Reflections
The Doug Reid Story
Like many of his contemporaries from Auckland’s eastern suburbs, Reid grew up with boats. Born in 1939, his father Jack was a keen sailor who owned the mullet boat Naru and the E Class Tofua.
A family friend, Lawrence Hamlet, owned the Billy Rodgers-built T Class Vamp and it was in her Reid had his first sail in 1946, thinking to himself, “this is fantastic.”
During those war years the Reid family lived in Orakei, a great location for those interested in boats. Reid formed close friendships with Murray White, Des Townson and Alan Brown while racing in P Class dinghies. He was in good company: Townson and White won Tanner Cups, while Brown won a Tauranga Cup.
After the war the family moved to Buckland’s Beach and became founding members of the Buckland’s Beach Yacht Club. Now too big for a P Class, Reid bought an Idle Along but sold this in 1953 to buy, in partnership with his father, the 13.4m Norseman, a Knut Reimers 30m2 design.
Built by Les Harvey in 1939-40, Norseman wasn’t in great shape but the £130 price was right and Reid sold his Idle Along for £65 as his contribution. After some repairs, the Reid family – Jack, Joyce, Doug, Ian and Robyn – regularly raced and cruised Norseman despite her cramped interior which lacked both windows and headroom.
In 1956-7, Reid and Brown teamed up to race the Z Class Iris, and were virtually unbeatable in Auckland, once winning 44 races from 44 starts. They represented Auckland
twice in the Cornwell Cup but, apart from the first race, boats are drawn – no one races their own boat. Reid and Brown finished second in both events.
In 1957 Reid was offered a position on the UK yacht Havfruen III, an 18.2m Colin Archer ketch skippered by Group Captain Terrence ‘Batchy’ Carr and his wife Anne. A far cry from today’s norm, Reid had to pay 10 shillings a day to be aboard. He took leave from his advertising job and signed on for the Auckland-to-sydney leg.
In those days under the Military Training Act 1949, virtually all males aged 18 were liable for military service and Reid needed Army permission to leave the country. Carr was so pleased with Reid’s contribution during the Tasman crossing he was invited to stay on free of charge.
So Reid resigned his Auckland job and remained with Havfruen III as they voyaged from Sydney, up the Great Barrier Reef, to Christmas Island, Cocos Keeling, Mauritius, South Africa, St Helena, Ascension and through to Barbados in the West Indies – a wonderful learning experience for a young man.
“Batchy was an incredible seaman, he taught me a lot about seamanship. And Anne was a fantastic cook.”
Throughout the voyage, Havfruen III crossed paths many times with John Guzzwell in his little 6.2m yacht Trekka. Reid and Guzzwell had first met in the Bay of Islands prior to the Tasman crossing where they became good friends, a friendship which continues to this day. “I went sailing with John several times on Trekka. We even did a Wednesday night race together in Durban.”
Reid stayed with the Carr’s while they chartered Havfruen III out of English Harbour in the West Indies for a season, before sailing on to England. Carr’s sister was married to Charlie Nicholson of Camper and Nicholson, the famous English boatbuilders founded in 1863. This association opened doors for Reid.
“When I got to England I had the best introduction