Anthony (Tony) Wyn Shields (1930 - 2016)

Born in 1930, the son of two generations of orchardists, Tony grew up on his father’s orchard in Christchurch and after his marriage to Ann in 1954 he took over the running of the orchard. There they stayed for the next 24 years raising a family of 3 children, Peter, Robyn and Andrew.

At the age of 12 Tony was introduced to sailing where he found he was pretty good at it enjoying success primarily in Z class, X class, and R class yachts. At the age of 15 Tony had built his first boat which was one of several he built during his sailing life. During the following 35 years Tony represented Canterbury in many national events and held several national titles and a stream of podium finishes.

Tony was especially fond of the R Class which would end up giving him his greatest yachting pleasure, he owned six R Class over a 10 year period & built two of them himself.

Tony was proud to have won just about every trophy in R Class and although he never won the Leander Trophy but was runner up several times. As Tony recalled, there always seemed to be one of the Manders, a Pinkney or the Cooke Bros there to get in the way.

It was during a Leander Cup contest at Waitangi Tony fell in love with the warm winds and blue water of the Bay Of Islands and in 1978 he sold the family orchard and he, Ann and Andrew moved to Kerikeri.

In Kerikeri Tony retained his love of the land as an owner and manager of citrus and kiwifruit orchards as well as his own pruning business. After a short time he bought the bright green Chico 30 “Reefrunner” to the Bay of Islands and competed in many Epiglass series, Coastal Classics, Feltex regattas and in 1989 the 2-handed Round the North Island race. Tony also competed in two offshore events to Noumea and to Fiji.

Throughout his life Tony was a dedicated administrator to the sport he loved so much, holding committee positions at the Canterbury Yacht and Motor Boat Club, the NZ R Class Squadron, and the Kerikeri Cruising club (where he was twice commodore), all of whom bestowed Tony with life membership. In 2000 Tony received an Honours award from Yachting New Zealand for service to yachting.

Tony leaves behind his wife Ann of 61 years, children Peter, Robyn and Andrew, son and daughter in law Mike and Erna, and grandchildren Sam, Jasmin, Toni, Jessica and Henry.