Tag Archives: Thelma

Thelma – Motor Launch

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THEMLA

Woody – Shamus Fairhall spotted the above photo in an OP Shop last week. 
The launch is named – Thelma and is a straight stem, counter stern of the early milk maid style hull. No idea of the builder but the photo was taken on the Frankton arm of Lake Wakataipu. 

Lake Wakatipu is an inland lake in the South Island, in the southwest corner of the Otago region, near its boundary with Southland. Lake Wakatipu comes from the original Māori name Whakatipu wai-māori. With a length of 80 kilometres, it is New Zealand’s longest lake, and, at 291 km², its third largest.

The back says it is a printed from a 1910 photo from the Muir and Moodie collection – National Museum. 

Any of the woodys able to shed some light on Themla? Got to love the wharf, looks very flimsy in relation to the standard of attire of the onlookers 🙂

In Case You Are Hiding At Home, Wearing 2 Masks And Wondering What You’re Missing This Weekend – Check Out the 2019 Mahurangi Regatta

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MAHURANGI REGATTA  2019 – The biggest & best classic wooden boat regatta in NZ – 90+ photos

FRIDAY NIGHT

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SATURDAY – REGATTA DAY

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SATURDAY NIGHT AT SCOTTS LANDING

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SUNDAY MORNING

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MAHURANGI REGATTA  2019 – The biggest & best classic wooden boat regatta in NZ – 90+ photos

WoW what a woody weekend – simply stunning on all fronts –  sun > wind > location > people & of course the boats. On my estimate, the biggest turnout of classic wooden craft ever. Record numbers for Saturday mornings launch parade.
I’ll go out on a limb & repeat a comment made to me on the deck of Lidgard House, Kawau Island on Sunday night by one of our most prominent & influential classic wooden boat people – “Mahurangi is the real Auckland Anniversary Weekend Regatta” & after cruising back into Auckland today, & not seeing a lot of yachts, I would have to agree.
On Saturday between Jason Prew on My Girl & myself with Raindance we hosted three of the wooden boating world’s superstars – if you read or follow the WoodenBoat magazine, Classic Boat & the hottest property on the block – the vblog, https://www.offcenterharbor.com
then the names Maynard Bray, Benjamin Mendlowitz & Steve Stone will be very familiar to you. These gents were motored around the harbour & very selectively photographed / filmed our beautiful woodys. When I mentioned that I had cancelled my trip to next months Hobart Wooden Boat Festival, one commented “why would you go – it’s all here” & woodys – it was.
I have never attempted to understand the ‘politics’ / issues between the Mahurangi Cruising Club & The Friends of Mahurangi people – but between them they turn on a wonderful day, that equals anything on the world classic wooden boat calendar. As with anything, a few wee niggles e.g. crap PA sound system at the beach prize giving meant most people didn’t know the results – but I can tell you that Tony Blake & the crew on Thelma gave all the other A division skippers as master class in regatta sailing. It was wonderful to see the big 5 Arch Logan yachts – Thelma (1897), Rainbow (1898), Ariki (1904), Rawhiti (1905) & Rawene (1908) all on the same race track together, for the first time ever (I think I’m right – Harold?) The results were:
Thelma, followed by Rawhiti, followed by Ariki, then Rainbow & Rawene.
As a result of playing driver for the overseas crew – I’m a little light on sailing photos, but you can see from the gallery above that it was a special day.
Well done MCC and F. of M. for another magic weekend.
If anyone else had the camera out & captured some goodies, email them to   waitematawoodys@gmail.com
We bailed out of Mahurangi on Sunday morning & headed to Kawau Island for some family R&R – photos below.
Question – what do you do when there is no shotgun to signal sunset & the lowering of the burgee? – well a few lads decided to bang some pots together, then drop the flags at Lidgard House – me thinks there might be a letter in the mail to certain members 🙂
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A WEE BIT OF PR GOING ON HERE – WW T’s & OFF CENTER HARBOUR CAPS 🙂
THERE ALWAYS HAS TO BE A FOOD SHOT – KAWAU BOATING LUB, DINNER SUNDAY NIGHT.
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Check out the video below of Rawhiti – sent in from Benjamin Mendlowitz from Off Center Harbour

http://offcenterharbor.com

Update – due to not all launches completing 2 laps of the launch parade – I missed photographing a few boats – photos below ex Justine Ricketts (edited by myself)

AND MORE – link below to the Off Center Harbour video of the 2017 regatta, featuring Steve Horsley’s stunning 1904 Chas Bailey Jnr – Ngatira

https://www.offcenterharbor.com/videos/new-zealands-mahurangi-regatta-featuring-chas-baileys-ngatira/?prev=yes

UPDATE ex Graeme Finch of the A Class fleet racing Saturday + one of Raindance showing myself & Steve Stone from Off Center Harbour filming / clicking away 🙂

As always – click photos to enlarge 😉

rd @ mr2019

Also from Graeme – one of Bruce Tantrum’s pride & joy – Paramour + Graemes stunning ship – Te Arahi 🙂

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UPDATE – An early Saturday morning drone fly-by over Sullivans Bay, Mahurangi. Filmed by Neil Lawton, heads up on the movie from Ian Gavin.

