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Te Nelson Yacht Club was very helpful. Soon we were in
touch with former Commodore Kim Harris, an expert steel
boatbuilder who knows everything there is to know about
steel boats in the Nelson region.
He and many of his friends got involved. No stone
was left unturned, but no information was found about
builder Dennis Field nor about a Bruce Roberts 44 with the
distinct features of our boat. We even looked for him in all
sorts of records at the local Council ofces: with the help of
the staf voting registrations, dog tax fles – even cemetery
records were explored. Nothing.
In the end, we asked the regional newspaper for help.
Within a day of our quest going online, it was shared on
sailing platforms, and soon after the phone rang: “Dennis
was my best friend. He built your boat in 1988 on the
North Shore. You’re looking in the wrong place,” said
Steve Collins.
In that phone call we found answers to our many
questions. Two degrees of separation: it is true. Especially
in the boating community. And the little green man? We
now know that we sailed a tiki back to Aotearoa. BNZABOVE The little green man
became an unwitting part of the
quest to find the yacht’s builder.
BELOW A solid, well-built boat;
Janneke and Weitze at North Cape.