Antiques & Classics
Article
Chillin’ in Taupō: retro boats make waves
Early starts for a big day
For many, Saturday's Chillin’ in Taupō began in the dark. Some had towed down the night before, while others set off at da...
Article
Chillin’ in Taupō: NZ Retro Boats mid-winter meet-up
Scheduled for Saturday 23 August, the latest NZ Retro Boats event—titled Chillin’ in Taupō—will see a convoy of classic fibreglass powerboats launchin...
Feature
The New Zealand Raters – Export
In December 1898 a major yachting event was held in Auckland, the first with any true international content. The North Shore Native Regatta and Carniv...
A spectacular showcase of classic boating at Lake Rotoiti
The 2025 NZ Antique and Classic Boat Show at Lake Rotoiti, Nelson Lakes, was nothing short of spectacular. With more than 150 beautifully maintained v...
Farr reaching success: The Farr 1020 story
One of the most successful one-design keelers in New Zealand has been the Farr 1020. Designed by Bruce Farr and his team in 1981 and built by Sea Nymp...
Article
Classic yachts (and launches) as ‘Protected New Zealand Objects’
Formed in the mid-1990s, The Classic Yacht Association was at the forefront of protecting classic yachts from unlawful export from New Zealand. New Z...
Article
Brest Maritime Festival 2024: World classics extravaganza
Every four years since the 1990s, Brittany’s largest port, Brest, has played host to a gathering of traditional craft from around the world. Over time...
Exclusive
James Bond would have been very pleased with the NZ Retro Boats gathering 2024 at Lake Tarawera
This past weekend, the shimmering waters of Lake Tarawera just outside of Rotorua were alive with nostalgia, as the NZ Retro Boats Lake Tarawera Gathe...
Arakana and Tamariki Jnr Standing Out from the Crowd
Passionate, enthusiastic boat owners and their devotees were everywhere you looked at the inaugural Wooden Boat Festival, held in Auckland’s Jellicoe ...
Gybe-O; The storms and sun rays of my days
D. Ault Salt closed his eyes, tugged his grey beard, and thought: Life is good.
Bill Couldrey Part 6: World War II
Under the shadow of likely war with Germany on the other side of the globe, 1939 was a very full year for Bill Couldrey’s yard.
One man and his boats: Harold George; Victory and the Norfolk Island adventure
By December 1928 the brothers Harold and Geoff George had the reputation of being game sailors, with a good sea-boat in Victory. They sailed her hard,...
HAROLD GEORGE: Celox and Victory
With connections to the Couldrey family and growing up in Northcote on Auckland’s North Shore, Harold George could hardly escape becoming a fine seama...
ONE FAMILY’S BOATING JOURNEY – How much power?
On land it is easy to forget about power and often we (particularly our teenagers) aren’t concerned about leaving lights on in unoccupied rooms, or le...
Mystic Miss: Forgotten Warrior
In 1969, offshore powerboat racing was about to break away from competing in production recreational runabouts.
VINTAGE VIEW – ONE MAN AND HIS BOATS; HARRY JENKINS, PART3 – Wartime Pacific cruises
Harry Jenkins could trace his ancestry through his mother’s side back to Sir Francis Drake. His new yacht, Golden Hind, the biggest private yacht yet ...
ONE MAN AND HIS BOATS; HARRY JENKINS, PART 2 – The golden years
After Shenandoah was launched in December 1929, Harry Jenkins had little time to enjoy his wonderful new launch peacefully. Two months before, the wor...
ONE MAN AND HIS BOATS; HARRY JENKINS, PART 1. Strictly business
Harry Reginald Jenkins was a prominent Auckland businessman, launch owner and yachtsman for 30 years from 1916.
Harry was born in Eltham, Taranaki,...
GEORGE DIBBERN; THE 1934 TRANS-TASMAN RACE PT 111 / Te Rapunga versus Ngataki
At North Head, Te Rapunga led Ngataki by half a mile and drew steadily away in the broad lead up the coast into a rising easterly. Te Rapunga last sig...
