Sea captain ready to welcome waves of customers
‘‘They’ll get the trip of a lifetime.’’
Dave Chadfield
Dave Chadfield couldn’t catch a wink of sleep on Sunday, so eager was he to hear yesterday’s level 2 announcement, which he reckons will bring him waves of customers.
On Thursday morning when the country moves into level 2, the 72-year-old is planning to get up bright and early to take his lifeboat out for a test run.
He then guarantees he’ll have people booked to go out on Chaddy’s Charters by lunchtime and will make sure he follows physical distancing rules.
‘‘I’m jumping out of my socks,’’ Chadfield said.
‘‘They’ll get the trip of a lifetime.’’
Chadfield takes tours around
Chaddy’s Charters
the islands off the New Plymouth coast, telling the history of the area while also giving people the chance of pulling in a kahawai or even a kingfish.
‘‘People just love it, eh,’’ he said.
‘‘I’ve only ever had one complaint.’’
Before lockdown Chadfield said he was doing two or three trips a day.
He’s already fielded a number of phone calls and had people coming in asking when he’d be up and running again.
Chadfield’s worked out he can fit four bubbles of people safely on his boat and thinks he’ll be ‘‘inundated’’ when domestic travellers start coming to town in level 2.
Chadfield has been running charters for 32 years.
It’s a job he loves and he’s looking forward to getting back out on the water.
‘‘I didn’t even sleep,’’ he said yesterday. ‘‘I woke up at three this morning and thought today’s the day.’’
He’s not used to having more than a month off and staying in New Plymouth, so he’s had time to work on his business.
‘‘I’ve been doing so much maintenance it’s not funny.’’
Chadfield also hires out bikes, paddleboards and kayaks, and plans to water blast and sanitise everything as it’s returned.
‘‘We’ve stood the test of time but I don’t think we’ve seen a test this hard.’’