You may have read in the papers lately about certain low life who have accidentally caught a dolphin in their nets and chopped them up, or the lower type of life who have caught and butchered our protected marine mammals with a view to eating them and have then done a runner. Of particular concern is the human threat to the survival of both the Hector's and Maui dolphins. These little critters are in steady decline, with the North Island Maui's dolphins being in serious jeopardy. As professional mariners we should be aghast at the continued deaths of these mammals, and in particular those dolphins that have been butchered for meat or to hide the evidence. 'Not I,' you might say. No! But someone is doing it, and it is beholden on all of us to identify and report the perpetrators of such crimes to the police, the Department of Conservation or the Ministry of Fisheries. If you don't then the butchers will get away with murder.

Isn't it nice when sanity prevails? New Zealand as a maritime nation is blessed with more boat shows than the industry, recreational users or the economy can realistically sustain. So it was good to hear that the organisers of the traditional IMTEC show in Auckland and the popular On-Water Boat Show have combined these events under one banner. Not only that, but the organisers welcome and encourage the commercial industry to participate. Yes, that includes workboats, be they fishing, charter or passenger. In fact the organisers have returned to trade days with a particular emphasis on inviting the industry, the serious boating people. And yes, both Professional Skipper and New Zealand Workboats will be present, and we look forward to seeing you at the show. If you would like complimentary tickets to the trade invitation days, drop me an email or a letter, care of this magazine.

Meanwhile, around the coast, the foreshore and seabed debate continues. And hullo, we have yet more marine reserve proposals. It is important that all industry participants keep themselves abreast of what's happening on the foreshore and seabed debate and any new marine reserve proposals. While not wishing to be seen to be against marine reserves per se, it is quick for the environmentalists to brand us as such when we challenge them to justify their proposal and identify the risk, and where is the threat to the local marine biodiversity that warrants marine reserve status. Memories are short in the eco-world, and they tend to forget that of the 16 marine reserves currently gazetted, the maritime industry, including recreational fishers, have supported 12 proposals. Therefore when a proposal is muted in your area, I can only emphasise that it is in your interests to be involved, irrespective of whether you are for or against marine reserves. But at least have your say either way.

On to a more local issue in my own patch. We have the Half Moon Bay marine facility which includes two marinas, a yacht club and two busy commercial freight and passenger terminals. And in the middle is the busiest recreational boat ramp in Auckland. I kid thee not. No-one wants to hold back progress. The yacht club, which is now in its 52nd year, along with the marinas and the ferry operators, have worked closely together over the years. Auckland's road transport problems have contributed to a boom in passenger water transport, with both ferry companies putting on additional vessels and increasing the number of sailings. The entry of a new operator, along with their additional sailings, and the continued increased use by recreational users accessing a free boat ramp. This ramp, situated in the middle of the busy comings-and-goings of large commercial vehicular and passenger vessels every hour, is now an accident waiting to happen. These concerns have been voiced by everyone involved, only for them to fall on deaf ears within the various local authorities. The number of bumps and near-misses in the last 12 months has increased dramatically. When you have recreational users in small craft playing dodgems with large commercial vessels constrained in their ability to manoeuvre, it will only be a matter of time before we have a serious accident and fatality. One only hopes that sanity will once again prevail, and that the authorities introduce a sound management and hazard plan which will separate the activities and improve safety. I for one would not like to have to report in the months to come, and say 'I told you so.' Because you know what will happen? Right or wrong, it will be the professional skipper who will carry the can as the bureaucrats continue to procrastinate.

Keith Ingram, Editor
 

To Top

Leslie William Subritzky always had an interest in diving. Even as a small boy growing up in Te Kopuru he read just about every book he could find about the undersea world.

I know that Les is considered a legend among the New Zealand diving fraternity, but what is probably even more amazing was his skill as an inventor. In fact I think his last invention was the rig he set up over his bathtub when he was getting too ill to get himself in an out of the bath. He sent his wife, Annie, up into the ceiling armed with a drill, a ring-bolt and a couple of other bits and pieces, and between them they created a bath harness. And no, he did not shoot the hole in the roof with a .45 calibre pistol. That yarn is a whole different story.

Les built his first compressor and underwater rig when he was 14 years old, and tested it in the Northern Wairoa. The fascination of that short dive remained with him for the rest of his life.

