Castaway at the Mahurangi regatta 2011 – designed & built by Dick Lang in 1947 at his premises adjacent to Shipbuilders Ltd in Westhaven just behind where the Dry Stack boat storage is today. Originally built for himself, she was one a number of similar launches built during this period. Dick Lang used her for his own personnel craft for a number of years, travelling many times between Auckland and Coromandel, before selling her to Mr Wayne Mason, the then Managing Director of Sunline Homes Ltd. Wayne Mason sold her to Mr Wayne Aston in 1973, at which this time her name was changed to Castaway from Islander after the racial overtones it implied. Wayne Aston also changed the engine to the 6 cylinder 100HP Fordson. Following her sale to Tom Simpson in 1985, this was the start of a very major refit for her, and saw a complete rebuild of the interior and combined with a much more practical interior layout, which included another engine change. With the original style of the coach house being retained to ensure that the classic looks remained. As a result she was restored into a Classic Bridge Deck Launch, and a credit to her designer and builder. She was briefly in the hands of Mr Mike Cunningham from 1994 until 1999, which saw some minor changes to the interior. 1999 saw the installation of a deep freeze, oven and the completion of the hot water system, a much-improved noise dampening of the dry exhaust system and improved fuel filtration. Castaway fly’s the Past Commodore’s pennant of the Devonport Yacht Club.