By Emma Jolliff
The 9.7-metre replica whaleboat Swiftsure 1was modelled on the original Swiftsure in the Canterbury museum and took Ron Perano two years to build.
“The older you get the sillier you get, because had I realised what I was involved in it I don’t know whether I would have taken it,” says Mr Perano
Now Mr Perano is shipping the boat to London to take part in the Queen's Diamond Jubilee Pageant in June.
“We’re going to put the boat on the Thames River with six Marlborough Boys’ colleague senior rowers. We’re going to row in a pageant of up to 1000 other vessels,” he says.
“It will be a very special moment for me and the boys because it will never happen again in my lifetime, or probably the boys’ lifetime,” he says.
The whaling industry in New Zealand was alive and well when the Queen took the throne in 1952.
Mr Perano's great, great, great grandfather was off an American whaling ship, his father and uncle were whalers and he started whaling in 1948 when he was just 14.
“The biggest buzz of my life is standing on the bow of a launcher and shooting a whale,” says Mr Perano.
Mr Perano is hoping to raise money through donations for the $45,000 trip.
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