Barbary in Boating NZ July 2012 - Lake Taupo
Barbary in Boating NZ July 2012 - Lake Taupo
Barbary in Boating NZ July 2012 - Lake Taupo
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Feature Jumbo <strong>Barbary</strong> White restoration<br />
electri<br />
Head<strong>in</strong>g<br />
20 Boat<strong>in</strong>g New Zealand <strong>July</strong> <strong>2012</strong>
A silver screen connection takes <strong>Barbary</strong> <strong>in</strong>to the future.<br />
<strong>Barbary</strong> has already survived several<br />
lifetimes, and now the 44-ft (13.4m) Col<strong>in</strong><br />
Archer ketch is embark<strong>in</strong>g on another that<br />
connects her to her most famous owner.<br />
Jamie and Sarah Looner bought<br />
<strong>Barbary</strong> <strong>in</strong> March 2011 and s<strong>in</strong>ce then, <strong>in</strong><br />
one short year of frenetic work and plann<strong>in</strong>g, the vessel<br />
has been revived, refurbished and repowered to meet<br />
the clean, green future head-on.<br />
Jamie and Sarah both came up through the<br />
waterborne hospitality <strong>in</strong>dustry – he as a class IV Master<br />
and she as nurse/stewardess – and their work brought<br />
them together aboard a charter yacht. The couple<br />
gave up the sail<strong>in</strong>g lifestyle <strong>in</strong> the Mediterranean and<br />
Caribbean to return to Jamie’s New Zealand homeland.<br />
Their first project was the build<strong>in</strong>g and manag<strong>in</strong>g of<br />
a budget accommodation bus<strong>in</strong>ess <strong>in</strong> Whitianga on the<br />
Coromandel’s east coast, and the second was buy<strong>in</strong>g<br />
and operat<strong>in</strong>g a café at Mount Maunganui. The next<br />
plan was to do some overland travel and possibly get<br />
back to sea <strong>in</strong> the future.<br />
But sail<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong>tervened more quickly than they<br />
planned when they learned that <strong>Barbary</strong> was for sale at<br />
<strong>Lake</strong> <strong>Taupo</strong>. The historic vessel was an icon of the Great<br />
<strong>Lake</strong>, tak<strong>in</strong>g passengers on sightsee<strong>in</strong>g cruises. It didn’t<br />
take long for the Looners to make their decision: Sarah<br />
loves boats and Jamie claims to have salt water <strong>in</strong> his<br />
blood. When he was 12<br />
his dad sold the family<br />
home and bought a<br />
yacht to go sail<strong>in</strong>g<br />
<strong>in</strong> the Pacific. Jamie<br />
sailed with his dad<br />
for three years and<br />
became besotted<br />
with the sea and all<br />
th<strong>in</strong>gs sail<strong>in</strong>g.<br />
<strong>Barbary</strong> was<br />
built <strong>in</strong> California <strong>in</strong><br />
1926 and was raced<br />
hard early <strong>in</strong> her<br />
Errol Flynn<br />
life. Legend has it that <strong>in</strong> 1938 the famous screen<br />
star and romantic hero Errol Flynn won the yacht <strong>in</strong> a<br />
card game. <strong>Barbary</strong> was later purchased <strong>in</strong> Fiji and then<br />
sailed to New Zealand <strong>in</strong> 1947. She cruised the waters<br />
of the Waitemata Harbour and coastal New Zealand for<br />
many years, and <strong>in</strong> 1973 she made a name for herself<br />
as part of the Greenpeace fleet that sailed to Mururoa<br />
Atoll to protest aga<strong>in</strong>st the French Government’s<br />
nuclear test<strong>in</strong>g programme.<br />
In 1976 she was wrecked <strong>in</strong> a storm near Auckland,<br />
and that’s where she languished until Bill Dawson<br />
rescued her, restored her and put her on <strong>Lake</strong> <strong>Taupo</strong>.<br />
“The old girl had worked hard as a charter boat on<br />
c<br />
dream boat<br />
Words Dorothy Preece Photos Sarah and Jamie Looner<br />
0712518<br />
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Sarah and<br />
Jamie Looner<br />
with their son<br />