Leslie William Subritzky was born on the June 28, 1923 at Te Kopuru in Northland, and died on October 1 2003. His great-grandfather was the Polish nobleman Romualdus Subritzky. His great-grandfather was Captain John Anton Subritzky, a ship owner and Master Mariner, who, with his brothers and nephews, built the town of Awanui as a safe haven for the family's scows and schooners. His grandfather was Captain Alfred Subritzky, the captain of the famous New Zealand schooner Greyhound. Subritzky Channel in the Kaipara is named after him. Les was the son of Captain Viv Subritzky, who was the skipper of the towboat Vesper for many years, and who single-handedly built the large kauri barge called The Hurricane.

After Les left school he worked for a time with his cousin, Fred, on the old tugboat the Romo, which at that time was owned by Basil Rope. New Zealand entered the Second World War not long after that, and the Romo and her crew were 'Manpowered' to Wellington, where they helped construct the boom defence nets that ran across Wellington Harbour. During this period the (then) Royal Navy issued Les with a very primitive diving apparatus, and basically he stripped it down, re-arranged various bits and pieces and got the thing to work better.

He enlisted into the New Zealand Army on January 8, 1942 as a Sapper in the Royal New Zealand Engineers. At the time of his enlistment he was described as being 5ft 6in (1.65m) in height, with hazel eyes and dark hair, and his enlistment documents stated that he was employed as a seaman for McCallum Brothers Shipping Company. On completion of his recruit training he was posted to 22 Company Royal New Zealand Engineers, and served in various camps in New Zealand until August 3, 1945, when he was discharged 'on completion of his service.'

Les's first wife was Joyce Habershon, and they raised three sons who in later years all excelled in their own fields and enterprises. Joyce died when she was very young, and Les pined for her for a long, long time. In later years he met the second love of his life, Anne, and they spent many happy years together. More recently, Anne nursed him at their home in Te Kopuru.

After he married Joyce, Les worked for a time for the marine maintenance section of TEAL Airways (Tasman Empire Airways Limited), which was based at Mechanics Bay in Auckland. The maintenance crews would work on the various flying boats, and invariably tools and other items of equipment would fall off the pontoons and into about 6m to 9m of water. Les then built himself some 'Diving gear' from an old bronze fire extinguisher that had previously been carried in the New Zealand Railways' Road Services buses, a face mask and breathing tube from a Second World War gas mask, a length of rubber pipe and a cork fisherman's float. He wore shorts and a pair of shoes, as there was broken glass on the seafloor, tied a 25kg weight around his waist, climbed down into the water and retrieved all of the lost tools.

The press of the day picked up on the story, and next day there was a photograph and a short story about him in the Auckland daily papers. Working from pictures he had cut out of an American magazine, he designed and built his own 'Skin-diving' suit aqualung and weight belt, and later patented his own version of a demand valve, which is used by divers to control breathing. He also took up underwater photography and took some of the first underwater footage in New Zealand, both stills and movies. He later gifted his movie footage to the Auckland Museum of Transport and Technology.

On February 27, 1955, Les carried out the deepest free-diving descent made in New Zealand waters to that time when he dived to 54.9m (180ft) using only his tanks and weight belt. He did this just off the coast at Leigh. He dived to 12m, felt okay, and continued down to 30.5m, reading off his depth gauge. He then saw a school of snapper even further below him, and knowing that they were bottom feeders he continued to descend below them until he reached the bottom. He grabbed a handful of shells, and when he surfaced the other members of the club (I think it was the Auckland Underwater Fishing Club) asked him how deep he had dived. Les replied, 'You'll never bloody believe me!' and with that they got a fishing line, tied some weights to it and dropped it over the side. When they brought the line up it measured 180ft. At that time in New Zealand history the deepest recorded 'Free dive' in New Zealand was 100ft.

Les broke the Australasian diving record in the following year, near Castle Rock, northeast of Mercury Bay. The president of the club, C M Peachey, dropped a line over the side and it measured 250ft (76.2m). He then got a tin of fruit salad and took the label off it so it was a bit shiny, and tossed that over the side. Les dived down and was gone for about three or four minutes, and when he surfaced he was holding the bottom marker in one hand and the tin of fruit in the other.

Les also led a series of 'First dives' onto some of the more notable shipwrecks that dot the northern coastline Some of them had already been explored by divers using the traditional deep-diving suits, hoses and helmets. These wrecks included the Wiltshire in 1955 (wrecked off the south-eastern coast of Great Barrier Island, May 31, 1922 with no loss of life), the Wairarapa in 1956 (wrecked at Miners Head, Great Barrier Island on October 29 1894, with the loss of 135 lives), and the Elingamite in 1957 (wrecked at Great King Island on November 9, 1902, with the loss of 45 lives). Les dived on the Elingamite alone.

