Reliving sailing history at the Bay of Islands

The lovely Logan classic Aorere competing for the Horton Trophy on February 4, 1911. She will be in action next month contesting the Marlinspike Trophy. Picture / Auckland War Memorial Museum

There is no more appropriate setting for an exercise that revives the seamanship skills of our past than the Bay of Islands.

On November 5 the first Marlinspike Seamanship Trophy will be contested out of Paihia, where sealers, whalers and other hardy marine types made the Bay infamous from the early 1800s.

Organised by Jay Lawry, founder of the New Zealand Maritime Restoration School Trust, the Marlinspike extends to on-the-water action the principles on which the trust was set up in 2001.

These include teaching the skills of restoring, maintaining and building classic yachts and other vessels.

To this end the school would put together a fleet of restored watercraft that would teach seamanship and navigation skills as well as boatbuilding. These aims have largely been achieved.

Marlinspike evolved from the seamanship work ethic. Contestants must complete a set of tasks that require excellent expertise and boat-handling skills, combined with swift and efficient crew work.

"We are celebrating the principles of water transport of a bygone era, where the importance of getting a cargo to market safely outweighed the danger of risking everything in the search for speed," says Lawry.

"The idea is to have boats from an earlier time that are capable of both great speeds as well as close-quarters handling, performing the tasks that were part of daily life afloat when the nation was being settled."

It is not going to be easy. This is the format devised by Lawry and fellow-organiser Terry Dunn, the charter operator who owns the 1892 Logan cutter Aorere which will be a contestant.

* Start: One person from each boat will be on the beach in front of the start tent. All other crew will be on board the anchored boats which can have sails hoisted. From the gun the dinghy will be rowed to the anchored boat and attached to the anchor rope as the boat sails off the mooring.
* Race: After rounding designated channel markers, each boat must complete a man overboard drill while under sail.
* Reefing: Having completed the drill, contestants must sail toward Cater Bay and take a reef while underway, sail reefed to a transit mark then shake out the reef.
* Backwards: After clearing Cater Marine buoy and clear of other vessels, the skipper must bring the ship head to wind and sail backwards for three boat lengths before proceeding.
* Know-how: On the beach at the start each contestant will have been given a set of nautical questions. These must be answered during the race and handed in on completion of the course.
* Anchoring: After sailing back on to the anchor each contestant must stow sails and make the boat shipshape before rowing ashore.
* Finish: The skipper and all crew must be on the beach together before crossing the finish line. The time of each contestant will be recorded when the entire crew has crossed the line and the question sheet has been handed to the race officer. Incorrect answers and points not gained through the drills will be converted into minutes added to the finish time.

A bronze marlinspike trophy on a varnished plinth has been created as a perpetual trophy.

Lawry and his team hope that the race will draw challengers from Auckland and further south for next year and beyond. He is particularly keen that some of the classic fleet, including one or two boats from the Classic Yacht Charitable Trust put together by John Street and his team, get to show off their seamanship skills.

Aorere is the oldest starter for 2005. The others include four mullet boats, the yawl Korere, the cutter Iris, the ketch Tern and the sloop Moonlight Sonata.

Others are still pondering the decision to take part.