WOODYS CLASSIC WEEKEND HAPPENING NOW + MYSTERY LAUNCH (Maitai)
As you are reading todays WW story, weather permitting 15 woody classic craft will be weaving their way up the Wairoa River headed for the Clevedon Cruising Club for an overnight trip.
As always the CCC crew turn on a great gig for the waitematawoody trip. The day starts with the flotilla being berthed at the CCC dock, in front of the clubhouse, then we ‘open’ the boats for club member to inspect. Happy hour tends to start early up the river 😉 Then we all meet at the club room for a BBQ dinner, raffles, outdoor fires are lit and then the live music kicks off at 8.30pm (almost my bed time) – should be a hoot.
Now there’s always a boat story – today its a mystery launch that popped up on Lew Redwood’s fb, the photo below is dated 1933 and the location is off Hen Island – looks very familiar so hopefully we can put a name to the craft.
19-09-2022 Input ex Nathan Herbert – The launch is Maitai.
Maitai
And A Not Great Example Of How to Promote Your Woody Event The word ‘TIMBER’ doesn’t really have the same gusto as ‘WOODEN’
DO NOT MISS OUT ON THE NEXT WOODYS WEEKEND – DETAILS BELOW
Classic Launches – Lady Karita, Menai, Valsan + Others – 1947 – NZ Diary #8 Movie
Following on from yesterday story on the launch – Lady Karita, Robert Phillips sent in a link to a 1947 movie tagged – ‘NZ Diary #8’ from the NZ National Film Unit. Its a great look back at post war life in Auckland. The movie is only 5 1/2min long so watch it all but if you’re time poor – go to 1.43min in and to 2.07min where it shows Lady Karita motoring on the Auckland Harbour in 1947 with someone wake boarding (or Aqua-Plane as they called it back then ) behind her. Carrying on further and we see more wake boarding at Kawau Island with Menai and others in the background. Later in the video, more wake boarding, this time behind the launch – Valsan.
Wonderful to see all the launches and yachts, most of which are still around 75 years later and looking as good or better than in 1947.
Woodys Classics Weekend Cruise To Clevedon – Call for RVSP’s The dates for the next Woody Weekend Cruise to the Clevedon Cruising Club are Saturday 21st > Sunday 22nd May 2022.As always due to wharf and river size numbers are restricted – so Woodys if you are interested in doing this event RSVP to address below ASAP to avoid disappointment. Send – Your name > Boat name > and if you know approx. numbers on board. Well behaved dogs are welcome.
Being berthed alongside the Paeroa Maritime Park & Museum dock provided me the perfect opportunity to say hi and check out the amazing refit / restoration that took place over 8 years. She was re-launched in 2020 and was a cool father and son project. The pivoting helm seat was one example of the very well thought out utilisation of space.
Maroro has a very large chunk of iron in her engine by – the repurposed Dorman engine has previously had several lives ashore as an industrial work horse.
Her owners the Thomas family understand Maroro was built / launched c.1905, but her designer / builder is unknown, so any help with shedding some light on her past would be much appreciated.
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 🙂
Poco Lento (Lady Janet)My Girl & Royal FalconWaikaro
KokoruMontereyTrinidad
Woody Classic Waterfront Picnic
Given I have had a very light summer boating wise, we decided to head out on Friday afternoon to Rakino for the night and partake in Auckland’s best wood fired pizzas at Woody Bay.
Again everything lined up – food, good wine and another spectacular sunset. Had a late evening visit from Jason Prew on My Girl, the wife “what’s that noise”. Then we were ‘entertained’ by a plonker and his partner on a Formula 4000, singing karaoke 1/2 the night ……….. they seriously thought they were good, they weren’t 😦
Saturday we headed over to the Weti River at mid day for the Woodys Picnic at the Stillwater Motor Camp. So lucky to get access, with the wharf it just makes the ideal venue for a catch up. Covid made a few gun shy but we had 11 woodys attending and a further 3 owners arrived via car – all in all a great afternoon. Lots of new (restored) woodys and new to the movement owners. The woody launch scene is getting more and more popular.
Post the picnic I pointed Raindance to a new (to me) anchorage and we enjoyed another wow sunset.
NEXT WOODY EVENT IS SATURDAY 26 MARCH – UPPER HARBOUR LUNCH CRUISE TO THE RIVERHEAD TAVERN – More details closer
The answer to yesterdays – name the yacht quiz was ‘Frances – A11’, the 1905, Arch Logan classic from the Class Yacht Charitable Trust stable. Photo below. And no one picked the right answer. So the WW t-shirt, gets to be put up again.
