For the Down-Under Folks (2 porn pics)

[Concordia..41]

I'm guessing someone will know this boat. Thelma spent several months undergoing major work in the marina/yard next to us.

Unfortunately, due to shortcomings that are entirely my own, I didn't get to know the crew at all. Actually, didn't even see her (most of the work was done inside) until after the launch.

Talk about sex on a stick!!! (John I love that line!!!)





Cheers!

[ 11-06-2002, 07:31 PM: Message edited by: Concordia..41 ]

[Mr. Know It All]

Uh...I'm not from down under but I snuck a peek anyway and It's beautiful.
Kevin in Ohio

[Zane Lewis]

You will have to get John B on to this one for her history. (Assuming it's the NZ Themla I'm thinking of)

I think there were a few pics a while back in the classics section of a mag on her. She was looking for someone to do a restoration which looks like it happened.
The last pictures I saw of her was as a motor sailer with a standing pilot house.
I found a reference to her in a PDF file at this link.

http://www.gaffrig.co.nz/cya.htm
This site has a history though to 2000 and some great old sailing shots.
http://www.thelma1898.com

Zane

[ 11-06-2002, 09:33 PM: Message edited by: Zane Lewis ]

[John B]

Hey thanks for that Margo. I've been dying to see a photo since the rebuild.. Built here in Auckland in 189o.. frozen stiff by Logan. She was a back page girl of WB a wee while back.
I've spoken at length to a couple of the boatbuilders who went over to work on her when she was sold to the new owner.They were astounded at the quality of unpainted timber they found in various locations in her.
I also hear she came to grief leaving port in Florida? somewhere recently. Story told here is that she was really close to being lost.

[On Vacation]

"They were astounded at the quality of unpainted timber they found in various locations in her."

JOE, TAKE NOTE!!!!!!!!!!!!

[John B]

Kauri ,Mike.
here's the Thelma website I've had in me favourites.
http://www.thelma1898.com/history.html

[mmd]

What an interestingly shaped .. er... transom(?). Lovely resto.

[John B]

very scoopy counter ain't it. Not sure if it's quite right actual. Certainly the transom part of it looks rounded off where it should be flat. I'm used to seeing some quite interesting variations on some boats. The bib is usually one large solid piece and should there be an accident or rot showing it tends to get rectified with a large saw. Getting the sheer right is hard too as often the counters get pulled up by a standing backstay they were never designed to take.Then "restored" in . Having said that, several of the Logans and Baileys of that era do seem to have that extra little kick. The "wee" Thelma 1895( a Bailey owned by a friend of mine is that way. Aorere 1890 um 4 ish does to a lesser extent.Waione 1907 just has tons of sheer right from bow to stern.
This Thelma is an interesting boat actually because she's got that transitional bow just showing the change from the clipper bow but not quite a spoon. The next Logan,the 50 ft Rainbow 1899, had a fully formed spoon bow and beautiful wineglass sections with firm bilges and was a rocketship for the day. Still is come to think of it.

[Concordia..41]

Since I'm on a roll scanning pictures today, here's two more that might give a few more details.

[John B]

Thanks again Margo. I saved em.

[John B]

she was going to france without lifelines. Hell I could be the most antilifelinest personintheworld but offshore without em? Gawd.

[Norm Harris]

Just to add to her recent history, Thelma was in a yard in Berkeley for an extended stay, probably about a year. She had frames and planks replaced, and much other structural work done before she was moved.

Originally, the plan was to airlift her to the Mediterranean for finish and fitting out. For some reason that plan was scrapped and she was loaded on a flat bed trailer and headed East. I watched her being loaded and was worried that she would dry out and wrack so badly on the trip that she might not survive.

Glad to see that Thelma made it intact.

BTW the work was done at the Berkeley Marine Center, but not by their crew.

[True Love]

John B - I remember back when you posted pics of Thelma, saying she was for sale. I thought NZ boats could not leave the country - so what gives w/Thelma being in Berkeley and other various spots, including plans for the Med?

[John B]

2 Thelma's , TL. One is my friends boat, the little Thelma. She's 36 ft long and quite shallow draft ,built 1895 by Bailey for Dunedin in the south Island of NZ. She had her trials here in Auckland in 1895, got loaded onto a coaster and sent on down south where she stayed to approximately 1984 or 5. This Thelma..... The big Thelma ,is a Logan 1898 they say and is one of the largest yachts built of the era in NZ.
Some time in the 40's she sailed offshore and after the war she was sold into the US navy in Hawaii as an officers recreational vessel( so the story goes) Apparently, one of the reasons that she wasn't shipped back here for the restoration was the possibility that she wouldn't be able to leave again because of the preservation legislation.This may or may not be true.

Anyway, whilst there were 2 Thelmas at the time they were seperated by about 800 miles and didn't cause any confusion.

