News & Media

Keen Aussie fisher wins $200,000 Surtees/Yamaha grand Prize!

Keen Melbourne fisherman, Jonathan Couronne came to Auckland especially to see the Hutchwilco New Zealand Boat Show and to check out the popular Kiwi-built Surtees trailer boats built by Kawerau-based Surtees Boats.

 He went home having won the show’s $200,000-plus Surtees/Yamaha Grand Prize!

 A keen fisher who, before coming to the show, owned just a small 4.2 metre boat, Jonathan couldn’t believe his good luck.

 “I spent an hour on an identical Surtees on their stand on the first day of the show,” he said. “All I could think of was winning it. And I have. I’m speechless.”

 Jonathan says he was so keen, he came to the show all four days it was open. “One the first day I bought one ticket and on the second day, I bought another. Then I saw a guy with 6 tickets and decided to buy two on the third day and another two today.”

 (Each entry ticket to the show can be used to enter the draw for the Grand Prize, so Jonathan ended up with six entries).

 Jonathan, who suffers from MS, says he normally fishes with just his brother-in-law (who drives his boat for him) and his two boys, because his small boat can only safely accommodate four.

 “Now I will be able to take (partner) Judy and some good friends, too,” he says.

The is New Zealand’s oldest, longest-running and most popular boat show, attracting over 35,000 people each year. This is the first time in the Hutchwilco New Zealand Boat Show’s 60-plus year history that its Grand Prize has been won by an overseas visitor to the show.

Capture3