Yachting identity excelled both on and off the water

Ralph Roberts, the president of Takapuna Boating Club and a New Zealand yachting luminary, is being remembered for his lifetime contribution to the sport he loved.

Roberts died on 19 March, aged 87.

Of gentlemanly bearing, the Takapuna businessman was a mentor to many, from Sir Peter Blake and Sir Russell Coutts to more recent local up-and-comers.

Club Commodore James Jordan counted himself as one to have greatly benefited from Roberts’ “invaluable” friendship and guidance over the years.

Until recent ill-health, Roberts was a longtime regular at the clubrooms on The Strand on Friday nights and Sunday afternoons.

“His love of sailing and sport never faded,” Jordan said.

Awarded an MBE for services to yachting and sport in 1993, Roberts was also a Justice of the Peace.

A past chair of the Takapuna Business Association, he owned Roberts Electrical on Hurstmere Rd for many years. Roberts was also a founder of Business North Harbour.

Current business association chief executive Terence Harpur said his was “a sterling example of giving back”.

Takapuna born and bred, Roberts attended Takapuna Grammar School and started sailing at the club’s original home in Bayswater. He won his first national title at age 19, in the Z class, in 1954.

By the late 1960s, the club was sailing off Takapuna Beach. Roberts spearheaded fundraising for its current headquarters, opened on The Strand in 2002.

But with memories of the days when the old Bayswater building was a community hub, he took a keen interest in plans over recent years to clear the way legislatively to restore it for both sailing and commercial use.

Among his career highlights were:

• Multiple national championships in the

Finn, Flying Dutchman and Soling classes.

• Sailing in the Finn class in the 1960 Rome Olympics, finishing 6th.

• Being selected as a reserve sailor for the 1964 Japan Olympics.

• Sailing in the Flying Dutchman class with Geoff Smale in the 1968 Olympics, finishing 8th.

• Appointment as manager of the New Zealand Olympic yachting team for the Los Angeles Olympics in 1984, when the team won two golds and a bronze.

• Serving on the Olympic sailing jury at the 1988 Olympics in Pusan, South Korea.

• Being New Zealand Chef de Mission for the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona. Roberts was also president of the New

Zealand Yachting Federation from 1986-89 and served a second term on the board of the sport’s governing body, Yachting New Zealand, from 2006-2012. He was made a life member in 2010.

He received the Olympic Order of New Zealand in 2011.

Former North Shore Mayor George Wood recalled that Roberts’ reputation and connections secured the hosting of international events off Takapuna Beach and top-flight visitors.

Ralph Hamilton Roberts leaves behind second wife Penny and a blended family of six children and eight grandchildren.

A service to farewell him was held at St Marys-in-Holy Trinity in Parnell last Friday.