Hello everyone,
I am new here. It is my dream to someday build my own sea kayak. For now though I have acquired a beauty we call the Orca. She is said to be from Waiheke Island (New Zealand) where I was told her builder/owner eventually sold her to an avid kayaker living in Christchurch, whom I got her from just about 6months ago. I live in Port Chalmers, Dunedin.

The Orca is Kauri ply(so we think) with beautiful inlay work as you can see from the picture below. She has obviously been through a lot over the years from what we can tell- definitely needed some TLC when we got her (the southern sun is so damaging) but now shall live a long life of adventure with us. After sanding and re-varnishing a few layers over the course of a week, we took her down to Stewart Island at Easter for a 5day paddle tour of Patterson Inlet which was just rad!

Ok, back to the subject at hand..... I am hoping someone can help me here. You see I am wondering if the person who built the Orca is still around and still living on Waiheke Island (still making boats?) because I would really like to stop by to say hello while on a tour of the north island next year...... this is a far fetched plan I am sure but I thought it might be fun to say hi and show the Orca in action to whoever made her. But of course, I know nothing of her story so who really knows if this will work or not..... worth a shot though right?

So if you know anyone living on Waiheke island or any info on this boat, please be in touch.

Thanks for your time, happy paddling, Jillian