A rare piece of 007 memorabilia triumphed at this year’s Antique & Classic Boat Show at St Arnaud’s Lake Rotoiti, with a high-octane 16’ ski-boat used in the 1979 Bond movie Moonraker receiving the Jens Hansen Cup for the Best Vessel Overall.
Set in South America, Bond’s mission (played by Roger Moore) involves finding an obscure orchid which the villain (Drax) plans to use to eliminate humanity. Moonraker ll is the 1979 Glastron-Carlson ski-boat Bond uses to outwit one of Drax’s thugs. After a thrilling, high-speed river chase, he escapes thanks to a hang glider fitted to the vessel, launching the contraption into the air just as it plunges over a waterfall.
The boat was bought from the movie’s producers in 1980 by Picton’s Peter Carrington and immaculately restored over many years. He still owns her today, 43 years on. And as the Lake Rotoiti show demonstrated, Moonraker ll still has the ability to turn heads.
This year’s show (March 4-5) – the 23rd edition – provided a welcome return to normality after the Covid-affected ‘21 and ‘22 events. But as these vessels prove, the classic boat fraternity is nothing if not resilient and exhibitors returned in droves.
Visitors were treated to a rich display of gleaming mahogany, polished chrome and brass, throaty V8s, high-speed hydroplanes, puffing steamboats, quaint clinkers, cedar kayaks and gaff-rigged dinghies. The sense of history is palpable – a fascinating window into New Zealand’s maritime heritage and, as always, the show brought its share of the fantastic, bizarre and improbable.
Flak Too
One of this year’s most popular exhibits was Flak Too – a 20-foot hydroplane built in 1952 and powered by a 1928 V12 Rolls Royce Kestrel (22 litres). Her history is interwoven with that of Lake Rotoiti itself.
Flak Too was designed by an American powerboat champion (his identity is uncertain) but built in Nelson by Joff Kroening. She was the first vessel to eclipse the 100mph threshold on the lake (April 1968), but in those formative, record-chasing years things didn’t always go smoothly: she caught fire three times and sank six times.
On hand at the show was 82-year-old Jack Shuttleworth, the son of the original owner – Dick Shuttleworth. Like his dad, Jack piloted Flak Too many times.
“She was – and still is – a wonderful vessel. Dad owned a garage in Wakefield and kept repowering her in his quest for more speed. She was originally fitted with a 225-cubic-inch flathead Ford V8, later swapped for a 265-cubic-inch Chevy V8. Still later, she was fitted with a Rolls Royce V6 – an engine derived from cutting a V12 Kestrel in half!”
But the V6 was never ideal, and Dick eventually opted to fit the V12. It propelled Flak Too to over 140mph, and she won the South Island championship at New Brighton.
Starting the Kestrel, says Jack, was often difficult. “The load was usually too much for the starter batteries (located on an attendant launch) so we hooked up her engine to a chainsaw.” Only in New Zealand.
The Kestrel was the pioneer to the mighty Rolls Royce Merlins fitted to the RAF’s WW2 stalwarts – Hurricanes, Spitfires, Mosquitos and Lancasters. The Kestrel only developed around 750hp – the Merlins upped that to more than 2,000hp by the end of the war.
In a quirky twist of fate, Rolls Royce sold many Kestrels to the Luftwaffe in the early 1930s – long before Hitler began rattling his sabre. The Germans fitted the engines to prototype versions of the ME 109 and Stuka dive-bomber.
Flak Too’s salvation is thanks to the dogged determination of the show’s two co-founders – Pete Rainey and Glenn Common. They recently acquired the vessel – and just in time. She’d been lying in the Nelson region for many years, and an Australian syndicate was poised to buy her – mainly for the engine.
While Flak Too’s hull will need plenty of time and money for complete restoration, her engine is running thanks to the patience and expertise of local engineer Don Walker. He machined many components from scratch – including new cylinder liners.
Bath on foils
Up for grabs at every show are numerous awards presented in a range of categories – among them the Best New Restoration, Best Steamboat, Best Jet-propelled Craft and Best Themed Display, as well as prizes for race winners. This year’s Innovation Award went to a 2m foiling bathtub – Bathy McBath Face – powered by a Seagull outboard.
Conceived by Geraldine’s Gary Thomlinson, the bath’s reimagined life began earlier this year. Adding foils and the old Seagull made for an unlikely but surprisingly effective vessel – it (she?) secured a creditable second place in the signature Seagull race with its ‘Le Mans’ start. Drivers run down the foreshore and (attempt to) start the notoriously temperamental two-strokes.
