Volunteer was built in October 1888 during a wave of large yacht construction in Sydney in which her designer, Walter Reeks, played a large role. This upsurge of interest in yachting was at least partly attributable to the huge worldwide interest in the recent series of gladiatorial contests in the America’s Cup races off New York.
Dumas in New Zealand
There have been many solo ocean passages and circumnavigations, but few as challenging in concept and timing as that of Argentinian Vito Dumas in his ketch Lehg II.
Steeple-chasing the Otago mole: Professor R.J. Scott & Yvonne
Yvonne was one of nine entrants manoeuvring for the start of the Otago Yacht Club’s Rudder Cup Ocean Race to Oamaru and back.
The steeple-chaser
This is a tale with three players – R.J. Scott, the yacht Yvonne, and the mole at the entrance to Otago Harbour.
Tasmanian salvation: Te Rapunga
Built in the early 1920s in Germany, the iconic 32-foot double-ended ketch Te Rapunga is enjoying a complete restoration by Tasmanian wooden boat specialist Denman Marine. She will return to her natural element in time for the island’s Wooden Boat Festival in February next year.
Doctor in the house
Yachtsman heroes of the Spanish Flu: Doctor Robert Haldane Makgill, Part 1.
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 recorded time. We forget quickly!
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 New Zealand – is a Healey boat, manufactured by the same legendary, speed-obsessed engineer some 65 years ago.
The Hewsons part 2: 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 17 – four sons and four daughters. She was also expecting another. The eldest son, Arthur was already working for the new owners of Waitoa, Jagger and Parker.
Saving uWHILNA
An 18m 110-year old yawl lying in Wellington’s Mana Marina is a rare, surviving example of the work of her American designer – Charles Drown Mower. Her age and life story make her a definite candidate for restoration, but she needs plenty of help.
BOATING FAMILIES – The Freyberg boys, PART 2
The London-born Freyberg boys grew up in the hills of Wellington as thorough Kiwi lads, dare-devils with imposing physical stature and skills.
BOATING FAMILIES – The Freyberg boys
The Freyberg brothers had an overdose of daring in their DNA. They were all six-footers and strode through their lives, seemingly oblivious to danger.
THE SWALES FAMILY PART 2 – Change of focus
A second instalment about the maritime legacy that was the Swales family – and in this one the focus shifts to their launches.