Boatloads of fun on southern lake
A boat turned over in the middle of one of the first races at Lake Rotoiti’s Antique and Classic boat show, but that didn’t dampen the spirits of those in attendance.
Organiser Pete Rainey said one of the highlights of his day had been the great response to the incident. He said the boat flipped ‘‘at some speed’’ when it caught a wave in ‘‘choppy’’ water, but noone was injured.
Apart from that incident, the rest of the day was without incident as 110 boats took to the water in the Tasman region to show off their style to the more than 1000 spectators. Rainey said the number of boats was down from last year by about a dozen because of the recent storms that battered the region. ‘‘But we’ve got a lot of new boats that we haven’t seen before,’’ he said.
The 18th edition of the show saw many different boats on display, from clinkers, classic yachts and cedar kayaks to veteran jetboats and replica steam boats.
It’s the first year Rainey’s restored racing hydroplane Elray III took to the water, a project he and co-organiser Glenn Common had been working on for eight years. ‘‘When Elray was built in 1967 she was the fastest boat in New Zealand and featured on the cover of magazine that year. Part of our motivation is the potential we see in New Zealand to get a historic race circuit going,’’ Rainey said.
‘‘This has become huge in the USA and right now we know of six other racing boats being restored, just in the South Island.’’
Show entrants Graeme and Diane Dutch from Wellington received much attention with their boat Beattieful, winning the Jens Hansen Cup for the Best Vessel Overall. They bought the boat, built by Jim Beattie, 10 years ago and restored it. Much of the restoration work was done by Wayne Foley of Picton.
The big flag is from the Union Steamship Company, which Graeme used to work for.