Organisers of Auckland’s annual on water birthday celebration, the Ports of Auckland Anniversary Day Regatta, remain positive the event will go ahead as planned on Monday 31 January 2022, even if Auckland remains at ‘red’ under the COVID-19 Protection Framework.

“The regatta itself can operate under a red traffic light”, says Regatta Executive Officer Joyce Talbot, “because for most fleets there is no requirement for participants to gather together in one place. People just get out on the water and race their boats on the day. And that’s the message we’re hoping to get out to people - Auckland has been cooped up in lockdown for so long, so this is a great opportunity to come and float your boat to celebrate the founding of the City of Sails.”

The 2022 regatta will mark the 182nd edition of the event, which has only been cancelled once in its entire history, in the year 1900, due to the war in South Africa.

Today’s Ports of Auckland Anniversary Day Regatta looks very different to the early regattas of the 1800s, where just a handful of longboats would race for a cash prize purse. Now the event features vessels of all shapes and sizes, including vintage and modern working tugboats, beautiful classic yachts and launches, paddle powered waka ama and dragon boats, foiling skiffs and kite boards, and even miniature radio controlled yachts.

Joyce is hopeful the event will see higher entries than previous years, particularly among the racing keelboat fleets.

With the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron and Royal Akarana Yacht Club planning a regatta in Auckland the week before Anniversary Weekend, it’s likely there will be more racing keelboats in the city on Anniversary Day than usual, as they would normally have traveled north for the now cancelled Bay Of Islands Sailing Week regatta.

“We were very sad to see the cancellation of Bay of Islands Sailing Week” says Joyce, “although it does mean there will probably be a lot more racing keelboats that will stick around for Anniversary Weekend rather than heading north. We’re really keen to encourage as many of them as possible to join in with racing here on Anniversary Day.”

There are a few different options for keelboat sailors too, with harbour racing starting at Westhaven, and passage races from various places in the Hauraki Gulf.

There are plenty of prizes on the line, including cash prizes based on entries for the podium positions, so the more entries there are, the higher the cash prize pool becomes.

There’s also a $1000 spot prize for one skipper who enters by 31 December, so it pays to enter early.

And of course the regatta’s historic trophy collection, which is on permanent display at the Maritime Museum, is also up for grabs.

For those staying on dry land for Anniversary Day, watching the regatta is a time-honoured family tradition in the city. One of the best viewing locations is Westhaven, where the tugboat race will start at 10am, the classic launch race at 11am, and the classic and modern keelboat races from midday.

See full details of what to see, where to watch and how to enter the regatta on the Ports of Auckland Anniversary Day Regatta website: www.regatta.org.nz.

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