From big questions at Westhaven to winter cruising at Great Barrier, September’s Boating New Zealand gets around, with three very different boat reviews along the way.
There’s plenty happening on New Zealand’s waterfront this month, and some of it raises bigger questions than others.
At Westhaven, almost 500 long term berth licences are nearing their end. Owners are weighing up what comes next, while the future shape of New Zealand’s largest marina is also under scrutiny. John Eichelsheim gets straight into it in his Editor’s Note.
From there, September’s Boating New Zealand heads out on the water. We cross the Tasman for a world launch, go cruising around Aotea Great Barrier Island, look beneath the surface with Kiwi technology, and eventually end up playing in Canterbury floodwaters.
September Boating New Zealand starts at Westhaven
“There’s change afoot inside New Zealand’s largest marina,” writes John Eichelsheim, and there certainly is.
Long term licences for almost 500 berth holders on Piers AB to T expire at the end of September. More will follow in 2029. The move towards monthly rentals could mean considerably higher costs for some owners, particularly those with smaller yachts.
There is plenty of history wrapped up in those piers too. Westhaven has sat at the centre of New Zealand yacht design, construction and sailing for more than 60 years.
That history is where John Macfarlane picks things up. On page 100, his Reflections column begins The Westhaven Marina Story, a three part series looking at where the marina came from and where it might be heading. Parts two and three will follow in October and November.
Of course, marinas only make sense because we have boats to put in them, and September gives us three quite different ones.
Three boats in September Boating New Zealand
The big white Maritimo charging across the September cover is the new Maritimo S50.
Australia based marine journalist Maurice Kelly joined its global launch on Queensland’s Gold Coast in late June. His review starts on page 24. Maritimo has moved from flybridge to sedan with the S50, giving Kelly plenty to explore once he gets it out on the water.
Closer to home, John Eichelsheim revisits a familiar Hamilton-built hull with the Buccaneer 635 Exeed. The original 635 appeared in the early 2000s, sharing its hull with the popular 2008 Billfisher. More than two decades later, the latest Exeed brings another round of updates.
Then Grant Dixon meets Whangaroa boaties Cliff and Sue Vernon aboard their Superior 1050 Sports Sedan. They were downsizing from a 55-foot Regal, but that did not mean giving up the things they enjoyed about boating. Their search for something smaller eventually led them to the Superior.
Three boats, then, but three quite different reasons for stepping aboard.
From the marina to Great Barrier
Alex Stone takes us somewhere quieter in Up the Creek, beginning on page 32.
He wanted a sail north and what he calls “some fresh air therapy”. Skyborne was apparently happy to oblige. So began a mid-winter Matariki long weekend cruise to Whangaparapara on Aotea Great Barrier Island.
There’s more time outdoors elsewhere in the issue, although not all of it is quite so peaceful.
In The Catch, Mark Kitteridge asks a deceptively simple question: do fish see colour? If you have ever stood in front of a wall of lures wondering whether colour makes any difference, page 80 should be worth a visit.
Tom Fraser goes in another direction entirely with Wet & Wild. July’s bad weather caused disruption and damage across the country. Canterbury’s jetboaters, however, found themselves looking at newly flooded creeks and seeing an opportunity.
Going deeper
Some of September’s more unusual stories take us below the surface.
In Out of the box, Lawrence Schäffler looks at a New Zealand developed series of submarine drones. They are giving researchers another way to reach and study the underwater world, without some of the cost and difficulty traditionally involved.
Dean Kennedy raises a different question on page 48: Time to raise the standard? Recreational marine surveying currently has no recognised minimum standard someone must meet before offering their services to the public. Kennedy looks at whether that should change.
There is a good second life story too. Zoe Wilde writes about Katinka, refurbished with help from Brin Wilson Boat Builders and Gulf Harbour Marina before being donated to SeaKeepers South Pacific.
And if you think your own boat project has dragged on a little, Lawrence Schäffler may make you feel better. His A lengthy Endeavour follows an extraordinary model shipbuilding project where the final piece went into place 26 years after work began.
That takes us from Westhaven to Great Barrier, across the Tasman to the Gold Coast, below the surface with Kiwi technology and, eventually, into flooded Canterbury creeks.
It is a fairly good reflection of where boating can take you.
The September 2026 issue of Boating New Zealand is on sale now. Head down to your local bookseller and grab a copy.
