Tag Archives: Riverhead Woody Cruise

CLASSIC WOODEN BOAT PUB CRUISE TRIP REPORT 40+ Photos

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NGARO

CLASSIC WOODEN BOAT PUB CRUISE TRIP REPORT 40+ Photos

Saturday was a great day for the classic wooden boating community – 13 classic craft (twelve launches and one yacht) made the journey up the river to the waterfront Riverhead Tavern for lunch.

In addition to the 13 woodys we were joined by 5 skippers and partners who made the trip by car.

As seems to always be the case – the weather and sea conditions was perfect for the trip and everyone had a great time.

Nice to welcome several newbies to the flock – these gathering are ideal for meeting fellow classic boating enthusiasts – the anchoring, coming ashore to the wharf and dining make it a shared experience and helps break the ice with ’strangers’. These days people seem loath to row up to another woody in a bay and say hi, some anything that grows the classic woody community is to be encouraged.

Saturdays cruise was the last event on the Classic Woody Calendar for the year, we will be back to you in the new year with details on more events. As always click on photos to enlarge – photos thanks to Margo Hudson & yours truely.

NEWSFLASH – as I have told anyone and everyone, the Mahurangi Regatta in late January is not to be missed. PLUS – details soon on an exciting new activity for the Sunday – the heads up – old school yachting and launch race/cruise to Kawau Island and a party at Kawau Boating Club on Sunday night. Perfect for those wanting to enjoy Mahurangi / Kawau longer eg not heading back to Auckland on Sunday morning.

A sad reminder that we were missing one of our family awaited us on the tables at the tavern – RIP David Cooke 😦

ROMA + Next Woody Cruise Details

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MYSTERY LAUNCH 24-02-2024 – ROMA

Mid last year the above photo popped up on a Keith Humphreys fb post – we learnt that the photo was from the Darroch Collection and the vessel is thought to be one of their craft. 

We were told there is an ‘R’ carved in amongst scroll-work at the bow. And those port holes have to be a giveaway.

No mention of location but the photo is ex the Devonport Museum, she is flying an ‘Auckland Motor Yacht Club’ pennant + sporting a #8 – so may some Waitemata Harbour launch race / event?

INPUT EX NATHAN HERBERT – The vessel is Roma, she made a WW appearance back in August 2016, in that story Ross Dawson and Harold Kidd advised she was 35′ in lenghth, built in 1910 by Tom Le Huquet. Sadly she came ashore in 1918 and broke up.. Link to the 2016 story below https://waitematawoodys.com/2016/08/31/mystery-launch-31-08-2016/

HAVE TO RSVP’ed FOR RIVERHEAD TAVERN WOODYS LAUNCH CRUISE

RSVP waitematawoodys@gmail.com

Details below – RSVP to waitematawoodys@gmail.com with boat name and approx. crew numbers.
DATE: Saturday 16th March TIME: Meeting at Lucas Creek area at 11am. Arriving hotel at 11.30am TIDE:  HW @ 1pm – 3.3m

Another Day Another Woody Boat Yard

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Another Day Another Woody Boat Yard

The Milford Slipway was looking very woody friendly this week, the yard full + Pacific was slotted in next door at the Milford Cruising Club yard.

The TCL is continuing on Valsan and Laughing Lady up for a pre summer tickle up.

Woody Classic Gatherings

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WOODY CLASSIC BOATING 2022 – 2023 CALENDAR
Time to get the pencil out and circle a few dates in the calendar. Our 2022 > 2023 classic woody events focus equally on the boats and the people – its all about getting off the marina and meeting up with like minded people.
As always, some dates may change and the weather is always a factor – but as the dates approach we will be in touch with more details.