Patrick<br />
the lake for nearly 30 years,” Jamie Looner says. “She was<br />
well-known and well-loved, but she needed a complete<br />
overhaul and a lot of TLC.<br />
“With so much <strong>in</strong> her past, as well as so much potential,<br />
we knew if we took the job on we had to do it right.<br />
“The ideas were flow<strong>in</strong>g even as we looked at her. With<br />
our comb<strong>in</strong>ed backgrounds of sail<strong>in</strong>g and hospitality,<br />
Sarah and I were pretty sure we could fit the boat out to<br />
do justice to her history. At the same time we planned to<br />
make her unique.”<br />
They decided to make <strong>Barbary</strong> the first electric yacht<br />
to work commercially <strong>in</strong> New Zealand and, perhaps<br />
<strong>in</strong>fluenced by her film star history, they fitted her out with<br />
a big screen so she is now also New Zealand’s first and<br />
only float<strong>in</strong>g c<strong>in</strong>ema.<br />
When the couple started to list all the renovation<br />
required, it was more a case of what didn’t need fix<strong>in</strong>g<br />
than what did. They found a home for <strong>Barbary</strong> at the local<br />
dry dock and began systematically stripp<strong>in</strong>g her down to<br />
the bare hull and deck.<br />
Very early <strong>in</strong> they decided to replace the noisy old<br />
diesel eng<strong>in</strong>e with an electric propulsion unit and<br />
cleaned 30 years of grease from the hull <strong>in</strong> anticipation.<br />
They resealed the teak decks and sent the brass<br />
portholes away to be polished. Dale Boat Builders<br />
checked the carvel-planked kauri hull for soft spots and<br />
completely recaulked the plank<strong>in</strong>g. The whole boat was<br />
then pa<strong>in</strong>ted <strong>in</strong>side and out, <strong>in</strong>clud<strong>in</strong>g masts, before she<br />
was refloated.<br />
“Once back <strong>in</strong> the water it was time to tackle the<br />
<strong>in</strong>terior,” Jamie says. “The heads were a press<strong>in</strong>g issue.<br />
The boat had a portaloo, which is f<strong>in</strong>e when you’re back<br />
on shore every night. The problem was it had to be tilted<br />
to get it out of its restra<strong>in</strong>ts!”<br />
The couple <strong>in</strong>stalled a new electric toilet which now<br />
discharges to a large hold<strong>in</strong>g tank.<br />
The Looners were determ<strong>in</strong>ed to keep the classic<br />
boat feel with as much polished timber as possible.<br />
They <strong>in</strong>stalled rimu floorboards and made hardwood<br />
galley bench tops, treat<strong>in</strong>g them with plenty of two-pot<br />
varnish <strong>in</strong> anticipation of the cater<strong>in</strong>g they planned to<br />
do. The chest freezer, capacious fridge and microwave<br />
were all necessities.<br />
Sarah and Jamie are <strong>in</strong> the bus<strong>in</strong>ess of sail<strong>in</strong>g but their<br />
passengers get to handle the boat whenever possible.<br />
“No-one wants to turn on the eng<strong>in</strong>e <strong>in</strong> a sail<strong>in</strong>g ship,”<br />
Jamie says. “It disturbs the peace and offends the ear. But<br />
every sailor knows it’s <strong>in</strong>evitable.<br />
22 Boat<strong>in</strong>g New Zealand <strong>July</strong> <strong>2012</strong>
0712212<br />
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“There is a sacred atmosphere on <strong>Lake</strong> <strong>Taupo</strong>, with a<br />
prist<strong>in</strong>e mounta<strong>in</strong> back-drop. We wanted to make sure that<br />
our eng<strong>in</strong>e would not be <strong>in</strong>trusive or foul the air <strong>in</strong> any way.<br />
“We decided to go for an all-electric system, start<strong>in</strong>g with<br />
the Elco ep4000 electric propulsion unit. The motor is built<br />
with components widely used <strong>in</strong> fork-lifts, and the fact of<br />
