Dutch couple’s nautical quest

A Dutch couple have sailed to New Zealand to try and find the person who built their boat in the 1980s.

Wietze van der Laan and Janneke Kuysters bought their Nelson-built steel sailboat in Spain from New Zealander Larry Amos and refitted it.

They left the Netherlands in 2013 to sail the world and four-anda-half years later, they’re in Nelson on a quest to find Dennis Field, who they believe either built their boat in 1988 or was the first owner.

Kuysters said they wanted to know where the boat originated and hopefully have some answers to their questions about the unusual design.

‘‘When you sail across oceans in a boat you really have to trust the boat, and the boat almost becomes like a person to you.

‘‘You want to know where it came from, a boat is not really a thing, we call her ‘she’.’’

Kuysters said their boat was built with a few unusual specifications for that time, including a steel dodger.

‘‘Building steel boats in that time was unusual, because steel was expensive, there was no steel mill here, it had to be imported.

‘‘The size is unusual too, 44 feet was a big boat for those days.’’

Their Bruce Roberts 44 type boat was called ‘Espresso’ when they bought it, but the couple decided to rename it after their mothers; ‘Anna Caroline’. They added ‘van Staeten Landt’ to its title, to refer to the first name that Abel Tasman gave to what was later known as Aotearoa. Kuysters said they had spoken to the Nelson Yacht Club in an effort to find out more. They also looked through council records of graveyards around the region in case Field had passed away.

But they haven’t had any luck finding him yet, and time is running out as they’re leaving Nelson on Sunday.

What the club has found out is that either the boat’s haul was built in Whangarei, then shipped to Nelson to be finished, or it was commissioned by a group of welders in Nelson who rented a shed together and built three boats.

‘‘People remember that these three boats were built but we don’t know if our boat was one of them.’’

The couple started their sailing journey off with Scotland, Northern Island, Isle of Man, Ireland, Portugal and Spain.

They then went to Canary Islands, Cape Verdes Island and across the Atlantic to Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina, Antarctica and Patagonian Chile.

Robinson Crusoe Island, Easter Island, Gambier in French Polynesia, Hawaii, Alaska and British Columbia and the South Pacific followed.

They have left the boat moored in Whangarei to explore New Zealand for six months.

Kuysters said they’ll continue to travel for another three years, visiting New Caledonia and Australia.

‘‘We plan to sail clockwise around Australia, including a visit to Tasmania next summer.

‘‘Then off to South East Asia for a year and after that we head home via South-Africa.’’

If anyone has any information on Dennis Field or the origin of the boat, they can contact the couple on 021 115 0537.