GEORGE DIBBERN; THE 1934 TRANSTASMAN RACE / Symbol of freedom
The moment they arrived in March 1934 George Dibbern and Te Rapunga were good news in Auckland. George seemed to be a new face of Germany; not the com...
Rotoiti Wooden Boat Parade
The Classic Wooden Boat Association’s 25th annual boat parade and fun weekend is scheduled for February 4, 2022, Waitangi Weekend. The organisers woul...
The yacht a town built – Pleiades pride
Noel Priar was a boatman until the end. Even in his 80s, his rheumy old eyes would get a gleam on when someone dropped by to talk boats, or another re...
THE HARRY POPE STORY – Lived his dream
Many of Auckland’s boating community were saddened to hear that boatbuilder, surveyor and sailor Harry Pope had recently passed the bar. Fortunately, ...
Images reflect ocean’s anguish
Britain’s Mandy Barker is an international award-winning photographer raising awareness about plastic pollution in the world’s oceans, highlighting it...
CALLIOPE SEA SCOUTS’ CENTENARY Scouting for the generations
Founded in June 1921 at HMS Philomel, the Devonport Naval Base, Calliope Sea Scouts Troop is the oldest surviving Sea Scout troop in New Zealand. I ac...
The largest square-rigger
At some future point when Covid allows cruise enthusiasts back on board, you might want to check out the just-launched Golden Horizon. At 525ft long (...
THE JIM LOTT STORY Lifelong voyage
Jim Lott’s had a diverse career – teaching navigation and seamanship, helping establish boating regulations, advising national bodies and countless 10...
TRIPLE HAPPY
Words Alex Stone, Photos Lesley Stone.
Here’s a story of a boat and a bloke that couldn’t be kept apart. Even after two trial separations. N...
The beauty of junk
There are books and then there are dangerous books. Dangerous books cannot be forgotten and can change your life. Sailor/author Annie Hill wrote a dan...
Bill Couldrey – Nancye to Little Jim
Bill Couldrey came ashore in 1931 from his job as ship’s carpenter on the Government Island steamer Maui Pomare – and despite the difficult times quic...
The Duck that wouldn’t die
The little clinker’s been fitted with numerous propulsion systems over the years but, tantalisingly, the research suggests she was first electrically-...
Frostbites & Christmas cruises
I recently bought a photograph album on TradeMe with some cracking 1940s–1950s images of Frostbites. But who were the people in the pics and what stor...
Expect the unusual
Kiwis short of ‘staycation’ ideas should check out the NZ Antique & Classic Boat Show. Held annually since 1999 at Lake Rotoiti in the Nelson Lake...
Ethel–John Street again!
John Street has been personally responsible for the saving and superb restorations of many of our classic yachts, both from the Logan and Bailey stabl...
THE SPANISH FLU OF 1918 Lest we forget
It’s a grim fact that the current Covid-19 epidemic is just the latest in the waves of pandemics that have swept through humanity regularly since reco...
Austin Powered
Low, sleek and powerful, an Austin-Healey sports car is a rare classic – prized by collectors all over the world. But rarer still – particularly in Ne...
The Jagger brothers & John Burns
When Capt. John Carrick Hewson was drowned off his steamer Waitoa at Clevedon in 1896, his wife Ellen was left with eight children aged between 2 and ...
Cule Marine
The Cule brand (pronounced ‘cool’) was established in 2007 to offer New Zealand’s boat building industry the option of a premium-quality, locally manufactured boat hatch. No small feat when your comp...
Boatgear (formerly Tenob)
The story of Boatgear is one of success, in fact one of the most successful in the New Zealand marine industry. It began back in 1973 when Ted Nobbs, and yes, that’s where the original company name, T...
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1946 Jack Guard 35
Step aboard Gipsy and step into a living legacy. At 35 feet, built from heart kauri in 1946, this classic launch isn’t just another pretty hull – she’s a rare survivor from a golden era of Kiwi boatbuilding, and a direct link to one of New Zealand’s most storied maritime families.
1975 Alan Mummery Ketch
The 1975 Alan Mummery Ketch is a classic, craftsman-built 12.2m (40-foot) timber cruising yacht with a robust three-skin kauri hull and centre cockpit layout.