Auckland Wooden Boat Festival

160 boats to be displayed at inaugural Auckland Wooden Boat Festival

From tiny model boats, perfect in every detail through to a steam tug that helped build the Auckland Harbour Bridge, to our most famous race yachts:

more than 160 boats will on display at the Jellicoe Harbour in Auckland’s Viaduct from 1-3 March for the Auckland Wooden Boat Festival.

“We put out a call for owners of wooden boats to let us know if they were keen to be involved and the response was overwhelming,” says Tony Stevenson, co-director of the Auckland Wooden Boat Festival.


Ranger – A class champion from 1938 to 1967 is crossed by the AC75 and America’s Cup champion Te Rehutai – – photo © Richard Gladwell / Sail-World.com

The list includes an electrified classic launch, a full line up of A-Class gaff-riggers, and sloops/cutters including Ranger, Innismarra, Tawera, Little Jim, and a selection of lake boats. Original boat building tools used by the Logan Brothers will be on display, and sail makers will show how they stitch sails for the famous vessel Ngataki.

Dozens of smaller boats will be displayed inside the Viaduct Events Centre in a fully rigged state and dozens more will be berthed in Jellicoe Harbour so that visitors can get close – and in some cases, even climb aboard.

“There will be some incredible boats, real works of art, on display,” says Stevenson. He says that the festival will feature collections from some of the country’s most famous maritime designers and builders: Logan and Baileys to Spencer, Townson, Lidgard, Brookes and many more.

“These are the people who made New Zealand the yachting powerhouse it has been. They did amazing things with boat building, creating light, fast, world-leading boats using the best materials and the best boat building practice.”

He says that boats like Team New Zealand’s AC75 are the end result of this decades-long journey in boating excellence.

“It’s been in our DNA all along.”

Some of the boats on display are immaculate– others show their age and patina.

“The Rona, built in 1892 for Alexander Turnbull is ready for restoration – which means you will see the real boat in its working state.”

Tony says that telling the stories of Auckland’s marine heritage from the very beginning is the purpose of the Auckland Wooden Boat Festival and the support from the classic boating community has been immense.

The inaugural Auckland Wooden Boat Festival is part of Moana Auckland – New Zealand’s Ocean Festival. It is organised by members of the Tino Rawa Trust and the Classic Yacht Association with the support of Tataki Auckland Unlimited, the New Zealand Maritime Museum and Eke Panuku to tell the story of Auckland’s maritime history from the early days of settlement through to today.

This is the inaugural event – which will be held every two years as part of Moana Auckland.

by Zoe Hawkins

YachtBoatNews

Recent Posts

47th Régates Royales de Cannes

Generally, the last week of September in Cannes is favourable to sailing, and previous editions…

4 days ago

Les Voiles de Saint-Tropez

The gentle majesty of sail was omnipresent in the port of St Tropez this Sunday,…

4 days ago

Multihull Cup 2025

Allegra achieved her ambition at the Multihull Cup 2025 today, taking the title by a…

4 days ago

Transat Café L’or 2025

On Sunday, October 26, at 2pm local time the 72 boats registered for the 17th…

2 weeks ago

52 Super Series

Teams on the 52 SUPER SERIES, the world's leading grand prix monohull racing circuit, head…

2 weeks ago

Womens America’s Cup

In the long, 174-year history of the America’s Cup, women have certainly played a part…

2 weeks ago