A taste of Mexico at RNZYS

The St Mary’s In Holy Trinity Church in Parnell was packed to capacity for the funeral of Peter Hay, Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron Trustee, Life Member and Past Commodore (1994-1996).

Peter Hay was the first RNZYS Commodore to welcome the America’s Cup into the club’s trophy collection, following the historic Team New Zealand victory in San Diego in 1995. He is also the only member to have been a Trustee, Life Member and Commodore.

Members of the Hay family gave moving accounts of Peter’s five-year battle against cancer under the devoted care of his wife, Jan. They spoke of his childhood years walking on the beach from the family home on the Takapuna clifftop, sailing dinghies at Medlands Beach, playing rugby at Kings College and as a prop for the New Zealand Universities team.

“His touch reached far and wide in the community,” said his daughter, Penny, who spoke of his warm smile, tenderness, fun and passion for life.

Lifelong friend and sailing partner, Kim McDell said Peter was “a great all-round sailor, but more importantly a good bugger, whether alongside you on the rail in a gale, or enjoying a rum at the after-party”.

Hay represented New Zealand in two Southern Cross Cups, including two SydneyHobart classics, two Admiral’s Cups, including two Fastnet races, and a Kenwood Cup in Hawaii.

“We called him Bear as he was big and strong, not only in stature, but as a man.”

For 25 years, Peter Hay was part of a fourway partnership in the Farr 41MX, Zamzamah, built by McDell Marine. “Pete just loved it and sailed the boat extremely well.”

The crew was all of similar vintage and during one race, a crewman on a rival yacht was head to warn, “Watch out for those guys on Zamzamah because they have 700 years of experience aboard.”

In January this year, Hay joined the Zamzamah crew for their annual fixture at the Bay of Islands Sailing Week. “He could hardly walk, yet he helmed the boat superbly,” McDell recalled. “We will all have enduring memories of a smiling, determined Peter Hay sailing a terrific race on a beautiful Bay of Islands day.” Exhausted at the end of the race, he was immediately driven back to Auckland.

“When Peter got to a stage where he could no longer race, we would see him standing by his precious flagpole at his home in Devonport, waving to us as we sailed by,” said McDell.

Peter Baird Hay, 1944 – 2021.

Growing up, his father owned a furniture store where he worked after school sweeping floors and arranging stock. He watched as dad greeted customers, started a friendly chat then almost by ‘accident’ sold them something. Today Chris does what dad did - make people feel comfortable.

Now, with 16+ year’s experience in the Garden City of Christchurch where some of our country’s biggest challenges have shaken us all Chris realised his best attributes have helped him succeed. Stay calm, be kind and lend an ear.

Well, it’s no wonder I like making people feel comfortable because I started out my working life as an upholsterer. I spent many years in the furniture industry restoring, recreating and designing classic furniture, as seen in this photo.

Family holidays and getaways have been spent in and around Auckland and I’ve developed a love for the region. My wife Diane surprised me with a night at the Park Hyatt Hotel, in the morning I spotted a Ray White office directly across the road, so I walked in, asked if they were hiring and to my delight we all clicked so the next thing we knew we were moving to Auckland.

There are many similarities – the character homes of Remuera and Fendalton, the cutting edge architecture of new builds in Greater Ponsonby and Merivale. However, the key difference is the height and scale of Auckland’s inner-city and vibrant waterfront versus Christchurch’s low-rise developments. I’m captivated by the energy and pace of the projects in Wynyard Quarter.

Thank you, I built a strong referral-based business over 16 years in the Garden City and look forward to building that momentum in the City of Sails! Transitioning to my new home and work area is about consistently doing the right thing and simply be a decent human being every day.

Everyone is so friendly, when you grow up with the rivalry thing between Auckland and the rest of New Zealand, it’s easy to be guilty of a bias. Now I’m happy to eat humble pie and shout from the rooftops ‘Aucklanders are awesome!’

Very proud of those numbers, I find it fascinating that almost exactly 50% were auctions and 50% exclusive listings so yes, I have learned a thing or two, but you’ll still see me at every training session.

Let’s face it - all of New Zealand has a car culture so it’s no surprise that with more people there are more cars, so I’ve been expecting it. But I’m spoilt - from home I can walk the harbour suburbs and waterfront to get to the office or visit clients. I haven’t had the bumper-to-bumper experience yet!

At the end of the day preparation equals performance, so I always go back to what my upholstery craft taught me - prepare a solid framework, build up the required layers and lastly, arrange the final details. But mostly I just love bringing people together so that everyone wins.

Leadership and support are the key words that describe how we got through, from a national, local government and workplace level we were incredibly grateful. It was an amazing example of kiwis doing what kiwis do best, rallying around with resources and directing them to the front line.

Chris Lewis Licensee Salesperson Ray White Wynyard Quarter chris.lewis@raywhite.com M 027 405 0287 rwwynyardquarter.co.nz