The Ted Ashby Sails to Gulf Harbour

On Sunday, Gaby and I sailed on the Ted Ashby from Auckland Harbour to Gulf Harbour. The Ted Ashby is a ketch-rigged deck scow, one of a fleet of Heritage Vessels from Voyager: New Zealand Maritime Museum here in Auckland.

Before we set sail, I noticed another boat, the SS Puke (which does not mean what you think it means, but I love the name). The SS Puke is a steam launch built in the 1880s, another in the museum's fleet of Heritage Vessels. What a great hobby vessel!

The Ted Ashby is a boat built in 1993, based on a design typical of the scows typically in use around New Zealand between the late 1800s and early 1900s. Scows were used frequently to haul heaps of stuff and were great for areas without harbours, as the flat bottom allowed the boat to anchor near shore and rest flat on the low tide.

A view of the waterfront as we leave Auckland Harbour.

We pass Rangitoto on our way north to Whangaparaoa Peninsula and Gulf Harbour.

The weather turned and the wind was a bit cold. We bundled up to keep warm.

The manual anchor winch.

After 4 hours, we made it safely to Gulf Harbour! The Ted Ashby was in Gulf Harbour for filming. In the 1970s, a pirate radio station operated nearby, 12 miles offshore, in a scow. The Ted Ashby will be made up to look like that pirate radio station for an upcoming documentary.

We took the ferry back from Gulf Harbour to Auckland Harbour. The ferry is quite fast, just 45 minutes return!