Club News & Events

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Broad Bay Boat Club 2026/27 New Season Newsletter

Some great progress has been made on the Rebuild this year; with some great work being done by the fundraising committee, the club has secured the finance to put the last few piles in  (now completed) and begin work on the decking of the wharf. Soon we will be able to walk on it! This is great news and real milestone for the club rebuild. Not all the decking is to go on at this stage. We will leave the areas to be occupied by the future club rooms undecked for the moment. This will result in a usable newly decked area will be sectioned off and made safe with handrails all round. This progress will give members a great perspective of the project and the space the future club building will occupy.

Many of you have noticed the deteriorating state of the adjacent DCC car park. Some of the potholes are so big that after rainstorms we considering having yacht races in them! However in the new year the council is going to reseal the car park, which is great news so more skidding when you launch your boat! Thanks to Paul Pope for chasing this up with the DCC. The ramp itself is now regularly water-blasted by the council which has reduced the slime and made it safer.

We had another excellent sailing season last year and a great Principal Day supported by our friends from Port Chalmers yacht club and Mac Andrew Bay Club. Principal Days are always special and theirs great camaraderie between clubs. Port Chalmers members being especially supportive. Boats are always looking for crew members and there are plenty of club boats for members to race in if you haven’t got one yourself.

The real area of club growth at the moment is the extra activities we do. This last year we had combined sailing lessons for both Portobello and Broad Bay Schools. Many thanks to Daniel who co-ordinated these and the tireless Pieter Besuijen who taught the kids sailing skills. These lessons where useful as we able to get some parents in the safety boats and give tuition on driving and handling power boats as well. We had a limited season with Bayfield High school due to inclement weather in the summer term. However these activities will go ahead again this season with demand high for sailing lessons.  Soon we offer sailing lessons for the general public.

We will also start Monday night sailing on fine days in a few weeks. This will take the form of club members using their own boats to take people out, such is the need.

Sailability had a couple of good events last season. Very well attended and usually skippered by the clubs young sailors. So if you’d wondered where they got to you invariably find them on the Sailability days doing fine public service. Great to see. It is interesting to watch the club grow in this area away from tradition activities and it shows you where we might be in the future and how we will serve the peninsula community. On a number of occasions last season, the club had events; schools on Friday evening, Sailability on Saturday, Racing on Sunday and Bayfield on Monday. Great use of the facilities and heartwarming to see the club being used in this way. And remember you can always come down and join in. Take one of the club boats out sailing or go on the safety boat. We always need more people and its great fun on the water with like minded people.

As a club we are experiencing and influx of new members, We are hoping to get more kayaks for the club, as there is big interest in these and paddle-boarding. Remember always to wear a lifejacket (of which club has many). We are very keen on water safety only last week our safety boat was involved in saving a local boat that came adrift.

If you want to be more involved we are always looking for crew on race days or safety boat people. Especially launching and retrieving boats for our elderly sailors. Also, if you’re up for it the committee needs more members, there’s lots of stuff to do. Several committee members have expressed the clubs views on local maritime issues to both the ORC and DCC councils in past year as well affiliated yachting organisations. For a little club we punch above our weight and this is important for the rights of users of our waterways and the community as a whole. We are obviously still fundraising for the new building and you still donate or buy a pile (only $1000) to help us out.

Finally, I’d also like to thank Fulton-Hogan for their for their wonderful work on the wharf, they seem to do everything they can to keep our project moving along and also Dunedin Marine Centre for generously servicing our safety boats for free.

Remember our working bee is 10 am Sunday 13 September and the racing programme starts on Sunday 20 September. .... See Sailing Programme

Get involved ~~~~~

Current Trophy Holders - 2026

• Tui Westrupp The Hartley Cup      Best-in-class award

• Peter McGrouther C A Hart Trophy  Most Line Honours Award

• Pieter Besuijen T J Hart Trophy     Best Overall Award! 2 Handicap wins

    Competing in all the events

• Alec Sinclair Challenge Cup Finishing his sailing days in style, now ready to take on new challenges

• Daniel Ashton Potter Prize Daniel Ashton – Rookie of the year. Consistent Crewing and learning the ropes

Special Recognition Certificates:

• Pieter Besuijen - For your tireless service to youth training and yacht maintenance

• Ann Shacklady-Smith – For exceptional work in collating funding applications and promoting the club to funders

• Ruth Seeney – For always doing the hard yards.

• Thank you for your time on the Funding Group. 

• Otago Business Equipment - For supporting our fundraising events for both the BBBC and Sailabilty Otago

• Dunedin Marine Centre – Thank you, Pierre, for your continued support of the boat club.

• Lynn Cooke – For exceptional service to the club and the wider sailing community 

Maritime History - 150yrs Port Chalmers

With the theme of 'Precious Cargo' the Maritime Museum reopens as part of OTEPOTI DUNEDIN HERITAGE FESTIVAL 2024 - more details here

Club Notices:

• Important notice: The slipway and wharf area is intended for the launching and retrieval of trailered boats and craft on trolleys only. This is the maximum load limit. Also, please avoid tying up large to the wharf as it’s still under construction. 

• New Season - Community Sailing, Monday evenings from 5.30pm - TBA. Community Sailing has been very popular with the junior fleet. We also encourage senior and family members to get their craft on the water for some R&R. Including power boaters and kayakers etc. Hope to see you on the water