Tim Cuff
After their father’s sudden death when Aidan Woodward was only four, older brother Curtis dutifully stepped into a father-figure role and took his little brother under his wing.
Fishing-mad Curtis wasn’t only Aidan’s mentor, but his best mate.
“Even once he left home and moved to Greymouth, he always went out of his way to include me in his life,” tells Aidan, 42, who’s currently competing in The Great Kiwi Bake Off. “I’d spend my school holidays with him.”
But tragically, Curtis lost his life when he was the skipper of FV Amigo, which was caught in a storm and sank in South Westland on the evening of October 1, 1996.
The long-line fishing vessel was anchored off the Waitaha River mouth, near Hokitika, when it was overcome by seas and foundered.
Searchers located wreckage on Greens Beach the following morning and the body of one deck-hand was recovered some days later.
But 24-year-old Curtis and another crew member were presumed drowned, and their bodies never found.
“Mum and I knew he had gone fishing,” recalls Aidan of that fateful evening. “We had been down to visit him three weeks earlier to meet his newborn son. But we didn’t know anything was untoward until the next morning, when I was getting ready for school and a police officer knocked at our door.
“I carried on brushing my teeth and heard the officer say there was some wreckage found on the beach. At that point, I knew.
“Losing my best friend at 15 left a massive hole,” says Aidan, his voice wavering with emotion. “And not having his body made me struggle with closure. Not having somewhere to visit and pay your respects is tough.”
Curtis’ death undoubtedly had a huge impact on Aidan, who now works as both an anaesthesia nurse and a self-employed electrician in Nelson.
Even though he thought he had processed his grief over two decades, his British-born partner Faye Vickers, 47, gently suggested last year that Aidan should speak to a counsellor.
“She had noticed over recent years that I wasn’t able to extract the fun out of life any more,” he explains.
“I was feeling sad and guilty about my brother – survivor’s guilt, I guess. That he left his baby and partner, and the numerous people he touched in his life, but not being in control of those feelings.
“Grief’s a funny thing that manifests in different ways and it’s a hard one to shake.
“There were times when I would sit there blankly staring – they call it the thousand-yard stare – where I’d just ‘zone out’ to escape the reality of my own mind,” shares Aidan candidly.
“Faye and I have been together 20-odd years and without her, I don’t think I’d be where I am today. She put me in touch with a fantastic counsellor.
“And even though it’s scary making yourself vulnerable with a complete stranger, it’s been amazing to really dig down into these experiences and undo 27 years of ingrained ways of thinking and behaving.
“I’ve started enjoying life again.”
Cooking, he says, has always been a way to relax and unwind. “Churning out large stacks of crêpes layered with butter, maple syrup and lemon juice has absolutely been my therapy!”
This is his second attempt at Bake Off, as he was just one hurdle away from being cast in the British version in 2012. But Aidan proved he was worthy of a spot this season in the “show-stopper” cake challenge in episode one.
“The judges asked for one half of our creations to reveal something about ourselves or someone special to us,” says Aidan. “It was a no-brainer to honour Curtis and make a ‘Sea Jaffa’ cake.”
The choc-orange flavour was a nod to the jaffa milkshakes the pair used to enjoy as kids. Then, perched on the side of Aidan’s elaborately-decorated masterpiece, was an orange octopus made of fondant.
“One of my favourite memories with Curtis was when I was around 11 and he took me for my first fish. He hired a little aluminium dinghy and rowed out to Fifeshire Rock. He set a line and caught this huge octopus.
“It was climbing up his arm as he was laughing and I was petrified. That was the memory I tried to incorporate into that cake.
“People who knew Curtis regarded him very highly. So I wanted to put the effort in and make sure that came across. All I’ve wanted to achieve in life is to make him proud.”
Watch The Great Kiwi Bake Off on TVNZ 1 on Thursday nights at 7.30pm or stream on TVNZ+.
