They trudged home at dusk through the tea-tree scrub with their pikau (a sack-backpack) heavy with gum. On the flats, gum was found two to six feet down; in the swamps, as deep as twelve. Experienced diggers sometimes struck rich veins — but more often, the earth yielded little.

In 2010, the club was dealt a blow when its club HQ and sometime trophy cabinet was destroyed in a covert operation by Parks Management. The stump was cleared away. Committee members spent some months meandering haplessly from pub to pub in search of a suitable venue for meetings.

“The final tally - twenty two years dreaming, three years courtship, four months work, six dozen beers, 40 pies, 2 sanders, five rolls of sand paper, fourteen brushes, twelve rollers, two pairs of overalls, one iPhone dropped twice from the scaffold, much profanity, lots of advice, unexpected help from great people and in the end a beautiful boat.”

After almost 160-years, an ill-fated unique vessel has returned to its final resting place of Mangawhai, NZ. Built from Kauri by a Nova Scotian boat builder in 1863 and used to transport goods along the coast, only eight months later the the 17m schooner was stranded and reported, wrecked.

SWS is 5 months young and as we Grow, we’re also evolving. Our aim is to continually offer our readers rich content and to involve more voices. this week we are delighted to launch a new section - EVENTS.

The mid 1990’s. Two locals begin rowing round a few of the older boats asking if anyone might be interested to participate in the revival of a Regatta based at Mahurangi. The rest is history.

I refuse to call THE ENDLESS SEA a coffee table book. It’s so much more than what that mildly derisive term implies. Once in a while a beautifully designed book such as this, lands on my desk, and …