The Outboard Boating Club of Auckland traces its roots to 1955, when Sea Spray editor John Mallitte wrote an article on the growing trend for trailerable outboard cruisers. Interest built quickly, and in August 1956 a group of enthusiasts met to form a club along the lines of the Outboard Boating Club of America. A follow-up public meeting at the Auckland Sunday School Hall drew around 70 boating enthusiasts, a number the young club would soon match in membership. Stan Gleadow was elected its first president.
Money and facilities were scarce in those early years. With no permanent facilities, members often launched from Okahu Bay, where the steep ramps made launching difficult and occasionally caught out both cars and trailers, before the club eventually secured a stretch of reclaimed land at Hobson Bay following a lengthy campaign to secure the site from the Harbour Board.
Seventy years on, that scrappy start has grown into one of Auckland’s best-equipped boating facilities, now based on Tamaki Drive in Orakei with its own marina, hardstand and multiple launching ramps onto the Waitemata Harbour and Hauraki Gulf.
The club marked its 70th anniversary with an Open Day on Sunday 28 June, drawing members and the public to its Tamaki Drive premises. Auckland Councillor Desley Simpson and Ōrākei Local Board Deputy Chair Sarah Powrie carried out the official opening. Members turned out with classic boats, collectible cars and motorbikes, and Lee and Ken Copland brought their donkeys along for the occasion.
The club also acknowledged the support of Rayglass Boats, LegaSea NZ, New Zealand Police, Surf Life Saving New Zealand, Coastguard New Zealand, the Harbourmaster, Motuihe Island and NZ Skin Health during the celebrations.
Full club history: https://www.obc.co.nz/about-us/history.aspx
