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.

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.