Old-Time Yachtsman

Auckland Star, Volume LXXV, Issue 262, 4 November 1944, Page 2 (Supplement)

Old-Time Yachtsman

A PONSONBY "CHARACTER"

Death Of Mr. Charles Petley, Noted For Regatta Feats

ONE of the veteran competitors in the Auckland Anniversary Day Regatta, Mr. Charles Petley, died at Tauranga recently at the age of 79 years. In his day Charlie Petley was one of the outstanding competitors at the several local regattas on account of his prowess in tub races, greasy boom contests and similar sideshow events which held particular interest for regatta patrons in the 'eighties and 'nineties. The tub race is an event in which the competitors take the water in tubs and are equipped with a paddle with which to drive the crazy craft over the agreed course; and Charlie Petley was the recognised tub race champion of the period. On a regatta programme of 1885 his name appears as the winner of a model yacht race, in 1886 he was the winner of the boys' dinghy race, and in later regattas he appeared in the role of yachtsman with a great deal of success, while still maintaining his cunning in sideshow events. Towards the end of the 'nineties he went into business in Wellington, and while there he went to the New Zealand championship x-egatta in 1901 and won tne national championship yacht race with the Dauntless, which he sajled for the Wellington owner, defeating yachts from Auckland and elsewhere. This will indicate the extent to which his services were in demand at that time for the sailing of champion yachts. The Dauntless was of what was then called the one-rater class, being a skimmer, dish-like typq of craft with a centreboard, but somewhat resembling the patiki class of to-day. Though of slim build Charlie Petley in his younger days possessed exceptionally wiry strength. He boasted a surprisingly powerful set of teeth, and occasionally was wont to demonstrate combination of strength in tooth, jaw and body by lifting a 2001b sack of flour with his teeth. This particular feat and his knack of repeatedly winning tub races and greasy-boom fights made him a character in the Ponsonby district long remembered by old-time yachtsmen. Mr. Petley was a son of Captain Petley, a Maori war veteran, and was born at Northcote, but spent the greater part of his boyhood at Ponsonby. He never forgot the scenes of his youth, and for many years was vice-president and contributor to the funds of the Auckland Regatta and the Ponsonby Cruising Club. In his later years he invested in baches at Mount Maunganui, Tauranga, where he took up his residence till his death.