BlueWater Magazine Boat Test – July/August 2001
By David Lockwood
You’ll fall in love with this Mistress – and it need not be under cloak-and-dagger secrecy. That’s right, even the wife would approve of such an extramarital affair of the heart. thus it was love at first sight for David Lockwood, who was charmed by the physical chemistry of this kiwi built gameboat.
A fighting chair, pair of riggers and teak deck don’t make a gameboat. The mark of a battlewagon these days seems to be, err, a five-star designer finish. Marble and granite, leather or Alcantara,
Italian chrome fittings and Art Deco or Aztec themes are all the rage. Add a plasma-screen television, a spread of whizzbang electronics, a couple of big diesels and a paid skipper -and there you have it.
Not so Mistress. A real gamefishing boat, it has no chintzy finishes; designer line~, imported toilet-brush holders, or interior decorator-driven fittings. Far from being a motel afloat, Mistress is a shrine to real fishing boats. It has timber joinery, brass portholes, overhead racks swinging heavy-tackle outfits… And it has romance.
Inside, the custom-made 49-footer exudes a traditional feel almost reminiscent of one of Bob and Dolly Dyer’s gracious old gameboats. But at the same time, the NZ-built Mistress packs the latest electronics and fishing gear including, need I say, a fighting chair, pair of riggers and teak deck.
Whichever way you look at it, Mistress is a good-looking gameboat. There’s no mistaking the sexy Carolina lines derived from a gentle flare in the bow, a hard chine and two strakes underwater, and a sheer that melts into the transom like a knob of butter on a slice of hot toast. And there’s no mistaking this is a handcrafted gameboat built with a lot of nous.
The Australian based owners had already enjoyed 10 years of cruising and game fishing out of Western Australia in a Senior designed 40 footer, so when it came to finding a replacement vessel they had no hesitation in calling up the talented kiwi designer and asking him to draw what they wanted. The request was for a game fishing boat for charter that would be big enough and tough enough to chase the marlin wherever they were.
