Easy Rider was a "brilliant sea boat", according to former owner Matenga Taiaroa, who was shocked to hear of its capsize north of Stewart Island this week while skippered by his first cousin Rewai Karetai.
Mr Taiaroa, of Otakou on the Otago Peninsula, gave Mr Karetai the fishing vessel 12 months ago, having brought it back to Dunedin from the West Coast.
Easy Rider had been in the family for years, he said.
Mr Taiaroa's brother, the late Te Iwi Taiaroa, owned it a number of years ago and fished it from Otago Harbour.
The commercial fisherman, who died in August last year, also took Easy Rider to the West Coast to fish for albacore and left it in Westport.
He owned it for about two years.
Easy Rider reportedly sank at its berth while in Westport, before Mr Taiaroa and his grandson retrieved the boat and repaired it in Dunedin.
Mr Taiaroa, a retired fisherman of about 40 years, had taken Easy Rider to Milford Sound and said it was well suited to the ocean.
"It was a very good boat, no trouble. A brilliant sea boat," he said.
"Rewai was looking for a boat and I said to him, 'Come and get this one'.
"He took it home and did quite a lot of work on it and got a new survey for it and, well, you probably know the rest," Mr Taiaroa said.
He wondered whether the vessel was overloaded when it capsized, but could only guess.
"Normally it wouldn't have even looked like capsizing," he said.
His cousin, Mr Karetai, was an experienced fisherman and knew the stretch of ocean well, Mr Taiaroa said.
The family had a large farm at Otakou, where Mr Karetai's parents were from, he said.
"Rewai was brought up in this area."
