AWAROA BAY—AN APPRECIATION

Auckland Star, Volume LXI, Issue 228, 26 September 1930, Page 14

AWAROA BAY—AN APPRECIATION

Next to Mansion House Bay, Kawaa, easily the most popular rendezvous for a week-end race is Awaroa Bay, Waiheke, some sixteen miles from the King's wharf. Here it is that the crews of competing yachts and motor boats, together with their lady friends, come ashore after the race and foregather at Gordon's Hall and spend a pleasant evening with music and dancing. This club was the first to inaugurate a dance after a cruising race. One of its former commodores suggested it, and carried it out so successfully that it became an annual event, and one which other clubs also found to be popular with their members. With the growth of the motor boat and the entry of the fair sex into the sport in greater numbers, the annual dance at Awaroa Bay is more popular than ever. Not a little measure of this popularity is due directly to the hospitality always shown to yachtsmen by the members of the Gordon family, to whom the hall belongs. When first held, the hall was only a woolshed, and sometimes was half-filled with the golden fleece, necessitating special care on the part of smokers. The trust was never abused and the old North Shore Club dances often drew an attendance from residents down the Waiheke Passage and from the top end and inland, while on two occasions the well-known Thames motor boat Pirate came up with a full crew, who augmented the musical programme very materially. It was quite a common sight to see seventy or eighty boats anchored in the bay overnight. The reflections of their riding lights as the boats dipped and swung to a dying southerly roll, with masts and hulls touched by the gleam of the moon rising clear of the eastern hills, formed one of the sights which linger in one's memory. Even if dinghies did get a b.it mixed up after the dance ended, and all had partaken of supper at the. homestead, the sheer beauty of the whole scene put everyone in a good humour, and the most energetic crews were soon souud asleep. A general scatter took place next morning, depending on the strength and direction of the wind. If westerly, boats could be seen quietly slipping out early and making for Brown's Island or to leeward of Cigar Rock, East Tamaki. Motor boat owners took things more leisurely, and did not get away until after lunch. Awaroa Bay still holds its early preference with clubs who cater for their lady members, and the Gordons' hospitality is unabated.