Yacht club full of character

Harold Kidd has done it again. This time it is 226 pages of words and pictures that record the evolution of the Devonport Yacht Club. Titled A Centennial History, the large-format publication is lavishly illustrated with pictures not previously widely published.

The book carries on the work marine historian Kidd has done with Robin Elliott to mark the Richmond and Ponsonby clubs' arrival at the magic 100 years.

This time Kidd is the editor, and many of the words have been contributed by people with a close and active association with Devonport Yacht Club. He has processed their contributions deftly.

Kidd's introduction pretty much sums up what the book is about, and includes the editor's recollections of growing up in Devonport.

The club seemed to be the habitat of those staunch individuals who had come back from World War II, and of the youths who had just missed out, who had built themselves a Woollacott in their backyard and were off on, or just back from, a Pacific cruise, a transtasman race or even a circumnavigation.

It was also the place where those keelers and launches were hauled out whose owners had, it seemed, a hereditary right to a patch on the hallowed ground where such activities had long been carried out.

Devonport Yacht Club has always had a number of unique features that have set it apart from those other Auckland clubs that have existed for 100 years or more.

These features have given it quite a different culture. More than any other club it has identified closely with the maritime suburb whose name it bears. It is part of the essential fabric of Devonport, whether you are a yachtie or not.

It has always been a club of strong and hardy characters, and the natural home of the builders of offshore yachts, a result as much as anything of the presence of the Woollacott family in Devonport.

It is not a club of Wednesday night racing or corporate membership, but a club that has put a large proportion of Auckland's deep-sea yachts on the water and seen them carry out fantastic voyages.

And it is the home of the Blake family, which has stamped the club with its mark over recent decades.

The history tells of the early boat-builders of Devonport and covers the first days of yachting on the Waitemata. It also records the first days of organised sailing in Devonport and the various factions, clubs and individuals who created what remains today.

The tensions that developed between those influential members who favoured Corinthian and amateur aspirations to those who favoured the sort of racing that was dominated by people who were in the trade, or professionals, make for interesting reading.

Martin Foster contributes an excellent chapter on the Woollacott family's association with the club. He emphasises the influence of the Bert Woollacott designed yachts that developed a reputation as safe, sea-kindly yachts that could be built by backyard amateurs and sailed around the Pacific and the world. The chapter includes a fitting tribute to Bert's son John, a talented designer and builder.

And it tells in words and pictures the story of John's 32ft ketch Whisper, wrecked in a storm in April 1981 and subsequently rebuilt by its owner. It is a tribute true to the Woollacott philosophy.

As it should, the history devotes a deal of space to the first two-handed Round North Island race on February 22 1977, which the organisers timed to coincide with a royal visit.

Prince Philip fired the start gun, and another milestone in the Devonport Yacht Club's history was under way.

Fittingly, the story ends with a tribute to Sir Peter Blake, who with his family had played an active role in the club since his teenage years and was patron from 1996 to 2002.

The history is available from the club and from specialist nautical bookshops, RRP $55.

A special limited edition hardback version is $90 from the club. For more information see www.dyc.org.nz (link below).