The WRIGHT move

Kelvin Kay couldn’t have known – when he first bought the moulds for this powercat – that it would be more than a decade before the vessel would finally hit the water. But patience is one of the most useful tools in the boatbuilder’s arsenal, and it has paid off in spades on this build.

Best known for introducing the Thundercats to New Zealand in the 1990s, Kay had been involved in manufacturing and charter boat skippering before turning his hand to the boatbuilding business. He bought the moulds for the 15m cat off the original builder in 2007, but they languished in storage for years as his life went in other directions.

“I originally wanted to build myself one, but I then ended up living and working in Samoa as a charter boat skipper, and I met some guys on a fishing charter who wanted to buy a boat. I said I had these moulds and it went from there. There were several people who