By Roselyn Fauth
Timaru Yacht and Power Club at the end of Marine Parade, Timaru. Its run by volunteers, non-profit club, with the aim to support and inspire people to get onto and into the water by providing coaching and slipway access. Season October-May each year. - Photography By Roselyn Fauth
If you stand on Marine Parade in Timaru today and look across Caroline Bay, you’ll see a sweep of sand stretching further out than our grandparents ever saw. The shoreline has been on the move for more than a century... rapidly changing, steadily, carried forward by the impacts of the harbour sticking out of the coastline and interrupting the way the sediment moves up the coast. What was a stony shore in 1860s has pushed out into a shallow sandy bay that still inches out, year by year.
Back in the 1990s, coastal scientists explained that the beach was filling out ahead at six metres a year. They predicted it would reach its farthest point by the year 2000, only a stone’s throw from the Timaru Yacht and Power Boat Club’s clubhouse at the North Mole. They were right in one sense — the sand kept coming. And it hasn’t stopped. Today the beach has reshaping the way people use the bay, our Port Resort reminds us that civic works and nature, play a hand in our communities stories...
The bay has been my back yard playground growing up in Timaru. I know pretty much every inch of it, from the smell of our huts in the macrocarpa hedges, the taste of the sea after a paddle with my siblings and friends, the sound of swing chains, and I can still remember the fear and pride when I first managed the scale and descend on what was at the time and enormous playground slide. Some of my early dates with my husband Chris included souvlakis on the marine parade rocks, and a late night dip unknowingly shared with some very small penguins. Over a decade ago, Chris and I hired the Yacht Club for our engagement party. From the window you can just make out the tip of a 2023 lighthouse slide tower that is part of the playground that Chris, and I, with a small committee, contractors and 100s of supporters worked together to create. Today we bring our children, two of many generations to play at the bay.
For all of us locals, I bet we have similar memories how the sand and sea is part of who we are. For example I have really enjoyed the memories that the older generation have shared, of recalling the ribs of a shipwreck below the Benvenue Cliffs. The 1883 disaster was dismantled for re-use and ripped apart by surging sea storms. The Benvenue Shipwreck, well what is left of it, now rests buried in its sandy grave below where we stroll with our dogs and paddle with our children.
While I reminicse, I remeber the beacon on the other side of the bay. A stunning white building, home to clubs and sea sailing enthusiasts. Its a wonderful venue. Over the last few months I have been helping to organise a fundraising event in October there on the ports side for the Aoraki Foundations, Womens Fund. I can't wait, its a stunning space.
While we were standing in the club rooms the other day, counting tables and devising the space set up for the event, I noticed trophies and flags accumulated over the years. It made me wonder about the history of the space and the people, past and present who have enjoyed its wooden bones. So here is a little blog (that seems to always end up being a short novel! Sorry... not sorry...) about the history and the stories that I have learned so far... I would love to learn more, if people would like to share flick me an email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it....
So here we go, the first thing I learned was that the story of the Yacht Club is that it runs parallel to the growing bay.
Both began with very little: borrowed spaces, determination to grow. Through the history of the club I have learned that the port has been more than a place of work, it has also be a place of recreation. The Bay is where locals and visitors have played for over a century.
In 1934, the club’s first sailors were hauling boats and launching off the Evans Bay shingle beach, and held their early races. Captain A. Rathbone elected first Commodore.
This first “clubroom” was an old blacksmith’s shed lent by the Harbour Board near Evans Bay. The sea was rough then, the shoreline closer to the cliffs. With each improvement; a slipway, a clubhouse, a platform, the club worked hard to make sea recreation easier, safer, and to bring people closer together.
According to an article in Timaru Herald 12 December 1935, one of the groups early highlights came in its second year, when the club successfully secured official recognition to host a holiday regatta at Caroline Bay. The programme was ambitious: the main event was an ocean race for cruising keelers, starting from Akaroa and finishing at Timaru’s Eastern Extension. At the time this was the longest ocean race ever held in New Zealand. Alongside it, local and visiting small yachts raced triangular courses in Caroline Bay, while outboard motor boats competed for a handsome new cup. Prizes were on offer, holiday crowds lined the shore, and Timaru found itself on the national sailing map almost overnight.
1936 the group became the Timaru Yacht Club (Incorporated) and a year later the Harbour Board provided a platform and shed between the fishing wharf and Nos. 1 & 2 wharves, just before WWII they built a elevated platform and slipway built beside the Timaru Rowing Club at No. 2 Wharf. This served as headquarters until after WWII when a more substantial clubhouse was erected near the old fishermen’s wharf. As membership grew, a second storey was added.
