Patterson, born in 1959, grew up in Howick, and with the sparkling waters of the Waitemata beckoning, the lure of boating proved irresistible. He built his first boat, a John Spencer Mustang, when he was 16 and still at school.
“The Mustang’s like a small Flying Dutchman. They’re much more stable than a Cherub and gorgeous to sail.”
Patterson’s uncle, John Porter, was a boatbuilder who’d served his time with Percy Vos, which inspired Patterson to take up an apprenticeship with boatbuilder Kerry Lilley in 1977.
In 1954 the late Owen Woolley had obtained the necessary licence to build a boatshed and slipway on the edge of the Panmure River just upstream of the old Panmure bridge. Woolley operated as a designer and boatbuilder out of there for the next 20-odd years.
However, in the early 1970s, an increasing number of design commissions, plus the Raven 26 production keeler’s success, prompted Woolley to focus on designing and GRP production boats rather than hands-on boatbuilding. Accordingly, he relocated to Nelson, leasing his shed and slipway
