It was my pleasure to step in for President Malcolm at our meeting.
I know he and his family very much appreciate the support from us all, and our thoughts remained with him during our one minutes silence to remember and pay respects to his wife Judy.
Numbers were down again for this meeting; some we know through illness and home circumstances (shifting house) but I would urge Directors and members to make contact with members who have missed several meetings just to make sure everything is in fact ok.
A change in speakers meant a change to the programme and special thanks to our very own Sergeant who filled the void so to speak, and shared with us the story of his sailing journey from Tonga to New Zealand.
Quite a journey!! It would appear that Steve was an accidental sailor, both literally and figuratively as will be revealed a little further on.
Steve was born in the UK and had no experience of boating or sailing until he came to NZ. Here is NZ he became a close friend of well-known local vet Don Brazier a keen sailor. When Don was planning to sail to Tonga and back with his wife and family, he was looking for crew to sail the boat home with him. This was Steve s introduction to the world of sailing!!
At the very outset things did not go well. On arrival by plane to Tonga there were issues at immigration because Steve did not have a return plane ticket, and all the talking and providing of letters to state that he was sailing back to NZ, did not shift the extremely zealous immigration officer. But our Steve clearly had contacts in high places, to the Royal Family no less, and the situation , with Royal intervention, was quickly sorted and Steve was on his way to meet up with Don and get ready for the homeward leg . The preparation was however not exactly plain sailing and before they even left Steve managed to break his leg, a distinct disadvantage on a catamaran about to set sail to NZ!!
But with time constraints there was no other option but for Steve to set sail and head for home.
Like all sea voyages you are very much at the mercy of the weather and the sea and Don and Steve were no exception. With his broken leg Steve was relegated largely to the galley and became chief cook and bottle washer, not easy with a gammy leg and high seas so it is easy to see how the curry meant for dinner ended upended and in the bilge !!
Several high seas, spilt meals and forced off course through bad weather they made landfall at The Mercury Islands, unable to anchor there, made for the Coromandel Coast and then ran out of fuel! Fortunately, Don went ashore and was able to secure some fuel to help them with the final leg of the journey.
Customs then proved tricky as their first port should have been Opua, or failing that Auckland, so there were many questions around their unscheduled stop in Coromandel, could these fine upstanding people be drug runners!! All was finally sorted and the intrepid sailors made it to the comfort of their own homes.
Quite an adventure and possibly not one you would want to repeat very often.
Well done Steve ,and thank you for entertaining us with your story.
Kia Tupato,Kia noho haumaru Take care, stay safe.
Madeleine East
Immediate Past President
