25 May 2000

With the turn of the millennium and with winter days upon us I thought it would be an ideal time to record some of the Club’s past. As I remember it. I understand that some of the old minutes have been lost.
In the early nineteen seventies the Northland Harbour Board, under the chairmanship of Ralph Trimmer decided to build a marina at Parua Bay and set about reclaiming the necessary land. All the boating clubs were approached and given the opportunity to secure a site on the new reclamation. Jim Waldron was the commodore at the time and the Club secured a half-acre site where the clubhouse now stands. At this time I don’t think anyone exactly knew what would be done with it when the marina was built. It seemed too be a good insurance for any eventually and the rent was cheap. OBC had a muddy ramp where there is now a small reserve half way between Onerahi and Waikaraka. They were also quick to see the potential and secured their present site.
Under the marina plan the reclamation was to be double the present area, however a marina was not to be. Investigations had shown that the mud was too soft to support a solid breakwater. In fact when the small breakwater adjoining OBC was built is sank, a second layer of rocks was piled on and that sank too. It was not until the third attempt was made that the breakwater stabilised at the required height. Bund walls and plastic filters hadn’t been heard of, and the marina idea was abandoned.
At that time Club sailing was being held at two separate venues, Kissing Point for the twenty odd p class and Kaiwaka Point for the larger centreboarders. The P’s were lined up along the road frontage of the Kissing Point clubhouse with sheets and blocks etc. all left ready for the next sailing. That could not be done today; the whole boat would probably disappear without trace.
Times however were changing, the City had grown rapidly with the building of the refinery and other industrial development and the sewerage system had not kept pace. P Class skippers became adept at not completely capsizing by stepping onto the centreboard before the cockpit filled with water and what ever else may have been floating around. The odd mainsheet, shackles and blocks were disappearing. Incidents between OYC. and the Cruising Club were increasing at Kaiwaka Point with the two Clubs laying different courses on the same stretch of water that had previously been the sole domain of the OYC thereby creating considerable ill feeling.
Something had to be done. A shift to Parua Bay seemed an answer. Four or five members had things called trailer sailers and they were active in extolling their virtues saying they were the up and coming things. Mention of a move to Parua Bay sharply divided the Club. Kissing Point was the historical heart of the Club and the strength was in its senior members who had larger yachts and launches. Many had boatshed. Parua Bay was considered too distant for centreboard racing.
On the other hand sailing conditions at both our venues was becoming untenable for different reasons. To complicate the issues, the Clubhouse was in need of major maintenance and members were seeking an overdue upgrade. The roof was leaking and we had poor kitchen facilities. There was also the recurring problem of the whole lot threatening to fall into the Harbour.
There was only one answer. Two venues. Do up Kissing Point as headquarters and develop Parua Bay for the sailing. Which to do first? Another division of opinion. Answer, do both at the same time. The problems seemed insurmountable. As commodore it was about this time that my first grey hair appeared. The Club was in good financial shape   to do one or the other, but possibly not both. We did however have a valuable freehold asset, Manganese Point.
Manganese Point was previously owned by Club benefactor, ‘Skipper” Patterson who ran popular harbour trips to this secluded bush clad beach hideaway. There was no road within miles. Passengers were unloaded onto his jetty to spend the day swimming and relaxing or the night partying. With the outbreak of the WW2 Skipper decided it was time to dispose of the land and ‘sold’ it to the Club for the princely sum of sixty pounds.
Hours were spent with our cautious Treasurer, the late Don Brewer juggling figures. A multi pronged course of action was decided upon. This involved floating debentures, taking out advanced subscriptions and raising money in any way possible including cake stalls and jumble sales. By doing this we could afford to service the necessary loan from the National Bank secured against Manganese Point.
It was all systems GO. Almost every member contributed something towards the projects. Builders, plumbers, carpenters, block layers, labourers on one sort or another materialised from our membership, while some organised fundraising of various sorts. Others arrived with materials. Jeeves Builders had a wrong coloured tile roof arrive for one of their houses. It fell off the back of a truck at Kissing Point with little cost to us. Two tenants moving into the newly developed Centre point Arcade would not take up the premises unless the purple carpet was removed. We obliged. Keith Hay put up their office building at Springs Flat for tender. We secured this at a very competitive price for Parua Bay.
The result of this was that we came in considerably under budget and our bank loan was less than anticipated. The only glitch was the ramp at Parua Bay. Our builder had donned gumboots and taken off levels at low spring tide setting levels out so that the ramp finished level with the dredged bottom. The Harbour Board had other ideas and engineers were never wrong. Or are they? On their insistence, their levels were adopted and excavation done, boxing started, and metal poured.  And Yes! The toe of the ramp would be about a foot above the dredged bottom. Out if it all came, our builder levels adopted and the metal replaced.
Soon after all this was completed, the area from Limeburners Creek to the Port was declared unfit for any water contact sport, due to sewage pollution. Luckily we had moved the P Class to Parua Bay. Unfortunately the numbers fell, this may have just been a swing of the pendulum but numbers have never been quire the same.
With the centreboard yachting moving, the Club put forward the idea of pole mooring sat Kissing Point. These were to be financed by mooring holders, several members had expressed interest. A plan was drawn up and submitted to the Harbour Board. After a brief period we were called to a meeting by the Board and asked if we would agree to the Board doing the development. Agree! We were delighted. We had enough on our plate and the Harbour Board was three times the size of the proposed Cruising Club proposal, and it would require considerable dredging. This would help the boat sheds owners. The dredging also meant we would have deeper water at our jetty. This would give us the opportunity to gain more members from the moored boats, particularly if we provided a gangway and pontoon for access to the clubhouse and parking.
Once again members support was willing. Harold Hume, who died some years ago, built the present gangway and modified the pontoon almost single-handed. Culham Engineering had just finished a bridge contract at Waipu and ha a surplus pontoon. We made what we considered a rather cheeky offer, which was accepted. The only bill we received was for its cartage from Waipu.
Membership increased quite rapidly with the predicted increase of ‘Trailer Sailers’. We had negotiated for additional land at Parua Bay, more than doubling the size of the site, before we started building. The Trailer Sailers formed their own squadron and there were some fears that the y may have spilt off to form their own group. Fortunately this never happened and the additional land was taken up.
In the late 1970’s an offer was received to sell the manganese Point land. An Extraordinary General Meeting was called. The meeting was mainly attended by the newer members of the Club, who could see the monetary advantages of no debt, plus a substantial sum to invest or put aside for a new clubhouse. The motion to sell was passed without dissension. This called an absolute uproar from older members threatening to take all sorts of action.
The Committee decided to seek the advice of our solicitor.  He felt that the wording if the notice of motion for the meeting could be questioned. It was therefore decided to readvertise and hold a second meeting. This meeting attracted considerable media attention resulting the in e clubhouse being packed to the doors. The motion to sell was soundly defeated. I think that at the time, yours truly, who moved the motion may have been hung, if there had been a yardarm handy.
I am glad to have survived theses sometimes controversial issues, and was proud of the opportunity to serve again as Commodore in the late nineties. This was not without it’s problems with serious fallout with our then secretary. During my second tern as commodore our committee’s main work involved getting deferred projects underway or completed and working on a new wish list.
One of the projects that various committees have been trying to achieve over a twenty-year period was the legal access to Manganese Point. Through a chapter of errors the property had been illegally land locked when the new road was put in by the now dissolved Neill Housing Ltd. Prolonged meetings with the office of the DLR, councillor, planners, finance controller and surveyors achieved agreement at last and the club now have access.
I have now been away for two years. I am amazed at what has been achieved in this short time and delighted that the impetus has been maintained.