Hall of Fame - Hutchwilco New Zealand Boat Show

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2010	Greg Fenwick Greg Fenwick has been a member of the New Zealand marine industry for almost 40 years. In that time, he has overseen sponsorships for some of New Zealand’s highest profile events, both power and sail. He has also been a very strong, long term supporter of the New Zealand Boat Show , exhibiting every year for the last 30 years and often supplying a substantial part of the gate prize package. Greg first joined the marine industry in 1973, as a salesman for International Marine, New Zealand’s largest Mercury dealer. Greg then moved to Moller Marine where he sold Mariner outboards and Volvo inboards before Mollers gave up the Mariner agency in 1982 to distribute the then virtually-unknown Yamaha brand. Greg has been the driving force behind Yamaha’s growth into the top-selling outboard brand in the country. Along the way, he has supported virtually every marine magazine with full page advertisements, often by buying their most expensive space: the outside back covers. He has also supported many marine events and teams. These include the Offshore Powerboat World Championships in Auckland in 1986; Thundercat Racing; Ski Racing; the PBRO Rallies of the 1980s (which Yamaha-powered boats usually “won”; the Boating Industry Training organisation’s Marine Trades Challenge and of course, numerous Team New Zealand campaigns for the America’s Cup. Passionate about both the products he sells and the teams he supports, Greg Fenwick is a worthy inductee into the New Zealand Boat Show Hall of Fame.
2009	Barry Thompson The 2009 inductee into the New Zealand Boat Show Hall Of Fame has been helping to promote the New Zealand Boat Show and the marine industry for almost 40 years. In that time, he has probably spent more time afloat, in boats of all sizes, than any other member of the industry. Barry first entered the marine industry working under the great John Malitte at the New Zealand Herald. Since then, the magazines he has worked on read like a history of marine publishing over the last four decades: Seaspray, Powerboat, Nautical News, Boating World, NZ Fisherman and more recently, with his good mate Doug Dukeson, Propeller and Pacific Motoryacht. Barry has also been a keen participant in and supporter of powerboat racing in this country and it would probably be fair to say that no-one has done more to promote the sport here than Barry. Barry and his good mate Glen Urquhart are also the only Kiwis to have won a UIM World Powerboat Championship, winning the title in Guernsey in 1986. Barry not loves boats, he loves boating magazines and has probably been responsible for starting more of them than anyone else. He has also, without a doubt, written more boat tests and done more to promote power boating than anyone else. He has helped promote New Zealand overseas, introduced engine shoot-outs and was instrumental in making offshore powerboat racing a safer sport. Mind you, he had a strong incentive. Following a horrendous offshore accident in 1986, Barry was actually considered "officially dead". However, as they say, you can't keep a good man down. Within a month he was back writing and, within a year, he was back behind the wheel of another race boat.
2008	Roger Arkell Roger Arkell has supported the New Zealand Boat Show in one guise or another for over 40 years. He has helped showcase the leading brands of the time throughout those four decades. Roger first came to the New Zealand Boat Show in the 1960s when he was selling Parkercraft, a name that became synonymous with an aluminium dinghy. During his final season with Parkercraft (1972-73), more than 4,000 aluminium dinghies were built and sold. He established his own business, Rogers Boatshop, in 1973 and has just celebrated an incredible 35 years in business. In that time he has represented brands such as Sea Nymph, Bonito, Marlborough and Fyran and, always willing to think outside the square, was among the very first to embrace two little known brands that are now among the most recognisable in the industry: Buccaneer and Yamaha. As well as strongly supporting the New Zealand Boat Show, he has also served as a BIA executive member, was on the Powerboat Rally committee for many years and is always willing to freely offer advice...
2007	Tony Mason Tony Mason not only designed a powerboat that became the benchmark for speed, quality and luxury for well over a decade, he was also largely responsible for the introduction and subsequent popularity of offshore powerboat racing in New Zealand. Mason, together with fellow Hall of Fame resident Rex Henry, staged the first offshore powerboat race in 1964 and drew 96 boats to take part! With a technical background as an aircraft engineer, Mason also broke new ground in the construction and engineering of the superbly successful Mason Clippers. Their high performance, coupled with their streamlined style and new levels of luxury made the Mason Clipper the must-have powerboat of the 1960s and '70s. In 1964, Mason not only co-founded the Power Boat Racing Organisation, he also fought hard to ensure that a new form of racing was introduced to attract as wide a variety of boats as possible. With his near-mystical formulas, he set up categories for efficiency and fuel economy as well as for the ability to stick to a nominated speed. The resulting PBRO rallies proved enormously popular and endured well into the 1980s. With large numbers of trailer boats and even big launches turning the inner harbour into a foam-topped "washing machine", the PBRO was for many the most popular – and the most exciting – event of the year. Mason still keeps a keen eye on the marine industry and is a regular attendee at the Hutchwilco New Zealand Boat Show.
