Waiheke Island Causeway Haul-Out After driving past the haul-out yard at the top of Putiki Bay most days, normally around mid-morning (worst light) I at last got the light and the tide right. Great collection of craft in various states of repair / refit – I imagine the council nazis’s keep a tight rein of the ‘residents’ but it was remarkably tidy.
The top b/w photo of the Rocky Bay Memorial Cruising Club at Waiheke Island is dated 1990 comes to us from the Akl Library Hert. Collection via Maurice Sharp – fast forward 30 years and its not a lot different – photo taken yesterday.
I also spotted my 1st wooden – below.
Found this little gem in a Waiheke store -1st Editions sell on trademe for $120+ , the asking price was $70, but the WW t-shirt, got me a $10 discount, because she felt it was gung to a good home. Further proof Joyce Talbot that I do like yachts 😉
Back in 2017 we reported that the 21’ carvel planked (kauri) ex workboat Leonardo was for sale. At the time she was in Christchurch an had had a new wheelhouse added. You can read and see more at this link https://waitematawoodys.com/2017/04/11/leonardo/ She was powered by a 20hp Ford diesel engine.
Fast forward 4 years and Grant Edwards, owner of the launch Phyllis M reports in that Leonardo had been purchased by a fellow Waiheke Island gent named Lance Peterson. Lance had the boat transported to Auckland and started an extensive period of repair and restoration as she was in very poor health. Included in the refit was a replacement engine, another Ford, 2 cylinder this time, and the additional of a set of bilge keels for ‘drying out.
Leonardo was slipped back in the water during the week, but I understand did not travel far as she has a wee gearbox issue, which I’m sure will be righted quick smart.
I have to say she is a very salty looking ship and a fine additional to the island’s woody fleet. The photo below is from her early days in top of the South Island. Apologies for the two middle photos above , camera person oops 🙂
Rakino Island (West Bay on left – Woody Bay on right)Raindance & Morgana
West Bay, Rakino IslandMarise
Woody Bay Pizzeria – Rakino Island
LIVE ENTERTAINMENT ON RAKINO ISLAND – click to play – the singer, Jennie Cruse is Auckland based and available for hire – 021 266 4330
LibertyWindhaven II
MariseManuroaWaiariRaindance @ Garden Cove
GARDEN COVE – 360 deg Video – click to play
WOODY SUMMER BOATING CRUISE The WW story today is a photo gallery from the 2020/21 holiday period cruise on Raindance, the photos are not always that sharp, it was more like “look there’s one” and I would grab the camera and snap a photo. Click on the smaller photos to enlarge 😉
We mostly mooched around Waiheke and Rakino Islands – had 11 great days afloat, a little blowie at times but tucking away in the right spot with a good book was just what the doctor ordered. Only had 2 hours rain on one day, so can not complain. General observation was that it was quiet in most of the bays. I understand Great Barrier Island was very popular.As always there are a few food pix to break things up. The discovery of a pop-up pizzeria in Woody Bay, Rakino was the culinary highlight of the cruise 🙂
Thanks to help from several woodys sending in photos, we were able to continue the WW stories everyday over the holiday period and the viewing / reading numbers were strong thru-out. I think that one of the few positives from CV-19 is that a lot more people have either upgraded their digital devices or are now more tech savvy and are on-line more often.
Enjoy the photos – the next big woody event will be the Auckland Anniversary long weekend at Mahurangi.
Mystery Workboat Conversion According to her tme listing (thanks Ian McDonald) the above woody is – 44’ in length, built of kauri, powered by a 1978 Detroit 150hp diesel and calls Waiheke Island home. And that woodys is all we know.
I’m sure we can uncover more details. The conversion looks very tidy and the wood stove would indicate she has spent time in the our southern waters.
Stunning weather afloat, photo below of Raindance in Garden Cove, Waiheke Island – we sneaked in before the fizz boats and SeaLegs arrived.
Waitematawoodys resident B.O.I. woody – Dean Wright sent in the above gallery of photos from around the B.O.I.’s over the Christmas > NY period.I’ll let Dean tell the story.
“A few pics since Christmas Eve, not too many woody’s about.That is a floating jacuzzi. Just when you thought you’d seen everything 🙂 Zooming in looks like a woodburner mounted for’ard. A beautiful Townson in Opunga have forgotten the name, owned by a boat builder, complete with Townson dinghy. Gary’s Mason Bay in the background.Tamaroa also in Opunga Cove. Pics of the Fleming 55 on fire. Thank god the flames didn’t make it onto land. Moturua upwind or Motukiekie downwind.”
