KATE SAILS AGAIN

They were the builders’ utes and courier vans of the Hauraki Gulf. In the late 1800s and early 1900s, sailing cutters delivered anything they could to communities scattered around the shores of the Gulf, and on the islands within it. And returned with mail and farm products.

In those days, the water was the road to these communities, and quicker and more reliable than transport across the land. The hard-working cutters soon found themselves out-paced by pocket steamers – and these took over regular routes carrying passengers or time-sensitive cargo, like milk. But for more than 50 years, the cutters were everyman’s transport option.

And then, like much related to the age of sail, they faded away. Into memories,