BBYC History and Sailing Heritage
Bucklands Beach Yacht Club was formed in 1949 by a few hardy pioneering centreboarders who were looking for a base for their racing which had started back in the early 1930s.
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Facilities were somewhat basic in those early years. The first clubhouse was an 8ft x 6ft plywood box that was kept behind the post-office and carried to the beach each Saturday!
The first clubrooms were built at Grangers Point in the 1959, along with a haulout reclamation. The original building is still in use for race control and as a base for the junior sailing centre. The haulout is used throughout the winter for boat maintenance.
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Back in 1975 the club presented an acceptable Clubhouse design, by Alan Warwick, a prominent yacht designer, to the Manukau City Council which was accepted by council who assisted with funding. Committees were organised and, after raising the required finance, the building of the present clubhouse was started in 1981.
A 100-berth marina was added in 1987, and the club improved by further extensions and a major kitchen upgrade. To those in the know, the bar and bistro restaurant are often referred to as “the best kept secret in Auckland”.
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Bucklands Beach Yacht Club has grown to become the biggest family club in New Zealand.
The club is justifiably proud of its achievements, having come a long way in a very short time and becoming an integral part of the community that it serves. Were those early pioneers to see how their dream has turned out they would be suitably impressed.
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Few sailing clubs in New Zealand can match the success at the highest level enjoyed by members of Bucklands Beach Yacht Club.
While priding itself on providing an opportunity to sailors of all levels, our club can rightly call itself the home of champions, with a number of our members having enjoyed notable
successes on the world stage.
Bruce Kendall followed up his bronze medal in the Boardsailing at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games by taking gold four years later in Pusan, South Korea.
His sister Barbara continued the family tradition, winning gold at the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games in the Boardsailing, making the Kendalls the first brother and sister to
have both won gold for New Zealand. Barbara went on to claim silver and bronze medals at the next two Olympics.
Continuing the club’s phenomenal Boardsailing success, Aaron McIntosh won bronze at the 2000 Sydney Games, adding to his earlier three Mistral world championship triumphs.
Joey Allen started sailing at Bucklands Beach as a child and went on to become one of Team New Zealand’s most experienced members. His most notable among many
successes was as bowman on NZL32’s America’s Cup-winning team in 1995, and again for the team’s equally historic first defence on home waters in 2000.
Brad Jackson is one of three kiwis in the world to have won the Volvo Ocean Race three times and has been part of three 24-hour monohull speed records.
Brad Marsh won the Volvo Ocean Race in 2011-12 with the French team Groupama 4 and received the overall Abu Dhabi Seamanship Award.
Ross Field in 1993/94 won the Whitbread 60 Division in Yamaha sailing under the Bucklands Beach Yacht Club burgee, an outstanding achievement.
Many other Bucklands Beach Yacht Club sailors – too many to name individually – have enjoyed success at national level.
We are proud of every success enjoyed by our talented members and hope they feel we have played some part in helping them to realise their sporting goals.
The club does all it can to continue to provide an avenue for those in search of sailing greatness and offers every encouragement to the next generation of Bucklands Beach
members keen to write their names into the New Zealand sailing history books.
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