Sailing To Kawau Island & Back - The Auckland Anniversary Regatta

Sailing Auckland

Two day's after I arrived back from Wellington I was kindly offered a trip on the water. How I ended up on the 'Pink Cadillac' sailing boat is a bit longwinded, but put simply - my good friend Harriet has an Aunt and Uncle here (Pat and Steve), who I have met on numerous occassions. Their best friend, a Kiwi named Leith goes out sailing at every opportunity with his good friend and captain of the Pink Cadillac - Basil.

Harriet and I were asked to go along for this extended weekend away, plane the waves and help out here and there. Basil's boat is actually a racing machine, and this week was one of their races. I had no idea about anything when it came to sailing but I was willing to learn. It was also a very special weekend to go sailing in New Zealand, because it just so happened to be the Auckland Anniversary Day Regatta on the Monday. Before-hand though, we had a race to win.............

The race started within Auckland's Waitemata Harbour before extending north, past Rangitoto Volcano, to a small'ish Island named Kawau. While Basil was taking control of the helm as it were, Leith was running all over the ship, pulling ropes and tying intricate knots. I decided to learn a bit while I was there - I mean it's not everyday that you get to race a sailing boat with experienced crew who are willing to explain what a boom is and how not to get in the way of it!!!

Actually, the race there was a bit of a no-show. The key ingredient to getting the boat to move is wind - and we just didn't have any. The race was far more tactical than I thought though. Some boats would sail right up to Rangitoto in the hope of catching some gusts that sail over the volcanic terrain, while others take alternate routes to try and get the sails at full stretch. The race must be completed within a certain time frame - I think it was 4-5 hours, or something similar, yet with no wind, ultimately, in a race with perhaps 15 boats, only two actually made it by sailing alone. The rest, including ourselves gave up and put our motor on.

We finally docked at Kawau Island, a stretch of circular land with just one general store and a pub of course. Boats from other races docked into the bay so by evening it was literally a sea of ships. Awaiting on the island was a big barbeque and all the alcohol you could think and drink of.

The following day was a time of rest and relaxation. We took the boat around Kawau and to other nearby Island's that scatter this stretch of water. Harriet and I went for numerous swim's and Leith had even brought along some snorkelling equipment. On one occassion - as we started to snorkel over to a tiny (you can walk around it in 3 minutes type) Island called Beehive, I spotted what I thought was an anchor chain. Taking a second look I realised it was the spikey tail connected to a stingray - but no ordinary stingray that I had seen in Australia, this thing was bigger than me. It hugged the sea floor below, unmoved. I pointed it out to Harriet and I tell you - I've never seen anybody leap out of the water so fast. At that point she would have given Michael Phelps a run for his money. She clambered onto the small dingy and Leith joined me in the Stingray watching, eventually taking off with a speed that Michael Phelps definately could not keep up with.

After more swimming, a relaxing walk around Beehive Island, watching Basil getting into his dingy which he immediately capsized with all the other captain's watching (very embarrassing, but hilarious to Harriet and Myself and everyone else who saw the incident), and a fair bit of drinking (that's what sailors do), we headed back to Kawau Island for another barbeque and further alcoholic consumption. Sailing-boat parties work like this: you get in your dingy and head over to a random boat. They will offer you alcohol and a chat and then you leave in your dingy and move onto the next boat. Before you eventually make it back to your own vessel and collapse in your bunk. Harriet and myself ended up on a sailing ship where the hosts thought it was a good idea to put a shot of tequila in every beer. I found out the next morning that this was not a good idea.

The next day, on the Monday, the second race was begining, similar to the first race but in the opposite direction and this time there was wind!!! Harriet stayed below deck, in a crumpled (still drunk) mess. I somehow found the willpower to get up and help out. This time round though, we were really sailing. Leith taught me how to lower and bring up the anchor, a few different knots so peices of rope didn't come loose from where they should be and how to tack. When you change direction and you want to catch the wind, sometimes you have to point your sail the opposite way (i.e towards Port or Starboard) to catch the wind. You swing your sail around, in a process called a tack. It generally involved me winching really fast and hard in a hungover state whilst watching out for the boom - the big beam that runs at the bottom of the sail and which gets it's name for the noise it makes when it notoriously hits someone's head during tacking - often knocking them unconcious.

We continued back south towards the finish line. Harriet and I sat up on the high side - as the boat tilts to a 45 degree angle when the winds really catch the sails. About half-way through the race Harriet shouts out that she saw a dolphin in the distance. About a second after I tell her she's still seeing drunken illusions, three dolphins sequentially leap out of the water, following our boat. I was sure things like that only happen in movies like Titanic, but obviously not!!!

As we approached the end of the race, back in the Waitemata Harbour, we were greeted by hundreds of boats of all shapes and sizes. The Auckland Anniversary Day Reagatta is one of the biggest of it's kind in the world. It was started on the 18th September (my birthday) of 1840, the day the city was founded and it has grown ever since. On this, the 169th anniversary, hundreds come out to view the boats on display and I felt like a bit of a celebrity waving at the audience as we sailed back into dock.

It had been a great weekend. I had seen and learnt so much. My sailing knowledge increased exponentially and with my new skills, just pass me the keys to the QE2 I say. The incredible stingray and dolphins will never be forgotten, nor will little Beehive and Kawau Islands or the moment we sailed in to a blanket of boats at the Regatta. How we weaved through them all is beyond me, there's no traffic lights out there you know. And finally I learnt the biggest of all lesson - and that is never to mix tequila and beer or drink with sailor's ever again, but still at least I didn't have to scrub the deck so that's a bonus!!!