A Far North man whose pride and joy ran aground and sank on his first outing said last week that he had been overwhelmed by the kindness of Whangaroa's boating community.
Rob Clarke bought the 65-year-old kauri fishing boat Taramea and was taking it from Auckland to his home at Kaimaumau, on the Rangaunu Harbour, when disaster struck while he was taking shelter from wild weather in the Matangirau arm of the Whangaroa Harbour. The anchor dragged in the night, leaving the boat stuck fast on the shore at 4.20am with a metre-long gash in the hull.
Rob, a young crewman and a dog were rescued by Whangaroa Coastguard and a fisherman known only as Bill after their situation worsened suddenly that afternoon and they were forced to make a mayday call.
Neither men nor dog came to harm, but Rob was left with the thorny problem of owning a damaged boat stuck in an isolated bay.
Taramea was originally used for fishing in the deep south, Rob buying her with the idea of doing her up and eventually living on board.
A small group of volunteers have been doing their best to see that can still happen. As of Friday commercial fisherman Mark Giles had given up five days of his time to help out (while refusing payment). Whangaroa boatie Ivan 'The Terrible' Needham and other locals also turned out, Mark's fishing boat Destiny and Ivan's 16-metre yacht Masada between them managing to pull Taramea off the sand and tow it, partly submerged, to the boat ramp at Whangaroa.
By Wednesday evening she was on the mud near the boat ramp, but with only the tip of her mast above water.
Unable to shift her any further, Mark went door-knocking around Kaeo in the hope of borrowing a winch. Instead Martin 'Mooch' Rudolph, of Mooch Transport, offered his digger and his time without charge, and Kaeo Transport lent a low-loader to get it to Whangaroa.
On Thursday morning a Coastguard volunteer diver got a rope around the stricken boat so Mooch could drag her up the beach and flip her over so the gash in the hull was above water. It was then a race against the tide as Rob and helpers fashioned a makeshift patch and seal to make the hull watertight.
The plan was then to drag the boat further up the beach on the incoming tide, set her upright and start pumping her out.
Rob, stoic despite the heartbreaking end to his maiden trip, said he owed his helpers "huge thanks."
"I'd love them to be recognised for what they've done," he said.
"It's not just my case. It's a regular thing. Mark has given up five days' work and says he doesn't want to be paid.
"He's done everything, from conceiving the idea and fielding scepticism to getting materials and running his boat around."
Mooch Rudolph said helping out had merely been his "good deed for the day," while Ivan Needham, who lives on his yacht, said he hated to see a boat in such an unhappy predicament.