Meola

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MEOLA 
Woody Iain Forsyth, owner of the 1961, 42’6″’, Miller & Tunnage built ex work boat – Meola is one of the most passionate wooden boating buffs you will meet, so when Iain got the opportunity to travel South to the birth place of Meola, there was no stopping him. Back in 1986 there was a major fire at the Miller & Tunnage yard and sadly their historical records / files of past builds was lost in the blaze.
The highlight of Iain’s trip was tracking down Mary Inglis, wife of Brian Inglis, who built many of the boats at Miller & Tunnage.
The black and white photos above are from Mary’s collection and show the construction of Meola and as launched. WW links below for more details
Below is a stunning photo of another Miller & Tunnage vessel, that Iain uncovered – this ones the 1960 built Deodar, which given the immaculate condition must have been at launching, prior to being commissioned as a Police launch. These days, a pleasure craft – WW links below.
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Lady Shirley

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LADY SHIRLEY (Catherine S)

The above b/w photos show the then police launch Lady Shirley, the ’ship’ in the background is the Rangitata. The photo is dated 1940-49 and most likely taken by D. Marsh. The 36’ bridge-decker, Lady Shirley was built by C. Bailey & Son in 1938.
The first photo below I took at the 2020 CYA Classic Yacht Regatta. In the second photo she is her moored  in Opito Bay, BOI – summer 2019/20.
You can read / view more at the WW links below
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Lady Shirley BOI Jan2019
02-04-2020 Update ex Greg Lees – Greg recently acquired this very cool ‘ship-in-a-bottle’ model of Rangitira
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Nigel Drake sent me the funny below – pretty well sums things up in our house.
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ISOLATION – Such stunning weather and no boating 😦
For a long time I have been ‘collecting’ old boat hooks, you can pick one up for $20>30. Normally the hook end is bronze and in good condition, a good polish and they look like new – to buy the head at Fosters would cost around $150. So today I started to give a few a make-cover. I have to say, what ever the old boys used to ‘varnish’ them with, is bloody hard to get off, lots of 80 grit did the trick.
I suspect this will be the last project before I get transferred to domestic duties e.g. working on the house 🙂

Deodar

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DEODAR

Mooching into Man o War Bay on Sunday I spied the 52′ Deodar at anchor, looking very smart. She was built by Millar & Tunnage in 1960 & is an ex Auckland Police launch.
In 1996 she was converted for pleasure use & recently underwent further work – more details & photos here https://waitematawoodys.com/2013/12/29/deodar/