His grandfather, Captain Alfred (who took part in the original search and rescue for survivors), was still alive, and tried to talk Les out of it. Les went ahead with the dive, which he made with a mate, Harry Pope, and took his own vessel, an ex-RNZAF fast rescue launch which he had renamed the Greyhound. She had seen service in the Pacific Islands during the war, and still had the bullet holes to prove it. The Elingamite lay hard against a sheer cliff in 76m of water, and the swell and the rip make the place very treacherous. Wade Doak and Kelly Tarlton later dived on the wreck, and Doak wrote a very descriptive book about what it was like. Les dived on the wreck for about 20 minutes, and when he resurfaced he got caught by the tide and almost lost his life. He reckoned that 'if Harry Pope hadn't spotted me I'd have been a gonner. In all of my dives this was probably the closest I had ever come to death... maybe I should have listened to Pappy.'

Les also did diving work for the New Zealand government and the New Zealand Police. This included diving for the bodies of several men who were working on the construction of the Auckland Harbour Bridge and fell to their deaths. On another occasion the Minister of Works telegraphed him to ask if he could dive to the bottom of Lake Whakamaru and fix one of the sluice gates. Les dived wearing a rubber diving suit, tennis shoes and an aqualung. It took him seven dives, each of an hour's duration, working at the bottom of the dam in a narrow 1.5m by 600mm channel with a tremendous volume of water rushing over him and going right through the workings of the dam. On his sixth dive Les got entangled in some of the rubbish (old fences, I think) at the bottom. Realising that he was in trouble, he cut himself free using his wristwatch, let go all of his equipment, and was carried by the force of the water through a diversion tunnel through the dam, a distance of about half a mile (1km) underground and underwater.

Mind you, he wasn't silly, and he had arranged for the Navy divers to position themselves downstream from the dam with a lifeline stretched across the Waikato River. When they pulled him out he was semi-conscious. His next dive fixed the problem, and the following morning the New Zealand Herald cartoonist, Sir Gordon Minhinnik, did a brilliant sketch with Les, the minister and about a half a dozen other guys dancing on the top of the dam, singing 'Here we go gathering watts in May'. On the back of Les's diving suit (in the cartoon) was written the word 'submaritzky'.

Sir Gordon drew Les three times, all of which were associated with different diving adventures. This was just one of a lifetime of close brushes with death, but which he calculated perfectly. On another occasion, a lead ingot had been accidentally dropped 80ft (about 25m) down a 20in (500mm) diameter pipe which ran vertically under the sea at the old Chelsea Sugar Refinery. Les was asked if he could possibly retrieve the item and he did. He had a rope tied around his ankles and was lowered head first down the pipe, holding his bottle and a torch in front of him. This is an impossible request going by the medical journals, but he did it, retrieved the ingot, and life carried on as usual...just another day at work!

The Minister of Works also got Les to carry out work on the Arapuni Dam, and later the Roxbrough Dam, which was pretty much similar to what he had done at Whakamaru. Les was recommended for a bravery award on three separate occasions, and more recently a New Zealand honour.

I'll just tell you one more quick yarn about Les Subritzky the diver. In January 1959 I was a young boy staying with whanau. I was taking a leak in the paddock when I looked up in surprise and yelled out in disbelief, 'Holy shit! Aunty Rama, you better get out here, 'cause someone's crashed their ship on your beach.' It was the Norwegian freighter Golden Master, and she was on the rocks just off Matakana Island with four large holes in her. We sat down to breakfast and listened to the radio, and clear as a bell the news came on and the newsreader said that the Norwegian freighter the Golden Master had struck rocks in the Bay of Plenty. He went on to say words to the effect, 'But don't worry, someone has rung the famous Auckland skindiver, Mr Les Subritzky, and he will be down later today to rescue the vessel.' And that is exactly what Les did. He made a pattern of each hole with No. 8 fencing wire, and then, using a newly manufactured Ramset gun, he shaped the patches to fit the holes, dived down and plugged the vessel.

I think the last dive that Les did was on Christmas Eve in 1970, when he, Basil Subritzky and Basil's father, Bert, recovered the bodies of a pilot and an NZBC television crew just off Brown's Island in the Hauraki Gulf. Les recovered the bodies of the pilot and the three-man television team. The aircraft was then winched up onto the deck of the Subritzky scow, the Jane Gifford.

Les Subritzky was a proud father to his three children and five grandchildren, a loving husband and partner, a damned good seaman who could foot it with the very best of them, and a legend in the New Zealand diving world. He was my hero when I was a kid growing up in small-town New Zealand, and he is my hero today, and I thank you for allowing me to share these few memories of his life, which he lived to the full. His funeral was held on October 4 at the Dargaville Museum in Northland.

