Issue date
A team of Torbay Sailing Club members have been working hard in the background since the start of February.
Lady Waiake is a feature of Waiake Beach and, after suffering a catastrophic engine failure during the 2016 Aon youth sailing world championships at Torbay, it was used more commonly as a swimming platform for locals rather than a committee boat for the club.
However, actions were taken and funds raised, and on September 15 a new-look committee boat was launched at Riverhead to start the 22nm journey back to Waiake Beach - and only 12L of petrol was used.
The Lady Waiake was designed by Terry Bailey and built in 1978 at Kerry Alexander’s boatyard in Browns Bay. Bailey was a Torbay Sailing Club member and Paper Tiger sailor and built a number of Paper Tigers, some of which are still sailing in the fleet.
A huge shout out to Blair Gerrard (rear commodore) and Graham Fleury who put in more hours than all the members who help combined.
A quick summary of the work done:
- inboard engine removed
- floors, toilet, and pretty much everything removed, and entire interior cleaned (due to oil)
- new floors and transom built
- new engine fitted
- new windows fitted
- repaint of the entire boat including antifoul
Come and see her for yourself at this year's Sir Peter Blake Regatta on December 1-2.
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Lady Waiake was towed via water and land to a safe place ready for work to be carried out.
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Under cover, needing some TLC
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A few transformations in colours through the process...
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And there we have it.
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Cruising speed of 7 knots, and she reached 10 knots.
