28 Boating New Zealand
ABOVE Gleaming components ofset by the brightwork.
RIGHT Two brothers celebrating a long, arduous journey.
BELOW A glowing reincarnation.ACQUISITION
In his day job James is chief oicer of a 92m
private yacht in the Mediterranean, and when
not in skippering mode he spends time in the San
Diego, working on restoring a small, one-design
Rhodes cutter.
“Laughing Lady was lying – abandoned – next to
my boat. And every time I took a tea-break from
my project, I’d ind myself staring at the old launch
and her beautiful lines. I knew the boatyard owner- Doug Jones – really well and when he suddenly
announced he was shifting to Seattle, he suggested
I buy Laughing Lady: ‘I know you love her. Do the
right thing.’
“So we came to an arrangement. I acquired her
and decided to ship her to New Zealand to complete
her restoration. And that’s how she ended up at the
Whangateau Boat Yard.”
THE SHERLOCK TEAM
James was committed to returning Laughing Lady
to her original condition, but with nothing to work
from, his vision ran into obstacles immediately.
“A huge ire in the Lüders yard in the early 60s
destroyed the plans of all its boats. In desperation
I visited the nearby Mystic Seaport Museum, but