Foreign crews are expected to sail the "little toots" out of Wellington Harbour early next month on a two-month voyage to Dubai via Singapore, after they were sold to Delta Offshore International for an undisclosed sum. Captain Charles Smith, the Toia's first captain, said it would be sad to farewell the vessels. Now CentrePort's marine services manager, Smith was on board Toia when it first sailed into Wellington Harbour on February 22, 1972, after its delivery voyage from Whangarei.That maiden voyage 42 years ago was skippered by Wellington's then harbourmaster Bill Galloway, with Wellington Harbour pilot John Westbrooke as mate and newly appointed tugmaster Smith as second mate. Smith recalled how he was given two weeks' training for the Toia tugmaster's job by deputy harbourmaster Cyril Sword before taking command."It was a case of suck it and see without any formal training other than some brief exposure to Voith handling on the Voith tug Waitangi in Whangarei."Since its arrival, Toia's engines have operated for 36,500 hours, mostly on Wellington Harbour duties. But Toia has also done charter operations in the ports of Napier, Bluff, Lyttelton, Nelson and Taranaki.It has also towed five small, aged vessels out into Cook Strait on scuttling missions. During its time in Wellington, Toia assisted 32,700 vessels and used 5.4 million litres of fuel."Toia and Ngahue have overseen some 57,000 ship movements and safely guided countless passengers and freight in and out of Wellington Harbour. They are popular with the public and will definitely be missed," Smith said.Ngahue was launched in Whangarei on October 15, 1977. It arrived in Wellington on December 3, 1977, and was commissioned in January 1978. In recent years, CentrePort had bought the Asian-built tugs Tapuhi (2012) and Tiaki (2007), which each have bollard pulls of 68 tonnes - more than twice the 28-tonne pulls of Toia and Ngahue.The new tugs are more than capable of handling the many cruise liners of more than 300 metres long that call into Wellington Harbour.