Auckland Wooden Boat Festival: Bringing sailing history back to life
by Richard Gladwell, Sail-World.com/nz 21 Mar 18:14 NZDT
21 March 2026
A forest of masts - Auckland Wooden Boat Festival - March 2026 © Richard Gladwell - Sail-World.com/nz
The over 17,000 visitors who attended the Auckland Wooden Boat Festival last weekend witnessed a fabulous exhibition of the City of Sails' marine heritage.
In just its second edition, the show was very well curated, showing Auckland's Classic fleet at its best - and undoubtedly in better condition than the day they were launched.
That was probably the most amazing part of the show - the realisation that you could have been collectively viewing the fleet on a common launch day.
Jellicoe Harbour hosted two great boat shows in successive weekends, with the America's Cup Defender sailing in between. Both were hosted in Jellicoe Harbour across two sets of pontoons, the width of the harbour, with the Wooden Boat Festival hosting one of the most impressive fleets of wooden boats in the world.
Walking towards the show, our first impression was of a forest of masts, which is very unusual for a boat show, anywhere in the world, these days.
First stop was to take in the two boats which began New Zealand’s rise to prominence on the international sailing stage - the champion One Tonner, Rainbow II and the Bruce Farr-designed Half tonner Titus Canby/Tohe Candu - which placed 8th in the 1974 Half Ton Cup, sailed in La Rochelle, France.
A marina finger away, was the Woollacott-designed Ladybird - the yacht of the Blake family.
The beautiful restoration of these three yachts set the scene for the rest of the show.
There were no spare berths. Not a fibreglass boat in sight - another pinch-me moment as you stepped back 50 years or more in time.
To bring the show to life, every boat had its owner(s) or crew on board, able to chat about their craft, supported by a printed history for each boat, which was very easy to read and informative. A lot of work for the historians, but the words brought the boats back to life.
Auckland's Classic fleet, moored side by side on the outer marina, was very impressive and a tribute to John Street, who had been such a driving force behind getting these craft back to New Zealand, or rebuilt.
Ashore, in the Viaduct Events Centre, which ten days before had been bristling with the latest and future of the marine industry, now housed multiple exhibitions, and another step back in time.
The main hall, which a month earlier had housed half the SailGP foiling F50 fleet, gave way to row upon row of dinghies - mostly fully rigged, and in varying stages of restoration. All were wooden, not a sniff of carbon anywhere. Some of the sail labels had not been seen for many years, but that kind of detail underscored the show's authenticity - if you had any doubts.
Around the edges of the dinghy fleet, Ron Copeland's amazing collection of woodworking tools and boat parts was a far cry from the modern equivalents that had occupied this space ten days previously.
On Level 2, we were treated to an amazing model collection by Bruce Tantrum and Matakana Models. Tantrum's fine work is world-class and a great memorial to someone who contributed so much to sailing during his lifetime. It gave a special view of the Auckland A-class fleet, some of which were also in the marina. But others, like Ranger, could only be appreciated in model form. The rest was up to the visitor's imagination. The model collection of Pacifica and indigenous sailing craft was excellent in its detail and, like the other model collections of a later era, provided a great visual overview of their place in sailing history.
Outside the exhibition of dinghy cruisers was an interesting insight, combining newer, sail-and-small outboard-driven wooden trailer-craft with older, traditionally built, stream-inland cruising boats, surrounded by several tents featuring wooden boat building of various types.
The best-kept secret of the show was the steam tug William C Daldy, which was open for visitors and was treating young and old to a short trip around the harbour.
My only regret was allowing three hours to take in the Wooden Boat Festival - it should have been a whole day, or do a few hours on multiple days.
Congratulations to all involved in assembling this fine, world-class display.
It was a huge task, magnificently done.
The Auckland Classic Yacht Fleet
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