The Karangi sitting in the cradle at Tauranga Marina. Photo / Rosalie Liddle Crawford
A once-proud motor sailer that spent years moored off Ōmokoroa has been donated by its owner to raise funds for youth sailing, thanks to a group of sailing buddies who rallied to help.
The project also offers a rare bright spot in a growing issue of derelict boats clogging the Tauranga Harbour.
Former Tauranga Yacht and Power Boat Club commodore and life member David Peet was inspired after a fire at the Tauranga Marina earlier this year left several boats damaged and abandoned.
When one of those boats failed to sell – even for $1 on TradeMe – the club struck a deal with the insurance company to take it apart and keep any salvaged materials.
That raised $3000 for the club and sparked a larger idea for Peet’s “bunch of merry men”.
The volunteers’ mission was to dismantle Karangi – which would have needed far more money to restore it than it was worth – and salvage valuable materials such as lead and bronze to sell and put the proceeds toward the club’s youth sailing programmes.
“There’s quite a bit of money in the lead.”
He said the boat’s former owner was “delighted” it would be used to help youth sailing.
The 40-foot (12m) sloop rigged motor sailer was built by Salthouse boat builders in Auckland for Howard Smith and designed by Jack Brooke, who is regarded as one of New Zealand’s most important yacht designers.
In 1958 Smith named the boat Te Wairu Karangi, meaning ‘the restless spirit’.
Peet said it had “been sitting out at Ōmokoroa for 25 years or more”.
“There are a lot of derelict boats up there but the problem is how do people get rid of them?” Peet said.
“We’ve come up with the idea that by donating the boat to the yacht club, we get our team in and cut it up, take the lead to scrap and use the funds raised to put towards youth sailing.”
Karangi was hauled out of the water and placed on a hardstand.
Over a week, Peet and his team cut the vessel apart and recovered roughly four tonnes of lead, along with bronze fittings and other scrapable items. They expected to raise more than $12,000 from the project.
“There’s the odd bit of good wood and a nice mahogany table,” Peet said.
He said a “dedicated bunch” of senior club members did the work, and the Tauranga Marina Society “bent over backwards for us”.
Marina Society president Greg Prescott said the problem with older boats in the harbour that need restoring is that they were only worth “between nothing and $50,000”.
“And who’s going to want to go and spend $200,000 on it, as when you finish, it’s still only worth $50,000? The logical thing is that you’re going to end up scrapping them,” Prescott said.
The Tauranga Harbourmaster team said it was open to exploring community-led salvage efforts and would welcome further discussions with Peet’s group.
Harbourmaster Jon Jon Peters said the rising number of abandoned and derelict boats in Tauranga Harbour was becoming a costly issue, with ratepayers often footing the disposal bill of up to $25,000 if they sink.
“We’re seeing more and more boats left to deteriorate on their moorings,” Peters said.
“When we can’t recover the costs from the owner, the community ultimately pays for this.”
Many vessels causing problems were built during the boating boom of the 1960s and 1970s – and were now reaching the end of their usable life.
“Some owners can’t afford the upkeep anymore. Others don’t have the skills or time to maintain their boats, and some just lose interest and walk away,” Peters said.
“Unfortunately, if those boats sink, they may become hazards to navigation, create environmental risks and become costly to dispose of.”
The Bay of Plenty Harbourmaster team managed 490 moorings across the region.
Annual inspections by the Bay of Plenty Regional Council’s marine biosecurity dive team revealed about 40% of vessels moored in Tauranga Harbour were showing signs of neglect, with no recent hull maintenance.
Peters said this was a “red flag”, with neglected boats more likely to become derelict and sink.