Tag Archives: Zane Grey

CLASSIC 1928 KAURI LAUNCH – MANAAKI

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CLASSIC 1928 KAURI LAUNCH – MANAAKI

Todays woody is the 36’ launch –  MANAAKI built in 1928 by Collings & Bell. The photo comes to us from Karl Webber via Lew Redwood fb. In the fb story is comments that at the time of the photo (1930) the boat was owned by the Webber family and was built of kauri and used primarily to cross from Kapiti Island to Paraparaumu.

MANAAKI first appeared on WW back in August 2015 – link below, lots of old and newish photos here https://waitematawoodys.com/2015/08/10/manaaki/

Then in May 2021 she was for sale and we got to have a gander down below – link here https://waitematawoodys.com/2021/05/09/manaaki-a-peek-down-below/

Looking for confirmation that todays MANAAKI is the same launch that was build for the Zane Grey fleet – ALMA G, OTEHEI and AVALON were the names of some of her sisters.

INPUT ex KARL WEBBER via Dean Wright

CLASSIC WOODEN LAUNCH OTEHEI – Flashback

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CLASSIC WOODEN LAUNCH OTEHEI – Flashback

Wednesdays WW story on the ex game launch – ALMA G II, gave woody Gavin Bradley a nudge to send the above photos of his wooden classic – OTEHEI.

Gavin commented that the date was 29 years ago (1995) and Craig McInnes was doing the work of 5 men.OTEHEI was designed and built c.1927/8 by Collings & Bell and had several ’sister’ ships, ALMA G II being one of them. Her first owner was a Frank Elliott and she worked out of Zane Grey’s camp at Otehei on Urupukapuka Island in the Bay of Islands. 

OTEHEI spent some time on Lake Taupo before returning home to the far north, where she residues today.

Lots of photos and intel in the two WW story links below – particularly the 2017 story.
WW Aug 2013 https://waitematawoodys.com/2013/08/28/otehei/ WW Jan 2017 https://waitematawoodys.com/2017/01/10/otehei-2/

Post WWII Boating On The Waitemata 

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Post WWII Boating On The Waitemata 

Another old movie day – same source (Lew Redwood fb post / link to some film footage from c.1945 that is stored / saved on Nga Taonga – the NZ archive of film, television and sound.)Given the date everyone must’ve been so relived to be emerging from the doom and glum of WWII and back boating again.

Todays footage is a potpourri and tagged ‘Personal Record. Taylor, AG. (Akarana Regatta, Northern Cruise, Othei Bay, Oyster Inspector, Zane Grey’s Gallows). Approx. 12 minutes in length. 

A great mix of sail and motor boats – towards the end, the flying boat landing in the harbour amongst the pleasure craft is something you wouldn’t see in todays PC world.

LINK TO WATCH THE MOVIES HERE https://www.ngataonga.org.nz/search-use-collection/search/F44551/

ENJOY?

13-05-2023 INPUT EX ROBIN ELLIOTT –

The clip is one of many filmed by AG. Taylor, that have been doing the rounds for some years. He held many film evenings at yacht clubs during the 1940’s and 1950’s and 60’s.

A.G. Taylor was the father of John Taylor (Ex Stewart 34 Paprika) and grandfather of Team NZ’s Andrew Taylor. He sailed with ‘Boy’ Bellve on the Ngatoa and used to film their cruises, the Richmond Yacht Club picnics and follow his sons (who owned the M-class Mercedes 1939-1949) around filming them during races. Film stock was a mix of colour and black and white.

Some years ago, Point Chevalier YC (I think) discovered a collection of his film reels in their old clubhouse attic that had been left behind after a long-forgotten film evening. They copied them to videotape and were selling them as a fundraiser for their new clubhouse.

This particular clip is a mish-mash of dates and assembled in no particular order. There is a brief and blurry clip of the 1939 World’s 18-foot series shot from the Westhaven wall, as well as a much better clip of the 1948 Series (where you have that spectacularly overloaded and listing ferry). There are several Regattas depicted.

I agree with Simon below regarding colour film. When I first saw these films (almost 30 years ago) John Taylor told me that his father ‘got the colour film from America’.

Also, in several of the colour clips, A-7 Rainbow is shown in gaff, she was laid up after 1940 and briefly returned to racing in 1945 but broke her mast and was again laid up until sold to Leo Bouzaid in 1948 who converted to marconi rig in 1949.

