2020 New Zealand Classic Yacht Regatta Photo Gallery – 100+ photos and videos
PRIZE
A DIVISION
ARIKI
RAWHITI
CORONA



2020 New Zealand Classic Yacht Regatta Photo Gallery – 100+ photos and videos
PRIZE
A DIVISION
ARIKI
RAWHITI
CORONA
NGARURUA
A10 – Thelma / A7 – Rainbow
A7 – Thelma / A2 – Rawhiti
A16 – Little Jim
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
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:
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?
Ever Wanted To Have a Peek Down Below On One Of The Classic Yacht Association’s A-Class Gaff Yachts
Rawhiti & Ariki
Ranger
Little Jim
Rainbow
CYA Classic Yacht Regatta 2019 – Race #1 – 37 Photos
FRIDAY NIGHT
SATURDAY – REGATTA DAY
SATURDAY NIGHT AT SCOTTS LANDING
SUNDAY MORNING
MAHURANGI REGATTA 2019 – The biggest & best classic wooden boat regatta in NZ – 90+ photos
Check out the video below of Rawhiti – sent in from Benjamin Mendlowitz from Off Center Harbour
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
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 😉
Also from Graeme – one of Bruce Tantrum’s pride & joy – Paramour + Graemes stunning ship – Te Arahi 🙂
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.
HINEMOA – Sailing Sunday
photos ex Ron Wattam
The top photo I think is of Hinemoa A1, any of the woods able to confirm & fill in the gaps on her design / built / age etc ?
The photo below shows ‘Little’ Thelma (K3), A17? & A8? – must have been a close race.
I was sent the youtube link to the this very funny video of ex Australian PM Bob Hawke telling a joke at an America’s Cup lunch.
ATHOS
A tour of the waterfront
After the decision on Sunday to pull the pin on racing, David Glen took Rainbow for a wee cruise around the waterfront docks to check out the talent. Below is a pot-pourri of vessels – some classic, some wood, some glass & some very exotic.
Enjoy the cruise, we did 🙂
Sea Devil was hauled out at the hard stand for some TLC, if she was mine I would be taking the power plane to those anti-roll bilge fins. Very agricultural, the ones on my Raindance were similar & post some feathering / shaping the drag effect was noticeably reduced.
Classic Reproductions
Today’s post profiles the work of Wayne Spicer, a very talented modeler who has built an impressive number of our classic fleet. Wayne has been modeling for approx. 17 years & is a volunteer model maker at the Maritime Museum in Auckland (on Tuesdays). Wayne has built a number of square riggers including Endeavour, Bounty (3), Victory (3), Spanish galleon.
While at the Museum Wayne meet Rod Marler, the owner of the Logan yacht ‘Little Jim’, Rod commissioned Wayne to build a model of LJ & this got Wayne hooked on Logan boats. Wayne told me that he enjoyed the classic lines of the Logans and how they showed the evolution of sailing designs since the late 1800’s. You will see from the the list below that he has built quite a few.
BUILT TO DATE:
Thelma
Rainbow
Waitangi
Jessie Logan (2)
Little Jim (2)
Tawera (2)
Ariki
Aromoana
Ngaio
Gypsy
Nomad
Ranger
Helen
Most of Wayne’s models are made from scratch which means they are not kit sets, fyi below are some photos of the model making process for Nomad.
THELMA / VERA
photos & details supplied by Bruce Yarnton. (Russell Ward added)
From the story below you will learn that Thelma has had a fascinating life & now her ‘bones’ sadly reside on the roof of the Lake Ohau Lodge, for protection after numerous backpackers decided kauri made good firewood 🙂 The lodge owners are interested if anyone has any old photos or tales for her past.
The tale of Jock Edgar & his gambling adventures are worth the read alone.
In the b/w photo above Thelma is berthed at Lake Wakatipu (Frankton) with the Remarkables in the background. There is no date to the photograph but sources have confirmed its pre 1920’s.
The History of Thelma (Vera)
The Thelma was built in Auckland in 1903 by Mr C Bailey, and engined by Messrs W A Ryan & Co, also of Auckland. Thirty five feet long with a six foot four inch beam, she was fitted with a 5 horse-power Union oil engine, and could accommodate thirty passengers. She was brought new to Dunedin by Messrs Hayward & Garratt to demonstrate the Union oil engine. She was not christened Thelma but was the Vera for the first few months of her life. The Vera’s maiden voyage was on the Otago Harbour in September 1903, and she was then bought by Mr Searle of Queenstown and by October 1903 was providing tours on Lake Wakatipu.
Six weeks later Vera had been overhauled by Ryan & Co after her bearings gave trouble, and was re-named Thelma at the same time.
Subsequent owners were Jno C McBride who took her over in 1906, and then Jock Edgar.
Quoted from “The Mount Cook Way” by Harry Wigley, first published 1979.
Jock Edgar was one of the characters of the district. A confirmed batchelor, an inveterate gambler, he had no family ties and not many other responsibilities, and would periodically go on a bender for two or three days. Jock who was never known to hurry, had a Southland drawl, and when he told one of his innumerable yarns, often against himself, his eyes and florid face would light up.
In his youth he was once lined up before the local magistrate – who happened to be his father – on a charge of being drunk and disorderly, and in due course he was fined 7s 6d. After listening to the magistrate make his pronouncement, Jock said in a loud voice: ‘You’ll have to pay it, Dad.’ He went off to the South African War and gambled his way round that country with varying degrees of success, finally arriving on board the ship which was to take the contingent home with not a penny in his pocket, and only the clothes he stood up in. He claimed that when he stepped ashore in New Zealand he owned nearly all the loose cash on the ship, as well as a wide range of saddles and bridles, watches and other gear.
Returning to his hometown of Queenstown, he bought a graceful old launch – the Thelma, with a yacht-type counter stern and a slow-revving single-banger engine – and with this he ran trips to the many parts of the lake not serviced by road. The old Thelma was later used on Lake Ohau for a number of years until she went ashore and was damaged beyond repair, and as far as I know she is still lying on the beach below the Lodge.
To cope with the expanding traffic Jock had built a modern passenger launch, the Kelvin, and he also developed walking trips up the Routeburn Valley and down the Greenstone, using a series of mountain huts and packhorses to carry in supplies. He ran the business from a small building on a piece of land he owned on the waterfront across the road from Eichardts, and it was this building which was moved to the Crown Range and later on to Coronet Peat to establish skiing there.
In the mid 1920s the Company bought the whole of Jock Edgar’s business, including the launches, the land on the waterfront, and his huts and horses. A modern building to replace Jock’s hut was erected on the waterfront site to house the branch office and staff. Once a year Dooley Coxhead, who was then Company secretary, did a round of the Routeburn and Greenstone Valleys to check the huts and count the horses, but it was not until some years later we found that the ones that Jock had sold to us actually belonged to the Tourist Department!
In a book called “All Aboard” by RJ Meyer which was about the old cargo boats, firstly yachts then latterly steam, it mentions the Thelma in the winter of 1933 being roped in to help with the mail and service run to Glenorchy. While the Earnslaw was having boiler repairs the Ben Lomond also developed boiler trouble and the Thelma was called on to serve the lakeside stations. The Thelma then had engine trouble and the Kelvin and the Muritai had to carry on the service.