Please feel free to share the calendar with your classic friendly boating enthusiasts. Where tide and draft permits – woody cruising yachts are always welcome to join in, so also share with the stick and rag woodys 🙂

AND TO ENSURE YOU GET A WOODY FIX TODAY – CLICK THE LINK BELOW  Video footage from the 2022 Moreton Bay Classic (thank you Andrew Christie)

Woodys Riverhead Tavern Classic Launch Cruise

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My Girl
Te Hauraki
Pacific
Manu
Waikaro
Raindance
Waione

Woodys Riverhead Tavern Classic Launch Cruise

Saturdays weather forecast was a wee bit gnarly but with the promise of an improvement later in the day – Harbour bridge > Kauri Point – unpleasant. Kauri Point > Herald Island – average. Upper Harbour > Hotel Good.

The time ashore was perfect, great location, service and the food very good. Return trip ok, except for between the Hobsonville and Te Atatu area – SW wind was whistling thru from the Waitakere Ranges.

We had 10 woodys turn out, 4 of them being newbies to the creek – Awarua, Manu, Margaret Anne and Waione – nice boats, nice people 🙂

Thanks to everyone for a great day.

(most photos have captions – scroll over to view)

Gay Dawn + Woody Riverhead Tavern Cruise

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GAY DAWN

At the recent CYA round Rangitoto race > cake day > BBQ one of the participating launches was the c.1953 Bill Waters built 34′ bridge decker – Gay Dawn. Gay Dawn has made several appearances on WW, links below, but today we get to also see her underway. Gay Dawn is built like a brick outhouse – carvel planked kauri, hardwood ribs and a pohutukawa stem. 

Forward motion comes via a Ford 120hp diesel engine, that delivers an impressive turn of speed. 

After a spell in the Bay of Plenty (Tauranga) GD is back home in Auckland. 

2013 https://waitematawoodys.com/2013/08/18/gay-dawn-2/

2019 https://waitematawoodys.com/2019/07/05/gay-dawn-down-below/

Update 11-04-2022 Please to see that Gay Dawn has lost the bow rail (ex a Haines Hunter?) – looks very cool nude. Fingers crossed its a permanent thing 🙂

WOODYS RIVERHEAD TAVERN LAUNCH CRUISE – THIS SATURDAY (26th) 

Not to late to RSVP to waitematawoodys@gmail.com

Full details will be emailed out to RSVP list.

Woodys Riverhead Tavern – Winter Cruise 

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Te Hauraki
Dancer
Ngarimu
My Girl

Woodys Riverhead Tavern – Winter Cruise 
Yesterday was one of those days where the weather forecasters got it wrong -big time. Took the dog for an early morning waterfront walk between the showers and the ferries on the harbour were sounding their fog horns – fast forward 2 hours and the suns out, water glassy flat and we are going boating. Quick side trip to collect our quests – Margo & Jamie (MV Lady Crossley) from Westhaven and we are off.

A great turn out for mid-winter, saw 60+ woodys gathering at the historic waterside Riverhead Tavern for lunch – special thanks to those that came by car and helped with berthing the boats at the wharf. As always – click on photos to enlarge 😉

Nice to meet some new faces and if there was an award for most travelled attendee, woody Bruce Rowe on board – Ngarimu would be the winner. Bruce and his ‘decky’ mate – travelled from Thames to attend.  The boys left Thames on Friday, stayed at bottom end of Waiheke, then off Stanly Point / Bayswater on Saturday night and  will be heading home today. Talking to Bruce,  Saturday night sounded heaven – tucked up in their warm bunks, rain on the cabin top, listening to the Auckland Blues rugby game, then the NZ v India cricket test – not a lot of sleep was had 🙂

We were also graced with the company of John and Diana Olsen on their steam boat – Dancer, The Olsen’s towed Dancer from Cambridge and launched her at the old Salthouse yard to make the trip up the creek.