ORDER HERE waitematawoodys@gmail.com

The Demise Of Lorna Doone

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THE DEMISE OF LORNA DOONE

We last saw the Collings & Bell built Lorna Doone on WW back in April 2018, at the time we learnt that she was built in 1926, and one of four launches for the Zane Grey Sporting Club. When launched she was powered by a Redwing engine that gave her a very respectable 16 knots of speed.

In the 2018 story (link below) Martin Howson advised that in the late 1950’s when owned by Des Shimanski Lorna Doona came ashore in a big easterly blow in Hooks Bay, Waiheke Island. She survived that oops and returned to life as a long-liner moored in the Tamaki River, near Bucklands Beach.

In todays photos sent in by Ray Morey we see Lorna Doone in Whangaroa Harbour, in Northland. Sadly in the bottom two we see her c.1970’s when she was wrecked on Peach Island, in the middle of Whangaroa Harbour. (as advised by Gavin Bradley)

Can anyone tells us the back story to the Peach Island incident – its a well protected harbour and the island is almost dead centre with good deep water both sides – see photo below.

08-05-2023 Input ex Alice Morrison – Whangaroa can get some gnarly gusts through the valleys. A few months ago, the wooden yacht ‘Hope’ ran aground in Waitapu Bay/Ota Point when a big gust came through as he was lifting anchor. It actually happened again around at Ratcliffs Bay a few days later.

Restoration of Alma G II Begins

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Alma G II

RESTORATION OF ALMA G II BEGINS

WW was contacted by the Opua based boatbuilders – CMC Design with a heads up that the 1927 ex game boat Alma G II had arrived at their yard where Craig McInnes and his team will undertake the work. Projects of this magnitude are the norm for the team –  the woodys Lady Crossley and Otehei being two examples.

Sian Steward at CMC Design supplied some wonderful insights into Alma G II’s provenance and the people that rubbed up against her – I’ll let Sian tell the story:

“The Alma G II was commissioned by E C Arlidge in 1927 to be built by Collings & Bell of St Marys Bay.  Timed for Zane Grey’s second trip to New Zealand, Grey asked if the boat could be named after him.  A familiar sight in the game fishing era alongside other classics such as the Alma G (another E C Arlidge boat, built in 1922), Manaaki (also owned by EC Arlidge for a period, later sold by the Arlidge Bros to Eric Sanderson of Whangaroa/ Totara North in 1932 for 172 pounds), Otehei and Lorna Doone.  The sons of Ernest, Francis and Mervyn, known as ‘Arlidge Bros’ took to the family boating business around age 19 and were the original skippers of the Alma G and Alma G II respectively.  Advertising them as the most ‘up-to-date boats in the Bay’ ‘being speedy and comfortable’ with all the latest fishing tackle and swivel chairs for deep sea fishing and available for ‘picnic parties’.

The boat was originally launched as the Zane Grey. Subsequently, rumour has it that Zane Grey and the Arlidges had a falling out, and the boat was renamed Alma G II around 1931.

The boat stayed in the Arlidge family for many decades until it was reluctantly let go around 1975. Dave Smith fully restored her, and she was relaunched in 1977as the Zane Grey.  Most recently she was left to settle down the line in a paddock awaiting the moment where the new owner could tackle a large restoration project. 

Tugging at the family history heartstrings, the Arlidge family had kept an eye on the happenings of the boat over the years and approached the recent owner to purchase her back into the family fold.  They are now embarking on a restoration project with CMC Design to relive many childhood memories and get this family legacy ready to be enjoyed again by many more generations of the family.

The Arlidge family have kindly shared some of the classic photos of the Alma G II in the Bay of Islands.  The Short Sunderland flying boat is dropping off some prestigious game fishing guests (many of whom were Arlidge Bros patrons over the years including Lady Ashley Dodd, the French flying ace Pierre Closterman, Zane Grey of course, his brother RC, and Carrie-Fin and Ham Guild as a few examples of the era).The story as far as we know for this photo is that it was the Admiral Earl and Lady Mountbatten on their visit in April 1956. In the photo with the black marlin is a young Mervyn Arlidge.”

We will follow this project and keep you updated.

