Visionary industrialist, sportsman lived life to the full

More than 700 people farewell Sir Tom Clark at the Cathedral of the Holy Trinity. Picture / Kenny Rodger

Sir Tom Clark was described as a visionary industrialist and sportsman, who lived life robustly and to the full, in tributes paid at his funeral in Auckland yesterday.

More than 700 people were welcomed to the service at the Cathedral of the Holy Trinity in Parnell by the Dean, Bishop Richard Randerson.

He said Sir Tom, who was aged 88, had made a major contribution to the wellbeing of the community.

Family friend and Auckland Deputy Mayor the Rev Dr Bruce Hucker said Sir Tom had a head full of ideas, a love of design and nature, and had a warm, welcoming spirit.

He married three times and had nine children with a 30-year age span. He was a strong competitor and once, on board his magnificent ocean-racer Buccaneer, said to wife Lady Trish "All you need is three meals a day and a yacht".

His youngest son, musician Hamish Clark, read a memorial poem drawing its title from one of Sir Tom's favourite sayings "Here we go ... all piss and vinegar".

That heroic spirit was evident even during family yachting trips.

The family recalled him trying to outrun a hurricane for 10 hours, while seven of his children lay on the floor of a bucking Buccaneer.

"He sang at the wheel trying to keep our spirits up."

Car racing and sailing companion Fred Henderson said Sir Tom was successful in 1950s sprint and circuit racing in a super-charged Maserati, HWM Alta and a Ferrari.

He showed his mettle as a survivor during a long recovery from serious injury when the Ferrari rolled in the air and fell on him at Bathurst, Australia, in 1957.

Sir Tom saw the potential of light displacement yachts and Mr Henderson recalled being on board his friend's Infidel when it reached a speed of 22 knots just before the mast snapped.

Winner of the Sydney to Hobart and Auckland to Noumea ocean races, Sir Tom described racing as "My private form of purgatory".

Sports commentator Peter Montgomery said Sir Tom took Buccaneer across the seven seas and in doing so created international awareness of the expertise of New Zealanders in sailing, marine design and manufacturing.

Sir Tom was adviser and trustee to Team New Zealand in America's Cup racing and was the force behind Sir Peter Blake's successes in the Whitbread Round the World.

He channelled money left over from those campaigns into sustaining future competition on the world stage through the New Zealand International Yachting Trust.

Alan Topham, who worked for Sir Tom at Crown Lynn Potteries, said his old boss was always determined to win despite striking a rocky road to success in the 1960s and 70s.

Sir Tom, he said, turned a grant from the board of Amalgated Brick and Pipe of $5000 into the biggest pottery in the Southern Hemisphere and a multimillion-dollar export earner.