Turangi “Worlds” OK Regatta — “greatest ever”. 60 years in the making.

The Turangi Yacht Club has been racing at Stump Bay since 1966. This March, it put on one of the best regattas in its history.

On 21 and 22 March, the Turangi Yacht Club celebrated 60 years at Stump Bay. They combined the celebration dinner at its club rooms, on the Waiotaka Reserve — where they’ve been since 1966 — with its annual OK Dinghy Regatta. By all accounts, it was one of the club’s greatest regattas ever. With the anniversary dinner done and dusted and the competitors home, Commodore Wally van der Aa put pen to paper. And what a great story to read; grassroots New Zealand sport at its finest.

The Regatta doubled as a World Championship qualifier, with 10 New Zealand selection spots on the line ahead of next year’s Worlds in Thailand. That alone drew serious talent — America’s Cup sailors Rod Davis and John Cutler were among the fleet. But it was Dave Ridley who came out on top across the seven-race series, ahead of those international names and the rest of a competitive field.

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Thirty-one entrants showed up from far and wide, the largest number of entrants they’ve had at an event in many years, which surprised even the organisers. As Wally says with pride, “Thirty-one entries is very rewarding for the crew who worked all weekend feeding and cleaning up after the OK fleet.”

Based on last year’s attendance and the current economic climate, they’d budgeted for 20. But as Wally pointed out, it is just as easy to run a regatta for 30 people as it is for 5, so the extra numbers caused no difficulties on the water. A small team ran three patrol boats handling starts, finishes, and mark-laying, with grateful use of Matuku, the patrol tender belonging to the Tokaanu Maritime Trust. Having the tender on hand meant top and bottom marks could be shifted simultaneously when the wind — as it always does at Stump Bay — changed direction.

While other parts of Lake Taupō sat becalmed over the weekend, Stump Bay delivered. A 15–20 km/h northerly breeze built through the day, and five good, fair races were completed on Saturday. Things got pretty busy at the bottom mark, but the fleet had opted for a gate setup so they could go left or right, avoiding the congestion that can happen in larger fleets. The races were relatively short, and the spread between first and last was less than three minutes, which shows how close the racing was and that, as Wally says, “there were no slowpokes.”

On the start boat, Wally ran the starts with what he describes as pinpoint accuracy, gathering finishing results — which he considers the most important part of any race. Back ashore, Annette and Martyn updated the scores race by race, deftly transferring results to the traditional blackboard. Hand-written originals were kept throughout. Wally remains cautious: “I don’t trust electronics to keep this information safe and lost results mean a wasted weekend for all.”

Saturday evening brought the 60th anniversary barbecue, a purpose-made celebration cake courtesy of local cake maker James MacGilloway, and the kind of debrief that only comes after a day of close racing. The club runs a cashless, no-bar event — entries paid in advance, and catering was locked in. Wally is quick to point out his club thrives in this environment. “We knew exactly what we were dealing with, and our caterers put on an impressive range of meals, including breakfast burritos, sandwiches, and rolls for lunch and a barbecue dinner. After the National Champs, this is the largest OK Regatta of the season and is very rewarding for our club. It also exercises all our equipment from rescue boats to our brains.”

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A highlight among the results was 14-year-old Alex Hoskin from Waitara, the youngest competitor in the fleet. Alex took home a medal for that distinction and was also presented with the Emrys Tangiora Memorial Shield for Pluck and Courage — a junior trophy first awarded in 1970, shortly after Emrys Tangiora’s tragic death. Wally recalls, “It had not been presented in many years, although I saw my name on it in the early 90s! It was well deserved by Alex.”

Recent losses have meant past friends have not been able to attend. “Sadly we were missing Peter Lester, who passed away tragically young last year. Peter had won the World OK title in the 70s on Lyttelton Harbour and was still actively involved with the OK fleet. He was a frequent entrant to the Turangi Regatta in years gone by.”

After 28 years, the Turangi OK Regatta is the club’s longest-running regatta. Wally proudly notes that “the regatta is for the sailors, and we make the course as fair and easy as possible for the sailors to comply with the rules. The cream always rises to the top. I wait until the first race is over and then write the entrants on the scoreboard in that order. The results of the first race are fairly closely aligned with the overall regatta results at the end, unsurprisingly. 1st, 2nd, and 3rd for the overall results came in 1st, 3rd, and 4th in race 1.”

As the club’s longest-standing member — Wally joined in 1978 and still remembers racing his NZ Moth (sail number 150) in the club’s heyday — Wally cut the cake and took the first piece. Sixty years of Stump Bay. As Toad of Toad Hall (Wind in the Willows) might say, “There is nothing quite so much fun as mucking around in small boats.”

The whole show was packed up “like a well-oiled machine,” and the competitors were safely home before dark on Sunday, 22 March — a stated goal of the club — with the venue fully secured by 2.30pm.

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The Turangi Yacht Club extends thanks to the Tokaanu Maritime Trust, who allow use of Matuku, their patrol tender set up by Turangi Marine. The Trust also contributed to the BBQ meal and are sponsoring the club a mark update this year.

The club also has support from the Turangi-Tongariro Sports Foundation, who allow them the use of their new 6m x 3m gazebo and several of their SUP (stand up paddle boards) for recreational use, and the club purchased “Event” signage flags.

Wally also gives a nod to the Turangi office of the Taupo District Council, who opened and cleaned the changing rooms for the entrants and cleaned the toilets daily. “Despite being the modern equivalent of a ‘long drop’, the toilet is perfectly acceptable for the reserve’s needs, although one more would be nice for when the tourist buses stop in, hint hint.”