WOODY BAY LIVING UP TO ITS REPUTATION AS A WOODYS MAGNET
Todays photos came to us ex Angus Rogers, aboard Centaurus while anchored in Woody Bay, RAKINO ISLAND. Its a stunning location and no doubt the world famous on WW wood fired pizza at the Woody Bay Pizzeria help attract such an impressive collection of classic wooden launches.
Above from top to bottom we have Centaurus (1967/8 Bailey & Sons) > Rehia (1939 Colin Wild) > Waimiga (1968 Chris Robertson) > and Waiari (1962 Owen Woolley).
Input From Joe Telford aboard – Rehia – the rather large, majestic Lidard – Ngaro underway and the ex whale chaser Primadonna at anchor in Woody Bay.
Primadonna
YESTERDAYS MYSTERY LAUNCH QUIZ WINNER IS – Darrin Kennedy. In fact the only one that got both the launch name and location correct. Launch is the 1949 Lidgard built – Kiwitea. Seen in the photo being relaunched at Stillwater Boating Club, after her recent re-power. Well done Darrin 🙂
With 2023 being the worst boating year that I can recall, whilst I held high hopes I also was semi expecting another fizzer – well as most of you will know the Christmas – NY period turned out to be a winner for those that slipped the lines and headed away. Other than New Years eve being very wet (but warm) we enjoyed great launch cruising conditions. Not always perfect but if you picked a spot that suited the wind and travelled at times when conditions were settled it was never unpleasant. I put my faith in PredictWind and they delivered.
We left the marina on the 27th Dec. and chose Woody Bay, RAKINO ISLAND for Night One. Sundown drinks aboard Jenny and Angus Rogers stunning classic launch – Centaurus. Stunning sunset (as above)
Day Two was also spent in Woody Day as the wind had picked up, but very sheltered in the bay + the call had gone out for pizza from the islands Woody Bay Pizzeria, truely the best pizza’s I have eaten.
Day Three we moved around the corner to West Bay as the forecast had a W in it which isn’t normally a good thing at Rakino – very quiet in the bay so again secured a good spot and sent Day Three and Four there.
Morning of the 30th, Day Four was decision time – head north to KAWAU ISLAND or south to WAIHEKE ISLAND – forecast was turning south so WAIHEKE was probably the better call but me stuck with the original plan and head to KAWAU, Raindance is at her best when everything on the nose so it was an ok passage. We choose to anchor for the day / night in Bostaquet Bay , a first for me, and can report a very nice anchorage and again very few boats.
Day Five (31st) we headed over to Bon Accord Harbour and took up residence on one of the RNZYS club moorings just off Lidgard House in Smelter House Bay. Plan was NYE at the recently refurbished and re-opened Kawau Boating Club. Slight problem, the power had been off on the island for 24+ hours so club closed 😦
As we relaxed onboard several helicopters were flying overhead with all manner of kit dangling below – ladders, tool boxes etc – Around 3pm power returned and thank god the back up generator had kept the beer frig working 🙂 . But the rain arrived and continued non-stop most of the night. KBC appeared to get well supported but people tended to come ashore for a meal and retreat to the boat.
Day Six was a lazy day mooching around the island and back to the mooring + KBC
Day Seven we head south to WAIHEKE ISLAND and spent the day in Oneroa re provisioning and hosting some friends from Devonport for drinks, then catching up with Waiheke friends ashore.
Day Eight a lazy day exploring WAIHEKE and moved to Hekerua Bay for the evening. I crossed the dark side and had drinks onboard another friends new non wood boat – putting aside the construction it was very grand (ice maker + water maker – 200L a day) our pup was very taken with the ability to do 360° laps of the boat.
The plan was to head down to the ‘bottom end’ the next day but the forecast included a H & a E so the decision was made to head home after another lazy day, on Day Nine.
The trip restored my faith in owner a boat and helped make 2023 a distant memory.
There is so many photos that I have divided the trip report into two sections, Part One = the trip and Part Two (tomorrow) = the classic boats that were out and about. Todays story is broken up by location – ENJOY
(And sorry for the lengthy, slightly over-the-top title but there are key words that do wonders for the overseas search engines)
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)
I was sent the above photo by Gary Stanborough whose family owned the 32’ Des Townson designed and built yacht Starlight from 1978 to 2016, so any other namesake boats would always catch our attention.
Gary took the photo in 1984 in Woody Bay, Rakino Island but knows nothing of the history of this salty looking old timer. She’s tied alongside another fishing boat. Does anyone know of her past or what’s become of her? Reg # is AK14333.
A great example of the amazing work the Rakino Island residents have been doing on the planting front.
LOCK-DOWN GARAGE SALE
One of our followers is using the enforced lock-down to clean out a home workshop.There are a few bits and pieces up for grabs and a project boat that never got finished, but it’s very close to being done though. It looks to be around 14ft, and a sailing and rowing skiff. Design is called a Phoenix 3. Comes with a rig and centre board but not the trailer. Offers around $500 will see the boat oft a new owner.Plus a woodworkers tool cabinet & a few misc. tools Drop me an email if you are interested waitematawoodys@waitematawoodys
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.
