finest classic woodys. Just type Greg Lees in the WW search box to see the level of workmanship & perfection.

I have included a few photos of the motor camp where I stayed with my ex woodys boater – Chris Miller in this stunning motor home. 

A real bonus was the amazing meal & service we had at the Sandspit Yacht Club on Saturday night – I was expecting burgers & fries but no – everything – décor, service & the food was superb – check it out if you are up that way. The scallop entree was as good as anything you would get in Auckland City. Photos below.

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Update: I have been sent by Dean Wright the photo below of the dinghy ‘Tiki’ in happier times 🙂

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