Blokes & Their Boats - August 2011

Jack Stanley goes AWOL Downunder

Jack set up business in the Whangarei town basin as Stanley Marine, now the oldest business in the town basin area.

Jack Stanley’s beloved ketch Lazy Days, which he sailed from America to New Zealand.

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Fishing

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Jack Stanley grew up in the Great Lakes town of Harrison in the state of Michigan.

Straddled about half way between Lake Huron and Lake Michigan, home (where he had his own lake just across the road) was a two-day drive from the city of New York on the eastern seaboard.

Lake Budd is about five kilometres long by one kilometre wide, and around 25 metres in depth at its deepest. As well as being just another lake in a lake-studded country, like most lakes in the region, various native sport fish were abundant. And rather like a Kiwi lad growing up near the sea, American boys growing up lakeside were also inclined to develop an interest in boating and fishing.

The three main lake species – in order of importance – were bass, pike and muskie. Jack described pike as similar in size and shape to the NZ barracouta, but fatter, with pinky fins and better eating. A mottled green-grey-brown in colour, typical fish measure about 18” long and weigh around 4.5kg (10lb). Larger specimens can reach a metre in length and weigh up to 13kg (30lb). Jack’s boyhood best was one around that size.

Taken either from the land or drifting boats, pike fishing featured the use of live worms for bait, employing an active cast-and-retrieve technique through shallow, weedy waters. Occasionally trolling was also employed, with soft-plastics more in vogue these days.

Muskie are a fish of very similar shape and colour, but much bigger and fatter (they average 9kg but reach 16kg). They’re also more likely to be found in deeper water. The active cast-and-retrieve technique applied equally to muskie, although trolling played a more significant role. Muskie is the least preferred eating fish of the three species.

Bass are easily number one, and occupy a similar place in the fishing folklore of North America to that of snapper for us Kiwis. Bass are a much smaller fish and shaped rather like a small hapuku. A particularly feisty and often aerial quarry with a green-brown colour, a 1kg fish is pretty typical, with an 3.5kg specimen being a big deal.

The best eating of these three main native lake fish, Jack compared the bass’ flavour favourably with our blue cod (which he rates as number two after john dory, with tarakihi at number three). Once again, the cast and retrieve over shallow water with real bait was the most common technique employed.

Jack’s earliest nautical memories feature stream fishing for rainbow, brown and brook trout. Around 9 or 10 years old then, Jack recalls that he and his school mates would usually return home with a couple of 0.5-1kg fish each. Worms once again were the bait of choice, with an occasional fly also being successfully cast into the rough.

Jack remembers one close encounter when a rattle snake {unseen but clearly heard) had the boys staying motionless for a good ten minutes until they could make a safe get-away. Even the memory gets his hair to stand on end. Reckons he never went river fishing again without a big stick to thrash the undergrowth ahead of his feet.

He also remembers a childhood encounter with a 3.5-4kg rainbow that got away. Fishing from a boat without a gaff or net, the usual technique was to reach over and grasp the spent fish in the gills. On this occasion, the fight had been more tenacious than usual, with the fish refusing to rise. Jack was beginning to think he might have a pike on when he finally managed to get it off the bottom. Then, while leaning over to insert his fingers in the gills, the big rainbow spat the hook and fell away.

Another culinary pleasure found in the lake and river was the crawdad – a fresh water crayfish, very similar in size to our own. The harvest technique is to wade through slow moving streams and catch them by hand. Jack says they always managed to clamp onto that soft webbing between your fingers, but the eating pleasure was worth the pain.

The first boat was the family steel dinghy kept on the lake. Maybe galvanized and never anchored, this 12-foot (3.65m) row boat with steel seats was kept on the beach of their tide-free lake, always ready for a fish.
Jack settled for a while as a young man in San Diego on the California coast. Working as an electronics engineer, Jack reckons he was too old to participate in the hippy era of the ’60s and ’70s, but found it pretty entertaining to watch.

A 7.3m (24’) GRP Bayliner was the first boat owned. Powered by a 150hp Buick through an OMC stern-drive, she could cruise at 30mph, comfortably slept two, and was towed to and fro by a three-quarter-tonne Chevy pick-up.

