The only specialised marine publication in Oceania that focuses on the maritime industry, from super yachts to small craft to large commercial ships, including coastal shipping, tugs, tow boats, barges, ferries, tourist, sport-fishing craft
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Yukich and Jack Delich's Zora, another Dalmatian trawler working in the area. A new engine had to be found but there was a huge technical issue to work with. Her engineroom was very short, much too short to fit the engine of the day like a 6L3 or 8L3 Gardner without moving the bulkhead for'ard and sacrificing productive fish hold space. So another MWM was imported and installed while she was on the P Vos slip. This work was done by an elderly, almost retired marine engineer, Ron Campbell, and Roni thinks this was Ron's very last job. A lovely new four-cylinder model producing 145hp at 350rpm was fitted. This swung a 56in x 33 pitch propeller, once again a huge torque machine with a huge flywheel. "This engine could really pull," said Roni. Eventually, after many years and many trips, the Olympia was getting very tired and needed a major refit. In 1967 she was pulled out onto Lidgard's northern slip, the one closest to Joe Allely's workshop. Her fish room was stripped of calk and the ceiling timbers had to come off. Due to moisture from the ice, some of her oak frames were going soft and new kauri sister frames had to be made and fitted. Metropolitan Steel fabricated a new steel deckhouse, but the layout and concept was all Roni's work. However, this had to be drawn up by an engineer, Eddie Rainer, a Dutch marine architect. Lots of other work was done to take her into another age, including replacing the MWM, which was in perfect condition, with a new turbocharged Caterpillar D343 producing 375hp, with a 4.5:1 reduction swinging a 60in x 33 pitch propeller. Roni said he regretted this move. "The Cat was a nice motor, giving very little more than the MWM, and the only gain was the noise and the extra fuel bill." In 1968, Roni was the inaugural winner of the Mobil Fishing Industry Scholarship. This involved a six-month stint in Canada at the College of Fisheries, Navigation, Marine Engineering and Electronics at St Johns, Newfoundland, followed by a six-month study tour of the industry in the United Kingdom, Scotland, Scandinavia and other places. He even visited his father's birthplace of Podgora on the Adriatic coast of Croatia. "This experience was simply amazing and a highlight of my career, and if you love boats and commercial fishing, it does not get better than this," said Roni. On his return he reported and consulted to the local industry in various ways. While at the college he successfully sat his certificates for radar observer in merchant ships and deep-sea fishing master. His passion for trawl net design and making I guess was really satisfied when he gained his Certificate in Fishing Gear Technology during his visit to St Johns Fishing College. He told me one of the most interesting exercises was using the net testing flume tank. Nets could be observed and their performance measured against other designs. This is still one of Roni's passions and he showed me a scale model net he recently made, with the mesh, floats and weights all in exact proportion so it could be tested and studied. It's simply a beautiful piece of work. Roni also made his own nets on the family property on Balmoral Road, Auckland, now the home of the Misa Christmas tree business. Tom died in 1966 and Roni continued to run the Olympia while his Uncle Karl attending to on-shore matters until she was sold in 1973 to Peter Focus, who had a fish market in Wellington. In 1975 she caught fire and became a total loss while fishing off Castlepoint on the Wairarapa coast. Roni worked in the building industry for a while but it was not long before Sanfords knocked on his door and asked him to do relieving work as a skipper. The old salt was stirred in his veins and before long he skippered Sanford's big boats like the San Bernadette, the San Rosaland and the San Rakino. This was meant to be This was meant to be temporary employment but the command of the Rakino alone lasted six to seven years. This was the era of hoki, orange roughy, ling and other ugly looking deep-sea fish compared with the lovely Hauraki Gulf and Bay of Plenty snapper. temporary employment but the command During his period new skills and equipment had to be learnt and proven and Roni was at the cutting edge of all of this. I would imagine he mentored many a good up-and-coming deckhand and skipper if they asked the right questions! In fact, Roni did share his knowledge between trips and when he first came ashore he became a fishing tutor at Manukau Tech, standing in for the respected Bill Simpson after he died. (Bill skippered the Zyder Zee and later the Ikatere, one of the Marine Department's early fisheries research vessels). I would imagine Roni also shared this vast knowledge with Sanford's trawler masters and crews as well. Roni's passion for the sea still runs strong, and he has put together a nice little museum consisting of ships' blocks, including some of the largest I have ever seen, plus ships' wheels, glass floats and some very nicely restored binnacles. He has a huge heap of photographs and, as I said, an intimate knowledge of Auckland's fishing industry, the boats, gear, machinery and names of the men who went to sea with this gear. But his greatest asset is stored in his head. I imagine he could tell some very interesting stories over a bottle of red nectar from one of West Auckland's vineyards. Roni, you, your father and uncle and family have played a huge role in our local fishing industry, and we salute you all for your efforts and passion. SPECIFICATIONS Registration Construction Construction date Original home port Length (reg) Overall length Beam Draft Displacement Gross tonnage Engine Power Other engines Power Caterpillar Power Fish capacity AK 99, later AK 10 Sawn oak frames with oak single-skin planking 1938 Esbjerg, Jutland, Denmark 59ft 6in 64ft 17ft 10in 10ft 6in 100 tons 44 tons Ideal 175hp @ 300rpm MWM 145hp @ 350rpm D343 375hp @1800rpm 550 baskets March/April 2012 Professional Skipper 27 The San Rakino pair trawling with the Albert Sanford off Ninety Mile Beach