Sea Bee

 

Sea Bee

Sea Bee (middle, in the distance) seen at anchor in Waikawa Bay February 2022. Dodging foul weather since she came into the Sounds from Auckland. Sea Bee was built in 1965 by Harold Saunders. See the Orion history page for a better photo.

Raetihi

Raetihi in autumn

Rudds and Rowles and Poppy row to shore at Raetihi Lodge, Double Bay, Kenepuru. It's sheltered, and the buoy is positioned in deep water well out from the shore. Raetihi Lodge was closed, but we enjoyed landing at the splendid jetty. Fish were driven into the bay in the evening, about one hour after low water.

Back in Havelock, we were just tying up and Lionel Jeffcoat was there watching Orion berth. He came on board and we had a good long talk about wood and boats and other stuff. If you don't know, Lionel is one of the legendary boatbuilders; he has built some fifty-odd boats in his lifetime, some of them not unlike Orion. He was interested to see Harold's workmanship, and was impressed. And all this in the same month as we met with Harold and talked about the yard at Paremata and the boats his father, he, and his brothers built there.

We've fitted a diesel heater (Eberspacher 4kw) and that's going to extend the season right into winter. For just a few litres of diesel a day it pumps warm air into the fore and main cabins, and the warm air rises up the staircase into the wheelhouse reducing condensation.

H.Saunders

Orion was built at Paremata, Porirua, just north of Wellington. When Costa Botes made this film — shot on 16mm by Murray Milne, and featuring poet Sam Hunt (1988) — Harold Saunders had moved his operation to Jackson's Bay, Tory Channel. The similarities of design and construction between this yet-to-be-identified vessel and Orion are striking.

Catching the Tide

Details of the construction methods, and just the joy of seeing the process as Harold and another man steam a plank, hammer it up into position, and fasten it with copper rivets, is so worth the watch. Even Sam Hunt fails to spoil the experience! The whole film is a gem, full of dyed-in-the-wool kiwi nostalgia, seascapes, rich conversation, and poetry.