“But it’s the people as well, they’re just great people all round, real good bastards, and that’s part of the whole adventure. You’re a long time dead, so you’ve got to make the most of it while you can.” Wiblin’s passion for boats had developed from a “father-son thing” into his own hobby, resulting in the purchase of his first power boat a few years ago. “A friend of mine did it up for me, and it came up so nice, my wife won t let me race it.” So Wiblin bought a vintage hydroplane to race, built in 1981 by a Nelson man, which spent many years in British Columbia until the owner decided to save it from a fate rotting in a shed, and send it “home”, Wiblin said.