Kauri ketch sailor’s dream

Press, Volume CXVI, Issue 34045, 8 January 1976, Page 3

Kauri ketch sailor’s dream

(By

MURRAY SIMPSON)

The story goes that whenever a load of kauri arrived at Colin Wild’s boat-building yard in Auckland, to be used in the hull of th® Nereides, three-quarters was sent back as unsuitable for boatbuilding. That was in 1936, and now, with new kauri almost unobtainable, such a tale is enough to make the wooden-} boat enthusiast despair. } Even now this 40-year-old,' 56ft ketch-rigged motor-j sailer never fails to draw ad- ( miring glances wherever she! goes, and her present visit toi Lyttelton has proved no ex-i cention.

t[ Her proven seaworthiness j made the Nereides an ideal , choice as escort vessel on the ’ Lyttelton - Auckland yacht 1 race last week, and she ■ weathered the conditions , during the race as well as ; any of the participants. In fact, the wooden shutters protecting the large square windows in the dogI house were not used at any' . time during the race, said her skipper, Dyson Gilliver,' .of Mount Maunganui. j Since arriving at Lyttelton slate last week the Nereides I has been berthed wit h other trace entrants in the graving} I dock, apart from making a [number of trips down har‘bour with children from the.

sSCholmondeley Home and the I'staff and families of the local : branch of the Owen’s Group : of companies. : The vessel was bought > three years ago by Mr R. A. ; Owens, Mayor of Tauranga and head of the Owens • Group. ' She was originally built ' for a Flight Lieutenant Mills, ■ of Auckland, at a cost of L3OOO for the hull and £3500 ‘for the motor. Since then she has passed through a number of hands, but has largely' remained in Auckland! i waters. [ Her present value is uncertain, but figures in excess } of $lOO,OOO have been sug-} ( gested. , i Her two-inch-thick hull isj.

made .of of three skins of kauri and her doghouse is teak. She is equipped with a 150 h.p. diesel motor and has a range under power of 1000 miles. All up she weighs 42 tons — enough to provide a reasonably smooth ride even in green water. However, for Dyson Gilliver sailing is infinitely preferable. Her best day’s sailing, he said, was on the New Zealand - Rarotonga yacht race, where at one stage she (Covered 197 miles in 24 [hours, averaging 8J knots for the first 12 hours. Since being bought by Mr Owens the Neireides has i covered 20,000 miles — many of those in ocean yacht ■ races.