The Wellington Sea Shanty Society members who are performing at The Duke of Marlborough Hotel in Russell on Saturday 26 October 2024.
Coastal Classic yacht race set to go
The PIC Coastal Classic Yacht Race from Auckland’s Devonport wharf to Russell wharf in the Bay of Islands, is New Zealand’s premier fleet yacht race.
It has been held annually at Labour weekend since its inception in 1982, with the exception of 2012 when the racing was stopped because of Covid-19 lockdown.
Last year there were 147 boats entered but this year just 100 have signed up for the 119 nautical mile event. Compared to 2018 when 165 entries competed in the event the fleet this year is considered relatively small.
Some of the reduced fleet can be put down to economic “headwinds” while a date clash with travel home meant some skippers and crew didn’t make it back in time from the 37th America’s Cup event being held in Barcelona.
This year’s fleet, though, is not without its headliners. There is at least one transformed multihull and the return of a race-winning favourite. V5 and Wired are veteran ocean racers that took line honours in 2022 and 2023 respectively.
The two boats couldn’t be more different. Multihulls love wind from the south so they can skim the waves and hopefully get away with a clean start. Monohulls like V5 favour winds from the north and can often leave the multi-hulls behind.
Organised by the New Zealand Multihull Yacht Club and starting from 9.30am on Friday, October 25, the PIC Coastal Classic is designed for speed. Except for the beginning and the end of the race, there are few opportunities to use tactics to overtake and success can often depend on getting a good start.
Adrian Percival of the New Zealand Multihull Yacht Club said this is a big race and marks the official opening of the summer sailing season.
Pothole creates comment
Mike Conning from Kerikeri is a regular contributor to Facebook. Last month he posted a comment about a “large pothole and adjacent minor ones” outside the one way exist of the New World Supermarket in Kerikeri.
He placed a request for service with Ventia and over several weeks, when the pothole grew in size, it still had not been fixed.
“I was advised by Ventia that the issue would be attended to and was also advised in addition that Kerikeri Road in that vicinity was going to be resealed next year.”
He said the repair was eventually carried out but when he next passed by and looked at the quality of the repair, he wondered how long it would be before it would need repairing again.
His post elicited a flurry of 64 responses as at the end of September. One posted that Far North District Council should be overseeing the work before payment is approved.
Another said it took “three guys in their truck and three trucks, estimate five of them, to put a hump in a rut on SH10 and they can’t even flatten it.” Another questioned whether he was getting value for money from his high property rates.
Rob Savage, contract manager for FNDC south maintenance, said the repair was temporary and was carried out until an alternative solution could be completed when conditions are drier and the road surface temperature increases.
“Temporary repairs are often carried out to hold the pavement if an alternative repair cannot be done for multiple reasons. The repair was carried out by a two-person crew, and a pilot vehicle which is required while working on the road carriageway.
“The excess metal in the channel has since been removed and the temporary repair is sufficient until an alternative repair takes place.
“We have further works programmed here for October,” he said.
Ahoy Me Hearties! Rum Festival for Russell
The Duke of Marlborough Hotel in Russell is hosting a Rum Festival on Saturday, October 26, 1pm–5pm.
Leading the proceedings is the Wellington Sea Shanty Society, made up of two but sometimes three or four members. They have been “belting out traditional sea songs around Aotearoa, France, Spain and the UK since time immemorial.” Well, since 2012.
They believe a shanty shared is a shanty savoured, so they pass out shanty song sheets so everyone can sing along.
The two-person version comprises Vorn Don’t le Pere Etait Marin from the Indie pop band Vorn and Lake Davineer. Vorn is on the squeeze box while Lake strums a git-fiddle. They can also perform as a four-piece with added drums and an extra fiddle.
According to one of them (and they don’t say who) the first W.S.S.S Shanteur was half-man, half-taniwha, half-woman, not so much born as “broke upon the land, like a rogue wave, round Makara way”.
“This mysterious progenitor soon had the whares and flophouses of Whanga-nui-a Tara awash with marine melodies and Wellington was officially a shanty town.”
The Rum Festival is held in conjunction with Black Collar Distillery located on the outskirts of Kerikeri. They produce their spirits from sustainable resources and electricity is generated from renewable sources, wind, water and sun which is run entirely from on site solar panels.
The term “Black Collar” originates from coal mines and oil fields. Black Collar workers understood the hard, physical and even frightening conditions of a day’s work - it literally stained their collars black.
The distillery began producing vodka, which won international awards from the start, and gin and rum quickly followed suit.
The Rum Festival is part of the month-long Savour Northland Events. Tickets $20 pp. www.theduke.co.nz
Still growing after 76 years
The Russell Gardening Club celebrated its 75th jubilee year last year and once again is hosting what has become a traditional floral show in the local town hall.
It began in 1948 when Elsie Lindauer, wife of the local headmaster, convened a meeting of like-minded people interested in gardening. Vincent Tothill, the local doctor, was elected president, Marion King secretary and Elsie became treasurer.
The records of the club’s first 20 years are presumed to have been lost in a fire at the home of the secretary at the time. The surviving records from 1968 show a club that met monthly, initially at the school but later at the hall of Christ Church, the oldest working church in New Zealand.
There has always been a strong emphasis on involving local school children and some of their creations are considered adventurous.
Last year there were 108 categories within the show including floral arrangements, cut flowers, trees, shrubs and climbers, roses, vegetables, fruit, pot plants, home-style preserves, baking, and crafts. New categories have been introduced for this year including a home-made bread category.
Trophies are awarded for each section and proceeds from the show are distributed to local charities. It’s been this way since the club’s inception.
Activities on the Village Green outside the Town Hall include live music, raffles, knife sharpening and stalls selling goods such as Ecotraps.
The club still meets monthly, speakers impart gardening expertise and members bring their best specimens of flowers, fruit and vegetables.
What started as occasional trips out of Russell to visit other gardens in the Bay of Islands has become a regular and popular feature of the club’s contemporary calendar.
The latest news bites from around the region.