Boating New Zealand — December 2017

20 Boating New Zealand

G

reat Barrier Lodge – formerly owned

by ferry operators Sealink – has new

owners and will be up and running

daily for fuel, food, showers, coffee,

dive bottle refills and accommodation.

The lodge, about 10 minutes’ walk from the

Whangaparapara wharf, has been in operation

for decades but was mostly closed last summer

with only limited fuel supplies available.

The new owners – Angeline and Clive

Young – with long-time Whangaparapara

resident, Ray Stewart, will be operating on VHF

Channel 65. It covers from the Mercury Islands

to Tutukaka and the inner Hauraki Gulf from a

repeater sited at Te Ahumata (White Cliffs) near

the head of Whangaparapara Harbour.

Visiting boats will be able to radio ahead to

book meals or order fuel at the wharf. “People

will be able to sit on the deck overlooking the

harbour (and their boat) and have a coffee

while their dive bottles get filled,” says a Lodge

spokesman. “Sunset dinners on the deck have

always been popular at the lodge.

“We will also be able to give them phone

numbers for medical assistance, engineers,

mechanics, electrical technicians and

refrigeration experts. Boaties can fill water tanks

at the wharf for a small koha.

The lodge will also be able to arrange rental

cars and island tours, fishing or sightseeing

charters. Kayaks are available for hire at the

lodge and Agnes McGinity rents a selection of

stand-up paddle boards and gives lessons in

using them in the warm shallow waters of the

harbour headwaters.

Whangaparapara housed the huge Kauri

Timber Co sawmill from 1909 until 1915 and

exported timber all over the world. Between

1956 and 1963 hundreds of great whales were

flensed and rendered down for their oil at the

whaling station site across the harbour.

A gallery of rare images from those

industries is on show at the historical freight

shed at the head of the wharf.

OUTER GULF CRUISING BOON

BOATWORLDBOATWORLDBOATWORLDBOATWORLD

news

bites

TWO GOLDS AT ENOSHIMA

New Zealand sailors walked

away from October’s Enoshima

Olympic Week regatta in Japan

with four medals, including

golds to Alex Maloney and Molly

Meech in the 49erFX and Tom

Saunders in the Laser.

It was a good return for the Kiwi

contingent and eight of the 10

boats finished inside the top 10.

Erica Dawson and Kate Stewart

were third in the 49erFX, as were

Logan Dunning Beck and Oscar

Gunn in the 49er.

Many countries used the three-

day regatta as a first opportunity

to race at the venue for the 2020

Olympics and the Laser fleet in

particular was littered

with world, Olympic and

European champions.

Meanwhile, Sam Meech has won

his first World Cup regatta in

Japan’s Gamagori. It was a big

result for the 26-year-old – his

previous best at a World Cup

regatta was silver – and he held

off the challenge from Laser

world champion Pavlos Kontides.

Meech went into the top-

medal race with a narrow three-

point advantage over the Cypriot

so had little room for error.

N

ew Zealand’s marine industry has

much to celebrate, having more than

trebled annual turnover to $1.7 billion

over the last two decades.

Peter Busfield – the Marine Industry

Association’s executive director – has been

in the role for the same period, and says the

industry can afford to pat itself on the back.

“We’ve come through some incredibly tough

times – the 2008 GFC in particular – but it says

much for the industry’s depth and resilience

that we are where are today. It’s particularly

interesting when you drill down into the data.”

In 1997, for example, New Zealand had

260,000 boats. We now have more than

700,000. Where the industry boasted 250

marine members, it now has 460. Where

exports totalled $100 million, they’re now at

$750 million. Only 70 apprentices were in

training in 1997: there are now 450. Where the

Auckland on Water Boat Show attracted 42

exhibitors in 1999, this year there were 198.

““It’s an excellent story,” says Busfield, “yet

for me there were a number of less obvious

but perhaps even more important advances

over the last 20 years. For example, companies

now have good succession planning and

many of the industry training apprenticeship

graduates now in their 30s or 40s are owning

or managing many of the growth-orientated

companies of today. The various sector

groups of designers, boatbuilders, equipment

manufacturers, marina operators and exporters

are working on a close, collaborative basis for

the good and growth of the entire industry –

and this bodes well for the next 20 years.”

20 YEARS

OF GROWTH