The 25th NZ Antique and Classic Boat Show held at Lake Rotoiti in the Nelson Lakes National Park over the weekend (March 1-2) had all the usual ingredients - restored pleasure craft, hardy working boats, retro steam launches and was capped off with perfect weather.

“We’ve held the show when the weather was so bad the Cook Strait Ferry couldn’t sail, we’ve turned out in gumboots and puffers and we ran a reduced show during Covid,” said founder Pete Rainey. “But on our 25th anniversary we had blue skies, bright sunshine and just enough wind for the sailing race – won by Nelsonian John Bailey in his Flying Dutchman dinghy in record time.”

The Boat Show just keeps growing, with a record 158 boats and a crowd of two thousand drawn to St Arnaud.

The Jens Hansen Trophy for the best vessel overall went to a 1961 UK-built speedboat, ‘Robin’. The 15ft boat is an Albatross Continental restored in 2023 by the current owners, the Green family of Oamaru.

“It’s a classic boat, but the twin cockpit and the rear-mounted Coventry Climax engine make it quite rare,” Rainey said. “These boats were used for hire in Wanaka and Queenstown in the 60s.”

This year a new category, the Boating NZ Retro Boat Trophy, was won by a Savage Electra Glass Skiboat, built to an Australian design manufactured in Christchurch in the 1970s. The boat is completely original including the seats and bimini (awning). The ironically named ‘Tugboat’ was repowered in 2020 and is owned by Duncan Eliot of Havelock North.

Judge Tim Porter from Boating NZ said doing up a retro boat gives people an affordable way to get out on the water: “Fibreglass never dies, the retro colours are popular and people just like being reminded of the 60s and 70s.”

Another new award was the Keith Walker Memorial Trophy for a long serving volunteer.

“We awarded it posthumously to Noel Johnson whose enthusiasm for the show was an inspiration and huge motivator for co-founder Glenn Common and myself,” Rainey said. “Noel was one of many older people who just love seeing the boats of their youth restored to be enjoyed by a new generation. That’s what the Antique and Classic Boat Show is all about.”

Full list of awards:

Jens Hansen Cup for best vessel overall: Robin, Green family, Oamaru.

Boating NZ Retro Boat Trophy: Tugboat, Duncan Eliot, Havelock North

People’s Choice, by popular vote: Firebird, Matthew Rigden, Kawakawa

Best New Craft: Bonnie Moon, Neil Moon, Richmond

Best Restoration: Gull, Dick and Rita Hall, Picton

Port Nelson House Parts best rowed craft: Queen Mary, Ross Beech, Blenheim

CWF Hamilton Trophy best jet-propelled craft: Dowty Turbocraft, Geoff Neutze, Christchurch

Johnson Family Trophy best sail powered craft: Flashdance, John Bailey, Nelson

Mathieson/Jeffcott Trophy best motor-powered craft: Bluebird, Kim Henderson, Havelock North

Best outboard motorboat: Haines Hunter, Alan Smith, Westport

Best American craft: Monty, Jacob Whittaker, Picton

Best clinker craft: Jean, David Meier, Nelson

Spectacular paint job award: Casper, Philip Andrew, Wellington

Keith Walker Memorial Trophy for a long serving volunteer: Noel Johnson (awarded posthumously)

Best Steamboat and the Eventiac best themed display: Tui, Reece & Johanna

Cobb, Wakefield

Photo credit : Joseph Harrison