Check out the Woodys Classic Weekends Event Calendar at the link below, for upcoming outings – our next one is an overnight BBQ cruise up the Clevedon River on the weekend of 14 > 15th August – a heads up – numbers will be restricted due to berthing / anchoring limits -so RSVP early.

https://waitematawoodys.com/2021/06/15/woodys-classic-boating-calendar/


The poster below greeted us at the door to the tavern – has a nice ring to it………….  maybe someone is sending me a message 🙂

Madison Rose – A Peek Down Below

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MADISON ROSE – A Peek Down Below
The launch Madison Rose made a brief appearance on WW back in Feb 2019, now thanks to tme and Ian McDonald we get to have a peek down below.Her design / builder is unknown, with a possible build date in the early 1900’s.

It is rumoured that in a past life she was a Marlborough Sounds Mail delivery boat. Madison Rose is approx. 33’ in length and powered by a 80hp Ford diesel that gets her along at 8 knots.Home port is Nelson.


If I didn’t know better I would say that Jason Prew had a hand in those davits 🙂 Nothing a small tungsten tipped chainsaw couldn’t fix.

Previous WW story at link belowhttps://waitematawoodys.com/2019/02/01/madison-rose/

RSVP – Boat name and approx. # attending to waitematawoodys@gmail.com

Katoa + Vacuna – In The 1950’s

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KATOA + VACUNA – In The 1950’s
Following on from the recent WW update story on the launch – Katoa, I was contacted during the week by Richard Daley, whose grandfather – Reg Bull owned Katoa during the 1950’s. She was kept on Lake Taupo and Richard’s mother –  Judy, spent much of her holidays aboard her during this time. Richard commented that the family found her a vast improvement on Reg’s previous boat, the Nomad, which rarely managed to get around Rangitira Point on the way to the Western Bays.


On selling Katoa, Reg had Owen Woolley build him a replacement – Vacuna, which was launched in 1959. Vacuna  featured in WW a few years ago in a less salubrious story regarding her sinking & subsequent sale – RIP Tom the Torch 😉 .

The photos above show both from that period, Richard says the one of Katoa is proof that she did make it to the Western Bays on many occasions.
WW Katoa links

https://waitematawoodys.com/2021/06/03/54970/
https://waitematawoodys.com/2015/12/04/new-arrival-at-mapua/


WW Vacuna link https://waitematawoodys.com/2016/11/25/vacuna-2/

RSVP (boat name & approx # of passengers) to waitematawoodys@gmail.com

Woody Classics Weekend – Riverhead Tavern Lunch Cruise

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Woody Classics Weekend – Riverhead Tavern Lunch Cruise
Saturday night in Auckland was evil, rain, thunder and lightening – up and down several times during the night, each time thinking – Sundays woody cruise will be cancelled. But once again the weather gods smiled on us and half way up the river the sun came out and stayed out all day. Saturday nights weather scared a few boats off making the trip but most decided to join in via car.

A very pleasant afternoon was had in the Tavern’s Boathouse, which we had reserved for the group. Wonderful to catch up with everyone and to welcome several newbies to the group.Hats off the Jim and Karin Lott who made the trip up the river in their 38’ Stewart yacht – Mokoia. Make a note yachties – sub 2m draft and you are all good 😉

You will notice from the upper river photos that after all the rain, the water was very muddy – worst I have seen it – makes you wonder about all the farm land ‘converted’ to high density housing in the area. When we first started woody trips to the Tavern, most of the surrounding land was either forestry or pasture.


Took a detour on the way back into the viaduct, almost feel embarrassed asking the bridge control to raise the bridge for Raindance 🙂 , to check on the John Spencer / Classic Yacht & Launch gig at Kairanga Plaza, Wynyard Quarter – scored a VIP berth, thank you Tony Stevenson.Not as many photos as normal , for once I spent most of the afternoon chatting, special thanks to Chris Miller who grabbed my camera a few times and snapped some goodies.

WIN A COPY OF ‘THE JOHN SPENCER STORY’ 64 PAGE BOOKLET

All woodys that answer the following question correctly, go into the draw for a copy of the above – As always, entry ONLY VIA EMAIL to waitematawoodys@gmail.com

Q – “What was the longest yacht John Spencer designed and built”?

Entries close 8pm 09-11-2020