At the Aon Yachting Excellence awards gala dinner held at the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron on Friday 18th November 2022, Tony and Nina Kiff received a Yachting New Zealand, supported by Boating NZ, Service Award for their services to yachting.

For the past 20 years the Opua couple have been organising and running one of NZ’s largest regattas, the Bay of Islands Sailing Week which runs each year in January.

The idea for the regatta came from Tony and Nina Kiff, and the event’s aim today is still just as Tony Kiff described it in 2003: “to offer sailors a yachting event for keelboats, trailer yachts and sports boats while showcasing the Bay of Islands as a magnificent sailing and holiday destination”.

It has done that many times over, although there have been many times the regatta has come under threat and would have discontinued if it wasn’t for the tireless efforts of Tony and Nina. In 2023 the Bay of Islands Sailing week will be celebrating its 20th anniversary and will again be hosted from the Opua Cruising Club 24th-27th January 2023.

This Fridays North Sails Twilight rum race had a distinctly international flavour with yachts and sailors from the GLY World Odyssey 500 rally joining in the fun.

Claude Bocquet and his crew entered the magnificent Outremer 51 “Vitamine” and Rob Peters and his crew of GLY sailors entered their beautiful Outremer 45 “Endless joy.” Kantime and Nexus had GLY crewmembers on board and the Feltons gave up the Etchell this week for the opportunity to crew on “Vitamine”.

Boats started in about 8-10 knots of Southerly and we were soon enjoying a great run to the Southern channel markers. After gybing it was close hauled to Caters where Vitamine just managed to sneak inside of Endless Joy with Simply Red chasing hard.

Simply Red took a tight angle back into the channel and passed Vitamine to windward while Frivolous fish fought to stay ahead. On the beat home we found ourselves doing a double take as Kantime called out for the windward boat to keep clear in French!! What fun!

In the end, Simply Red were too good and took the gun with Outlaw second and Frivolous (who sailed incredibly well on the beat home) third. Buzz hung on for 4th and the rest of us succumbed to the tide and dying breeze in the Okiato channel. 

We motored back in past the yacht club to cheers from the other GLY participants and the club was soon buzzing with happy crews swapping stories over a drink and a meal.

Thank you to everyone who joined in, especially our friends from the GLY rally….. your participation made the day very special. Merci!

We continue to get new people joining the fun. This week we welcome Katie from Kerikeri who sailed on Flying Cloud in her first race ever. She says her only regret is that she hasn’t taken up the offer to do this earlier!

Here’s a quick video recap of the action. Enjoy!

A storm warning wasn’t enough to deter the 13 entries in this Friday’s North Sails Rum race 8. To be fair the squalls had already blown through, and the fleet revelled in the conditions on a perfect evening out on the water.

Six entries joined the fleet to contest the Pacific Cruisers Cup for international cruising boats and local liveaboard cruising boats and each one accounted well for themselves in the conditions.  It was fantastic to have these boats join us as part of the Bay of Islands Marina Cruisers Festival.

The 10.4 meter Vardo design catamaran sailed by Jeff Goff showed real pace particularly with sheets slightly cracked and were always in contention.  

Grace of Longstone the Hans Christian 43T was sailed incredibly well by owner David Savage and his crew and looked amazing out there.  

Follow Me the Hanse 531 also sailed well to finish 5^th overall and 2^nd in the Cup.  The Moody 47 Walrus were in it right till the end as the fleet closed up for the finish while the crew of Pania (Omega 56 ) did very well to handle a big boat around a short sprint course on a breezy day. 

In the end, the honours went to Davdon Guillaume and his young crew on the Whiting 29 Uenuku who pressed hard and sailed well to finish 1^st in the cup and 3^rd overall. 

Well done guys you sailed beautifully!

Les Alderton and his crew on Kotahi Rua sailed well again this week to become the first boat in the series to win twice!  Congrats guys!

Last night’s race showed again that all sorts of boats can be competitive in this format and we encourage anyone who is up for a bit of fun on a Friday night to come and join the fleet at OCC.

Thanks again to everyone who participated. 

Here is a short video of the action.

Every year (for as long as we can remember) Cees has been putting on a fireworks display to delight children and adults alike.

Down on the Opua Cruising Club dock after dark!!

Bring your sparklers and fireworks along if you would like to join in the fun.

On Thursday 24th November we will be having a Thanksgiving Dinner at the club.

Our Galley Bistro will be serving a traditional Roast Turkey dinner with all the trimmings of stuffing, cranberry sauce, mashed potato, buttery corn and green bean casserole. They will also have a yummy Macaroni Cheese as an additional option.

Through the evening we will have an A Capella group providing the entertainment.

In the spirit of Thanksgiving, we encourage everyone to bring along their favourite Thanksgiving desserts which will be a potluck shared affair.

Tickets are $25 for adults and $10 for children under 12 years old.

Tickets need to be purchased through our office or from the bar which opens at 4.30 Wednesday – Sunday.