75 Years On: Remembering the 1951 Wellington-Lyttelton Race
This month marks the 75th anniversary of one of the darkest days in our club's history.
On 23 January 1951, twenty yachts set out from Clyde Quay bound for Lyttelton in a race celebrating Canterbury's centenary. Several boats from our fleet were among them, with RPNYC members helping to tow yachts to the starting line that morning. What should have been a celebration turned to tragedy when a violent southerly storm swept through Cook Strait.
Only one yacht, Nelson's Tawhiri, finished the race. Two boats were lost with all hands—the Banks Peninsula yacht Husky, and our own Argo, skippered by RPNYC member John Young. Ten sailors never came home, six of them aboard Argo.
The subsequent inquiry heard that Argo's bobstay was damaged in a collision at the start, and that a critical weather warning broadcast that morning had gone unheard by the fleet.
The Sunday Star-Times has published a comprehensive piece marking this anniversary, including accounts from descendants of those involved and news of Tawhiri's ongoing restoration.
You can also read more about this tragedy on our club history page and explore archival documents from the inquiry at the Wellington Classic Yacht Trust.
We remember those we lost.
