RENUHOU details ex Ken Ricketts, John O’Meara Jnr., John Bennett, Bob Roach & Dave Stephens. edited by Alan H Now this is a great tale, its believed that she was built c.1904 as a single skin double-ender, with single mast. In the b/w photo above, Renuhou was moored in Mansion House Bay, Kawau Island. Now like so many of these old girls there are big holes in her past but this old girl has lived an ‘interesting’ life. She had been in Tauranga & was sailed by her owner, Pat O’Malley, back to Auckland in the early 1970s, who refurbished her & later sold her to John O’Meara. We understand that O’Mera owned her approx. 43 years ago  (from the mid 1970’s). When he bought her she had a 40hp Ford diesel & bilge keels. She also had had a fire aboard & was badly burnt prior to O’Meara owning her. O’Meara sold her to a Michael Kirkwood, who had her moored in Okahu Bay, for quite some time. During his ownership Kirkwood fitted a permanent wheel house hatch and another mast, to her cabin top. This new aluminum mast was fitted along with a replacement for the original by a John Bennett (secretary treasurer of the PYBC). O’Meara later bought her back off Kirkwood while she was moored in the Tamaki river for 8 > 10years. O’Meara sold her to an out-of-town owner who lived in the Raglan area. They did not look after her & during his ownership she was hauled out on the Panmure Yacht Club  hardstand and stayed there for quite some time. John Bennett has advised that she was more or less abandoned & as the hard stand fees were not paid she was eventually sold by the P.Y.B.C. (under the terms of their haulage agreements, to defray costs). The club sold her to Dave Stephens on 2.2.2011. Now this is where the story of Renuhou makes a big U-turn. Ken Rickets had heard that she might now be a child’s plaything in a kindergarten, so Ken did a bit of detective work & jackpot – turns out Dave Stephens had transported her (permanently) to his lifestyle property at Albany & spent the last 4+ years restoring, refurbishing & altering her to suit his needs i.e. a permanent sleep-out / accommodation that is part of his lifestyle property that features all sorts of artifacts & bits & pieces. Whilst the Ford diesel engine has been removed & sold, the well made bronze strut, shoe, rudder, & stainless steel shaft, are all intact. Whilst she is presently not seaworthy it would only require a small amount of time & money to do the essentials to get her back in the water. The photos below show Renuhou during her relocation / restoration – its a better option than what Colin Pawson calls a Beehive* restoration *for the overseas readers Beehive is a brand of matches/fire lighters 😦