Surprise and Delight on Rakino Island On Wednesday afternoon we made the call to remain in Woody Bay, Rakino Island, even though the forecast was for a swing to the SW, well that happened but it did luckily die off later in the evening. Our weather call was rewarded when we went ashore late avo to take the dog for a pee – we spotted a sign that promoted a pop-up pizza shack, just up from the beach. For the overseas WW readers – Rakino is off the grid e.g. no power, water, sewage, no shops etc and a very irregular ferry – sometimes only once a week. Situated in the Hauraki Gulf.
We decided to give the steaks to the dog and went ashore at 6pm. The place was humming, not many boat people (given the weather) but the locals were out in force. Which is always a good sign. The surprise was discovering the place – the delight was the pizzas were a 9/10 and there was a live soloist entertaining the crowd – lots of Nancy Sinatra songs, so an instant hit with me 🙂 See video below. The singer, Jennie Cruse is Auckland based and available for hire – 021 266 4330
Its open daily until Jan 24th and then from Jan 25 > April 5th its – Fri/Sat/Sun. So woodys if you are at Rakino or are looking for a great location to cruise to – check out the ‘Woody Bay Pizzeria’. I can see a potential – Woodys Classic Weekend Cruise on the horizon. The ‘carpark’ is a hoot – no Audis or BMWs here 🙂
Man Sets Launch On Fire – Wairangi I was sent the link below by my friend John Burland to a story by Tim Newman that surfaced on the STUFF website. Sounds like a relationship that went west and one party sadly took revenge. Have a read. My question is – is the boat in the article – Wairangi, the same boat in this WW story? https://waitematawoodys.com/2016/10/10/22920/ I know the STUFF article says the boat was 7m long, but in the photos below it looks bigger than that. Any Southern woodys able to enlighten us? https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/123874234/man-sets-boat-on-fire-after-latenight-argument
If you stayed at home this Easter, you missed one of the best long weekends, in fact probably the best Easter weather I can remember.
We headed out early Friday morning with the plan to spend Friday night at Rakino Island and then slide up to Kawau Island early Saturday. We arrived at Rakino mid morning and dropped anchor in Woody Bay (great name), conditions were perfect, only complaint a few too many plastic boats had the same idea. Caught up with a few friends for late avo drinks and took in the sunset – it was up there with Fiji on the visual wow rating.
Saturday morning dawned and a we had a wee anchor / winch problem – reverted to the days of old & pulled it up by hand – but then had 18+m of chain on the deck. Didn’t fancy going to Kawau as I was unable to let anymore out (even manually) as the winch was jammed. So decided to hang around Rakino – tried a spot of drift fishing – as normal no joy.
Decided on West Bay for the night (with my 18m of chain) and we got invited to dinner (fresh snapper) on a friends plastic boat. He was surprised and deleted that we turned up with a roasting dish of crunchy roast potatoes – their rather large boat has no oven – just electric induction hobs and a microwave 😦
Another 10/10 sunset.
Next morning, despite my best efforts the winch remained jammed so a restful day in the bay reading and headed home later on Sunday.
Not a lot of woodys at / around Rakino – I suspect Kawau and Great Barrier islands were the destinations of choice.
The 1962 Owen Woolley sedan launch – Waiari was looking stunning in West Bay after its 2017 top chop that say a flybridge despatched to the dumpster. Anchored nearby was the 1961 Jack Brooke built launch – Mapuna, enjoying a family cruise.
On the unsuccessful fishing trip we passed another Owen Woolley launch – the 1965, Adonis. Whats with all the 1960’s boats…….. even had Andrew Millar off Rorqual (1959 Jack Morgan) & Geoff Diggle off Florence Rose (1960’s Billy Rogers) over for a drink, sorry guys no photos, both were on the other side of the bay, with a lot of white plastic between us. Check out Flo Ro here https://waitematawoodys.com/2019/03/21/florence-rose-launch-day/
When Andrew can get around to writing me a draft story, there will be a WW feature on the extensive renovation of Rorqual.
Also snapped a photo of the very salty looking ex? work boat – Kowai off Home Bay.
And just so I’m not accused of being one-eyed, I spotted a very pretty yacht when we were leaving West Bay – Hinemoa. Can anyone tell us what she is?
25-04-2019 Input from Harold Kidd
HINEMOA was designed by Eric Cox for C.T. Jonas of Auckland and built by Lidgard Bros in 1948.
Jonas sold her to Norm Galbraith in 1955. Jonas had owned a couple of great yachts, CAROLYN (Coulthard, 1937), MATATUA (Lidgards 1938) the launch HIRAWANU (Lidgards 1946) then HINEMOA.
Lidgards built the Cox-designed SNOWGOOSE for Ian Titchener in 1948.
I recall that Ian Titchener (once Mayor of Devonport) was Paul’s uncle.
Ps I sorted the winch problem out back at Bayswater on Monday – two links had locked together on an angle – involved a wee bot of open heart surgery, best done at the marina v’s at sea.
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