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The Whangarei Cruising Club reprised their opening 100 years ago when a flotilla of 25 boats sailed from their clubrooms at Kissing Point to mark the club's centenary last weekend.
The club was created in 1921 and started in style with a boat parade to welcome the governor general, Lord Jellicoe, to Whangarei.
This time around there were keelboats, led by Temptress and sailed by owner and life member Miles Bundle, along with trailer yachts, sports boats, a Feva and Flying 15, and they were joined up river by Whangarei Young Mariners and Shackleton Sea Scouts.
"Bridge control at Te Matau A Pohe were great, and all bar one of our yachts got under the bridge in the first lift," commodore Joan Livingstone said. "There was a massive traffic build up but, hey, it's once in a hundred years.
"Flags were flying, the little dinghies were zipping here and there, and the big girls made their stately progress up towards the town basin. Only the launches, sports boats and cutters could get all the way up into the town basin, but it must have been quite a sight."
The only mishap was when Mike Bell’s Rarare, a Logan design built in 1896, went aground near the basin on a half tide rising, but she was pulled off by one of the launches, Hawk 111.
The centennial dinner was also a great success and was attended by Whangarei District Council Mayor Sheryl Mai, as well as representatives from the Onerahi Yacht Club and Parihaka Waka Ama. There were eight former commodores in attendance.
The trailer yacht division held a regatta at Parua Bay the following day and featured nine boats.
"This was a good number, considering many of these boats had sailed up from Parua Bay the day before, participated in the boat parade and then sailed back to Parua Bay before attending the centennial dinner that evening," Livingstone said. "The celebrations were a culmination of hard work, ably led by Bill Rolands, and his trusty band of helpers. Bring on the next 100 years."
- Photo: The fleet makes its way up the Hatea River. Pic: Whangarei Cruising Club.
