Pohara Boat Club 50th birthday
Looking forward to the club’s reunion, from left: Jack Park, Brian McKenna, Trevor Dransfield, Ken Scott and Alan Kilgour. Photo: Ina Holst.
A call has gone out to all past and current Pohara Boat Club members to reunite and reminisce at the club’s 50th anniversary at the end of November.
Harbourmaster Allan Kilgour, who joined the club in 1972, said that the committee is trying to get as many members as possible for the occasion, which will feature an action-packed programme of regattas and races, speakers and live music.
Allan acknowledges the Golden Bay Cement Works’ positive contribution to the club’s existence, as well as the many committed members who kept the club afloat during the tough seventies, when it almost went into recession.
“Without the cement works, the club would not have come into existence, just like many other services, clubs and halls in Golden Bay. The patrons of the club were always the works managers of the time, and an honours board will be unveiled at the reunion to acknowledge them.
The Pohara Beach Sailing Club was created on 29 November 1960. The first clubhouse opened in 1962 between the tennis courts and the Pohara Hall, with the fundamental assistance of the cement works and the “can-do” attitude of the club members. The company’s directors agreed to donate some land and allowed the club to obtain building materials through the company’s purchasing system.
Brian McKenna, one of the very first club sailors, remembers that “a lot of it was concrete and we got the timber donated, which was untreated, from Jim Robertson. The floor was not strong enough and when we had social events we had to prop it up. When the building inspector came round to inspect it we painted it with some pinky stuff so it looked like treated timber.”
Trevor Dransfield has been an intermittent committee member since 1985. “What held it together was only the borer holding hands,” he added. “When there was a social event and you were downstairs you could see the whole floor sag. In the end we had the building condemned by the building inspector because the club wanted a new building.”
The cement works closed in 1984 and the club eventually relocated to the office block on the works site.
Members feared that the boat ramp would also close, so the club was renamed Pohara Beach Boating Club to include all the area’s various watercraft in order to give the club a bit more bargaining power.
The closure of the cement works and the associated social changes took their toll on the club, and it took many years to raise enough funds for the new building on its Tarakohe waterfront site.
The club’s many name changes over the last 50 years reflect social and technological changes. In the sixties, sailing was a traditionally male affair. While the men spent time on the water or in the shed building their craft, the women were predominantly involved in organising the social club and the fundraising events.
“There was a strong social side to the club and we had balls, cabarets, pirate days, prizegivings and Christmas dos, but there were no lady sailors in the sixties,” said Allan. “At the time, the lady’s place was in the home and they were not keen on sailing.”
Life member Ken Scott said that sailing then was a very selfish thing to do.
“You spent many hours building a boat and then you went out in it by yourself, but this changed with the trailer-sailers when the whole family could go out.”
Two-thirds of early boats were homemade, and the first were Moth-class boats. These were later replaced by optimists, trailer-sailers and keelers, followed by launches and powerboats.
Today, the club has 250 members and welcomes new ones. Allan Kilgour said that the club started to teach people sailing, and the commitment of its dedicated members had kept it going. “The junior sailing is still carried out today.”
The strongest contingent at present is the waka ama section, concluded the harbourmaster.
“It is a very successful and vibrant group of people and we asked them to become members of the club. They get involved in a lot of social events and they are the fastest growing part of our club.”
The boat club reunion will take place during of the weekend of 26 to 28 November. For information or for registration contact Allan at 525 9135.
Ina Holst
