Sailing in New Zealand-can you help?

[mickywillis]

Hi all, we are currently visiting NZ and would love to go out for a day sail.
But there is very limited choice of places to rent a small size (up to 28ft) sailboat.
Currently we are in the Nelson area of the South Island and will be here for the next few days. Our route will take us eventually up to Auckland and possibly the Coromandel Peninsula and maybe the Bay of Islands. Hopefully will be there at the end of Feb/beginning of March.
Is there anyone who reads the forum that has a boat in NZ and would be happy to take a husband and wife out for the day? We'll provide food, drinks, fuel and mooring costs for the day if you will have us. We aren't complete novices, have experience of sailing and generally don't suffer seasickness!
Or if you know someone who would be willing to loan/hire a boat for the day, we'd be happy to contribute towards running costs for the day.
Perhaps you know someone that you could put us in contact with, that would be great. or if you know a companty that will hire/rent a boat for a day, please let us know.
Reply here or pm me if you can assist.
Thanks!!

 

[Crabman]

Go down to the harbour and ask the harbour master ,failing that find a local yacht club and ask around.

Try this link http://www.nelsonsailing.co.nz/trips

http://www.hireitnow.co.nz/hire_industries/Yacht_Charter-Nelson_Marlborough.htm

Enjoy.

 

[vyv_cox]

We took a one-day skippered charter at Bay of Islands. Run by a family, they were very relaxed and I helmed all day. The trip was a bit too programmed for us and not cheap but worth it for the experience.

Recommend the bus trips along 90 mile beach. A great day out.

 

[bert49uk]

i took a trip on Americas cup boat had a great time see
http://www.explorenz.co.nz/SailNZ/index.html

 

[Kwik Decision]

A little over a year ago we chartered a Davidson 28 in the Bay of Islands for 5 days from this company:

http://www.fairwind.co.nz/

It was a bareboat charter, so we went off doing our own thing. It was excellent, highly recommended. Getting woken up by dolphins playing round the boat was priceless. I would imagine they would do a one day charter. I seem to recall they wanted a sailing CV to get an idea of the level of experience we had.

Later on in the holiday, on S Island, at Akaroa nr Christchurch, we went out for a 1/2 day with this chap, which was also great:

http://www.aclasssailing.co.nz/index.html

We were the only customers on board. Skipper was excellent, and let SWMBO hog the helm for the whole of the trip!

I'm very jelous of you being in NZ, when we're freezing in the UK. I'm sure you are having an excellent trip!

 

[Zorro]

Christchurch

If you are in the Christchurch area just pop down to Christchurch sailing club in Littleton harbour, there are many boats that you can choose to go out on all very cheap, when I was working on the cruisers there, we once had a couple of company directors fly out from the Uk to do a days sailing and the next morning fly back to the UK, the kiwis all love their sailing and are more than happy to share what they have with everyone.

 

[mickywillis]

Thanks all for rapid replies, we'll look at the websites suggested and see what we can come up with. If anyone can offer any other suggestions, that would be extremely helpful.
The weather here in NZ has been fairly changeable, whilst on the North Island we had various mixtures of grey/overcast days interspersed with warm clear days, along with 120 Km/h winds whilst in Taranaki region!! The Kiwis' are very dissappointed with the general weather this summer, but ironically enough, since the kids have gone back to school after their summer break, the weather has improved!! Sounds familiar to the UK??
Anyway, we aren't missing the cold weather and short days ( it's not dark here until 21:30 ish and they have daylight saving times as well) but concerned for the weather we see on the TV hitting the rest of Europe.
Let's hope the UK doesn't get hit by any of that and the weather improves for you!

 

[alteredoutlook]

do a google search for charter hire in the sailing popular areas Bay of islands and Queen Charlotte sound e.g. http://www.greatescape.co.nz/boats.html

This was how we chartered our two boats in 2004 - I can't remember the names of the companies we used but well worth it - particularly in Queen Charlotte Sound.

Have fun

 

[TonyS]

We had a super day on a skippered yacht where his wife did the catering at Russell in the Bay of Islands. We have recommended them to friends who also had a super time. You need a nice day but then it is simply fabulous!
Here is the link
www.kingfishercharters.co.nz

We also did most of the sailing. You can see the boat and area from their web site.

 

[Rob_Webb]

Hi all, we are currently visiting NZ and would love to go out for a day sail.
But there is very limited choice of places to rent a small size (up to 28ft) sailboat.
Currently we are in the Nelson area of the South Island and will be here for the next few days. Our route will take us eventually up to Auckland and possibly the Coromandel Peninsula and maybe the Bay of Islands. Hopefully will be there at the end of Feb/beginning of March.
Is there anyone who reads the forum that has a boat in NZ and would be happy to take a husband and wife out for the day? We'll provide food, drinks, fuel and mooring costs for the day if you will have us. We aren't complete novices, have experience of sailing and generally don't suffer seasickness!
Or if you know someone who would be willing to loan/hire a boat for the day, we'd be happy to contribute towards running costs for the day.
Perhaps you know someone that you could put us in contact with, that would be great. or if you know a companty that will hire/rent a boat for a day, please let us know.
Reply here or pm me if you can assist.
Thanks!!

Hi, welcome to NZ. I suggest you also post your question here (the nearest equivalent to the ybw forums in NZ):

http://crew.org.nz/forum/index.php

Suggest you post in both the Marinetalk and Cruisetalk forums. Who knows, you might get lucky with the offer of a ride by someone willing in Auckland...

Good luck.