[john welsford]

Thelma used to live in Dunedin years ago, was a bit tired and tatty but was still a formidable performer even with her plywood doghouse and bermudian rig. On one occasion she passed too close around the back of a trimaran ( even haystacks can sail downwind) when the dreaded threeboat got caught in irons and sailed backwards into the old girl sinking her.
I had the privelege of helping the boatbuilder who did the repair job which is just under the starboard bowsprit whisker chainplate.
The construction and quality of materials was amazing to see as she was even then in her 90s.

JohnW

Originally posted by Concordia..41:
I'm guessing someone will know this boat. Thelma spent several months undergoing major work in the marina/yard next to us.

Unfortunately, due to shortcomings that are entirely my own, I didn't get to know the crew at all. Actually, didn't even see her (most of the work was done inside) until after the launch.

Talk about sex on a stick!!! (John I love that line!!!)





Cheers!

[John B]

JOHN...!! are you saying that Thelma... little Thelma was sunk. Please tell me it's true. O there is a god... Man Am I going to have fun with this.
You know when she was sold to Auckland the guy who bought her bought her sight unseen. All he knew was he was getting a 36 ft long boat. when she arrived he just about had a coniption fit she was so small. there was talk of legal action and all sorts. disputes on payment....
Eric Wing brought him around initially. She was unloaded to his yard.

Anyway... when he sold her I went with my mate John G to give her a look over and took her for a sail. John had been sailing with us and liked the idea.
He bought her and still owns her. put a new cabin on. tried a couple of rig variations and eventually gaff rigged her. She's still sound. a snip too.( I reckon).

I've spent a lot of time on that Thelma.
She's like sleeping bag inside. Close.

[True Love]

John B - ok now I'm really confused - well, I understand now that there are two NZ Thelma's and I remember little Thelma from the pictures you posted a while back (yr or two?) when little Thelma was for sale. What I'm confused about is who now owns little Thelma - is it your friend, John, John B, or the jerk that bought her w/o knowing what he was getting?

I certainly understand NZ wanting to protect her sailing heritage by not allowing NZ built wooden boats to leave the area, but I can still wish it were not so. Little Thelma, even with her dodgy doghouse, was sweet to look at.

[Bayboat]

I'm confused too. I remember when big Thelma (around 60-odd LOA, a gaff yawl) was in Berkeley, sometime in the 1950's. It was while I was working there as harbor attendant and harbormaster. But I don't recall that any major rebuilding was done then. I don't remember anything called the "Berkeley Marine Center," although some occasional work was still done on boats in the old M. P. Frost boat works building, and there was a one-horse would-be chandlery at one end of the building. Maybe that was called the "Berkeley Marine Center," but I don't remember so. Anyway, I think the chandlery appeared after Thelma left. Long time ago, maybe my memory is poor. I don't recall that Thelma was worked on there, but it's possible. Or did Thelma make a second visit to Berkeley after I left in 1962, and maybe the work was done then?

She was very graceful and it was thrilling to watch her sail. She attracted a lot of attention around the Bay. By that time there were not all that many gaffers left on the Bay (except Yankee, Freda, Gracie S. and a few others). She entered a few of the races and did OK. I went sailing on her two or three times. Although she was deep she seemed a bit tender in the typical summer afternoon breeze.

[ 11-16-2002, 12:34 AM: Message edited by: Bayboat ]

[John B]

Tl , Sorry for the confusion. Little Thelma got sold from Dunedin to Auckland... 800 miles or so away from here ,in the early /mid 80's . The man who bought her ,bought her sight unseen and was " upset" that he'd bought a sleeping bag LOL.
I got my mate John G interested and he bought Thelma about 1985 I think. He still owns her after putting her on the market about a year ago and not getting a sale. Currently she's out of the water. She might go back in for a cruise at christmas. John's attitude is "thats my price. If I can't get it I'll just keep her". The price is ridiculously low by international standards. BY NZ standards, It seems right on the money to me but of course people just don't believe that you can buy an 1895 boat which needs paint and varnish every year and that's about all. If I had the cash, I'd buy her like a shot.

the " sleeping bag " comment.

People often ask me how big my boat is and I say "41 ft, but it's an old 41'. she's small inside. Where a modern 30 footer is like a family 10x 10 tent , Waione is more like a pup tent. But that's OK . I have a friend whose boat is like a sleeping bag inside".LOL. THELMA( little thelma)

[John B]

Big Thelma 1898 Logan. I think this is a winklemann photo. Taken around Bastion pt Auckland harbour by the looks.

[John B]

Little Thelma , the 1895 Bailey,taken a couple of years ago from my masthead.


And look.. parked right in front of Thelma like a pimple on Faith Hill's face.....That dang Camry. (Makes hex warding sign).