Photos below are from previous WW stories where Alma G II has featured.

ex Hylton Edmonds
ex Harold Kidd (Alma G II on the right)
ex Gordon / Gary Stanborough
ex Dave Stanaway

Marlin Waters 1960

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MARLIN WATER 1960

The above 12 minute film just popped up on YouTube – a recently reedited (enhanced) film from the old New Zealand National Film Unit and comes to us via Archives NZ and Snooks Fuller.

The film – ‘Marlin Waters 1960’ was filmed in the 1960’s in the Bay of Islands New Zealand and features classic big game fishing in the Bay Of islands. 

We see very early footage of Snooks Fuller and the Lady Doreen and his regular client from America “Poppy”. Also featured is the launch – Margaret Joy. Lots of old footage of Otehei Bay, early Kingfish Lodge and Poor Knights Islands.

While personally I’m not a fan of targeting these beautiful creatures, the film is wonderful insight into the glory days of big game fishing in the far north. If you look closely there are many other classic wooden launches caught on the film.

A QUICK QUESTION RE THE LAUNCH RANGIORA (refer photo below)

Does anyone know if Rangiora is still kept in Wellington and also contact details for the owner – email to waitematawoodys@gmail.com

Otehei – 1970’s

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OTEHeI – 1970’s

Woody Dean Wright sent in the above photo of the launch – Otehei. Dean ‘found’ the photo when having a clean out – its tagged on the back ‘Ian Spedding, Otehei, 1926 vintage’.

Dean’s thoughts are that it may have been taken by Ian Spedding and maybe lated from the late 1970’s. The location of the photos is probably off the old Fullers slipway at Russell.

Back in a 2013 WW story on Otehai – Harold Kidd wrote – OTEHEI was a sister-ship to the Collings & Bell-built hard chine launches built for various operators in the Bay of Islands in 1926-7 to service the game-fishing sport which had grown rapidly after an exploratory trip north by Colonel W.H. Hazard in his VIRGINIA in 1918. The other 3 launches to the same pattern were LORNA DOONE, ZANE GREY (later ALMA G II) and MANAAKI. These launches were all equipped with Redwing engines and were capable of 16 knots. OTEHEI was built for Frank Elliott who painted her red. Like the others, and the later AVALON, she was based at Zane Grey’s camp at Otehei on Urupukapuka Island.

She spent some time on Lake Taupo as GRACE DARLING but is now in Russell/Opua restored for the last 20 years or so as OTEHEI. View that story here  https://waitematawoodys.com/2013/08/28/otehei/

In another WW story that featured lots of photos and reader chat.  https://waitematawoodys.com/2017/01/10/otehei-2/

07-06-2022 UPDATE ex Gavin Bradley (owner)

The photo below is from Gavin’s collection of Otehei and shows her being relaunched at Fuller’s in 1977 post her first big restoration after returning to BOI after 40 odd years on Lake Taupo. Gavin believes it was taken on the same day as the photo above. 

Big Game Fishing Wooden Boats

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BIG GAME FISHING WOODEN BOATS

WW contributor – Scott Taylor, sent in the link to the above short film – titled ‘New Zealand’s Deep-Sea Fighting Fish’. The film comes to us via Archives New Zealand, and was originally produced by Neuline Film Studios, Auckland for the Dept. of Tourist and Health Resorts.

The film isn’t dated but both Scott and myself believe it is from the early 1950’s, can any one date the film from the footage?

There is an impressive collection of woodys featured, all looking very ship-shape, and most still afloat today.


WHO OWNS DEODAR  – Looking for the current owner of the ex Auckland Police launch Deodar – can you contact WW at the email address below – trust me its worth your while 😉 waitematawoodys@gmail.com

Otehei

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OTEHEI

The note below (edited) was sent to me by Gavin Bradley  &Maggie Mouat, they are the new owners of Otehei & have asked for help from the ww readers. The top 3 photos above show Otehei in Otehei Bay, December 2016. The bottom two above are by Dean Wright (ex K Ricketts). More details here https://waitematawoodys.com/2013/08/28/otehei/

“I recently became aware of the Waitemata Woody’s site which I have to say is an amazing resource and I am loving the daily posts.

I found the site while searching for old images of the Otehei which my wife and I have recently purchased from the El Dorado Foundation. We have had a reasonably long association with the boat, having largely funded it’s restoration in 1996 and therefore have good knowledge of its history.

