Colin Wild aboard Tara in the 1950s.
Photographer unknown, New Zealand Maritime Museum Hui Te Ananui a Tangaroa (1994.268.2)
Colin Wild designed the 59-foot (17.98m) Tara for himself in 1936, but didn’t finish building her till 1949, after World War II. The yacht came third in the 1951 Trans-Tasman race.
Photographer unknown, reproduced courtesy of Auckland Museum Tamaki Paenga Hira (C35048)
Mischief was an M Class boat that Colin Wild designed and built in 1925 for Norm Taylor. The boat was renamed Maranita in the 1930s, but became Mischief again in the 1940s.
Photographer unknown, reproduced courtesy of Auckland Museum Tamaki Paenga Hira (C37083)
Ngatoa (1926), a 46-foot (14.22m) cutter, was designed and built by Colin Wild for George Winstone. She was the first Auckland First Class yacht to be built with the then-radical Bermudan rig.
Photographer unknown, New Zealand Maritime Museum Hui Te Ananui a Tangaroa (5053)
(1898–1955)
Aucklander Colin Wild was a prolific designer and builder of pleasure boats, including racing yachts, cruisers, and motor sailers.
Early commitment
Colin Wild completed his boatbuilding apprenticeship with Bailey & Lowe. He was just into his 20s when he set up a boatyard at Stanley Bay in Devonport, Auckland.
Wild’s first recorded yacht was the 28-foot (8.53m) cruiser Delville, built in 1922. With her radical tripod mast, Delville established Wild’s reputation as a keelboat builder.
Notable boats
Wild’s best-known boat was his largest – the 75-foot (22.86m) schooner Morewa, built in 1933. Shortly afterwards, master designer Arch Logan commissioned him to build the keel cutter Tawera – Wild was one of the few builders that Logan entrusted with his designs.
Another masterpiece was the 59-foot (17.98m) Tara, which Wild designed in 1936 and began to build for himself. World War II intervened, and the boat was completed only in 1949.
In 1949, Wild built Arohia, described by her owner John Seabrook as ‘the best all-round keeler Col Wild has produced to date’.
The princely Atua Hau
The Wild boat that had the biggest impact internationally was the International 14 Class Atua Hau (1951), built to a design by Englishman Austin Farrar. Racing this 14-footer in 1958, Geoff Smale and Ralph Roberts shocked the yachting world by winning the Prince of Wales Cup at Cowes.
Atua Hau represents an early example of cold-moulding with plywood. In all, three layers of plywood form the hull.
ON DISPLAY
See the Prince of Wales Cup-winning International 14 Atua Hau in this gallery.
End of the Wild era
In 1953, Wild’s sheds burned down, and he became ill and died soon after. His legacy lives on through those he influenced, especially his apprentices Owen Woolley, John and Bob Salthouse, and Lidgard descendant Chris Robertson.