Blackball Maritime Society member Kara Gribble and chairman David Irvin. Photo / Michael Cunningham
Blackball Maritime Society member Kara Gribble and chairman David Irvin. Photo / Michael Cunningham
New Zealand’s first major maritime festival takes off in Whangārei’s Town Basin this weekend.
More than 1000 people are expected at the event, which has been put on by the overseas cruising yacht fraternity to thank the community.
Northland locals looked after overseas yachties that were forced to stay in the Whangārei Town Basin for up to two years due to Covid-19 and lockdowns.
More than 100 different options will be on offer at the free family two-day festival which will be held at the Town Basin this weekend, daily from 10am-5pm.
Festival activities include making tiny boats out of recycled materials at the Town Basin’s Hundertwasser Art Centre. Austrian designer Hundertwasser arrived in New Zealand by yacht and loved the sea, spending the last part of his life in the Bay of Islands.
Whangārei Town Basin-based Blackball Maritime Society chairman David Irvin (said the festival celebrated the city’s maritime spirit, which contributed significantly to the local and regional economy.
Irvin set up the Blackball Yacht Club after he first sailed into Whangārei in 2014.
About 200 overseas cruisers arrive in the Town Basin and Whangārei Harbour annually to escape the Pacific’s tropical cyclone season.
The boaties typically become members after donating to the philanthropic club, which helps young people with maritime-themed scholarships.
The maritime festival will be officially opened by Whangārei Mayor Vince Cocurullo on Friday evening. Whangārei District Council is supporting the event.
Society member Kara Gribble said it was hoped the festival would grow to become an annual, week-long event.
The attractions include a display of historic outboard motors.
A lineup of 30 boats, including Northport’s almost 14-metre long tug and a 20-metre pilot boat, will also be tied up along the basin’s dockside.
The vessels included the R Tucker Thompson, built at Whangārei Heads and Mangawhai and launched in 1985.
The ship will come up the harbour for the festival on Friday morning before being tied up alongside the Whangārei Marina office, where onboard pirate-themed action is available.
Christchurch-based international sailor Viki Moore will be running a women in sailing event on Saturday afternoon. Moore founded Women Who Sail New Zealand and runs a yacht cruising business.
Maritime-themed food will be available from canopy bridge stalls and Town Basin cafes.
A demonstration helicopter sea rescue will also feature during the festival. A Northland Emergency Services Trust crewman will be winched down to “rescue” a person from a Coastguard Whangārei boat below.
Talks and movies featuring tales from the sea will be the focus of action in the Whangārei Art Museum.
Whangārei Film Society is hosting a ticketed 1984 Roger Donaldson movie about the Mutiny on the Bounty on Thursday that features the Bounty replica built in Whangārei in the late seventies and stars Mel Gibson, Anthony Hopkins, Edward Fox, Daniel Day-Lewis and Laurence Olivier.
The replica of the ship, The HMAS Bounty that was built in Whangārei. Photo / Whangārei Film Society
Meanwhile, the festival includes a sound stage at the Town Basin’s $6.6 million Pūtahi Park with music and dancing, including band Mermaid Bait, a fire dancer and Bream Bay College’s steelpan band. Steelpan music originated in the Caribbean.
The festival will also feature the chance to build small wooden boats and sail these on a pond set up for the festival, alongside remote-controlled boats.
■ Local Democracy Reporting is Public Interest Journalism funded through NZ On Air
