Legends of maritime heritage come together for 2026 Auckland Wooden Boat Festival

Auckland Wooden Boat Festival - March 2024 © Richard Gladwell - Sail-World.com/nz

The line-up of boats, activities and exhibitors in next month’s Auckland Wooden Boat Festival has been revealed.

Majestic A-class yachts with B-Class and K-Class beauties. Classic launches and old-school work boats, and a treasured restored scow. An Australian ‘Couta’ boat, a converted fishing trawler, cruising boats with stories to tell, and passage yachts that have been the places dreams are made. Iconic racing legends from decades past, and just about every rig configuration you can imagine.

More than 100 of New Zealand’s best examples of maritime history will be on display at the upcoming Auckland Wooden Boat Festival. And that’s just on the water.

The visual treats – and more boats - will continue off the water. Festival activities, demonstrations and displays include Pacific navigation, live boat building demonstrations, antique engines, author signings, sail making, knot tying, and displays of historic tools and artefacts, as well as 70 model boats and a collection of working steam engines. There’ll even be a wheelhouse from the Toroa steam ferry, which once carried passengers around Auckland and is currently under restoration.

Visitors will be able to climb onboard the William C Daldy, explore the Percy Vos Boat Yard, immerse themselves in talks at the New Zealand Maritime Museum Hui Te Ananui a Tangaroa, and even try their hand at sailing or go for a boat ride.

Starting on Friday evening 13 March, the free Auckland Wooden Boat Festival is a flagship of Moana Auckland, New Zealand’s Ocean Festival, and is proudly supported by Auckland Council Events and more than thirty clubs and groups from the maritime world.

Following a successful inaugural festival in 2024 that attracted around 10,000 visitors, the Auckland Wooden Boat Festival will once again transform Auckland’s city waterfront into a lively festival hub and a sea of wooden boats.

The festival takes place across three days and four iconic waterfront venues: Viaduct Events Centre, Jellicoe Harbour, New Zealand Maritime Museum and the historic Percy Vos Boat Yard.

This year’s theme celebrates the story of timber – kauri in particular – and how its strength and resilience has lent itself to the story of New Zealand’s classic boat fleet, believed to be the largest fleet of original boats still sailing in the world.

“The Auckland Wooden Boat Festival is a living showcase of all things maritime that reflects the city’s story,” says co-director Michelle Khan-Stevenson. “If you are coming, you will get to enjoy a mix of delightful experiences as hundreds of people from the boating community come together to make this event happen.”

This year, the festival has expanded to include the iconic Percy Vos Boat Yard, fully restored and open to the public. Inside, visitors will find Maori and Pacific waka building as a living tradition, including the final stages of a waka hourua in creation by master carvers and artists. The New Zealand Traditional Boatbuilding School will build a kauri clinker Frostbite dinghy live in front of visitors’ eyes, offering a rare chance to see traditional techniques up close.

In partnership with the New Zealand Maritime Museum, the festival will also feature a programme of short films, talks and seminars, offering insight to the stories, skills and innovation behind wooden boats.

The Auckland Wooden Boat Festival 2026 is on 4-8pm Friday, 13 March and 10am-5pm Saturday, 14 and Sunday, 15 March 2026 across four venues: Viaduct Events Centre, Jellicoe Harbour, New Zealand Maritime Museum and Percy Vos Boat Yard. Entry is free.

For the full programme go to www.aucklandwoodenboatfestival.co.nz