There isn’t an award for the Most Committed Exhibitor, but if there was it would surely have gone to Kenny West and his Miss Monroe – a 20’6” Tahoe designed by American Ken Hankinson. Kenny lives in Whangārei and after the boat’s three-year build he was determined to get her to this year’s show.
Two obstacles stood in his way – Cyclone Gabrielle devastated the roads in Northland, requiring lengthy detours. But having made it to Wellington, unreliable ferries and delayed schedules left him in danger of missing the show entirely.
Resplendent in gleaming mahogany and brightwork, Venice’s water taxis spawned the Miss Monroe project, as well as the fact that Kenny (an experienced hot-rodder) just happened to have an old 327 Chevy engine lying under his workbench. Stumbling upon a large block of abandoned mahogany also helped.
Elise
Another example of precision boatbuilding, the 20-foot Elise was built by Queenstown’s Greg Doran and rewarded with the Walker Family Best New Craft Award. A mahogany veneer over a cold-moulded hull (diagonal layers of 4mm marine ply), Elise is another Ken Hankinson barrell-back design, completed very recently by Greg.
She’s powered by a 350 Chevy (as with Kenny, the engine had been lying under Greg’s workbench for years) mated to a Borg Warner velvet drive gearbox. Her gleaming finish represents 14 layers of Resene Extreme X varnish – smoothed between coats with 4000-grit sandpaper.
Underscoring the classic boat enthusiast’s mantra that “everything can and should be saved”, Vive le France was built by Christchurch’s Roger France – from a collection of disparate timbers salvaged from buildings destroyed in the 2011 earthquake (mainly cedar, mahogany and oak, and a few more of “not sure” DNA).
With her carvel, strip-plank construction, she’s a replica of the popular ‘picnic’ boats used on the Thames in the late 1800s. She too was launched just in time for the show, and while she carries a steam funnel it’s purely a nod to tradition – the boat’s actually powered by 6.5hp ‘lawnmower’ engine driving the prop through the lower end of an old Honda outboard. Classic boat enthusiasts, you may have guessed, are notoriously innovative, inventive and crafty.
The People’s Choice Award went to Maria – a charming 1940s 18’ clinker – rescued from certain oblivion by Wellington’s Hamish Kincaid. She was restored by the city’s Top of the South (TOS) boatbuilders and painters. TOS owner Greg MacDonald says the state of disrepair is reflected in the bird’s nest (containing two eggs) he found in a forward compartment. Maria (originally called Tubby) has weathered numerous owners and has reputedly starred in a TV commercial.
Donzi Minx
Another crowd favourite was the 20ft American Donzi Minx. A Limited Edition boat built in 1987, she is one of only 20 built. With just one US owner from new, she now belongs to Boating New Zealand’s Tim Porter, who immediately fell in love with her.
As can be deduced from the aggressive lines and deep 24o deadrise, Donzi boats are renowned (and coveted) for their speed and seakeeping characteristics. This one – in exceptional condition with only 150 hours use since new – is powered by a 350 Chevy and I can confirm that she sits at 55mph without so much as a flutter. The V8’s baritone song amplifies the experience.
Donzi was formed by the illustrious American designer, builder and racer Donald Joel Aronow (1927–1987). He won two World Championships, three consecutive US Championships and was the second American in history to win the UIM Gold Medal of Honour (Gar Wood being the first).
Aronow produced a long line of speedsters, including Magnum Marine, Cary, Cigarette and Formula boats. Many were snapped up by the famous and infamous – the Shah of Iran, Charles Keating, Robert Vesco, Malcolm Forbes and George H. W. Bush among them. Ex-President Lyndon Johnson owned several 16’ Donzi speedboats – and would race his Secret Service agents on his Texas ranch.
Ironically, the speed/stability of the vessels may have been a factor in Aronow’s untimely end. Cigarette boats were also popular among cocaine smugglers. On February 3, 1987 Aronow was murdered in his car in Miami. The story is told in the 2018 movie – Speed Kills – starring John Travolta.
If you’ve never been to the Antique & Classic Boat Show, I’d urge you to add it to your 2024 diary. Sponsored by Boating New Zealand, it’s a wonderful display of NZ’s maritime history, supported by a large cast of interesting and usually eccentric classic boat enthusiasts. A welcome distraction from the troubles of the world, in a spectacular setting.
Guaranteed to leave you shaken and stirred.
