Une femme formidable

Janet’s story should begin with her father, Arthur Hereward (Pick) Pickmere, who grew up in Whangarei. There they got to know Harry Highet, who in 1920 designed and built a seven-foot dinghy he could sail solo.

Highet first sailed his dinghy in the 1920 Onerahi New Year’s Day regatta, where AR Pickmere (Arthur’s father) was so impressed he asked Highet to build him one. The Pickmeres and their cousin Joe Crompton later built a third and all three regularly raced and cruised in Whangarei Harbour. When Highet moved to Tauranga in the late 1920s his dinghy became the P Class.

After leaving school Pick trained as a surveyor. In 1928 he spent two years surveying the outer Fijian islands to update the Admiralty Charts, some of which dated back to Captain William Bligh. Realising he needed a better boat, he bought the 10.4m gaff cutter Arethusa in 1931 and sailed her back to Fiji for his surveying work.

In Fiji