Cruising Report

FROM THE CEO

Winter has now set in and, while we have seen a decrease in weeknight club sailing, we have used this time to catch up on a number of delayed events from earlier in the year and to plan for the winter off-water activities for members to enjoy. The Doyle Winter Series is in full swing with a big fleet and some great promotions – bacon butties, win a Jeep for the summer and some great crew draw prizes and food and beverage specials to name a few.

Congratulations to all the 2020/21 Summer Series prize winners that we celebrated at the annual prizegiving on 29th of May with almost 300 in attendance. The prizegiving is growing every year and we are now going to split the summer and winter series to ensure as many people can come along as possible – so lock in October 2 for the Winter Series prizegiving to make sure you get tickets. One lucky divisional winner took home a trip to Rarotonga to participate in a bespoke local regatta set up for us – the only other travel bubble NZ has access to.

Our 150-year legacy continues to be celebrated with some big winter projects and events. The largest of these projects being the native tree planting at Kawau. This has involved a lot of planning and in particular the removal of the many pine trees that drop needles and stop any undergrowth. We will be mulching the branches of these and it will be used for planting. Later on we will be milling the main trunks for other uses on the island. I really encourage you to get involved in this project – there are a couple of options. 1. Buy a tree, plot of trees or a family plaque with a tree, or come to one of the planting weekends that will be happening once all the groundworks are complete. These trees will be there in another 150 years all going well, so a real legacy item.

Our 150th Anniversary limited edition book will be available for members in October and thank you to all of those members who have committed to this in advance. Ivor Wilkins has done a fantastic job of capturing some great moments in the history of the Squadron. We will also be publishing a ‘Boaties Cookbook’ before summer that you can contribute your favourite recipes to an online link. Also make sure you check out the ‘Lightly skimming over the surface’ exhibition at the Maritime Museum that captures some small snippets from our 150 years.

During winter, we will have a wide variety of Speaker & Chef series events for you to attend, covering interests both on and off the water and a few to delight the taste buds. The 150th Gala evening will be the highlight of these. To be held on August 21, where every space in the club will be themed with various types of entertainment, food and drinks on offer. Get your tickets early as it will be a sell-out!

In October we will be hosting a Graduates of the Mastercard Youth Programme Regatta. Going back almost 40 years, this programme has produced some of the best sailors in the world. It’s going to be great to see a few of the older graduates go head to head with some of our more recent rock stars! Entry to this unique event is open now.

Our final event of the year will be the members’ cruise to the Sub-Antarctic Islands. There is one cabin remaining, so don’t miss this one if it has been on your bucket list to visit. It is a NZ territory so within the domestic bubble.

The other big winter project is the much needed replacement of the deck at Lidgard House and also some seawall, septic and wharf repairs at Kawau. We intend to have all of these projects completed before the arrival of summer. A new online mooring booking system will also soon be in place for you to use.

Planning is also back underway for the inaugural Sydney to Auckland Race due to depart Australia in late Jan 2022. We await government border changes around opening a ‘sea bubble’ to complement the current ‘air bubble’ and are confident this will happen later in the year with lobbying well underway. This will see the superyacht and marine industry benefit with this extra bubble opening. Also underway, with entries soon to open will be a race to the Three Kings.

A lot of AC37 talk at the moment and this will no doubt develop over the coming months as funding streams for both the team and the event become more obvious. The AC Committee is ensuring that the best outcome for the RNZYS is achieved to successfully defend the Cup again.

Our financial year has now ended and we will present the outcome at the AGM in August. Suffice to say it was another good year operationally and also from our Foundation investments for the club. This was despite the various Covid challenges and additional expenses that came with hosting the America’s Cup – so thank you all for your support. If you have a special event coming up for yourself, or are looking for a venue for a work meeting, please contact our events team – or just make sure you come along to some of the many events on offer for you or join a friend or your crew. It all helps.

So winter might feel a bit quieter, but it is all go behind the scenes making sure we keep delivering outstanding experiences on and off the water for you.

Hayden Porter, CEO

Whitehaven Motor Yachts Harbour Classic 40

Cruising Rally 6

A refreshing shower of rain greeted us as a forecasted front passed over quickly, creating a drop in temperature when the wind backed south and increased.

Nine yachts were in the middle of a start sequence by Mike, Rich, Ray & Jenny (Affinity) on a busy harbour amongst cherubs, lasers, optis, and foiling kite surfers battling headwinds up to the start of the Bridge 2 Bean 150th year RNZYS event. Sadly, a 30+ knot gust caused their race to be cancelled, as we reached for our lifejackets. This made for an exciting downhill sail on course 4, around Motuihe to port, and a challenging short windward beat through Motuihe Passage to finish at Isi Bay.

We were rather pleased in hindsight to have been wearing our lifejackets as a situation arose in the middle of a very lumpy Motuihe Channel. I had to run forward to clear the jib sheet which had blown between the reefed main and the mast, then securely looped itself around the leeward bull horn – who’d have thought that could happen!

Mike Malcolm expertly delivered the BBQ food and refreshments to participants and we all met ashore – except the BBQ which slipped to a watery grave and sadly was unable to be retrieved. Thank goodness for PIC Insurance Brokers, we were certainly not expecting a claim so soon. Thanks to Steve and Cindy from Eleanor who provided their boat BBQ to cook our sausages.

Eleanor and Elusive III enjoying the slide.