THE NORM FAIRLIE WOODEN BOAT FLOTILLA
Todays woody story follows on from yesterdays story on the classic wooden launch TEMPEST, which we identified as being built by McGeady’s for Norm Fairlie.
We learnt that Fairlie commissioned several wooden launches in the 1950’s > 1970’s period. Ken Rickets expanded on them and who built them, then sent in reference photos of the Fairlie boats, as we see above today.
Norm Fairlie would have had to be one of Auckland’s boatbuilding yards best customers.
Nice to see the ‘fleet’ all together for reference.
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This is the story that goes with the boats above.
As close friends I saw the evolution of the following all unfold through the years.
Norm F was a born dedicated wildly enthusiastic game fisherman with his first foray with his own boat being the REEL-EM IIN, built for him by Norton in Westmere which he soon discovered was much too small for is needs so he commissioned Mac McGeady to build the CHALLENGER in the early 1960s & just after she was finished he became aware that a huge international game fishing contest was to be held in Tauranga, so he also decided he needed a boat to fish for Marln & another boat to fish for Tuna.
He then persuaded Mac to sell him the partly completed TEMPEST which he had been building for himself & complete her to Norm’s requirements.
So he took the 2 boats to Tauranga where I understand he did very well in the contest.
Immediately it was all over he sold TEMPEST to his business partner Bert Jones.
Bert lived on the water’s edge with riparian rites of the Panmure bank of the Tamaki River & owned, used regularly, & kept TEMPEST, for a good few years on his pontoon at the bottom of his garden.
In the meantime, as we can all perhaps be tempted to, at sometime Norm once again had these thoughts, many of us can have, & he felt CHALLENGER was a bit on the small side so had Allan Williams build him COMMANDER ONE which started off at a little over 40feet when built, but Norm being Norm went that last extra step & COMMANDER ONE ended up at nearly 50 feet of course she did a huge amount of a game fishing & the last I heard of her she was still game fishing out of Tauranga under her owner of the day,
I have images of CHALLENGER taken at Whangarei a few years back, post 2000 & I was told she was going to be sold by her elderly owner whom I spoke with, at that time. — Sadly, her beautiful varnish had all gone, & she was looking a bit down at heel.
I think I may also have some more comparatively recent images of COMMOANDER ONE in Tauranga also with no varnish these days. — KEN R
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