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Marguerite

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Marguerite

MARGUERITE

details & photo ex Christoph Hoessly

I was recently connected by Christoph to draw my attention to the existence of two launches named Marguerite’s & to clear up any confusion around the launch owned by his granddad Ken McLeod.

Marguerite was built by Des Donovan for Ken McLeod in Auckland in 1948. Ken owned McLeod’s bookshop in Rotorua which he started in the 1930’s and which still exists to this day, currently owned by the son of the guy Ken sold it to (so in all these years it has had only three owners). Ken was also the President of Hamilton’s St Andrews golf club. In his 20’s (1920’s) he was a book salesman for Gordon & Gotch in Northland, visiting Northland customers for days at a time on horse-back as the roads in Northland were frequently impassable by car in those days. Marguerite was named after his wife … Marguerite McLeod (known as Rita). She was 42 feet long and all planks were full length Kauri, no joins. She was originally equipped with twin Mercury gasoline car engines but Ken later fitted twin Fordsons. Her interior was Island mahogany and she slept six. He kept her at Tauranga and his favourite cruising ground was Great Barrier Island but he took her up to the Waitemata and into the Hauraki Gulf on occasions. Ken sold the boat to someone near Wellington in the early to mid 60’s who later on-sold it to a chap who stripped all the brass, engines and anything of value from her and sank her north of Rangitoto (I believe). The insurers found the wreck missing it’s internals and the culprit prosecuted. To say Ken was heart-broken when he heard the news is an understatement. So that is the story of that Marguerite. The above photo of her is from around 1955, at extreme right is Christoph’s grandmother, Marguerite McLeod (behind the chap in black). Christoph has promised to send in the NZ Herald article on the story of the sinking and the fraud discovery. Its at their bach in the Bay of Islands so next trip he will dig it out & send it. Should be an interesting read 🙂

I spoke with Harold Kidd yesterday & HDK was unaware of the existence of the two Marguerite’s & was delighted that via ww we had uncovered another classic. Harold mentioned that Ken McLeod’s launch was a patrol craft for the arrival of the Gothic in Auckland for the Royal Tour on 23/12/1953 and McLeod was also a member of the Squadron.

Input from Ken Ricketts on Margueritte’s launch day

Margueritte was built in Westhaven in one of the cream painted green roofed sheds, that used to be where the motorway approaches are now.

She was a very beamy boat for her time, around 14 ft 6 to 15 feet at least, with a huge volume, bridgedeck & being built in to the tuck (like REHIA as an example), with no cockpit, she was “all boat” inside, with her 2 x Ford V8s under the floor, at the tuck, with Vee drives.

Her first attempt at being launched was horrific.

One Saturday in early 1948, when Ken was 12 & on his parents launch Juliana, waiting for the tide after cleaning the bottom, up against one of the pile cleaning sets that used to be there.

When suddenly Ken & his parents heard a huge crashing noise, from the other side of the bay. They rushed on deck to have a look & then rowed over, to see what had happened & saw this huge launch, which was being lowered on a trolley, from one of the cream painted sheds on railway type rails, to the water, which was 6 feet below it, at its position on the rails at that time, with the tide well out, & it had fallen sideways off the trolley & down about 4 to 6 ft sideways, on its side to the water below, & she was lying on her side just touching the water with the side of her hull. 

She was retrieved & repaired & Ken saw her in Mansion House Bay, the following Christmas. 

Sailing Sunday – Seaward

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Sailing Sunday - Seaway

Seaward

photo ex Shane Anderson

The photo of Seaward above was taken last week at Kawau. She has just had a major makeover & is looking very sharp, unlike myself who is very hangover 😦 so hopeful others will expand on this very historic yacht.

Update & Some Great Yarns From Harold Kidd

I spent many hours trying to establish her provenance and wrote a series of articles about her in Boating NZ. They also dealt with her extensive ocean racing and cruising career which rivaled Ngataki’s . Links below, read 1>5 😉

SEAWARD5 SEAWARD4 SEAWARD2 SEAWARD1 SEAWARD 3

Milford Creek Needs A Bridge – yeah right

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Milford Creek Needs A Bridge - yeah right

MILFORD CREEK aka WAIRAU COVE BRIDGE

There has been a lot of chat lately about the need to provide pedestrian access across the creek, in the old days there was a bridge, a very tall bridge. It did the trick, but these days a bridge needs to accommodate two mobility scooters side by side & be accessible by the blind. The options that have been tabled are a joke, all we need is another tall bridge. If you are on your scooter or blind or both, I suggest you use the existing footpath, a little longer but a lot safer than any bridge, even a modern one.

The photos in this ww post are from the Milford Cruising Club historical archives & show the area in the good old days. To find out more about the club visit http://www.milfordcruising.co.nz

click image to enlarge

Money Can’t Buy Moments

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Money Can't Buy Moments

Money Can’t Buy Moments

The CYA is full of moments that money can’t buy e.g. hooking an old owner up with the present day owner, facilitating the transfer of a boats artifacts (a name plate, wheel or log book) from someone with an obscure connection to the boat to the current owner etc.

