_________________ PLEASANT POINT YACHT CLUB __________________

Amongst the pile of books I usually have on the go is: 'Memories of Pleasant Point Yacht Club - 1921 - 1980' by Ray O'Brien. Ray is an old friend and stalwart of the club who now lives in Whangarei not far from where I live. The book is a history of our old yacht club on the banks of the Christchurch estuary in the South Island of New Zealand.

So far as sailing goes this is my Turangawaiwai - ( A Maori concept of relatedness and belonging, meaning "The Place where I stand" ).

My formative sailing years in this stretch of water has provided me with many life long sailing skills. I sailed a P Class (Elusive) and an OK Dinghy (Okere) there in the 1960s.

 

In 2010 and 2011 Christchurch was hit by devastating earthquakes wrecking much of the city and changing parts of the physical landscape. The land on which the Pleasant Point Yacht stood sank several metres. On the first high tide and every subsequent high tide after the 2011 quake the yacht club was inundated with water. This was to be the end of the road so far as this site was concerned for the club.

One sad day the demolition crew moved in at low tide and the yacht club that had stood on this land for nearly 100 years was demolished.

This photograph of the PPYC in its prime (and at half tide) is how I remember the way it once was. I did a lot of sailing at low tide. Cruising around the winding channels among the sand banks as far as the bar entrance at Sumner was as interesting and testing as any fleet racing at high tide.

The good news is that new club rooms are being built in the South New Brighton domain in the area of the pine forest on the left in the above photograph. I wish the club well in this new beginning.

A future goal is to take my Zephyr 'Slipstream' back to my Turangawaiwai sometime soon and sail again on my old proving ground of the Christchurch estuary. It will be good to visit the PPYCs new club rooms and facilities on its new site. Perhaps they won't mind an old club member racing his boat with them. I will certainly be exploring the area where the old club once stood.