Come along and join the fun. Come dressed as a pirate, castaway, mermaid or wear whatever you had on when the ship went down! But please do wear some clothing!!

Festivities get underway at 6pm and our dinner menu of Pig on the Spit will be served with summer salads at 6.30pm.

You will need to purchase tickets to attend and tickets are limited.

Tickets are available from the office between 9am – 12 noon each day and can also be purchased at the bar from 4.30pm in the afternoons.
If you would like to attend you can also email your booking to our secretary Sheila – secretary@opuacruisingclub.co.nz who will send out an invoice for online payment.
All tickets must be paid for before attending the event.

Opua Cruising club will be hosting the inaugural Pacific Cruisers Cup on Friday 18th November and all international cruising yachts in the Bay of Islands are invited to enter.

This fun race will be held in conjunction with Opua Cruising Club’s regular North Sails Friday evening Rum Race. As a pursuit race, slower designs are allocated earlier individual start times and faster designs have later start times. Racing starts from 17.30hrs.

A relaxed two-sail (no spinnakers, gennaker, code zero) format means minimum hassle and maximum fun!!
We race from the start line in front of the club around a simple two-mark course and then back home.

Prizegiving at the club after racing. Prizes include a perpetual trophy with the winning boat’s name inscribed on it for posterity.

$10 Entry Fee – Entry forms are available at the club.
Sailing instructions will be emailed once entry has been received.

If you have any questions please contact our Race Officer – Paul (Buddha) Smith nzyachtservices@icloud.com

What a lovely sail last night in 12 knots of Northerly. Congratulations to the crew of Kantime who took out the win ahead of Nexus which was crewed 2 handed by Cees and his granddaughter who joined him for the first time in a rum race. Third place went to Simply Red.

We have now had 4 different winners in each of the races held so far.

A big welcome to all new crew members who joined us for the first time, especially Joyce from “Pania” who drove up from Whangarei to be part of the action on “Flying cloud”. Judging from the smile on her face she will be back next Friday!

Thanks to the team from “Outlaw for their video and snaps”.

Here is a quick review of yesterday’s race… enjoy!

The Rum race fleet continues to grow with 10 boats starting this week. A big welcome to Unitec and Flying Cloud who joined the fleet for the first time.

Conditions were light and tricky. The forecast was for a dying Southwester to swing South before later building to 15 knots as it continued to swing East.

The race was shortened at the Southern Channel markers and the fleet closed right up at Okiato for the final push to the finish line in an outgoing tide and dying breeze. Some did significantly better than others at navigating the channel as the wind swung back to the SSW and the tide punished those that fell into a hole.

Huge congratulations to Martin on Vertigo who sailed beautifully singlehanded to take the win in a tight finish from Unitec. Unitec passed Vertigo close to the line but Vertigo fought back to take the win. The fast-finishing Outlaw expertly kept the boat moving in less tide up the side of the Channel and finished close behind in 3rd place.

A great atmosphere once again in the club after racing with Peini and her team and Chloe behind the bar doing a fantastic job of getting everyone hydrated and fed. Well done team, those pork spare ribs are becoming a bit of a favourite!

Thanks also to Ian Templeman for running the race and our wonderful sponsors North Sails for backing this great new format.

Thanks also to Julie Kidman for the great shots in this video.

For any newcomers our Rum Race recipe is simple. Friendly, laid back 2 sail racing with friends at the end of the working week. The course is always the same but starting times are adjusted based on each boats placing in the previous race. This provides some great sailing and exciting finishes.

Contact our race Officer Buddha if you want to join in and don’t yet have a start time! The pursuit race format means that all designs have a chance of winning so cruising boats and classics are welcome.

We also have a growing list of people who would like to join in as crew for these Friday Rum races so skippers, if need a hand to get you out there please let us know.

We have now put forms up on the Race Notice Board in the club where crew and skippers can add their details to match boats up with people and visa versa.

With a forecast of SE 25 knots gusting 35 this Friday’s North Sails Twilight Rum race was always going to be challenging. In fact, 2 hours before the race as the rain bucketed down and the wind howled many crews were saying “do we really want to go out in this!”

In the end, 5 intrepid crews did get out on the water and spent their leadup time to their individual starts trying to preserve sails in the lee of Tapu point or getting organized in terms of how they were going to manage the boat in the conditions.

Frivolous fish was first out of the box and was seen planing spectacularly down towards English bay with just two up and a full rig, they certainly had their hands full! The Racoon was soon hot on their heels powered up with a 4 man crew, especially for the conditions. The broad reach/run down to Southerns initially provided some impressive surfing with boats right on the edge. The wind then moderated a little and The Racoon was able to slip past Frivolous.

The Business had a little too much outhaul on and managed to rip the tack out of the mainsail but got the sail under control using the cunningham. Outlaw had issues of their own with their genoa halyard giving way in the conditions. They sailed most of the leg from Southerns to Caters with just the main up as they worked to drop the genoa and re-hoist using the kite halyard. Good work team!

On the final beat home, The Business managed to slip past The Racoon and the race was then on to try and get across the line ahead of the fast-finishing “Buzz”. In the end, the tacking up the channel slowed Buzz’s charge and The Business held on for the win with The Racoon second and Buzz third.

Well done to everyone for getting out there and as someone said later “you certainly feel alive after a sail like that!”

As usual, a great atmosphere at the club afterwards as war stories were swapped over a great meal and a few beverages. How lucky are we!

The Racoon took out the draw for the second Rum bottle much to Buddha’s delight, our thanks again to our sponsors North sails.

After two races Buzz lead the 12-race series with Frivolous, Outlaw and The Business all tied for second place.

Thank you to Charly on “Outlaw” for the great shots and onboard video. Going forward we hope more boats will send through shots and videos to opuaccpublicity@gmail.com for inclusion in a weekly wrap up video of the race.

Thanks to all who participated and to Gregg for running the race for us!

See you all next Friday.

Super fun day – out in the Bay yesterday! A few enthusiastic cruisers turned up to enjoy a glorious day of walking, paddle boarding, kayaking and generally messing around in boats. Great company and a fun opportunity to meet new friends.