Brooke Regatta features 'Wakatere'

by Sail-World on 15 Mar 2006 The Brooke regatta took place on Saturday at the Wakatere Boating Club on Auckland’s North Shore.

The regatta is held each year to celebrate the contribution made by club founder, John Brooke, to New Zealand sailing mainly in the fields of yacht design and building.

Race officer, Don Brooke described the day, this way:

'A real pleasant day with good racing, Nice to see some 20 Frostbites racing, most of then sailed by old age pensioners, or nearly so.

'The replica of the 70 year old Wakatere was officially launched by one of the Wakatere founding members, Bill Stephenson, who at ninety something years of age excused himself from actually racing the boat round the course!'

The regatta is principally a fun and participation event with a proper luncheon being provided between the morning and afternoon racing.

Star of the show was the sailing and demonstration of ‘Wakatere’ a 14 foot one design class conceived by John Brooke in 1932 as the club progressed from being a sailing canoe club into a dinghy racing club. The ‘Wakatere’ was built by Don Brooke from the original lines drawn by his father, and fitted with a similar but updated rig.

The Great Depression was in full flight at the time, and the idea was to build a cheap, light and fast boat that could be built on a co-operative basis. The result was a skimmer type, not unlike a Fireball, with narrow beam and provided a lively ride. About 100 of the Wakatere class were built. The local fleet was decimated when a cyclone hit the club, while the club fleet was left on the beach overnight.

Only a few remained, including one owned by a schoolboy who had taken his boat over the road to his home, overnight.

The club struggled through this disaster, with Brooke going onto design several other dinghies notably the Frostbite, Sunburst and Sabot classes. These formed the backbone of the club’s racing until recently when other classes became popular.

From the Brooke heritage, many of New Zealand’s top sailors at America’s Cup, Volvo and match racing developed at Wakatere, which had a close, but informal relationship with the Royal New Zealand yacht Squadron.

Both John Brooke and Don Brooke became Commodores of RNZYS, his daughter Judy is still a race officer with RNZYS, his other son Robert is a wooden boatbuilder and has been a significant force behind the wooden racing dinghy building of the classic types.

Brooke Regatta Results:

Morning Races:

Frostbites 1st. Mataitai...David Evans
Sunbursts. 1st.F M Mike and Jamie Long.

Afternoon Races:
Frostbites:
Championship.Orca...Kevin Lidgard,
1st. Footprint....Don Topliss,
2nd. Jabberwocky...Andrew Eaglen,
3rd. Frenzy...Simon Sedgley.

Sunbursts:
Championship.Jiminy....Paul and Zac Stock.
1st. Sunshine...Don and Mathew Oliver.
2nd. Good News....Bruce Yarnton
3rd. F M...Mike and Jamie Long.