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In the deep south of New Zealand along the southern coast lies the port township of Bluff; a town steeped in maritime history and forged out of the often harsh elements the Southern Ocean tosses its way.
The head of the harbour lays testament to the old mariners and fisherman of past, with the old rotting hulks of oyster boats from years long gone now home for the many birds and fish. Regardless of these testing conditions, it is always a town that has a warm heart and knows the importance of having a good time.
Every season the Bluff Yacht Club host their annual Oyster Regatta, a celebration of sailing, hospitality, great food and loud, tall stories. Last weekend was no exception.
I along with a number of Dunedin sailors descended on Bluff to participate in this festival of sailing and yarns. For me, it’s a ‘going home’; a pilgrimage back to my home town and the club that introduced me to sailing, capsizing and the joys of strong tides and stiff so'-westers.
The club is located on the foreshore surrounded by a large fleet of fishing boats, oyster boats, the bulk carriers in the port and the high stacks of containers along with the crayfish pots and maritime engineering works. This is a working port through and through and the yachtsmen down here navigate between the moored boats and lines of vessels along the wharf and, once out into the main harbour, the yachts sail under the shadow of looming ships and dodge the odd buoys located in the harbour that float above the many cages that hold the live crayfish awaiting export.
Is this a challenging area to sail? Maybe, but I wouldn’t change a thing. This is sailing without the lycra. This is beer, not shandies.
The regatta takes the format of the obligatory Friday evening of onshore activities and listening to the wind across the roof of the club. The forecast for the weekend was looking challenging but nothing out of the ordinary: a gale warning in Foveaux Strait and a storm warning further along the coast at Puysegur Point – probably be a pretty good weekend, then.
Not everyone got to pitch their tents that night and opted to sleep in the sea scout den next door. Socializing isn’t an issue down here, because you’re within walking distance of where you need to be.
As it turned out, the weather gods were in a very benign mood and turned on some very sunny, moderate breezes within the harbour. We could have been up in the tropics for all we knew.
On Saturday, after the traditional blackboard briefing and chalk-written sailing instructions (thank goodness for the smart-phone cameras these days) we were off for a mixed fleet regatta with six races on the Saturday and another four races on the Sunday.
The fleet comprises green fleet Optimists up to trailer yachts and a keeler. A good fleet of Lasers was competing, bolstered by members from Marakura Yacht Club (Te Anau) and Lake Dunstan Boating Club. We even had an Oyster 56’ keeler from Rhode Island New York visiting the club for the weekend. With a yacht design of that name, how could you not be here for this weekend, even if a wee way from the United States?
In Bluff nothing is done by half. The race committee boat was the new offshore Coastguard vessel which epitomes the good joint relationships that exist in the deep south.
After racing, the clubhouse becomes the focus of attention. All the yachts have been wheeled outside, wooden trestles are erected over the concrete floor, along with the luxury of wooden seating. A number of old, plastic Optis are tied along the wall and an old X-class yacht hangs from the steel rafters. Posters celebrating yachting milestones from previous eras grace the walls – Sir Peter Blake would be proud.
Karaoke was on the menu that evening, not necessarily the easiest dish to swallow but many decided to give it a good chew and spit it out – or, in this case, try to make a few coherent notes. There were a few potential singers in our midst but I, along with some others, probably need to stick to just whistling in the face of a gale.
The breeze picked up for the first races on Sunday with a slightly cooler air temperature, but then we are below the 46th parallel.
After the completion of racing, the commodore, Anders Jagvik, held the prizegiving, which was a celebration of all who went sailing.
The racing, conducted by race officer Peter Henderson, was fiercely fought with the start-lines providing the odd inter-yacht conversation.
It was a great weekend and the reputation of the Bluff Yacht Club for their warm welcome will be plenty of reason to make the pilgrimage again next year.
As an aside, there were some winners in the racing as well.
Overall division winners were:
Open Dinghies:
Starling: Dominic Sutherland
Lasers: Daryl Parkes
Trailer Yachts: Richard Hawkins – Noelex 25
Well done Bluff.
