The surf rescue canoe Miss Dargaville has been returned to the Baylys Beach Surf Lifesaving Club, 40 years after the original club went into recess. Photo / Supplied
The surf rescue canoe Miss Dargaville has been returned to the Baylys Beach Surf Lifesaving Club, 40 years after the original club went into recess. Photo / Supplied
Miss Dargaville has returned home after more than 40 years of wandering.
This is no beauty queen who has returned to the Kaipara, but a historic surf lifesaving canoe that was used by the Baylys Beach Surf Lifesaving Club until it went into recess about 40 years ago.
The club restarted last year and is gearing up for a busy summer season, and one of the welcome additions to the new clubhouse is Miss Dargaville − a 6m canoe that was the first fibreglass surf rescue boat in the country.
Club member Kyran Gillespie said Miss Dargaville was bought by a member of Bethells Beach Surf Club in the 1990s and he recently bought it back from the man, Henry Backhouse-Smith, for $100 − exactly the price he paid for it back in the day.
‘’It’s awesome to have Miss Dargaville back home,’’ Gillespie said.
‘’To have Henry sell it to us for the same price he paid is wonderful. We’d heard rumours that she may have been at Bethells so got in touch with them and we got in touch with Henry, who was pleased to see her return home. And we are just so pleased to have her back at the clubhouse.’’
Gillespie said Miss Dargaville would be refurbished and if completed in time, she would enter into the Jackman Classic ocean race from Waipū Cove to Mangawhai Heads in summer.
He said there are sure to be stories and memories of when Miss Dargaville was in service at Baylys Beach and the club would love to hear them.
Backhouse-Smith, a long-time member of the Bethells Beach Surf Club, said he bought Miss Dargaville after a friend who was working in the area spotted her in a farmer’s paddock near Dargaville.
He said Bethells actually ended up with three of the boats – Miss Dargaville, the club’s own boat, and one from a timber yard near Hahei.
The newspaper article announcing the arrival of Miss Dargaville at Baylys Beach in the 1960s. Photo / Supplied
‘’They were built in about 1966 or 67, specifically as a surf rescue canoe for surf life clubs, and were based on boats the old whalers used. There were a lot of them used around the country, but you really needed a dedicated crew to man them,’’ Backhouse-Smith said.
‘’You needed four, good, strong men to paddle them, and if you didn’t have that dedicated crew they were difficult to use.’’
He said when the Baylys club got in touch, he was delighted to be able to sell it back for the price he paid.
‘’It had basically sat around not doing much at the back of the club for the last 20-odd years, so I’m happy to see it go back to its home and that the club has got back part of its history.
‘’It’s in pretty good condition for its age, and it won’t take much to get her back to her former glory. It’s so good to see the Baylys Beach club back up and running and going from strength to strength, so I’m pleased to be able to get it back to them,’’ he said.
Meanwhile, Gillespie said Baylys Beach Surf Lifesaving Club was gearing up for a busy summer season with plenty of new members, training well underway and a strong nippers (junior) programme underway.
Surf Life Saving Northern Region Paid Lifeguard Service will operate at the beach from Saturday, December 17, until Sunday, January 8. The club’s volunteers will patrol for at least four weekends from Saturday, January 14, to Waitangi Weekend. They may patrol longer if the weather is good and the beach is busy.
