A VOICE FROM THE PAST - AND A VERY PLEASANT (POINT) VOICE INDEED

My P Class yacht 'Elusive' being built as part of the PPYCs boat building programme circa 1964
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Today I received this email (below) from Ray O'Brien who in my early sailing days in Christchurch, Canterbury, New Zealand, was something of a mentor / inspiration for me as a young sailor. He was instrumental in the background, in getting the Pleasant Point Yacht Club to sell me this new P Class yacht (above, which I named 'Elusive') for fifty five New Zealand pounds, rather than running a raffle for the boat which was their original intention. I think Ray could sense my absolute passion for sailing and also could see my frustration at having an old, heavy, rotting, leaking, P class (aptly named 'Panic') that I had bought for five pounds. He saw me struggling with an old tub with a broken king plank in the deck that resulted in the deck buckling and the rigging going slack every time there was a decent sailing breeze. His intervention made all the difference to me and for that I am very grateful.
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Hi Alden,
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 I thought you might like to see one of the P class that we were building when your one was produced in fact it could be yours. Do you remember the club member that acted as your Manager on that trip to the Nelson Contest, John Sinclair. He is the chap in the white overalls. In the photo he is building a Cherub. Last time I Heard of John he was teaching at a Private School in Switzerland. Much has happened since I wrote the Club History. You probably know that the club has gone from Rat Island, it was under water at every high tide. Through the quake the Estuary tilted one half a metre, down on our side and up on the Mt Pleasant side so the club which is now situated in the South Brighton domain has deep water, this gives  the boys  an extra hour and a half for sailing. They at present are using 4 large containers for club rooms, mainly for storing rescue boats etc. Unfortunately last week they were broken into and a 15 hp motor (new) was stolen along with three hand held radios. After the Quakes the membership dropped from around 250 down to 32. This was brought about because the club had no facilities to use. With a lot of hard work they now have the club membership back up to 140 +.
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Re this photo, I came across it when we moved from South Brighton. We didn’t realise we had collected so much stuff over 54 years. Our house had $2,500 worth of damage and though they were going to repair it, they were looking at 2017 before they would start, so after a lot of thought we decided to move out of Chch and are now living in Onerahi . I think I may have mentioned we had a son in Opua, well he has now sold his business there and brought a house in Hospital Rd Whangarei. It’s a long story but we came up for a holiday last Christmas and he took us house hunting, found this house which Nola liked and here we are . Unpacking recently I came across a box of photo’s and this one was in it. I thought it might bring back some of the times you had at P.P.Y.C.
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Regards Ray O’Brien
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..... So after more than 50 years, an old friend now lives just around the corner from me - pretty much the same distance he lived from me in Christchurch - life often contains interesting events  that go full circle.