Old yacht given reprieve

Press, 19 September 1985, Page 7

Old yacht given reprieve

One of Lyttelton’s historic vessels, the 99-year-old yacht Pastime, has been given a two-month reprieve from plans to move her from an inner-harbour mooring. Pastime will be allowed to moor at an adjacent jetty for up to two months so that she can be surveyed by an independent surveyor at her owner’s expense, the Lyttelton Harbour Board decided at a meeting yesterday. She is now moored at one of 32 small-craft moorings that will not have their leases renewed by the board when they expire on October 1.

Pastime’s part-owner, Mr Peter Beecroft, says she cannot be moored safely anywhere else in the harbour and should be given special consideration because of her historical signi-

ficance. The board heard a letter from Mr Graeme Kendall, who said he was in a position to buy Pastime and had had promises of assistance from several Canterbury businesses to restore her. He asked the board to accommodate Pastime in the inner harbour for 18 months from October to see her through her centennial year. A board member, Captain Andy Anderson said that with a vessel as old as Pastime a mooring would not solve her problems. Little work could be done unless she was moved out of the' water. , .

“She is lying there with an owner who seems to think it’s the board’s responsibility to do something about her.” he said. “It would be more to the point

if we heard how serious these people were (about restoring Pastime), whether they are forming a preservation society and the sum of money they are looking at spending.” Captain Anderson said the board needed these details and to see a survey report before it made any decision on extending Pastime’s accommodation in the inner harbour.

At its last meeting, the board offered to lift Pastime out of the water and help find a permanent home for her on the hard. The board’s general manager, Mr lan Brokenshire, said' her owners had been horrified at this suggestion and thought the board wanted to break Pastime up for scrap. “Mr Beecroft came to see me and acknowledged there

was quite a lot of work to be done. Pastime has not sailed out of the harbour for two years. “He was particularly disappointed that having been in the area for the last 99 years, Pastime was being asked to move away just before her centenary,” said Mr Brokenshire. The board also received a petition of 40 signatures appealing against its decision to end Pastime’s mooring in the inner harbour and that of two other yachts Lauren C and Triton V. Reasons given in the petition were the length of time moorings had been held,' an “unfair system” used to allocate moorings, time allowed to find alternative moorings, and the historical significance of Pastime. The petition suggested that three piles opposite

Collins Steps would accommodate Lauren C and Triton V on a temporary basis: A board member, Mrs Judy Waters, said that although Pastime could be considered a special case, the other two boats were not. The board could not start putting in more piles without upsetting those owners who had already moved to berths in Magazine Bay. A board member, Mr John Mannering, said the board had made its intentions clear for some time and all lease owners had been notified. The decisions had not been reached without considerable v soulsearching add work by the Harbourmaster and others. Mr Brokenshire said most of the accusations made against the board were from a vocal minority.