(Mike Subritzky is the author of The Vietnam Scrapbook - The Second Anzac Adventure, as well as some 30 other books on a variety of subjects.)
 

To Top

The Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron is widely accepted as being New Zealand's most senior yacht club. Its huge reputation on the international yachting scene ensures that the squadron maintains a position of high prestige nationally and internationally. The squadron as we know it today started life in 1859 in the name of the Auckland Yacht Club when it produced its first set of rules and bylaws. Its early meetings were in the Thames and Waitemata Hotels on the corner of Customs and Queen Streets, and it wasn't until 1898 to 1900 that the first club headquarters were established in rooms rented in the Palmerston Buildings in the city. In 1887 the Auckland Yacht Club absorbed members of the Hauraki Yacht Club and finally changed its name to the New Zealand Yacht Squadron in 1901. It was granted a royal title in 1902. In 1900 the membership stood at 104, made up of some of Auckland's finest business people. Today its membership exceeds 3100. The squadron has held every international sailing trophy at some stage or another, with the most memorable being the America's Cup. After the cup was lost early last year, the squadron took the opportunity to review its position as another chapter in its history closed. Without question, the squadron has a history of running top-quality regattas, both national and international.

There was a need to move on with life after the cup. This gave its committee a chance to focus on its members and get back to the business of running good regattas and races for them, with a view to looking at other events and class races in the international arena. With such an impressive history, when the race manager, Harold Bennett, and the committee looked to replace their existing and ageing patrol and committee boat, the Scott Colville they undertook a review of the squadron's future needs and the role this vessel would be expected to perform. She needed to be a fast, economical multi-purpose vessel that aesthetically looked pleasing to the eye, given that she was to be the squadron's flagship. She had to be suitable as a safety and rescue vessel, have the ability to tow, and be suitable for use a race mark vessel with the ability to lay and recover racecourse buoys and their ground tackle quickly and efficiently. And she had to be a stable platform for race management and committee boat work. The vessel also needed to meet the Maritime Safety Authority's safe ship management standards.

Once the role and wish list had been decided, the committee set about raising the necessary funds from the sale of existing vessels to supplement significant grants from the Lion Foundation and ASB Trust, with some additional assistance in the form of an extensive electronics package from Lusty & Blundell. In determining their preferred choice of vessel, the committee and Bennett had seen the Oceanraider design Macy Grey in action during the America's Cup, and were impressed with her performance and ability. The Macy Grey, featured in the August/September 2002 Professional Skipper magazine and NZ Workboat Review, is one of the new generation single-engine, high-performance commercial vessels.

Although a smaller, similar vessel would meet their requirements, they chose a Tim Barnett design, and then spoke to the builders of Oceanraider's vessels. Tim Barnett quickly produced a design that would meet their specifications and the proposed role of the vessel. 'In talking with Profab Engineering, the quoted price was very competitive and subsequently we found their workmanship to be exceptional and the staff of Profab to be excellent to work with,' said Bennett. 'we were amazed that from the time we said go the vessel was completed within a 13-week construction period. 'we were impressed with the amount of aluminium that went into the vessel, with additional strengthening in every area, including the handrails and the stanchion bases. It was easy to see that we'd made the right decision,' said Bennett. 'This company was comfortable building quality robust vessels for the commercial industry, and since delivery I would have to say that the committee members and I have not been able to fault her.'

Te Kouma is powered by a 450hp Scania DI 947 M diesel driving through a ZF 302 vee-drive to a 24 x 23 four-blade Nalder and Biddle propeller. She attains a top speed of 25.5 knots, with a cruising speed of 19 knots at 1900rpm. 'we elected to go for a larger motor than required,' said Bennett, 'Because we felt a bigger motor would give greater performance, especially when the vessel may be required for heavy tow work in an emergency. It was also better to have a motor that would be loping for longevity rather than one screaming its head off all the time.' During our sea trials one could not help but be impressed with Te Kouma. As the new flagship for the squadron, this was one impressive vessel.

The choice to go with a proven design and boatbuilder was obviously evident. Right for'ard is day accommodation with a large vee-berth for when any of the crew need a rest. The wheelhouse with its forward-sloping windscreen gained a greater volume inside, with the air of additional space. Apart from the restricted visibility caused by the head in the port quarter of the deckhouse, the helmsperson has excellent all-round vision. There is a functional galley along the port side, with a gas stove, a microwave, sink, bench and so on. As she is predominantly a day boat, there is no refrigeration. Large chilly bins are used to keep crew food and beverages fresh and cool.

