Marina owner Ray Roberts is fondly remembered

Ray Roberts, seen in 2008, with the glossy Whangarei Marine Services and Facilities Guide he initiated. Photo/John Stone

Local boat building and sailing communities are paying tribute to a man credited with helping put Whangarei on the international deep-water sailors' charts.

Ray Roberts died two weeks ago after a battle with cancer.

Mr Roberts owned and managed Riverside Drive Marina, having expanded the successful marina complex on the back of the Orams Marine business he and his wife Barbara bought in 1975.

In the late 1980s, Mr Roberts was a founding member of Whangarei Marine Promotions, aimed at promoting local facilities to a growing international boating fraternity that could keep the city's traditional boatbuilding and allied industries afloat.

The group initiated the Whangarei Marine Services and Facilities Guide which is regularly updated and distributed throughout the Pacific.

A boatbuilder and sailing enthusiast, Mr Roberts learned his trade as a young man working in Whangarei's boatyards, among them the Orams company he eventually bought.

Henk Eilering, chief executive of Ship Repair NZ, said Mr Roberts was "a very supportive associate" and had made a huge contribution to the local boatbuilding industry and beyond. Onerahi sailor Dann Mann, who was sponsored by the Roberts, said Ray Roberts would be a great loss.

"He's done a lot for Whangarei yachting, and Whangarei, the whole district. It's quite amazing what he's done. He's the reason why all the yachts come up here."