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Published October 25, 2019 at 3648 × 2736 in Thames River Rats

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Andrew Willis on August 15, 2021 at 2:07 pm said:

He boat was originally built by Dudley Willis, a member if the royal yacht squandren, in Auckland. The name Msuire, his son believes, is Swahili for ‘big chief’. Dudley spent 3 years in Rhodesia. His son has a photo of it in the 1950s in Paramata.

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John Bullivant on October 26, 2019 at 2:53 pm said:

Nice to see Msuire is still in original form, although she’s looking a bit tired and the colour’s changed (coaming sides were either light brown or varnished, from memory). Moored at Bucklands Beach in the 60s/70s and belonged to a friends grandfather. Moved to Thames I think in the 80s. See pic of her in the 70s plus info from Martin Howson (under Monterey, – I got the name wrong) on the site.
Not sure where the name Msuire came from (perhaps the first owner) as suire is a French word for a shoemaker or it can be a surname. Boat names can be a bit cryptic like personalised plates. Always a solid looking boat.

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