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The Waikawa Boating Club’s annual Wine Race from Marlborough to Wellington has been withdrawn from the racing calendar due to a lack of guaranteed overnight berths in Wellington.
The racing committee made the difficult decision to cancel the race which annually delivered the first drops of Marlborough wines from the current vintage to the capital. The committee looked at a number of options for making the event happen but simply couldn’t find enough guaranteed overnight berths.
Wellington City Council, Seaview Marina and the various boating clubs in Wellington all had some space but, when combined, still didn't have enough berths for what has become one of the most popular events in New Zealand yacht racing.
“This is one of the downsides of the increase in popularity of boating, with berths and moorings being snapped up,” Waikawa rear commodore of sailing David Grigg said.
Aligned to the Beaujolais race in France, where the first drops of Beaujolais were taken to London, Waikawa's annual Wine Race has delivered the new vintage to the capital by yacht since 2009. This year's race was scheduled for October.
Club development officer David Hancock had the difficult task of contacting long-time sponsor WineWorks with the news.
“Waikawa Boating Club is incredibly grateful for the partnership with WineWorks over years of running the event. To have to pass on the decision to cancel an event which has so much potential is devastating.
“And of course you can’t have a wine race without the wine. The Marlborough wineries have made that side of it happen, year after year.”
WineWorks Marlborough general manager Damien Gillman said that he’d heard of the event being one of the most desirable races in the country.
"Our association with the event has been an easy choice where we could link with Marlborough’s wineries and the excitement of racing across Cook Strait," he said.
“We’ve enjoyed the partnership and we’ll continue to talk with Waikawa Boating Club on how else we can combine WineWorks, the Marlborough wine industry and yacht racing for the future.”
Hancock said the growth and popularity of events like September's Evolution Sails Women’s Regatta and January's Giesen New Year Regatta give the sailing committee confidence that the other offshore races to the Brothers, Tarakohe, Mana, Sentinel Rock and Catherine Cove can be developed further to fill the gap.
