$1 yacht auction on Trade Me catches wind
A historic schooner put on Trade Me with a reserve of just $1 has attracted more than just monetary bids.
Owner Fiona Campbell has had offers to swap the Ruah, insured for $800,000, for blocks of land and other boats, and one old salt has asked her to keep it, marry him, and sail away together.
Campbell has taken it all in her stride, politely declining all such offers as she remains keen to part with the boat, which she bought for her ex-husband, so she can start a new life.
She hoped the Ruah, moored at Chaffers Marina in Wellington, would go to someone with a passion for boats.
Since being listed on January 2, the 20-metre schooner has attracted more than 93,000 page views and 145 bids. Bids topped the $500,000 mark on Saturday. The auction closes on January 16.
Wanaka-based Campbell said she bought the 1944 Staysail Schooner for her seafaring exhusband in 2012. The pair were divorced in 2015, and she wanted to start 2017 with one less thing to worry about.
While the boat had a lot of sentimental value and memories attached to it, she was ready to let it go for whatever price the auction ended at, hence the $1 reserve.
Ruah has also been advertised on a marine broker’s website for $795,000.
Campbell, who was made a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2010, has been holidaying on the Kapiti Coast, allowing her to meet interested buyers keen to tour the boat.
She said she had really enjoyed the bidding banter on Trade Me, which had all been positive, and she was thrilled with how it had gone.
‘‘Mentally, I was happy with $1. That’s the thing. So obviously half a million dollars is fantastic.
‘‘It’s getting to be about the value of the boat, which is really nice,’’ she said.
‘‘It would have been good, but slightly heartbreaking, to sell her for a song. Obviously people have seen the value in her and are willing to put their money where their mouth is. I believed in the process, and it’s worked very well.’’
She was not thinking about how high the bidding might go.
‘‘The sky’s the limit. On the closing day there may be a bit of action. It could do anything.’’
Ruah is a long-distance cruising vessel designed and built for the Australian navy in 1944 as a survey ship.
Over the past 15 years, Campbell said the boat had undergone an extensive ‘‘high-quality conversion to become a supremely capable and comfortable private yacht’’.