We are however on the hunt for any surviving design drawings for Otehei and/or her sister ships – Manaaki, Lorna Doone and Zane Grey as we plan to have Otehei surveyed and without design drawings she will need to be surveyed as a novel craft. I was hoping you might be able to put out the question through your daily posts or you may even know of people with connections to the other boats or Collings & Bell.

I have a lot of information and photographs of Otehei, historical, contemporary and during restoration. I also have some interesting memorabilia including the original 1927 Statement of Accounts and Balance Sheet of the Zane Grey Sporting Club showing the build cost of the 4 boats at 500 pounds each! I will share all of this with you in due course.

Incidentally, when Otehei was found on Lake Taupo in 1976 by John Chibnall, she was the M.V. Rangatira not Grace Darling, although she possibly could have been called that earlier. Would be interesting to know…The skipper at the time was Bob Colville.

Any information and images would be gratefully received!”

Updated with photos below ex Gavin Bradley that show some relevant parts of the Otehei story

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Flier for Rangatira charter business

 

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As M.V. Rangatira on Taupo as found by John Chibnall in 1976

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Relaunch day off Russell 1977

UPDATE from Paul Drake – below are some pics of her at Taupo.

“The first shows her under the crane about to leave Taupo. The second shows her in Boat Harbour (Taupo), skipper Ivan Vickery. In the third, she is on the beach at Whakaiapo Bay, before she was altered by the addition of a wheelhouse. The fourth shows her alongside the “House Boat” (formerly R S S TONGARIRO, BAILEY AND LOWE 1899), again in Boat Harbour, This would have been late 1930’s. She was laid up on the hard during WW2, and the wheelhouse added when she was returned to service.
 
The third and fourth pic require an explanation. Recently, Taupo Museum ran an exhibition called “Times Past”. An hours worth of historic photos were screened, for 5 seconds each, on a large screen consisting of two parts. Thus the black line down the middle. I clicked away as they scrolled through. I am sure OTEHEI’s new owners will be interested, as the photos may be new to them, as they were to me. Fabulous boat.”

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This Is Actually A Very Cool Idea
Russell Ward sent me the photo below & commented that zimer-frame added a new category to the boating progression – P Class > Starling > Young 88 > Farr biggie > Bridge-decker > Motor Home and now a boaty trundler!
I know a few woodys that need one 😉

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12-01-2017 – Update ex Gavin Bradley

“I just bought the photo postcard below of Otehei Bay on TradeMe. That boat definitely has the right bow line and 3 portholes…”

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Manaaki

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MANAAKI
photos & details ex Crispin Waddell

Crispin has owned the 1926 Collings & Bell launch Manaaki since 2013. Manaaki’s specs are – length: 11m, beam: 2.5m, draft: 1m & her current engine is a  1970’s Lees Marine Ford diesel 75hp. She is carvel planked, with full-length 32mm heart kauri planks over steam bent and laminated ribs, with less than 200mm spacing.
She cruises at 8knts. & tops out at around 12knts. but unlike some other boats of her era, Manaaki has more of planing hull & is flat at the stern & could do up to 16knts. with the right engine.
She is one of 6 boats build for the Zane Grey fleet – Alma G, Otehei & Avalon were the names of some of her sisters. Manaaki was originally fitted with a petrol Redwing engine.

Crispin has been involved with the boat since he was a child, (now 29). He bought her off the Hunt family. Like most of us he is always keen to find out stories and collect any old photo’s and history of the boat. She lived in the Whangaroa for around 30 years & there are a few photo’s of Manaaki on wall of the pub & records of all her catches in the Game Club up there.

Electrochemical Wood Damage
Crispin came across  the ww article about electrochemical damage & the timing was great as he is having problems with it occurring on Manaaki. It’s mainly happening in the area where the prop shaft sleeve comes through the keel under the floor. The kauri fluffs up around this area and he get lots of salt crystals. Thanks to the ww article he is hoping to get on top of this as it’s just started over the last 3 years.

If anyone knows the boat or has any old photo’s send them into ww, Crispin would also be interested in getting in contact with anyone from the boats past.

24-02-2018 Manaaki was anchored alongside me today at Motuihe Island, looking very smart 🙂

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