‘Hell of a good bloke’: Tributes after boatie’s sudden death

Dave Black was a well respected local. Photo / Supplied

A longtime Queenstown resident who died last week from a medical event while driving on Ladies Mile, a day shy of his 69th birthday, is being remembered for his fondness for boating and helping the community.

Dave Black, an assistant harbourmaster for almost 20 years, and his wife of 45 years, Jude, had only recently moved to Cromwell.

Raised in Balfour, he was originally a shearer, but for pleasure took up jet-boating rivers around Southland.

In 1981, he and friend Geoff Stevens bought Queenstown jet-boat business Twin River Jet, which plied the Kawarau and Shotover Rivers.

After selling it 13 years later, Black continued driving for new owner Stan Jones, clocking up about 20,000 commercial hours in total.

Black joined the existing harbourmaster, the unrelated Marty Black, in 2002, after Southern Monitoring Services (SMS) was contracted to police local waterways.

“It was Black and Black,” Marty Black, who had been a rival jet boater in the early ‘80s, said.

Black’s position fitted him like a glove — “he was his own boss. You didn’t need to tell him to do anything because he’d just take the initiative and do things”.

“The work he did for the community, out doing rescues all hours of the day and night, was just bloody outstanding.

“He did so much work in the background, never took any credit for it.

“He used to do what we called a ‘Dave’ on people who were a bit naughty, and that was a telling-off from hell — they just cringed and never came back.”

Black oversaw students taken on as launch wardens during busy summers.

For a time, the pair also patrolled freedom campers, moving on those parking illegally.

SMS lost the harbourmaster contract in 2021, but then contracted him to the regional council to undertake water sampling and install monitoring buoys on local lakes.

SMS owner Alan Eyles said he was “absolutely reliable”.

Phil Wilson, of Queenstown, said Black “helped a lot of people and never made it known”.

“I’ve only found out and I’ve been as close to him as anyone.

“He was a hell of a good bloke, a hunting, fishing, outdoors man and a foundation member of the Lakes and Coastal Fishing Club.

“He and I had a lot of fun together.”

Black was a past Wakatipu Rugby Club committee member and a great supporter — a minute’s silence was held in his honour before a Premiers game last Saturday.

“He was a very proud and loving family man,” Wilson said.

Black is survived by Jude, their children Todd and Elyse and grandchildren Beau and Jaxon.

His funeral was held at the Queenstown Memorial Centre on Wednesday.