2006	Rex Henry Rex Henry designed his first 20 deg deep vee hull in 1957. His company was one of the earliest exponents of fibreglass production and, such was the quality of their boats, 100s are still in use today. Rex Henry was a co founder of the offshore powerboat racing scene in New Zealand in 1964. A stalwart of the Auckland Powerboat Race Organisation, it was his drive and determination that saw fields of over 100 boats on the start line under the Auckland Harbour Bridge in the 1970s. Henry not only designed several successful racing boats, one of which is still racing today, he also designed what is probably New Zealand's best selling 4.5m fibreglass boat ever – the phenomenally successful 4.5m Fleetline Sapphire. By the mid 1970s, over 2,500 had been built and it is estimated that in excess of 3,000 Sapphires were built in total. In the mid -1970s, production ran at an incredible seven boats a working week. Rex also designed winning race boats including Tara Too and the “evergreen” Chindit (which is still racing today). Although Rex has been out of the marine industry for many years, he has always maintained a keen interest in the design and development of production boats and is a regular attendee at the Hutchwilco New Zealand Boat Show.
2006	Trevor Geldard Trevor Geldard has possibly done more to foster New Zealand’s renowned excellence in sailing than any other person. Epiglass, the company he headed for many years, sponsored huge number of both sailing and powerboat events and many of our very successful sailors and powerboat racers first competed in an event which he helped sponsor. Geldard was also responsible for the marine industry’s first million-dollar sponsorship and was instrumental in New Zealand’s first challenge for the America’s Cup in Fremantle in 1986 & 1987. A former Chairman of the New Zealand International Yachting Trust and a life member of Yachting New Zealand, Geldard began his working life on the land and originally planned to make farming his career. As a young man he travelled the country selling the newly launched Epiglass products and quickly became a huge fan of grass roots sponsorship. As he rose to become chairman of the company, Epiglass became sponsor of a truly massive number of events, both power and sail; events that would have really struggled without that support. The events he helped sponsor are far too many to list but some of the most important include: Many years support of the Epiglass International Grand Prix racing at Karapiro The creation of the Secondary Schools Yachting Competition A $300,000 sponsorship of the 1984 Olympicsail, resulting in Russell Coutts winning a Gold Medal in the Los Angeles Olympics. A $500,000 sponsorship of the 1985 Admirals Cup team And a whopping $1 million sponsorship of that famous Black Magic America’s Cup challenge in Perth.
2005	Sandy Sands (Awarded posthumously, 1915–1990) Sandy's full name was Yeoman Lionel Sands. He worked on coastal scows and commercial fishing boats, and was later a foreman at Shipbuilders in Beaumont St. Sands fought in the 22nd battalion in the Second World War where he was taken prisoner. An associate member of the Royal Institute of Naval Architects, Sands formed Sea Craft Ltd in March 1946. He was also the first president of the Boating Industry Association.
2005	Frank Simpson A South island man, Frank Simpson built up a business that today continues in family ownership. In 2005 the Hutchwilco New Zealand Boat Show acknowledged his efforts by bestowing on him a Lifetime Achievement Award. Simpson originally built R Class cats and wooden trailers in his mother’s garage in the early 1950s. Simpson sailed in the Olympic trials in both NZ and Australia in 1954. He later traveled to Germany and saw fiberglass being used in manufacturing and subsequently, in 1957, started building shower tubs and washtubs in mother’s garage. Simpson formed Fi-Glass in 1958 and built the first Fi Glass Fisherman in 1959. He truly revolutionised production boatbuilding in this country.
2005	John Weller John Weller is the managing director of shipping company Subritzky’s. He is a New Zealand Water Ski Association member and a life member of the Auckland Water Ski Club – and is still on the executive. Weller was a Boat Show organiser for 25 years and was instrumental in bringing boating to the public by building a lake in the show arena – and patching it in the middle of the night when it leaked! Weller’s still actively involved in every Boat Show...
2005	Ken Lusty Ken Lusty was introduced to the marine industry in 1964 by his father-in-law and has made a huge contribution ever since. Lusty essentially took a small marine business based in a garage and grew it into one of largest marine distributors in the country. Involved in both yachting (where he raced Finns and Flying Dutchmen) and powerboat racing (where he campaigned the old Mystic Miss), Lusty was also an early member of the Northern Offshore Powerboat Club. Lusty is largely responsible for revitalizing the BIA (Boating Industry Association) in the early 1980s and was a key instigator in launching the successful Imtec boat shows of the 1980s and 1990s.