Smith family's love affair will sail on forever

Three generations will be out on the Hauraki Gulf on Monday to pit their clan's 106-year-old classic keeler, Moana, against the fleet in Auckland's big yachting regatta.

By SUZANNE McFADDEN

At 106, Moana is the jaunty matriarch of the Smith family.

Every weekend, three generations of the family come to visit and take her out for a day on the sea.

Since she was christened in 1895, Moana has rarely needed an operation.

She was nearly a goner 32 years ago, before the Smiths rescued her from a watery grave.

And although her skeleton is made of wood, she is a true member of the Smith clan, who are making sure she stays in their family forever.

Moana's caregivers - from 76-year-old grandmother Pat Pascoe to her 14-year-old granddaughter Rachel Smith - will sail the boat together in the Auckland Anniversary New Zealand Herald Regatta on Monday.

The 14m Logan design is still one of the fastest classic yachts in the city and is one of only a handful as original as the day they were built.

Moana was Mrs Pascoe's dream boat.

In the early 60s, Mrs Pascoe, who lives in Devonport, would go out with her four sons in their tiny 4m boat, park off Rangitoto Island and watch the graceful A-class keelers sail around A buoy.

"When I saw Moana I thought she was the most beautiful boat - but she was not for the likes of us," she said.

Then a long-lost relative living in the highlands of Papua New Guinea died suddenly, leaving his fortune to her sons, nephews he had never met.

The four brothers - Chris, Grant, Tony and Matthew - used their unexpected inheritance to buy the Moana from the estate of her deceased owner, Alf Miller.

But the boat was in a sorry state after being tossed about in a gale on the Hauraki Gulf.

"She was leaking badly and wasn't even able to float," Chris Smith, of Greenhithe, said, "but my father, Peter, was a real craftsman and he took on the restoration himself."

Six months later, Moana was back on the water in the original pristine shape created by the famous Logan brothers at Devonport.

When she was first launched, she was a quantum leap in design.

She was the first of the spoon bows, a break away from the traditional clipper bow keelers. Suddenly every other yacht on the harbour was slow in comparison.

"She was so fast and, damn it, she still is," said Chad Thompson, skipper of Prize, one of Moana's great rivals.

This weekend, Moana is one of the favourites in a series of races between the Waitemata Harbour and Mahurangi. But for the first time in decades, she will have to contend with her old nemesis, Ranger, restored last year.

Today, Moana is one of a few classic yachts powered purely by sail. Without a motor, the Smiths rely on a modern fizz boat to tow Moana out of her new home in the America's Cup village.

Fourteen classic yachts are now moored around the island in the Viaduct Basin for the next year, in what is claimed to be the largest permanent display of the old-timers in the world.

The Smiths visit her a couple of times a week, and all of the family take turns guiding her around the harbour.

"My wife, Jenny, and I sailed around the world for eight years in another boat," said Chris Smith, "but we sold it as soon as we got back - we just didn't have that love affair with it.

"We couldn't wait to get home to Moana. She's just so much nicer to sail than a modern boat. She requires a lot of care and attention, but all the brothers have always worked on her. No one else."

It is almost time to hand the tiller to the next generation.

Chris' son Stephen turns 18 this year and, says his dad, "he'll be taking his girlfriends out for a sail soon enough."

"It's my ambition to hand the boat on and see it survive in this family. We're setting up a trust so that she will never leave us."

Herald Online Marine News