Yachting: Kauri of North shows strength

Matthew Mason and his family sailed the Pacific Islands for two years when he was 10 on their 13m three-masted schooner. Picture / Greg Bowker

Matthew Mason leans back in his chair and tries to conceal his amusement when it's suggested his reputation is one of a tough character, a no-nonsense sort of man.

"I don't know where that has come from," he says.

But the mastman, often referred to as the kauri tree from the North due to his towering figure, then starts to tell a story about Team New Zealand's 1995 America's Cup winning campaign which insinuates otherwise.

Despite their dominance in the challenger series the New Zealand sailors were never ones to celebrate after race wins.

There were no dramatic high fives, leaps of joy or pats on the back.

That was until bowman Joey Allen and strategist Murray Jones decided to introduce a bit of hand slapping.

Problem was it drove Mason mad.

"Everytime we finished a race those two would discretely high five," Mason says. "They were doing it just to annoy me because they knew that I hated it.

"So I gave them about three warnings ... then one day I'd had enough so I threw them overboard."

It is quite possibly that attitude - and his extensive background in big boat sailing - which enticed the new Team New Zealand syndicate to get Mason back for the 2007 campaign.

Growing up in Whangarei, Mason did a lot of his sailing out of the Onerahi Yacht club.

When he was 10, his mother, father, two brothers and sister did a two-year tour of the Pacific Islands on the family's 43ft (13m) three-masted schooner.

The Mason children did their schooling by correspondence.

"We were supposed to do a few hours a day ... We probably averaged about half an hour a day," Mason concedes. "But the experience we got and some of the things we did you just never forget as a kid."

On returning to New Zealand Mason struck a deal with his parents that he could leave school if he secured an apprenticeship.

A few months into his sixth form year he started a boat building apprenticeship in Whangarei. He finished the apprenticeship in Auckland, where he also dabbled in some keel boat sailing.

A stint in Sydney sailing on Australian Rod Muir's maxi Windward Passage II "was the start of my big boat sailing".

Mason then joined up with the 1992 New Zealand Challenge, "that was with the famous NZL20 we ended up with bowsprit and got knocked out by the Italians".

He was there three years later when the syndicate did the unimaginable and brought the Cup home.

"We definitely went up there [to San Diego] as the underdogs, the battlers from New Zealand as we always are. It wasn't until we hadn't lost a race that we realised we were doing pretty well.

"But the whole team spirit ... I don't think that has ever been repeated in any team I have ever been in since. We were all the best of mates on and off the water."

The welcome home parade is something Mason will never forget. "We did the fly over Auckland city. Then I'll never forget the ride in from the airport. We got on buses at the airport and as soon as we got off the motorway and started winding towards town there were people queued up for miles ... old ladies, mums dads, kids it was unbelievable. The whole team was on like a two-week high."

Between the 1992 and 1995 Cups Mason did the Whitbread race on Winston, which was co-skippered by Dennis Conner and Brad Butterworth. "It was my first and last ... I got it on my CV," he said.

On the most hazardous leg of the race from South America to Fremantle, where several yachts suffered breakages in the freezing temperatures, gale force winds and icebergs-laced seas, Winston turned back and went to the aid of another yacht which was in danger of capsizing.

"We were in the Southern Ocean and we went back up wind for about 12 hours. I remember it alright. Up wind and 40 knots, freezing cold in amongst the ice," he shudders.

"Never again."

Mason returned to Team New Zealand for the successful 2000 defence then 'defected' to OneWorld for the last Cup.

"We'd won the Cup and defended it ... It was just another opportunity, really, starting up a whole new team."

Unfortunately the One World campaign was marred by allegations that the syndicate had stolen design information - the kind of skulduggery that goes hand and hand with the Cup.

"That is just part of the Cup, it is always going to happen. A lot of guys got severely crucified in the media but the biggest impact it all had was on the owners [telecommunications mogul Craig McCaw and Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen]. That was the end of it for them, which is a shame really."

Allen and McCaw have decided not to fund a challenge for the 2007 event.

Now back with Team New Zealand, onboard Mason works around the pit area and is responsible for setting the spinnaker or headsail during manoeuvres.

On shore he is involved with the development of layout of the boat and the onboard deck systems.

With the syndicate training 11 out of 14 days until the end of April, spare time is precious.

In the past Mason could have been found out on the golf course (he plays off a 13 handicap), but these days he is more likely to at home with his 11-month-old daughter Emma and wife Jodine, sister of fellow sailor Cameron Appleton.

"Emma is at the stage where she has been walking for a week now so golf is not in the equation at the moment," says Mason, who pops home for breakfast every morning after the team's gym session to see his family.

"It is hard but we always knew we had to push it as hard as we could in this training period," Mason says. "I think we are in with a major chance provided we keep trucking along."


Matthew Mason


Born: Whangarei
Lives: Auckland
Position: Mastman
Career highlights:
2005 - Emirates Team New Zealand
2003 - One World
1992, 1995, 2000 - Team New Zealand
1993/94 - Whitbread round-the-world yacht race