Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Lake Te Anau, New Zealand

When I did the post about scow Moths, I linked a video from marakurasailing . The sailing waters looked spectacular, with the sailboats racing against the backdrop of the surrounding snow covered mountains, so much so that I did some Internet research. The Marakura Sailing Club is based at the south end of Lake Te Anau , deep down the South Island of New Zealand. The lake abuts the Fiordland National Park.

From Iain Campbell, Commodore of the Marakura Sailing Club;

About us

Marakura Yacht Club is one of the more southerly clubs in NZ. we have a membership of just over 100 of which half is very active and the rest is made up of social members and casual sailors who turn up as work and family commitments allow. Sailing on Lake Te Anau can be a cold affair at times. our season runs from september to late april and the lake temp ranges from 8 to 10 Celsius in the early part of the season to 15 in the warmest part.

There are a wide range of boats within the club ranging from optimists and p-classes that the kids sail and lasers, hobies, and paper tigers through to a variety of trailer yachts. most of the racing takes part in the bay area directly in front of the club which is located just metres from the lakes edge. there are races however that go up into some of the more remote parts of the lake.

The lake itself has a shore line of nearly 500km and has a large number of extremely remote areas reaching out into the mountains of fiordland national park. If anyone is coming this area from anywhere else in the world they are most welcome to contact myself via youtube or direct through the clubs email address which is iain@marakura.org.

Cheers
Iain Campbell aka marakurasailing


Well, if I ever make it to NZ, Marakura Sailing Club will be tops on my list.

Another video from Iain;

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