The launch Contessa is another launch that was owned by Peter David’s father and recently popped up on Peter’s fb. Designed and built by John Lidgard in the early 1960’s.
Can we shed some light on Carla and what became of her?
May 23rd – Moon Engines – Diesel Maintenance WorkshopDONE
June 20th – Riverhead Tavern Lunch CruiseDONE
August 14th > 15th – Clevedon River Dockside BBQ (overnight)DONE
October23rd > 25th – Woodys Long Weekend Cruise to Kawau Island (Labour Weekend) – Saturday morning Dinghy Cruise up Matakana River to Markets. Sunday evening dinner / gathering at Kawau Boating Club. POSTPONED – NEW DATE TBA
November 28th – Sunday – Riverhead Tavern Lunch cruise
2022
February 26th – Stillwater Dockside Afternoon Picnic
The above gatherings are put on to encourage classic boat owners to use and enjoy their boats more, and meet like minded people. We point out that the get togethers are not Classic Yacht Association (CYA) organised events. They have a cruising focus and the locations point to participation by launches but we welcome all classic vessels.Invitation to the events is via email and the waitematawoodys.com website. If you would to be sent invites, simply send an email with your name, boat name & mobile # to waitematawoodys@gmail.com Closer to the actual dates, we send more details to attendees.
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
Another woody spotted at Tutukaka Marina by Dean Wright -anyone able to tell us more about Lady Jess?
Input ex Scott Macindoe –
“Lady Jess was commissioned by an Auckland commercial fisherman, Gus Viskovic as a snapper longliner in 1961. She was designed and built by John Gladden at Milford Marina. The kauri came from half of a tree milled in the Coromandel. The hull is carvel planked. The planks are full-length, 32mm. Some demolition kauri from a church in Hamilton was also used in the bulkheads.
Not long after launching, the boat was sold and moved to Whitianga. She was spotted there by Harry Bannister from Whangaroa. Harry bought her and took her north. Since then Lady Jess has been a charter boat based in Northland. Since the 1970’s she has been based out of Tutukaka, owned successively by Doug Schlegel, Trevor Williams, Mike Airey, Peter O’Brynne, and since 1988, Pete Saul.
An open-topped flying bridge was added in the 1970s, with a folding Bimini top and clears. In 1997 Pete added the hard-top bridge. She still has the original dry stack arrangement. Lady Jess was powered by a single six-cylinder Ford for much of her life to date but for the last four years has been powered by a 200hp John Deere with Twin Disc gearbox.
The engine is well forward, in the galley, giving good access to the motor but necessitating a 5.5-metre drive shaft. The forward engine and flared bow make Lady Jess a great head sea boat. Top speed is 9 knots with 8 knots cruising. Fuel consumption for a day’s game fishing averages 8 litres/hour. Diesel capacity is 900 litres, allowing extensive cruising without refuelling. Pete retired from charters in 2019 but kept the boat for family use.“
Woody Moon Engines Workshop
Great turn out last Sunday for the Wooden Boat Bureau hosted-woody workshop at Moon Engines, the MC for the day was James Mobberley who ran a master class on diesel engine maintenance and servicing. 33 boat owners turned out and I will not embarrass him by naming him but this email feedback summed up the day perfectly = “Thank you for organising this enjoyable visit – an articulate, experienced and forthright speaker made James an ideal host for subjects one can never be over-informed about.”
Post the workshop – attendee Alan Sexton sent in to WW a list of minimum spares to carry on-board from YNZ’s safety rules for offshore motorboats that almost exactly per James’ advice. See below.
Alan also supplied the links below for the engine ‘junkies’ amongst us – enjoy. Seaboard Marine as recommended by James: https://www.sbmar.com/tonys-tips/
A Peek Inside Six Boathouses + Next On-The-Water Woody Event Every year The New Hampshire Boat Museum, runs a fundraising event in the form of a ‘guided’ tour of boathouses on their local lakes – this year due to CV-19 rather than cancel the event, they want with a virtual concept. I think its very cool, the use of a drone to film the approach to the locations and meet the owner interviews is a winner.
Sadly you can not fast forward, you have to watch the whole tour but you can halt it and start again where you left off.At the end of the video is a link to donate if your were feeling that way inclined 🙂 Enjoy.
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