A yachting version of The Amazing Race, the annual Coke Bottle Boat Race, dinghy relays, games on a sandbar – complete with a “bar on the bar” – and the Christmas Raft-Up.

It’s all part of the wonderfully eccentric tradition Mount Maunganui Yacht Club sailors look forward to at their annual Christmas party.

This year’s festivities on Saturday, December 13, will once again feature a unique attraction – Tauranga Harbour’s low-tide sandbar between navigation marks 9 and 13 near the Stella Passage.

Jemma with Kyle Bryant dressed as Santa near the old Mount Maunganui Yacht Club in Pilot Bay. Photo / Supplied

For sailors, the sandbar has become a natural playground – a momentary island large enough for pirates, cricket matches, relays, and an impromptu beach bar. But long before it hosted yachties’ games, this sandy mound played a key role in Tauranga’s maritime history.

Since at least 1835

The sandbar has been marked on charts since at least 1835. Known historically as Man O’ War Anchorage, Maketū Mound, and Battleship Row, it sits beside a deep anchorage favoured by ships in the 1800s.

River Rebel on Tauranga Harbour.

Tauranga maritime historian Trevor Bentley said the area was once alive with activity.

“During the Tauranga War of 1864, you could see four or five Royal Navy battleships anchored there at once,” Bentley said.

“It was a very busy harbour with ship’s boats and Māori craft – everything from utility waka tete with sails to smaller Māori sailing vessels selling fresh provisions to the troops at the redoubts and ships’ crews, and ferrying officers, passengers and military personnel back and forth.”

Today the sandbar serves a more light-hearted purpose – a temporary low-tide playground for Mount Maunganui Yacht Club’s most creative traditions, including a world-famous (to them) sandbank cricket match.

About 20 yachts joined in the annual Mount Maunganui Yacht Club Christmas party around Tauranga Harbour in 2024.

The Amazing Race

Commodore Kyle Bryant said this year’s Christmas party would again blend sailing with surprises.

“It kicks off at 10am at the old Mount Maunganui Yacht Club in Pilot Bay – the shed near the toilet block where waka ama trains,” Bryant said.

Santa Claus joining the fleet in Pilot Bay.

Sailors will come ashore in their dinghies to receive the first clue of a boating mystery hunt that sends them around Tauranga Harbour.

“It’ll be like The Amazing Race on boats,” he said.

“We’ll pick up clues to different harbour destinations – maybe Salinity for a mimosa, Ōmokoroa, Matakana. Maybe we’ll even do a bomb off the new Matakana wharf. Who knows?”

Bar on the bar

One thing’s for sure – the sandbar will feature. Low tide is about 8.25am, so landing where games, food and general fun are planned could be a challenge, Bryant said.

Kyle Bryant and Haeg Peterson on the sandbar in Tauranga Harbour.

The sandbar party has become an annual highlight, in no small part thanks to Brew Co Mount Maunganui, which is sponsoring a keg for the pop-up “bar on the bar”.

“We’re just a few pirates that like sailing together – we don’t mind,” Bryant said.

“We set up some trestles, had warm ham rolls last year. We’ll have a few games, and then keep racing, and going somewhere else in the harbour. We do lots of fun crazy stuff, that’s what it’s about.”

Races

Before the fleet heads off on their harbour challenge, crews will compete in dinghy races or relays at Pilot Bay.

“Unsure yet, maybe you can’t take all your people at once – you’ve got to ferry them back to the boat by rowing relay,” Bryant said.

Mount Maunganui Yacht Club members enjoying some Christmas party fun near the sandbar in Tauranga Harbour.

The day will also feature the club’s legendary Coke Bottle Boat Race, usually held during the Christmas Raft-Up about 4pm.

“The rules are simple: No glue and no tape. May the fastest bottle ship win,” Bryant said.

Last year the race was held at the Ōmokoroa wharf with boats rafted up on both sides and one or two anchored off.

All welcome

About 20 boats take part, including sailors from Tauranga Yacht Club who join the Mount crew for winter and summer events.

Families, newcomers, and sailors from any club are welcome. Registration is open on the Mount Maunganui Yacht Club website.

The 2024 Christmas raft-up at Ōmokoroa wharf with boats tied together.

Bryant says the club’s spirit is built on camaraderie – and a lot of fun.

“Some people love serious racing. I love the friendships, the overnight trips, going to Mayor Island or around White Island for a sail. The social side makes the club.”

Enjoying a stopover at Salinity at Tauranga Bridge Marina during the annual Mount Maunganui Yacht Club Christmas party.

The Christmas party arrives just after the launch of the club’s summer series, which began on November 15 with a three-island race.

The club’s base at the Mount Ocean Sports Club in Pilot Bay offers prime views of a harbour steeped in history.

“We live in paradise here at the Mount,” Bryant said. “I love getting people out on the water and opening up the possibilities of sailing to them.”

To register for this Mount Maunganui Yacht Club Christmas event click here