Alex Stone looks at tempting reading options for wintry days aboard – or ashore.
THE JOHN SPENCER STORY
– CHAMPION OF THE AMATEUR BOAT BUILDER
A COLLABORATION BETWEEN PETER TAIT AND THE TINA RAWA TRUST
IT’S PERFECTLY appropriate that the book about John Spencer, New Zealand’s yacht design genius of light plywood boats in the days we all built our own boats, is a slim volume. Also entirely appropriate that it’s a real yachtie’s no-nonsense book, containing the images that really matter – detailed line drawings, profiles, sections, scantlings and sail plans. Just like John himself would have said: “See for yerself, mate.”
If laconic on the extraordinary racing record of his boats, again it’s in the showing of it that matters – like the legendary photo of Infidel winning the Trans-Pacific racing, crossing the line under a full moon; or Buccaneer comfortable in the Bass Strait in the Sydney-Hobart Race in 60-knots of breeze.
A comprehensive profile of John Spencer, written by Ivor Wilkins for Seahorse magazine (UK) rounds out the text.
Perhaps the ultimate accolade for Spencer comes from that other rangatira of New Zealand yacht design, Laurie Davidson. He called Spencer ‘the plywood magician.’ Remember, too that Bruce Farr’s first boat was a John Spencer Flying Ant, built with his dad’s help.
Though the author, Peter Tait, admits, “I’m still having difficulty working him out. Think on this – high skill levels in all these areas: Boat Designer and Draftsman, Architect, Boat Builder, Mathematician, Engineer, Writer, Comedian and sometimes a Nutcase all rolled into one. Does all that make him a genius of some undefinable type? Most who knew him would say yes.”
No need to think too deeply on this I say (admittedly, I’m biased, having owned two great Spencer boats the 28ft Serendipity – no motor – and a Jollyboat racing dinghy): simply dwell on the lines of his graceful yachts in this fine book. And you’ll agree. Yes, indeed.
ONE HUNDRED HAVENS
– THE SETTLEMENT OF THE MARLBOROUGH SOUNDS
BY HELEN BEAGLEHOLE
MASSEY UNIVERSITY PRESS, NZ
IMAGINE A HISTORY BOOK, where almost every image includes a boat – and a beautiful one at that. They’re always there, indispensable parts of the family. Where there’s a wheeled vehicle, it’s usually stuck in the mud.
This element of One Hundred Havens drives home the message that reliance on travel by water was the defining feature of human habitation of the Marlborough Sounds. They are an astonishing collection of images too. I especially like the elegant group of Rob Roy sailing canoes afloat in Tōtaranui Queen Charlotte Sound 1887, or the fleet of model yachts of the Lilliput Club at Arapawa Island in 1909. Author Helen Beaglehole must be commended for her research into the visual, as well as the in-depth folklore history of the complicated Sounds’ cultural landscape. As must the good folk at Massey University Press for their devotion to the very highest production values. And really good maps, too.
Helen’s own introduction to exploring the Sounds is indisputably authentic, after enduring a challenging first crossing of Ruakawa Moana Cook Strait in a tiny family trailer-sailer.
She also does a fine job of re-introducing us to the original place names of the Sounds’ landmarks. They’re unique and more poetic too – for example Puna-ru-whiti (for Endeavour Inlet); Rangitoto Ki Te Tonga (D’Urville Island); Te Anamāhanga (Port Gore).
This is a book that’s beyond beautiful. Like the others from Massey University Press on these pages, they are also necessary – as we New Zealanders engage in an ever deeper appreciation of our shared history.
And all great reading aboard your boat – especially if you have some ancestral connection to these places.
LIVING BETWEEN LAND & SEA
– THE BAYS OF WHAKARAUPŌ LYTTELTON HARBOUR
BY JANE ROBERSTON
MASSEY UNIVERSITY PRESS, NZ
THE GRACEFUL BOOK amounts to a long and leisurely sail around Whakaraupō Lyttleton Harbour, the deepest-indented bay (about the same as Akaroa) in Banks Peninsula, just near Christchurch. Whakaraupō also houses the port for the city.
We did the same the summer before last, on our almost-circumnavigation of New Zealand. But it’s a long sail there, and reliably rugged. A book like this offers an alternative – with the added bonus of having the most knowledgeable guide with all the history at her fingertips, on board your boat (or your living-room couch).
Jane Robertson’s book began life as a blog about the jetties of the bay, and the small communities they and their attendant steamboats serviced. That grew into a book Head of the Harbour, then this more comprehensive guide to the entire bay.
A shout out to the stunning visual language of Living Between Land & Sea – powerful photos (contemporary landscapes and crisp historical images), terrific maps both old and current, plus elegant book design.
Also, like One Hundred Havens, boats in almost every photo. For anyone with an interest in lovely old boats, colonial architecture, mapping, and landscape painting, Living Between Land & Sea is a gem.
“I like jetties,” writes Jane in the introduction, “particularly those in varying states of decay. I find them both beautiful and poignant – beautiful because of their wonderful textures and shapes, poignant because they represent a way of life that is largely gone.”
This book captures them all. And splendidly.
A DRAUGHT OF THE SOUTH LAND
– MAPPING NEW
ZEALAND FROM TASMAN TO COOK
BY PAUL MOON
THE LUTTERWORTH PRESS, CAMBRIDGE, UK
ALL BOATIES KNOW nautical charts. We live by them. But do we know the stories behind them?
This is the compelling story of how New Zealand was first mapped by European navigators – full of competition, suspicion, and supposedly hidden secrets, as the maritime powers of the day vied for advantage in the South Seas.
“Cartography,” as author and prominent New Zealand historian Paul Moon reminds us, “fell comfortably into the category of science and was bound by the emerging enlightenment principles of experimentation, observation and verification… cartography also had one foot in the world of politics and commerce. Maps outlined the parameters of power and charted routes to profits.”
Notable for its deep research, providing intimate insights into the working lives of 16th and 17th century mapmakers, A Draught of the South Land considers the resulting, definitive map so important, it fills the entire front cover of the book. You could almost circumnavigate the entire coast of New Zealand now, using Cook’s chart – except for Foveaux Strait and Banks Peninsula of course.
HAUTURU
– THE HISTORY, FLORA AND FAUNA OF TE HAUTURU-O-TOI LITTLE BARRIER ISLAND
EDITED BY LYN WADE AND DICK VEITCH
MASSEY UNIVERSITY PRESS, NZ
UNTOLD THOUSANDS of Hauraki Gulf boaties have sailed past it. Only a lucky few have ever landed or overnighted there, for it’s tightly-controlled with permitonly access. All this to preserve the Lost World nature sanctuary that the island remains, to this day. It shows us how our bush could be. And it’s inspirational.
Perhaps the closest we’ve got is to be caught in its wind shadow, and learn first hand the legend of how the island sucks up all surrounding breezes.
With chapters by experts in their respective fields, this reprint of the first-published-in-2019 volume is forever valuable. Great pictures and accessible writing by Matt Rayner (an introduction), novelist Paula Morris (on Papakāinga), Tim Lovegrove (Birds), Mike Wilcox (Seaweeds), the late great marine biologist Roger Grace (Seas Around Hauturu), and many more take us on an in-depth, though vicarious tour of the island that’s both familiar and hard-to-get-to.
