Two of the Tauranga Yacht & Power Boat Club’s hardworking patrol boats have received a major refurbishment, thanks to a dedicated team of volunteers giving their time in winter’s sailing season.
About eight to 10 club members have been working daily during the past three weeks to refurbish the club’s main race patrol boat, Harry Highet, and the smaller vessel White Patrol.
Former commodore David Peet, who is co-ordinating the project, said the work continues the club’s long tradition of members pitching in to keep the fleet on the water.
“The Harry Highet has served the club for 36 years, so it was due for another refurbishment,” Peet said.
The vessel had a special place in the club’s history. Peet, who also co-ordinated the original construction project, said it was built entirely by volunteers beneath the yacht club during a two-and-a-half-year period.
It was named after Harry Highet, the designer of New Zealand’s iconic P Class yacht, with the Tauranga Yacht & Power Boat Club holding the plans and rights to the class.
The boat’s latest refurbishment included new electronics, installation of an automatic anchor winch, a complete exterior repaint and a range of maintenance work to keep the vessel in top condition.
“It’s all coming up spick and span,” Peet said.
The Harry Highet is the club’s principal race management boat, responsible for starting and finishing races for fleets sailing on Tauranga Harbour.
The club’s second vessel in the workshop, known as White Patrol, had also received extensive repairs. The fibreglass boat is used to lay race marks around the courses and had accumulated plenty of knocks and scrapes from years of handling chains and buoys.
“We’ve given that a big birthday at the same time,” Peet said.
With the two boats out of action, the club had borrowed a vessel to support its fortnightly winter racing programme.
During race days, the Harry Highet works in radio contact with White Patrol and the club’s inflatable patrol boats to manage the course and ensure racing runs smoothly.
Peet said the refurbishment had only been possible because of the commitment of club volunteers.
One volunteer deserved special recognition – Warren Belk had overseen the operation and maintenance of the Harry Highet every week since it first entered service 36 years ago.
“The boat has been very carefully looked after and run by Warren,” Peet said. “It’s an absolutely amazing effort.”
Founded in 1920, Tauranga Yacht & Power Boat Club has a proud history of volunteerism. Members built the club’s Sulphur Point clubhouse in the early 1980s and continued to spend thousands of hours collectively each year to support sailing programmes, racing and maintenance of club facilities and vessels.
The patrol boat refurbishment will support sailors on Tauranga Harbour for many more years.