'Ranger' launched in Auckland

by Sail-World on 16 Aug 2006 The launch of 'Ranger' took place at Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron on 15th August 2006.

Although entitled after what is arguably New Zealand’s most significant yacht, the story is really about her designer, builder and skipper, Lou Tercel one of the true legends of the Auckland waterfront and one of its dominant characters for over forty years.

Noted sailing commentator, Peter Montgomery was master of ceremonies for the evening, introducing a series of speakers, and injecting his own anecdotes on Ranger and Lou Tercel.

First speaker was former RNZYS Commodore, Bill Endean, himself a noted sailing author who placed Ranger in her proper context, commenting that Tercel was a Harbour Board crane driver who raced against and rubbed shoulders with the merchants of Auckland.

Mac Redmond, who along with a crew of five fellow 13 year olds (three of whom were present at the book-launch) said he had a father and son relationship with Lou who was then in his mid-fifties. Redmond related some of his experiences ('our magic life') with the Master and his yacht:

'Ranger loved the coastal swells and over the years had some memorable passages. She ran along silently and without fuss and raced to windward like a mad dog. What a feeling of power!.

'Ranger never went offshore. Lou was asked if he would like to go to Fiji? And he said it would be great in the Mariposa!

'Lou’s idea of a cruise was to check out all the jetties up and down the coast, so that he could stop and give Ranger clean and a coat of ant-fouling.

'We were always looking for fresh water. Our Christmas cruises lasted four to six weeks.

'We would cook a ham in a kerosene tin.

'People thought we were lucky to have the opportunity to sail on Ranger. We thought Lou was lucky to have us!

'We needed to have a degree of skill to sail these boats. They were all block and tackle and the winches not powerful enough to correct mistakes.

'We used to keep a record of wind and tide on race days, what course we took and the end results so we could use these for comparison the following season. We would leadline inshore areas that could possibly help win a race. We were very conscious of weight and where it was.

'In those days we painted the topsides with teapol so that it would help break down the air bubbles. We would dive over the side and wire the blades of the propeller to stop it flopping about.

'Lou’s theory was that if we could get Ranger going fast enough we would overcome our bow wave and we’d go onto speeds unknown.

'We took out the Governor General (Sir Bernard Fergusson). He asked if he could bring anything. Lou said 'bring your lunch' which he did - and shared it with us including sandwiches with trout from his own river in Scotland. We won the race that day with the Governor General steering the boat over the line and his wife firing the finishing gun!'

Ian Cook the owner, or as he puts it, 'present custodian' of Ranger spoke of his first sighting of Ranger when he was young, and thinking that she was 'something special'. Then moved onto the process by which he acquired Ranger through an invitation to tender for an A-class keeler from an advertisement in the paper. 'One of the requirements was that you had to write a description of what you what you thought needed to be done, how you were going to go about it how long you thought it was going to take and how much it was going to cost. Being a boat builder I thought I knew the latter all right – but how wrong I was!'

That started an 18 month refit of Ranger, before she was relaunched and went onto race in the America’s Cup Jubilee in Regatta in Cowes in 2001.

Co-author Aroha Tercel, who married Lou Tercel’s nephew Frank recalled a typical Lou comment: 'We were on holiday with my girlfriend and (now husband) Frank, who was one of the cruising crew in the Bay of Islands, and invited us out onto Ranger. My friend had a beer, and I elected to have a whiskey.

'This choice of drink was regarded as revolutionary for a young woman, especially by Lou. After a few drinks Franks rowed us back to shore and returned to Ranger. The following morning, Lou remarked 'that Sheila of yours drank whisky. You’ve got to watch out for oil burners!'

Co author Sandra Gorter spoke of the relationship that Lou enjoyed with Aileen O’Connor to whom he became attached in 1931, and the couple jealously guarded the true nature of their relationship for sixty years.

The launch concluded with the playing of excerpts of an interview recorded by Peter Montgomery, with Lou Tercel, on the eve of Rangers’s RNZYS Points prize win. It was recorded on Friday 31 March 1978

Montgomery opened by asking: 'How do you rate the racing in 1978 compared to ten years ago and even back into 1938 as well?'

'Well I think it is getting more cut-throat now. The whole sport is getting too dedicated. Before you went out for a race in the afternoon and you enjoyed it. Today it is a bit too hair-raising at times. The competition is keener', Tercel responded

'I wouldn’t say that it has made better sailors because there were some pretty good sailors around in 1938.'

And on the tension that is now present to beat Ranger?

'It’s there, but its all good fun. They are all good chaps and we enjoyed it. We got as much kick out of trying to beat them as they did trying to beat us.'

'Ranger' is published by New Holland and should be in bookshops soon. It will make an excellent Father’s Day gift, priced at $40 at the launch.

The book features some excellent photographs of Ranger during her construction and life generally in early Auckland about that time.

It will sell well

For a backgrounder on Ranger and Lou Tercel see here: www.sail-world.com/indexs.cfm?nid=26660

'Ranger' is available now from the Royal NZ Yacht Squadron Store for $40 - Phone Emma on (649) 360 6800 to reserve your copy! Or, email reception@rnzys.org.nz