Well todays ww posting is one of those tales.

Push rewind & Dick Fisher has Akarana berthed at the 2011 boat show as part of the CYA’s on-the-water display, Chris Miller is cruising the the docks with his friend Geoff Diggle (Master Mariner) who is the NZ operations manager for Swire Shipping, as they pass Akarana Geoff comments that his father (John Diggle, Master Mariner) was the Auckland Harbour Board senior pilot for over 30 years & spent a large chunk of that time aboard Akarana. Geoff himself as a child spent many an hour aboard as well.
Chris & Geoff hop aboard Akarana for a chat with Dick, which includes the compulsory tour of the engine room 🙂 Geoff casually mentions that some where at home he has a crystal whisky decanter & glasses, that are sand blasted with a line drawing of Akarana. These were presented to the late John Diggle when he retired in 1993. Turns out Geoff’s wife Bev has been threatening to put them out in the next inorganic collection so plans are made to hand them over asap. Well Dick lives up North & Geoff travels a lot.

Now fast forward to Jan. 2014 & the occasion eventually happens at Westhaven. In addition to the decanter set, Geoff had also discovered a wonderful framed photograph of Akarana which will now most likely hang in Dicks engine room (which is the #1 spot on the boat, in Dicks eyes).

It would have been rude to not use the gift for what it was intended so the moment was celebrated accordingly. Now CYA deputy chairman Bruce Tantrum has a good nose for a fine drink & was cruising the docks & either caught a whiff or heard the cork being extracted & joined the gathering.

In the next few days I will do a pictorial posting on the restoration (rebuild) of Akarana from when she was retired by the harbour board into the magnificent ship she is today.

click photo below to enlarge

akarana

Jan

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Jan

JAN

photo ex Russell Ward

Designed & built from kauri in c.1960 by Brin Wilson for the late Sir William Stevenson & family. Sir William owned many boats on numerous lakes around NZ , Jan being one of them. She still resides in a boat shed in the Okere Arm of Lake Rotoiti. Jan is well known on the lake & one of the boats I hope to see next weekend at the Lake Rotoiti Classic & Wooden Boat Parade.
Check out http://www.woodenboatparade.co.nz to view more lake boats & the event. Boats are listed on the left side of the home page & grouped in chronological order.

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CYA Beach Picnic @ Motuihe Island – Waitangi Day – 06 Feb

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CYA Beach Picnic @ Motuihe Island - Waitangi Day - 06 Feb

CYA Beach Picnic @ Motihue Island – Waitangi Day – 06 Feb

If you are at loose end this coming Thursday – 06 Feb, head down to Motuihe Island for the Classic Yacht Association NZ beach picnic.

There will be plenty of CYA yachts & launches in the bay & familiar faces ashore. Kicks off around 11.00am.

Subject to huey, if its not Waihaorangatahi Bay it will be Takutairaroa Bay. I thought I’d be all PC seeing its Waitangi Day & use the given names. I’ll help you & say that W = the city/wharf side & T = the Waiheke side 🙂

REMEMBER – No Dogs Allowed Ashore

UPDATE : A GREAT DAY WAS HAD – PHOTOS HERE

http://classicyacht.org.nz/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10&p=21327#p21327

Mystery Launch 30/01/2014 + 200,000 Views

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Mystery Launch 30/01/2014 + 200,000 Views

Mystery Launch 30/01/2014

photo ex Simon Smith

The caption on this brilliant photo says ‘Mansion House Bay, Kawau, Christmas Day 1934. Looking to ID the launch & if possible the people in the tender, have to love the bloke relaxing with the pipe while his partner rows the four of them ashore – those were the days 🙂

I sent way to long last night trying to ID her – every time I thought I was close , the 10/11 windows on the tram top threw me.

More than likely this is the same boat??

UNKNOWN c 1940sUNKNOWN c 1948

WE HIT THE 200,000 VIEWS MARK THE OTHER DAY & IN THE LAST 3 DAYS PEOPLE HAVE VIEWED THE SITE OVER 5,500 TIMES. AMAZING NUMBERS & IT JUST GOES TO SHOW THERE IS A SERIOUS AUDIENCE INTERESTED IN CLASSIC WOODEN BOATS.

Its been a little frantic at times but given the number of you checking in each day you are obviously enjoying it, so thanks for the support. The back library of really cool material stored in ww is amazing, read below how you can access it.

ARE YOU GETTING THE MOST OUT OF waitematawoodys.com ?
There are many ways to enhance your ww experience, the three easiest ones are :-

(1) by using the categories & tag sections on the right hand side of the page, here by clicking on a (blue) word/s you will see a summary of articles linked to that word e.g. individual designers, build / launching year, CYA vessels, boat names or locations etc.

(2) by typing a key word/s in the search box, then click your computers enter key & all related posts will appear. Scroll down to view & click on each post to view it.