There is ample stowage throughout the vessel, with a hatch behind the helm station seat giving access under the wheelhouse floors to a large dry store area. Stepping out into the large cockpit, the head and shower is to port. The large towing post is prominent and positioned in the ideal tow swing arc of the vessel. A further hatch in the deck gives access to an area for wet storage for race marks, ground tackle and fenders. Further aft is a large engine room hatch which is raised approximately 200mm to allow for the height of the sturdy Scania in its vee-drive configuration. A walk-through transom door to port gives access to the portofino stern, which is protected by handrails. Two small platforms help transfer personnel to dinghies or small craft. On the starboard side is the recovery davit and winch for recovering race marks and ground tackle. Access to the foredeck is accessible from both sides of the wheelhouse with plenty of handrails to assist anyone moving for'ard. The foredeck is clean with a functional decktread plate, a capstan, a staghorn bollard and access to the anchor locker.

Te Kouma has been fitted with one of the new Sarca anchors which are proving popular on the Hauraki Gulf with Auckland boaties. As we left for our sea trial, it was very quickly evident that there was a huge amount of horsepower for the size of the vessel. Once the engine was engaged astern, Te Kouma had a wicked transverse thrust as the propeller just clawed the stern to port. This could be a bit scary for the unwary but can prove to be very useful when used to advantage. While Te Kouma is fitted with a bow thruster, the squadron's skippers are encouraged not to use it except as a last resort to get out of trouble. This in turn has presented a challenge to her crews as the skills of various skippers are tested. However, she is quite manoeuvrable for a single-engined vessel, and she can manage a three-point turn quite easily in the fairway from her berth in front of the squadron.

Once engaged ahead, Te Kouma idles at six knots, which is a bit of a test for the five knot restriction within the Westhaven Marina. At this speed there is no wash, and the general ripple which rolls from the stern would hardly rock a dinghy. This hull shape and low wash has proved to be an important asset to the vessel's seagoing ability. Once clear of the marina and up to her cruising speed, the quarter wash quickly flattened out to where it was minimal once it was 100m clear of the vessel.

Te Kouma was originally fitted with an articulated rudder for low-speed manoeuvrability. But this feature proved to be unmanageable, creating very tough steering on the hydraulics once she was up to her cruising speed. Had power steering been installed, this would not have been a problem. In trying to combat the stiff steering problem, Bennett removed the articulator attachment to the rudder. On subsequent sea trials this has removed all the stiffness from the rudder operation, while maintaining good manoeuvrability at high speed, with little difference in her low-speed manoeuvrability.

During the sea trial we were impressed with Te Kouma's performance, and see no reason why she will not be able to satisfactorily perform any task asked of her. The large engine gives a notable growl when underway, with a little turbocharger whine penetrating the audio levels. Once back inside the wheelhouse with the door closed, the crew can communicate without consciously raising their voices.

Because of the many roles Te Kouma will be expected to carry out she has an extensive electronics package from Raymarine. The base of the system is two 10.4in high-resolution colour Pathfinder displays. Between them they can perform any task, being a radar, chartplotter, digital fishfinder or instrument repeater, says Mark Milburn of Lusty & Blundell. They also perform a combination of these tasks, with the screens being split, or in the case of the radar, overlayed over the chart. The displays are connected by a high-speed data bus (HSB2 network). The advantage of a dual screen set-up is that chartplotting can be viewed simultaneously on both screens at different zoom levels, allowing a detailed close-in view on one screen and a more distant course overview on the other. The Raymarine ST60 system comprises wind, depth, multi and speed instruments. It gives true and apparent wind speed and direction whether steaming or on station. The autopilot is a Raymarine S3GS smartpilot hydraulic system with an ST6001 controller. It features an internal rate gyro and Raymarine's 'Autolearn' software, which learns an individual boat's steering characteristics. Steering performance is accurate to within 1m of the rhumb line. The VHF is the 215e with a telephone handset and a waterproof speaker on the rear deck, and the forward-looking sonar is an Echopilot FLS Gold. There are two fishfinding transducers, a 1kw and a 600 watt. Raytech's Navigator software features chartplotting, radar, digital fishfinding, weather overlay, mark management, wind graphing and trending, and data logging. All of them are integrated, whether that be HSB2 data, Seatalk or NMEA. The Navigator has time-based graphs which show changing trends in wind direction and speed. All the data can be logged and taken off the vessel for pre-planning and transferring route and waypoint information to the rest of the navigation system. 'Provision has been made for additional equipment to be fitted,' said Milburn. 'It is our intension to use portable modules that will easily plug into the existing data network and bus.'

To Top

This is just a selection of the articles in NZ Professional Skipper
- click here for subscription details to receive your own copy with ALL the content