30-01-2019 Update – photos of Laughing Lady ex Jason Prew

Update 11-02-2019 photos below ex Angus Rogers.

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Mahurangi Regatta – Woody Weekend – 196 photos

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MAHURANGI 2021 REGATTA –  196 WOODEN BOATING PHOTOS & VIDEOS

WoW what a weekend – perfect weather, perfect location and as always stunning boats. We saw a record turn out for the classic wooden boat parade on Saturday morning – the crowd ashore at Sullivans was a little thin on the ground, but if we are honest, we do not do it for them – its all about us 🙂 , a little like going for a motorbike rumble. We need more events where we just ‘hang-out’ together.

The regatta’s main event – the yacht race appeared to be a big success, the A-Class Logan –  Rawhiti, in the hands of her new owner – Peter Brookes, cleaned up all the major trophies. As has become the norm at Mahurangi races, the results process was a total balls up, it was very dark and late into the night before the final, final results were announced – fingers crossed its all kosher, last year it took days and numerous oops lets try that again announcements 🙂


The big band beach BBQ, was a hit, perfect on all fronts – weather, tide, the band, bbq’s and the people. Given the number of boats in Bon Accord Harbour, Kawau Island, most people headed there on Sunday. The Kawau Boating Boat was bursting at the seams but handed it well. I have split the photos into 4 galleries – Classic Wooden Boat Parade – Yacht Race – Beach BBQ – More (includes Kawau). If I missed your boat, you were somewhere I wasn’t, or in the wrong light , or your’e boats ugly (joking – sort off).
Enjoy a peak at the weekend., click individual photos to enlarge. Next weekend I’m off to the Lake Rotoiti Classic and Wooden Boat Parade –  its a biggie – they have 70+ entries  

CLASSIC WOODEN BOAT PARADE

YACHT RACE

BEACH BBQ

MORE + KAWAU ISLAND

waitematawoodys@gmail.com

2020 New Zealand Classic Yacht Regatta Photo Gallery – 100+ photos and videos

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A7 – Thelma / A2 – Rawhiti

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2020 New Zealand Classic Yacht Regatta Photo Gallery – 100+ photos and videos

As I have mentioned in the last two WW stories, the Classic Yacht Association of New Zealand have over the last 3 days been running its annual classic yachting event on Auckland’s Waitemata Harbour.
The near perfect conditions on all three days made for happy skippers and a relieved race organisers. I was on the water for two of the three days and had a blast. The gallery above is a mix of Races 1/2/3. If your boat doesn’t make an appearance, I apologize, I was only a passenger, so captured those that were within range.
On the second day, James Dreyer and myself hosted the world acclaimed marine photographer Benjamin Mendlowitz onboard Jame’s motorboat – Laughing Lady, the perfect platform for recording the on the water activities.
For me it was a master class in boat positioning and photography angles, I tried to keep out of Ben’s way and took the above photos / videos when I could without being in Ben’s line of sight.
These days the CYA run the regatta using the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron as Race HQ and entertainment hub, it is the perfect venue and as always the service and staff were 10/10.
 Scroll down for the official regatta results below
As always – click on photos to enlarge.
Race Course Videos Below (Races 2/3)
RANGER

PRIZE

A DIVISION

ARIKI

RAWHITI

CORONA

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Ngarurua + CYA Regatta Sailing Photos

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NGARURUA

The 37’ Ngaruroa was built by Nobby Clark, a commercial boat builder and launched in 1965. Built from carvel plank, heart kauri. Powered by a 120hp 6 cylinder Perkins diesel engine. 
Over the last 8 years she has been under gone an extensive re-fit and her owner now finds themselves just too busy to complete the project – so if there is a woody out there handy with their hands – Ngarurua just needs her interior finished and a lick of paint. She is fully operational in its present state. Thanks to Ian McDonald for the tme heads up.

CYA CLASSIC YACHT REGATTA UPDATE – DAY TWO (Races 2&3)
Yesterday morning I was dock side at Race HQ co-ordinating a meet up between renowned wooden boat photographer Benjamin Mendlowitz and James Dreyer (MV Laughing Lady) and I got ‘press ganged’ into accompanying them on LL for the day. Was not what I had planned but sometimes you just go with the flow.
Had an amazing day and got some great sailing photos. A taste below – full story on Monday.

