NEW ZEALANDERS BUILD YACHT

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 05, Issue 53, 15 May 1942, Page 3

NEW ZEALANDERS BUILD YACHT

. -». (N..Z.E.F. Official News Service) CAIRO. March 12. Securely moored in the quiet Nile waters of the Cairo Yacht Club is a creamy-white craft that may make New Zealand, yachting history in the Middle East. It has been built entireb'i by two members of a New Zealand Survey Battery, Gunner EG. (Dick) Wilson, assisted by Sergeant Eric Williams. On the white sail is painted an inknblack Kiwi. The "Kiwi" ay as formally launched about a Avcck ago, at a tiny Nile beach near Maadi. In the absence of a lady to officiate, the builderowner himself performed the chistcn.ing, Avith a bottle of zibib attached by a piece of string to the bow. Later he and his friends drank to the health of their craft with rather Avarm beer and sailed l her, without mishap, down, to Giza. where the Yacht Club promptly consented to give her a home, free of charge. E'.ievcni feet six, from bow to stern, the "Kiwi" is on "Z" class lines, gaff-rigged witli a square bilge and V bottom. She can carry a creAV of three. Total cash cost of bundling AYas £1. Construction was commenced some time ge, when the unit avos stationed near the Suez Canal. Chief material AYas in the shape of Oregon pine motor truck cases. Wire casenails Avere straightened and used to iron-fasten the craft as it took shape. Cedar Avas "scrounged" for the coamings and floor boards, and a couple of pots of paint miraculously "turned up" for Avhite topsides, grey bottom and. scats. The mast and running gear presented no problems, but the sail did. Fori tuitously one of the camp tents AYas rather badly burnt at an opportune moment. A tailor from among Italian prisoners the unit AYas guarding was pressed: into service and he commenced a Avorkmanlike job, 'later finished, by the owner himself and by a tailor in Maadi camp. Just as the yacht Avas almost completed, the

unit was recalled. It was unthinkable that the lugger should he left behind, so it was thrown on to a truck and arrived safe'v in Cairo. Then, came another movement order, so the boat had to be safely stored till the return of its builders from their journey ings. Now it has been properly launched and completed its maiden trip against a headwind. Gunner Wilson hopes to try the "Kiwi" out with the Lake class yachts at the club. There is only one other hemc-made craft at Giza, and the: "Kiwi" compares more than well with it. In pre-war days Gunner Wilson was part-owner and skipper of the B G'liass kceler, Mahaki, a speedy craft in her day at most regattas on the Waitemata. In his school days, he, , built and raced a sevenfoot Tauraniga class boat. He considers the "Kiwi" a still greater triumph and expects great things of her.