easily obta<strong>in</strong>able replacement parts was paramount for us.<br />
“It <strong>in</strong>volved a complete rewir<strong>in</strong>g and recabl<strong>in</strong>g of the<br />
boat’s systems, light<strong>in</strong>g, radios – everyth<strong>in</strong>g. We have an<br />
<strong>in</strong>verter runn<strong>in</strong>g the 240-volt systems, <strong>in</strong>clud<strong>in</strong>g the big<br />
screen for the movie cruises.”<br />
Jamie says topp<strong>in</strong>g up the batteries is never a concern as<br />
<strong>Barbary</strong> is tied up and connected to shore power every night.<br />
However he has made the galley removable so that he can<br />
access the bank of 60 two-volt cell batteries if necessary.<br />
<strong>Barbary</strong>’s impressive battery bank is conta<strong>in</strong>ed <strong>in</strong> an<br />
airtight box. Air is forced through it to prevent the build-up<br />
of fumes and then vents to the outside, and an automatic<br />
float system supplies distilled water to the batteries<br />
and can top them up <strong>in</strong> five m<strong>in</strong>utes at the turn of a tap.<br />
The battery charger is also automatic, and the charg<strong>in</strong>g<br />
programme can be changed us<strong>in</strong>g a laptop computer.<br />
“This eng<strong>in</strong>e is as eco-friendly as possible, with no<br />
noise, no smells, no vibrations and def<strong>in</strong>itely no regrets<br />
on our part,” Jamie says. “Under power, <strong>Barbary</strong> has a<br />
maximum cruise speed of 6.8 knots. She can travel at 5.0<br />
knots for up to 12 hours on her battery bank.”<br />
Sarah and Jamie admit they have taken a huge gamble<br />
with <strong>Barbary</strong>.<br />
“The refit wasn’t cheap, but the result is someth<strong>in</strong>g<br />
we can be really proud of,” says Jamie. “We’ve done our<br />
homework and along the way we have discovered some<br />
amaz<strong>in</strong>g, problem-solv<strong>in</strong>g, <strong>in</strong>novative suppliers <strong>in</strong> the New<br />
Zealand mar<strong>in</strong>e <strong>in</strong>dustry.<br />
“It’s early days yet, but we like to th<strong>in</strong>k that we<br />
and a lot of our suppliers are lead<strong>in</strong>g the way to really<br />
conscientious, clean, green bus<strong>in</strong>ess for New Zealand<br />
and we’re enhanc<strong>in</strong>g the romance and the magic of our<br />
prist<strong>in</strong>e environment.”<br />
Manufacturer of Southern Boats and Lazercraft Boats & also Specialis<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> Custom Builds over 8m<br />
0712207<br />
24 Boat<strong>in</strong>g New Zealand <strong>July</strong> <strong>2012</strong>
“There is a sacred atmosphere on<br />
<strong>Lake</strong> <strong>Taupo</strong>, with a prist<strong>in</strong>e mounta<strong>in</strong><br />
back-drop. We wanted to make sure<br />
our eng<strong>in</strong>e would not be <strong>in</strong>trusive or<br />
foul the air <strong>in</strong> any way.”<br />
awesome garm<strong>in</strong> w<strong>in</strong>ter<br />
fish<strong>in</strong>g package deals<br />
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$9990 <strong>in</strong>c gst<br />
save $1240<br />
• GPSMAP4008 8” screen with GPS<br />
• GSD24 sonar module<br />
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save $1150<br />
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• GPSMAP7012 12” touchscreen with GPS<br />
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0712238<br />
23b Westhaven Drive, Westhaven, Auckland.<br />
Email sales@navstation.co.nz Phone 09 309 9942<br />
Website www.mar<strong>in</strong>eelectronics.co.nz<br />
58 Cross Road, Sulphur Po<strong>in</strong>t, Tauranga 3110.<br />
Email sales@baymar<strong>in</strong>eelectronics.co.nz Phone 0800 Bay Mar<strong>in</strong>e (0800 229 627)<br />
Website www.baymar<strong>in</strong>eelectronics.co.nz<br />
subscribe onl<strong>in</strong>e at www.mags4gifts.co.nz/boat<strong>in</strong>g-nz 25