As always if you spot anyone or thing that might appeal to the WW readers, pull the phone out and snap a photo and send in to waitematawoodys@gmail.com Most of you will know that I like my food – the cheese scone below from the Beach Store, Onetangi, Waikehe Island – would have to #1 ever. Worth getting a wet ass relaunching the dinghy in the Onetangi beach waves 🙂
SARITA I have been contacted by Brian Blake in regard to his launch – Sarita, a 28’ possibly built by Shipbuilders. Brian purchased approx. 12 months ago and knows very little about her other than she was kept at Rocky Bay, Waiheke Island. Prior to this she may have resided in the Tauranga area. In the next few weeks Brian plans to haul her out for a refit that will include re-powering. Like all of us woody owners, Brian would love to learn more about Sarita’s past – so any help would be greatly appreciated.
Make sure to check out WW tomorrow, we have a stunning photo gallery of the classic yacht – Little Jim, competing in this years Coastal Classic Yacht Race. Tease photo below 🙂
Coming back last night from a 5pm re-launching at The Slipway Milford, I spotted a pod of Orca off NorthHead – that is two sightings in the last month.
ROCKY BAY CYA LAUNCH RACE Saturday was one of those days that started out looking good, turned crappy (on lots of fronts), got better and then finished average. A gallery of photos above – launch race and in the bay, not a great day weather wise for good photos. From a launch view point, it was the first launch race in the CYA’s summer racing series and excuse the pun – it got off to a rocky start e.g. start boat broke down and had to call Coast Guard for a tow. Jason Prew deputised me into starting the race, only 4 boats so that was easy. Then 3/4 of the way into the race I got a call from the CYA finish boat, “running late, won’t be there to take finish times”. Bet they weren’t late for the yacht finish…………. Alan Good on Lucille was given the job of recording the times and these were relayed to Jason Prew who calculated the handicap results. All that aside Lucille, Kumi, Ngaio and Meloa all played well together and crossed the line in that order.
Handicap results were 1st Kumi – 2nd Meola- 3rd Lucille (& 1st cross the line)
As a woody treat for the launches WW arranged with Waiheke residents Tim Evill and Mark Stratton to secure access to moorings in the bay for the night – thank you Mark and Tim 🙂 Several more launches cruised down but conditions in the bay were ‘unpleasant’ so they and it would appear a large % of the yacht race fleet, either went else where or headed back to the city.
Along with the mooring access came an invite to attend Happy Hour/s at the Rocky Bay Memorial Cruising Club, with a 3pm start time it was perfect timing for a catch up before the CYA prize giving in the village hall. The club rooms are perched on/over the western end of the bay and a pleasant time was had by all. The club has a very cool, new t-shirt – details at link below https://www.rockybaycruisingclub.co.nz/for-sale
We had to be back in the city later in the evening, so departed the club around 6pm, collecting CYA secretary – Joyce Talbot, who also needed to be city-side. Trip back was very average but the company was good. SCORE CARDWeather – 4/10 Organisation – 2/10 On-The-Fly Recovery 11/10 Hospitality – 10/10
RBMCC photos below
Too rocky (rolly) for Centaurus – did a drive by and headed off for a quieter bay 🙂
WAIMEA The launch Waimea popped up recently on trademe (thanks Ian McDonald). Very light of details around her designer / build / past but hopefully we can update this.What we do know is – she is 29’ , built from kauri (twin skin planking) and powered by a 65hp Perkins diesel engine. Current home is Waiheke Island.So woodys – anyone able to expand on her details.
Harold Kidd Input – It’s an early hull with rather large raised foredeck added. If I said “preposterous”, there would be an outcry on WW, so I won’t say it. There are several WAIMEAs, but this one is likely the WAIMEA owned in Howick by Withers pre-1914 and later was on the Manukau for many years. But there are so many WAIMEAs and with the probability of random name changes it is impossible to be certain of her provenance.
YesterdaysWW T-Shirt Winner = Jason Davies (MV Lucinda) . The correct names were left > right on the wharf – Leilani / Mairie / St Clair.
RIVERHEAD TAVERN WOODYS LUNCH CRUISE – PUT A CIRCLE IN THE DIARY FOR NOVEMBER 8TH. NO NEED TO RSVP FOR NOW – I’LL SEND A FLYER OUT AFTER THE STILLWATER EVENT
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