Is Ngataki our most famous classic?

One of the boats you are sure to see at the Auckland Wooden Boat Festival is Ngataki. 

Ngataki is probably the most famous of the classic sailing fleet. It’s the one we most often get asked about. Why? Because she is the vessel Johnny Wray famously built at home to take him on adventures around the South Pacific, escaping the worst of the Great Depression. Johnny steered by sextant, and lived the good life - then wrote about it in a book called South Sea Vagabonds which you may well have heard of. 

Ngataki is now owned by the Tino Rawa Trust, and berthed in Auckland’s Viaduct. Considered an ‘ugly duckling’ by some because of her hard-chined homebuilt look, she is incredibly seaworthy and we say that beauty is more than skin deep. She will be featured in the Auckland Wooden Boat Festival and will also travel to Hobart for the Australian Wooden Boat Festival in early 2025 - something we’ll tell you more about soon.

Ngataki is 34ft (10.36m) and is constructed of Kauri Carvel. She was built in 1933 and she has had several restorations with the latest reverting her back the original high top gaff rig and sail plan and the installation of a Nanni engine

Read more about Ngataki on the Tino Rawa Trust website. 

‘South Sea Vagabonds’ is available from Boat Books - click here

Photo / from the collection of the Tino Rawa Trust