Record numbers for antique boat show

A record 158 boats and a crowd of 2000 packed the shores of Lake Rotoiti over the weekend for the 25th NZ Antique and Classic Boat Show. Founder Pete Rainey says the event had all the usual ingredients - restored pleasure craft, hardy working boats, retro steam launches, and was capped off with perfect weather.

“We’ve held the show when the weather was so bad the Cook Strait Ferry couldn’t sail, we’ve turned out in gumboots and puffers, and we ran a reduced show during Covid.

“But on our 25th anniversary we had blue skies, bright sunshine and just enough wind for the sailing race – won by Nelsonian John Bailey in his Flying Dutchman dinghy in record time.”

The Jens Hansen Trophy for the best vessel overall went to a 1961 UK-built speedboat, ‘Robin’.

The 15ft boat is an Albatross Continental restored in 2023 by the current owners, the Green family of Oamaru.

“It’s a classic boat, but the twin cockpit and the rear-mounted Coventry Climax engine make it quite rare,” Pete says. “These boats were used for hire in Wanaka and Queenstown in the 60s.”

Wakefield’s Reece and Johanna Cobb are somewhat regulars at the show, and claimed the title for Best Steamboat, not for the first time. Reece bought the boat Tui, built in 1910, from Auckland and has spent time working on her since.

“I love showing it off,” he says of the 16ft clinker.

He says it was a huge surprise picking up the awards - the second coming from his display including a model of the Anchor steam ship company ship.

The overall display netted them the title of Eventiac Best Themed Display.

While he frequents both Brunner and Nelson boat shows, Rotoiti is a regular place the pair steam to the end of the lake for lunch.

Another new award was the Keith Walker Memorial Trophy for a long serving volunteer.

“We awarded it posthumously to Noel Johnson whose enthusiasm for the show was an inspiration and huge motivator for co-founder Glenn Common and myself,” Pete adds. “Noel was one of many older people who just love seeing the boats of their youth restored to be enjoyed by a new generation. That’s what the Antique and Classic Boat Show is all about.”