Diving for local abalone and crayfish became his primary nautical joy, with surface trolling for tuna coming second. He explained that they went for the deep-water green and red species of abalone, as opposed to the shallow water blacks (similar to our paua), which were almost bread ‘n’ butter-plate size; one such abalone was a good feed for any man. Jack reckons if they had a few extra, then friends would be invited over to help with the eating.

One particular fishing trip is recalled with enthusiasm. They were 130 kilometres offshore when they encountered an unusual work-up of sharks and albacore. The ensuing action saw them managing to land four whole albacore and six heads.

Jack’s preferred prepping method for these ‘chickens of the sea’ involved iki-ing and bleeding them, then heading and gutting them, before steaming the body. Apparently a fry-up was too often overdone, producing a dry result. In the case of the abalone, slice, thump and fry was the way. Jack doesn’t like much more than a touch of salt and pepper either, lest the great natural flavours be lost.

His worst experience with the Bayliner was the result of not having checked the weather. Unbeknown to Jack and his mate, 15’ waves were ripping into the California coast – and these were encountered halfway along the half-mile manmade channel connecting the marina system to the sea. It was so rough that they couldn’t turn in the channel, so had to sneak out into the open sea before turning to make good a cautious retreat.

A 60’ (18.3m) retired Aircraft Rescue Vessel (AVR), powered by two big 671 180hp Detroit Diesels, was his next boat, purchased in the mid 1970s. She was shared with wife and friends for about five years. Built of triple-plank mahogany over cedar and cruising at a good 10 knots, she was mainly used for coastal cruising and diving.

One day in 1978, Jack and his wife bought Lazy Lady, a 34’ (10.4m) ketch. Weighing in at 12 tonnes with a 12’6” beam, Jack and his wife first learned to sail before joining a fateful race from San Diego to Hawaii. Organised by the San Diego ‘Ancient Mariners Club’, 17 yachts – including a couple of 60 footers – took part.

There were two route choices available: the North or South Great Circle Routes. Lacking in experience and without the knowledge to make a considered choice, Jack and his crew decided to sail a rhumb line they drew between San Diego and Hawaii, effectively dissecting both Great Circle Routes. Incredibly, with a totally green crew, they won both line and handicap honours, being the first boat to cross the finish line by six hours. And didn’t the knives come out from some of the sore and jealous losers! They reckoned Jack must have been running his 4107 Perkins full time, but Jack says they had no need to fire up at any stage – it was all plain sailing downwind.

By way of clarification, Jack explained to me that the Great Southern Route involves sailing south from San Diego to encounter the SE Trade Winds, then to sail with the wind up your tail all the way to Hawaii. The Great Northern Route involves finding the more northern 1020 millibar isobar circling a permanent high-pressure system that resides over the South Pacific. Then, in similar fashion to those following the southern route, sailing downwind all the way to Hawaii.

After almost a year sailing the islands of the South Pacific, Jack and his wife found themselves in NZ. After a few months cruising the Northland coast, Jack fell in love with the place. And about this time his wife decided she’d had enough, so by the time Jack had secured residency, she’d gone home to the US of A.

At first he worked on a Bay of Islands oyster farm, before spending 10 years as a boat-builder’s assistant in Whangarei. Tiring of the dust and chemicals used in the boat-building trade, Jack sold his now well-cruised yacht and set up business in the Whangarei town basin as Stanley Marine. Now the oldest business in the town basin area, Jack seems at home selling re-cycled and second-hand boat bits and pieces – the kind of place that the wives of sea-faring husbands fear to tread – and at which sea-faring folk love to meet.

The sweetest of memories for Jack are the great times he has had sharing a drink or two, accompanied by a yarn or three, with his myriad sea-faring friends. Rubbing shoulders with people from all nations and all walks of life – from boat-bums to multi-multi-millionaires – has been, and still is, his greatest treasure. Jack reckons that sailing is a great leveller, and often brings out the best in us.  

- © Fairfax NZ News