As the Coastal Classic fleet heads for Russell on 23 October, a smaller fleet will turn towards Kawau for the third Spring Splash: island racing, a river trip to the Matakana markets, classic boats and evenings at the club.
Labour Weekend traditionally marks the start of the summer boating season, and on Friday 23 October two fleets will head off for very different weekends afloat. The PIC Coastal Classic fleet will set off on its 119-nautical-mile run to Russell. Another fleet will leave Westhaven for Bon Accord Harbour on Kawau Island, where the Spring Splash runs through to Labour Day.
Kawau Boating Club and Ponsonby Cruising Club are hosting the Spring Splash for the third time, and Waitemata Woodys will again bring the classic wooden boat community into the weekend. The weekend also marks Kawau Boating Club’s reopening for the season. The club says new operators are running the clubhouse bistro, which returns with a refreshed look and an updated menu.
Friday’s rally north starts off Westhaven at noon and ends with a welcome function at the club that evening.
The first Spring Splash in 2024 brought a harder passage north than many had expected. Waitemata Woodys founder Alan Houghton described the conditions as “character building for the skippers and testing for the craft”. He wrote that the only other boats he saw on his way north were Coastal Classic yachts that had pulled out and were heading back to Auckland. That year’s Saturday island race was cancelled because of high winds. The following year brought a more upbeat weekend, with Houghton reporting an event still growing.
Saturday morning is for the tenders. Between 9am and 11am, crews can join the Matakana Markets River Cruise for coffee, breakfast or brunch ashore. Back at Kawau, the Mount Gay Around the Islands Race starts at 1pm and takes the fleet out among the islands and reefs beyond the harbour, with dinner and drinks at the club afterwards.
Later on Sunday morning, classic launches and cruising yachts gather off the club wharf for a lap of Bon Accord Harbour. Houghton counted 17 classic launches in last year’s parade, watched by crews at anchor and people on the waterfront. At 1pm, the Nautica Shipping & Logistics Short Island Race sends the sailing fleet around a tighter course, and prizegiving follows at the club from about 5.30pm.
The racing is deliberately relaxed. PCC handicaps the fleet, giving family cruisers and quicker race boats a chance to compete for the prizes.
Monday is a slower finish, with breakfast ashore before anchors come up for the cruise home.
The clubhouse traces back to 1954, when the original Kawau Island Yacht Club opened its clubrooms on land the Lidgard family made available. The present Kawau Boating Club reopened the building at Labour Weekend in 2014. This year, the long weekend will again mark the start of its summer season.
Entries close at 4pm on Thursday 22 October, through Ponsonby Cruising Club at pcc.org.nz/springsplash.
