Emotions flowed freely as a sloop that took 29 years to complete finally hit the water with the crack of a bottle of bubbles bought more than four decades ago.
The Kauai Mist was the brainchild of former Kamo metalwork teacher Colin Nisbet whose son and daughter completed the project after he died in February last year.
Mr Nisbet started building the 14-metre sloop— his second yacht— in a shed behind the Nisbet's Kamo home 29 years ago and had much of the work done before his death.
His daughter, Heather Edmeades, and son Wade picked up the remainder of the work.
The vessel was launched at Docklands 5 on Port Rd yesterday before it was motored to a berth at the Town Basin where its mast will be fitted later this week. It will then sail to a permanent berth at Opua from where Mr Nisbet's family will do coastal trips.
The sloop was transported on a truck and trailer to the launch site on Sunday afternoon.
"This is the final thing. We're all very proud of it. It's been a long time coming," an emotional Ms Edmeades said.
Her mother Noelene gave a short speech before a coterie of family and friends, then Ms Edmeades cracked a "historic" wine bottle her dad bought while building the first hull more than 40 years ago.
"Eight years later, he decided it was too good to waste cracking it so he put it in a cupboard. It's been there since. We decided it must be pretty vinegary to drink now and we were right," she said.
Mrs Nisbet paid tribute to her husband at the launch.
"It's all very emotional but I've got Colin to thank for his vision. I am the hands-on person who put things together. We've got an extremely supportive family and we all have dinner together on Sundays."
Mrs Nisbet pointed to the sloop's helm which she took to her husband's funeral where mourners were told it was the last device he installed before his death.
She hopes to one day sail around with the vessel's American designer Terry Wells who could not make it at yesterday's launch.
The Nisbets made friends with the Wells in the 1970s when they were in their yacht, Swift Current, at the Town Basin where the Americans who lived in Hawaii showed them the drawings for their new sloop.
Colin Nisbet built the first yacht when his children were young. That boat has been sold a few times since and is now based in Thailand.