The Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron is selling its Smelting House Bay property on Kawau, a holding that has been part of the club’s fabric since 1989 and part of New Zealand sailing history for much longer than that.
The estate runs across six titles, roughly 33,000 square metres of Bon Accord Harbour frontage with a jetty, wharf and native bush to the waterline. At the centre is Lidgard House, a three-bedroom beach home recently renovated and familiar to plenty of Squadron members who have spent time there over the years.
The Lidgard name will mean something to anyone who knows Kawau well. Roy and Irene Lidgard made their land available for the original Kawau Island Yacht Club at a peppercorn rental, and when the clubrooms opened in 1954 they became the natural gathering point for island sailors and visiting boaties alike. In 1968 the family was struck by tragedy when three generations were lost at sea bound for New Caledonia. The mortgagee sale that followed eventually brought the Auckland Motor Yacht Club in as owner, and the land was later gifted to the Squadron. The Squadron then bought it from BP in 1989.
Commodore David Blakey says the original purchase was made to keep the land in boating hands. That may not be possible this time. The Squadron took a trading loss of over $1.4 million in 2023 coming out of the America’s Cup, and the sale proceeds are headed for the RNZYS Foundation Fund and the Westhaven facility.
The Kawau Boating Club next door was sold out of Squadron ownership in 2014, when local members stepped up and bought it. That site is covenanted as a yacht club. Smelting House Bay is not.
The bay name is a nod to the island’s copper mining days. The mine dates to the 1840s, and the ruins including the engine house and smelter are still there if you know where to look.
The Squadron has been running since 1871, Royal since 1902. Kawau has been on the racing and cruising calendar for most of that time. This sale closes a chapter that a lot of Gulf sailors will feel.
Barfoot & Thompson’s Nadja Court holds the listing.
