Lightly Skimming Over the Surface: 150 Years of the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron

In this guest track we hear from colleagues at Hui Te Ananui a Tangaroa - New Zealand Maritime Museum. Lightly Skimming Over the Surface: 150 Years of the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron coincides with the 36th America’s Cup match on the Waitematā Harbour. This audio track outlines what visitors can expect to see in the exhibition. Recordings were made from conversations with Liz Gordon, Frances Walsh and Robert Brooke. Image: Anne Wiseman [far right] with two friends in the 1950s, aboard the K-Class yacht Jenanne, commissioned by Anne’s father Murray, designed by Bill Couldrey and built by the Low Brothers in Whangarei. K-Class yachts emerged from a 1944 Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron design competition; the club wanted to encourage returned servicemen to get out on Tīkapa Moana—on a boat that could race, but also accommodate family cruising. Squadron member 96-year-old Piri Neary crewed on the elegant, comfortable yacht, in the process falling hard for Anne. ‘She was a very good yachtswoman,’ says Neary of his wife, who died in 2017. Photograph courtesy Piri Neary Lightly Skimming Over the Surface: 150 Years of the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron is now closed as an exhibition.