Kinsa Hays
BOATINGNZ
THE TEAL FEATURE
A random phone call rekindles memories of a boat – and a life well-lived – from many years ago.
Did you ever own a yacht called Teal?” the caller asked me over the phone.
Fifty years ago, we did! It was like
contact from the grave. “Yes.”
“I’m Tony Stevenson. I’ve been doing some detective work to find previous owners of Teal.”
“You’ve found one,” I said. “My first husband Fred Herbert and I owned her from about 1965 to 1970, but Fred now has dementia.”
“I’m sorry to hear that.”
I was curious. “Why did you ring?”
“We rescued Teal from the wrecker’s yard,” Tony said. “I paid one dollar for her, and we’ve refurbished her. She’s like a new boat.”
I’m very proud of this story. Since my computer crash, this is the only documentation of this.
CAN WE USE YOUR BOAT?
Would you lend your boat to a bunch of women? A WoW sailing woman might just ask you.
“Of course. It’s what you do,” says Gun Caundle of the Tauranga Yacht and Power Boat Club [TYPBC] and owner of Rascal Tom, a Young 88 keeler. “If someone needs a boat and you’ve confidence in them, why not? It’s what I grew up with – you lend your boat.”
CRUISING THE KAIPARA
The last time I’d seen Kewpie Too was 1962 in the Bay of Islands. We’d sailed on the iconic tourist trip to Cape Brett and through the Hole in the Rock, marvelling as we gently rocked our way through the stone archway. Now she was in the Kaipara River, that roiling brown highway between the mangroves at Parakai, Helensville. I wanted to sail on her again. I found the website and chose the very affordable two-day cruise on the Kaipara Harbour, staying the night in Dargaville in an old hotel.
