NSR Rum Race 4 – Report

We hope everyone has hunkered down and is coping with cyclone Gabriel’s onslaught.

In the rainy weather, we have had some time to put together a short video of our twilight rum race on Friday.

Our twilight rum racing fleet grew to 15 boats on Friday with three beautiful gaff-rigged classics joining in the action.

Terry Dunn entered his Logan designed “Aotere” for the first time and was joined by “Leto” and “Balaena”. The three gaffers all started together and looked magnificent as they headed off down to Southerns.

In a lovely 10-knot Southeasterly “Saltshaker” proved hard to catch, finishing first ahead of “Nexus” with “The Business” third.

“Aotere” accounted well for herself to finish just ahead of “Outlaw” in 10th, well done Terry and crew!

Congrats to “Angry Dragon” who in addition to finishing 4th also won the draw.

2023-02-11T14:41:47+00:0011 February 2023|News, Racing|

Opua Cruising Club retains the Fisher & Paykel Interclub trophy!

OCC was well represented with 6 entries for races 2 and 3 of the Interclub with Russell Boating Club yesterday.

We had work to do with Russell having previously won race 1!

Scores for the top 3 boats for each club count towards overall points and in champagne sailing conditions OCC scored 8 points in the first race of the day with The Racoon 1st, The Business 2nd, and Kantime 5th.

OCC positions in the second race were -The Business 1st, 4 Fox sake 3rd and The Racoon 4th again giving us 8 points.

After some nervous post-race calculations our team’s efforts proved to be enough with OCC winning with 31pts vs RBC’s 36pts to retain that beautiful trophy that sits above the bar in the club.

A big thank you to all the OCC boats who entered to make this possible, and extra special thanks to our Commodore Ian Templeman and his First Lady Merry for being out there all day in the hot sun running the races as our committee boat!

Full results can be found HERE

Russel Boat Club and Opua Cruising Club in the Fisher & Paykel Inter Club Series – Jan 2023
2023-01-23T13:45:56+00:0023 January 2023|News|

Commodore’s Party 2022

We had a good turnout for the annual Commodore’s Party last night with members, guests and past Commodores in attendance.  The food was fabulous (thanks Pieni) and this was followed by a very entertaining evening of music and skits orchestrated by Malcolm Shaft and his merry band of club thespians. Cees appeared numerous times along with his trusty props and was hilarious as usual. 

A big thank you to Andy and Imogen who provided the musical support and especially to young Tea Hagen who sang so beautifully for us – Check her out on the video, what a voice!

As usual, a lot goes into making an evening like this come together. 

We would like to thank everyone involved for contributing to what was a very enjoyable evening.

Here is a short clip of some of the highlights.

Enjoy!

2022-12-11T17:58:03+00:0011 December 2022|News|

Race 10 – North Sails Rum Race Series

We had 13 starters for Race 10 of the North Sail’s twilight Rum race series on Friday with Leto, Sensation and 4 Fox Sake joining for the first time.  Welcome guys! 

Leto really looked beautiful out there.

Some great races within the race between Sensation and Flying Cloud, Nexus and Uenuku and Outlaw, Simply Red and Kantime.

The Business took the win ahead of Simply Red and Outlaw which sets things up for an exciting final two races for the series. 

Results here

Here’s a short on the water video of the race.

2022-12-04T09:58:14+00:004 December 2022|News, Racing|

How lucky are we to have a TEAM of quality people like this at our club!

Thanksgiving is a time for reflecting and appreciating all the good things we have in life.

As a club, we are so grateful to have this amazing team of people who work hard behind the scenes to make our experiences at the club so enjoyable.

We know it’s not always easy! but we appreciate your smiley faces, great service and yummy food.

These guys give up a lot of their own family time to serve our members so please remember to show your gratitude next time your buzzer goes or you get another drink from the bar.

2022-11-25T21:12:06+00:0025 November 2022|General, News|

Huge Congratulations to OCC members Tony and Nina Kiff recognised for their outstanding achievement and services in yachting for their efforts running the Bay of Islands Sailing Week.

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.

2022-11-22T15:17:48+00:0022 November 2022|General|

GLY World Odyssey 500 rally participants join our Friday Rum Race.

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!

2022-11-22T14:16:51+00:0022 November 2022|General|

Uenuku takes out the inaugural Pacific Cruisers Cup!

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 5th overall and 2nd 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 1st in the cup and 3rd 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.

2022-11-19T19:54:19+00:0019 November 2022|General|

Fireworks – 6 November 2022

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.

2022-10-31T16:30:21+00:0031 October 2022|General|

Give thanks with a grateful heart.

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.

2022-10-31T16:13:29+00:0031 October 2022|General|
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