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A10 – Thelma / A7 – Rainbow

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A7 – Thelma / A2 – Rawhiti

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A16 – Little Jim

The Marine Photographer’s Eye, Benjamin Mendlowitz – OCH Video Featuring Kiwi Classic Wooden Boats

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The Marine Photographer’s Eye, Benjamin Mendlowitz – OCH Video Featuring Kiwi Classic Wooden Boats – The best photos of our fleet you will have ever seen!

Today’s story is rather special as the team at offcenterharbor.com have given waitematawoody readers access to their latest video that features woodys from this years Mahurangi Regatta. The OCH site contains over 500 videos (& 500 articles) that range from boatbuilding, to trimming sails, to a complete course on understanding every aspect of your marine diesel engine. There’s even a 42-part series on how to build a Caledonia Yawl camp cruiser. The collection of videos features mariners and craftspeople at the very top of the boating field, showing exactly how they do things, and which products they use in their work.

One of the OCH founders is Benjamin Mendlowitz who, in my eyes, is the worlds finest photographer of classic wooden boats, this January, Ben and his co-founders escaped the US winter and headed down under. Whilst in NZ their #1 mission was to attended the Mahurangi Regatta and to this end on the Saturday Jason Prew with My Girl & myself with Raindance hosted – Maynard Bray, Benjamin Mendlowitz & Steve Stone for a Regatta photo shoot.

In the 11 minute video, Ben talks us through his day on the water filming woodys. In the opening section when Ben is commenting on our classic fleet he says “I was newly inspired in my photography”. When a photographer with as much experience as Benjamin Mendlowitz says that – that is saying something about our woody fleet. Plus the video is a master class for anyone interested in marine photography.

CLICK THE LINK BELOW AND SIT BACK AND ENJOY + CHECK OUT THE COOL OCH OFFER BELOW

https://www.offcenterharbor.com/videos/marine-photographers-eye-benjamin-mendlowitz-in-new-zealand/ww190523

SPECIAL 50% OFF – LIMITED TIME OFFER

The OCH site is 100 percent membership driven, and they do not accept advertising. Not lining their pockets with advertising enables them to provide OCH members with the unvarnished truth, straight from legendary masters of their craft – without worrying whether they piss off an advertiser 🙂

In addition to allowing WW woodys to view the video at no-charge, they have also put together a one-off subscription offer for WW readers.

They are offering 50% off the annual rate – thats an amazing US$24.50 – BUT woodys be quick it will not last for long + there is a Risk Free Guarantee – try it for a few days, if your not happy they will provide you with a 100% refund. I’m a subscriber – I love the site, I have watched one story probably 10 times.

JUST CLICK THE LINK BELOW TO SUBSCRIBE  

https://www.offcenterharbor.com/join-now-2450-ww/

WHAT YOU GET:

  • FULL ACCESS to everything on the site for 1 full year (including our growing library of over 1,000 videos and articles)
  • Your membership includes three full “how-to-build” video series (80+ videos worth over $500 that you get free)
  • You can get your questions answered in the “comments” section under each video and article
  • Join our community of “off-center” boating enthusiasts around the world

 

 

Raider

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RAIDER

One of my roaming woodys sent in yesterday the above photos of the launch – Raider, on the hard at Okahu Bay. I imagine the Harbour Master has parked her there. Anyone know what happened to her?

She appears to be a Parris or once was before someone got creative with a few sheets of ply. Perhaps a sister to Cherokee / Mistral?

Ever Wanted To Have a Peek Down Below On One Of The Classic Yacht Association’s A-Class Gaff Yachts

This weekend and next, drop down to Auckland’s Viaduct harbour and you can check out the likes of – Thelma, Rawene, Rainbow, Waitangi, Rawhiti & Frances. Details below.
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CYA Classic Yacht Regatta 2019 – Race #1 – 37 Photos

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Rawhiti & Ariki

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Ranger

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Little Jim

Leda
Namu
Achemar
Ranger
Princess
Polaris
Innismara & Ta’Aroa
Little Jim
Katrina II & Arohia
Tawera
Katrina II & Arohia
Katrina II
Arohia
Arohia & Tawera
Katrina II & Arohia
Aramoana
Rawhiti
Rawhiti
Ariki
Rawhiti & Ariki
Rawene
Ngatira
Thelma
Waitangi
Wairiki
Waitangi
Corona
Tucana
Nomad
Arawa
Jonquil
Spray II
Frances

 

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Rainbow

CYA Classic Yacht Regatta 2019 – Race #1 – 37 Photos

At the end of the day I shot down to Devonport Wharf with the tele-lens & just caught the fleet sliding down the harbour, a little overcast but that would have been a + for the crews.
I’ll attempt to ID the yachts – scroll over the photos to see names – if I get it wrong, let me know 😉
 
As you read this I’ll be winging my way south to Lake Rotoiti (Nelson Lakes) for the 20th NZ Antique & Classic Boat Show, mooching around Nelson for a few days so should have some good southern content next week.
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