Built like a brick ... boat?

By REBECCA WALSH

As Peter Lange's two-tonne brick boat was lowered into the water for its maiden voyage yesterday, it was hard to ignore the fact that it was April Fool's Day.

Nestled under the support straps of a crane, the Mt Eden potter's terracotta creation looked perfectly at home on land.

"I would just leave it there, Peter. Stop while you are ahead," one woman yelled.

But with Lange on board and a group of friends singing the seamen's hymn For those in peril on the sea, the safety straps were abandoned and the 6m Anagama made its first, and possibly only, dip into the waters of the Viaduct Harbour.

After a few wobbly minutes, the boat, weighed down by extra ballast, steadied to cheers from more than 100 family and friends. Its corrugated iron sails, created by Jeff Thomson, were unflappable.

Lange, who claimed the fact it was April Fool's Day was "merely coincidental", admitted he knew nothing about boats but said he had always been interested in illusions and breaking rules.

"I was sitting in an anagama [Japanese] kiln in England about five years ago and thought it felt like I was sitting under a boat. I wondered if I turned it upside down it would float."

He has spent the past three months working on the boat. Half of the 676 bricks used were cut to shape.

The success of yesterday's maiden voyage, during which the steam tug Puke escorted the Anagama around the Viaduct, was a surprise for many.

When Lange's brother-in-law, Roger Prior, a boatyard owner, saw the plans he didn't fancy the boat's chances on the water - and that was before he knew it would be made from bricks.

"He [Lange] said he would try it anyway," said Mr Prior. "His comment was, 'If it floats it's craft, if it sinks, it's art'. I'm rather impressed it's floating, but I wouldn't like to go to sea in it."

Lange's brother, former Prime Minister David Lange, who watched the boat grow from the first brick, suggested he could replace some of the bags of ballast required to weigh the boat down.

As for the Anagama's future, Lange says he would "quite like to sell it".

"It would be quite a nice thing to have down at the waterfront."