We joined Alan and David in Wellington today and enjoyed a very nice row into Te Papa for a coffee. 

Kind of fitting that we had one of Tawera groups projects as a back drop. 

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 photos from Mahurangi and a couple of the Auckland Anniversary day regatta.

Another fine Mahurangi regatta. We took a load of new people out for rows, showed off a bit of pace with some sprints up and down the beach and rowed out to watch some very exciting classic yacht racing.

Mark Robinson (St Ayles builder extraordinaire ) took out first equal in the small dinghy rowing race, Rowing a lovely little clinker he designed and built.

A great row up the harbour today to watch the Centreboard cup. Including a stop off at Johns for coffee on the lawn and a visit to Watchman island to watch the racing. Round trip about 11 nm rowing. 

This Weekend a group of us based ourselves at Sanspit holiday park Friday night and set off to Kawau for a day trip on Saturday.

It was an easy row over in the morning with a moderate wind slightly aft and apart from a brief shower we cruised the 5nm in a bit over 1 hr 20min.

Plan was to catch up with these guys who were having a mini raid to Kawau weekend, A nice little collection of John Welsford boats who cruised over friday afternoon and camped at Lidgard bay sleeping aboard on the beach.

After a great lunch at the Kawau boating club we rowed up to Mansion House to sit on the lawn in the sun and build up our strength for the row home. The row home turned out to be a good test for the St Ayles, It was gusting to 28 knots from the WSW by the time we left and a fairly decent chop was running in the first leg to the Mayne islands. After a solid 30 mins working hard we sneaked into the shelter of the first island for a well deserved rest, then continued on the slog in just over 2 hours we were pulling into the beach at Sandspit, a bit sore and tired but considering the sea state and the solid wind feeling pretty chuffed. Its a testament to the fine work of the original builders of the Shetland island boats and the great work of Iain Oughtred in his interpretation that we were able to average 2.5knots into that weather with only 3 rowing. The total amount of water that came onboard wouldn’t have been enough to fill the bailer.

Sunday Morning and we hauled Frank Worsley out of the water and joined some more friends at Warkworth town basin for a leisurely row down the Mahurangi river and back. The wind was still fresh outside so it was a good choice for an easier row after Saturdays effort.

Exploring the historic cement works.

A pretty great weekend, Two excellent rows with great friends within one hours drive of Auckland and a new appreciation of the sea keeping ability of the St Ayles.

A group of mates are organising a cruising in company trip in the Marlborough Sounds, Could be a great opportunity for some rowing in company..

read all about it here: http://kenepurucapers.weebly.com

It takes more than a bit of rain to keep us off the water!

Despite hiding beneath the Pohutukawa trees for a bit of shelter, we were rewarded with some beautiful weather between the showers.

Hard to imagine this is the same day, Judges bay, so close to the city centre and so sheltered.

Well worth getting out of bed on a Saturday morning for…

Absolutely stunning mid winter row this morning…

3 boats 12, Rowers and a very cold clear crisp windless morning.

We paid a visit to the maritime museum and hoped to grab a quick coffee but they weren’t open and the grumpy security guard shooed us away. Apparently you need authorisation to tie up there……bollocks

So we left and went back to the more relaxed and friendly Royal Akarana Yacht Club for coffee and refuelling.

Our Saturday morning rows are growing all the time despite the winter weather, there is still plenty of great days on the water to be had, If you’d like to join us simply get in touch. details on the contact page.