Saturdays row was a rather foggy affair that required hugging the shoreline along the bays to St Hellier. Rangitoto island and the rest of Auckland had simply disappeared!

Not deterred by the weather, Three St Ayles skiffs embarked on a wonderful row in silky calm waters and of course the coffee was good.

After a quick road trip this weekend, Thanks to Damian and John, Wellington now has its very own St Ayles skiff, appropriately in Hurricanes yellow!

What better way to celebrate long drive to Wellington than with a quick row to stretch the muscles,

Congratulation David and Alan, It’s fantastic to have a group in Wellington

Those of you who were part of the 2016 Kiwi Raid might remember David and Alan, they joined us for the last few days and obviously hooked on this St Ayles lark returned again recently for a mini Raid to Rotoroa island where thoughts of a Wellington boat were hatched. A creative bunch those Wellingtonians they have even managed to score a shed close to the sea, appropriately named studio 5 Art Base !

For more info or if you’d like to join them for a row contact,

David Stimpson,

david.stimpson@stimpson.co.nz

A few weeks ago five adventurous rowers including two visitors from Wellington set off on a weekend jaunt, destination Rotoroa island. Formerly an alcohol rehabilitation centre run by the Salvation army, Rotoroa is now a park and wildlife sanctuary with the bonus of having excellent accommodation available. The Team left Kawakawa bay and because the weather was so fantastic decided to row up the outside of Chamberlins island also known as Ponui island arriving at the accommodation mid afternoon.

We joined them late Friday night having motored all the way from Auckland in a flat calm, perfect for rowing not so for yachts!

Saturday we joined them for a row around Ponui island, yep chasing along behind in our little nine foot plywood tender, Thankfully the St Ayles guys were in a relaxed mode and even offered us a tow for part of it!

A great weekend excursion and loads of fun tagging along in the dinghy, Just goes to show you don’t need much boat to have fun.

Well its seems like ages ago and yes Ive been a bit slack in updating these pages so stand by for a flurry of posts!

Back in February we set off for Tasmania and the mighty Living Boat Trust, marvelous bunch of like minded souls living in a little known corner of the world that apart from the weather is quite possibly boating paradise. We had come to participate in the Return Raid part of the Tawe Nunnugah. Its a bi-annual small boat adventure returning the boats from the Hobart Wooden boat festival back to Franklin, 3 nights four days of sailing, rowing, camping and generally having a great old time with wonderful friends.