Can you ID the boats – think Menai, Apache, Valsan
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Just a comment on Menai. In my day she was owned by Clive Menzies a close friend of Arnold Baldwin, Stan Menzies, Clives older brother owned Matariki I would call her a Sedan cruiser. These two boats often cruised together with Arnold in Valsan. Clive and Stan were partners in the family business (Menzies and Co. Electroplaters and Tubular Steel Furniture Manufacturers) along with my father Jack. As a teenager I went along as bait and beer boy on one of the male only fishing excursions which were an annual event. In my day Menai had an Osco V8 as main power and a small Onan generator plant alongside. I recall one night in the Tiri channel and an engine fault brought us to a halt in quite a heavy chop, the bridge deck floor was lifted and Clive attended to a minor electrical problem, but not before the hinged floor dropped on Clives head and my Dads toe, my vocabulary gained some useful words that evening. On one trip in the Bay of Islands we had a double strike of Marlin, Stan fought his from the cockpit chair, and Clive from the bridgedeck door, legs on either side, and me placing a stool under his backside as he rose and fell. Both fish were landed, quite a feat. I cant recall why Menai left the hands of Clive Menzies but I know that when Menzies and Co merged with Universal Electroplaters Clive and Jack went with the business and Stan Menzies retired to Orokawa Bay and was caretaker for Arnold Baldwins property there for a number of years.
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Is that a young Jeff Rodgers returning after a quick polish of the Valsan.
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correct Mr Pawson
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Apache in the middle.
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Boat to the right is the last boat built by Collings & Bell (was at Te Atatu for a while)…. will post again if the name pops into the brain!
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