(3) to get the most out of the ww you really need to be a ‘follower’, to become a follower all you have to do is click on the ‘Follow’ tab that appears at the bottom of you computer screen on the right when you have the waitematawoodys page open. You then enter your email address in the box that appears & now you will be able to:
(a) receive an email advising you when new articles have been posted. Means you no longer have to check in all the time.
(b) allows you to make comments on articles that have been posted.

REMEMBER – If you have any classic boating related photos & tales you want to share & more importantly record / store for feature generations to view – email them to me at

waitematawoodys@gmail.com

Manapouri @ Mahurangi Regatta 2014

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Mystery Launch #1 @ Mahurangi Regatta 2014

Manapouri @ Mahurangi Regatta 2014

Every year I look out the cabin window & go “where did that come from & how come I have never seen her before”.

Well it happened again this year, this beauty attempted to drop anchor on top of the launch I was enjoying a cleansing ale aboard. Could not get a clear view of the name board but if my life depended on it I would say it said something like ‘Manapori’. As quick as she arrived she was gone again off to the other side of the bay.

Can anyone ID her & shed some light on her story.

Harold Kidd Update

I think that’s MANAPOURI built by Parkes in Whangarei c1960 and owned for many years by Peter MacDonald there. Now owned by Mark Sorenson in Auckland.

Update 06/02/2014  –  I can confirm it is Manapouri & it was built in 1960 & I’m told the design being ‘Thornycroft’ ??. Still owned by Mark Sorrenson – so top of the class again Mr Kidd 🙂 And they have just joined the CYA.

Message for Mark Sorrenson – 24/02/2014

Hello Alan and Harold,
with regards to Manapouri. Firstly, excuse my anchoring skills.
I have researched Manapouri’s history and have a complete list of owners and rough dates.
I have little information regarding her design. Terry? Ashby of Ashby’s boat builders believes that she may have been a Thornycroft design.
She was built for Hector Parks by Crow Ewings at Ewings boat builders at the end of Ewings Rd Whangarei. It is said that one Kauri was felled and milled for her construction. Hector and Celia lived at One Tree Point, Marsden Bay and spent their final years at Ramburne Rest Home.
She was sold to Peter MacDonald whom I believe was the transport manager at McBreans Transport. He replaced the two Lister engines with Ford 120’s. He also reconfigured the rudder from a single to a double set up. I believe that he has passed away.
She was then sold to Jack Turnbull and was based in Lyttleton Harbour. Jack is survived by Rosemary and Richard. They remember many happy summer holidays spent in the Malborough Sounds aboard Manapouri
She was then sold to Ken McLeod who is based in Christchurch. He remembers many crossings of the Cook Straight and some in terrible conditions.
She was then sold to Graham Ashby (Ashby Boat Builders family). Graham recalled one trip from Picton to Auckland in 40 Knots and remembers that she is a sound boat with no vices. Graham owned her from 1990 to 2000.
She was then sold to Peter the marine engineer. He was estranged from his wife and was a live aboard at Opua. Unfortunately he drowned whilst trying to board Manapouri after a night on the Rum at a Christmas party. 2001-2003.
She was then purchased from the estate by Derek Stokes, who now owns the Whangaroa Motel.
Derek had the walk through transom built and replaced the soft coverings throughout the interior.
Derek had a reasonable amount of paper work and photos of Manapouri and he gave them to a prospective puchaser. She was never bought by this person and the photos where not returned.
Derek had to, with some reluctance sell Manapouri.
She was then sold to a Character by the name of Hawkins, who owned the Kaikoura Motel. I have not managed to contact him.
Jeremy Glubb was her next owner, whom I purchased her of.
Both Glubb and Hawkins were unkind to her and I found her rather neglected and in need of much attention.
I purchased Manapouri through Gordon Low in February 2009, she was my reward for recovering from Lymphoma. I have enjoyed her for five years and have beavered away, endeavoring to return her to her former glory. She now rests at M054 in the Gulf Harbour Marine Village.
Lastly, I have a note in my journal that says Hector Parks bought her plans from Thornycroft through the rudder Magazine. But I do not recall who gave me this information.

30-08-2016 Update – My name is Brian Nobbs, from Whangarei.  I was Heck’s next door neighbour, I was only a boy at the time approximately 16 years old.  I’m the one who held the dolly under the boat while Heck peined the copper rivets inside the boat and that would have been approximately 1958, and the boat was built in Heck’s property in a large shed on Anzac Road, Whangarei.   Also a Bill Keogh helped Heck to built the boat. Brian also recalls that the bow was made out of a bent pohutakawa. When it was finished we did a trip to Great Barrier for 2 weeks – and had a really enjoyable time, good memories.  Heck was a real character.

Trinidad at Mahurangi Regatta 2014

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Trinidad at Mahurangi Regatta 2014

Trinidad
I have posted lots of photos of Trinny since my winter visit to  Lees Boatbuiders but this is the first one ‘on-the-water’. I went for an early morning row & snapped the lady looking stunning in the early light.