I own and have sailed several passages within NZ waters, yacht "kelly" is currently dry docked for refit. Initially "inexperienced sailor'' found yacht to be unstable/flakey especially under heavy conditions but with time and some harsh lessons yacht found to be pretty good sea boat.
Hi Boatguy, probably not the same boat, yacht was built in Nelson from 1981-86, launched 1991 in Nelson. Yacht has a sister ship in Nelson which was built with thicker hull and topsides for ice conditions etc.
Had one parked by me last week called TinTin good tough looking boat Have sailed from Auckland to Nelson in a ganley Tara a great powerful machine also very dry got her up to 13 knots in a gust no problems at all