The Kingham Trophy, presented to the Timaru Yacht Club by the Kingham family in 1952. Pictured here around 1970, with additional winner’s shields attached to the base, the cup is awarded annually to the winner of the Invitation Race for Sanders Cup class yachts — a traditional lead-up event to the Sanders Cup itself.
It wasn't until the 1960s that the members would move to Marine Parade (North Mole). The club hosted the Hosted Finn Class Olympic trials for the Mexico Olympics in 1968.
In the same decade, 1960 the Endeavour Sea Scouts group was established by Lt. Commander J. W. Tait (R.N.Z.N.V.R., Ret.).
They met in garages, borrowed halls, and a house in Le Cren Street. Their first permanent den was in an old Air Force HQ in Woollcombe Street, gifted by Mr Alex Macmillan Brown in 1965. by the late 1960s–early 70s – Outgrew the Woollcombe Street den; fundraising began for a new site. 1975–76 they built a new den built on North Street, next to the Girl Guides’ headquarters which was officially opened by Mr L. E. Hodder. The Endeavour Sea Scout Group continues to operate from its own hall located at 1 Unwin Road, Timaru Port, Timaru. They met beside the Timaru Yacht and Power Boat Club during the school terms and enjoyed camping, cooking, boating, water safety, survival skills, and team building excersizes.
Sea Scouts Crest - Source: Facebook Page of Endeavour Sea Scouts Timaru. Right: Newspaper article Timaru Herald, Volume CLV, Issue 22903, 27 May 1944, Page 7. In 1944 the Endeavour Sea Scouts launched a fundraising campaign for new training rooms, as numbers outgrew the space generously provided by Mr D. C. Turnbull. Their goal: to equip boys for citizenship in the post-war years.
1 Unwin Road Timaru - Site of the Yacht Club
In 1975–76... within a year of each other, both the Yacht Club and the Sea Scouts officially opened brand new buildings. The Yacht Club on Marine Parade (North Mole) and the Sea Scouts on North Street. Though never in the same building, both relied on the same community determination: parents, volunteers, and leaders building places where young people could learn, belong, and thrive.
From the inside out, looking across the bay and imagining all the people who have looked out from here over the years, enjoying a brew or cuppa and sea side life. - Photography By Roselyn Fauth
Located on Timaru’s mole between the harbour and Caroline Bay, TYPBC said they have some of the best yachting clubroom facilities in New Zealand. With views to the north swinging across the Bay around to the mountains to the West and further south, I have to say from my own personal experience the sunsets over the bay from the clubrooms are absolutely stunning.
The two-storey building includes an upper and lower deck on the second level, with kitchen and bar areas. Many groups make use of the venue for functions such as weddings, receptions, socials, business meetings, educational and sporting events. The lower level includes toilet, shower, and changing rooms. The venue hire is managed by club committee.
Rhonda Markby, Caroline Bay beach growing rapidly (c 1994). Aoraki Heritage Collection, accessed 27/08/2025, https://aorakiheritage.recollect.co.nz/nodes/view/6553
Architect Barrie Bracefield, pictured in front of the Timaru Yacht Club with its new extensions, 20 December 1993. Timaru Herald Photographs, Personalities Collection 2012/186.1090
The modern clubhouse building that we see today is the result of the club having to relocate before of the harbour developments. The Marine Parade/North Mole clubhouse was officially opened in late September 1975, with the formal ceremony taking place on 29 September 1975 by Sir Basil Arthur, MP for Timaru, during Commodore Basil O’Hagan’s term.
About 250 members and guests of the Timaru Yacht and Power Boat Club celebrated the new clubrooms extensions on the Saturday afternoon. It was seen as an example of self-help, as much of the work had been done with voluntary labour. It was said that the developments showed the strength, heart, and spirit of the club. The Mayor, Mr Hervey, said it showed that “this club not only has a soul, a community of people who help each other, but has the capacity to get things done.” The commodore of the club, Mr Ross Smith, thanked members for their voluntary labour.
It was reported that 88,000 people in New Zealand own a boat, and that clubs like Timaru's were a important part of improving water safety.
The Timaru City Council recreation committee had recommended to the Minister of Sport and Recreation that a grant of $1500 be made to the Timaru Yacht and Power Boat Club. Representitive J. Butterfield from the Harbour Board assured the club of the board’s continuing support.
Following the opening ceremony, Mr Hervey launched the season with races in the Z and ZP classes for yachts and seven E class craft took part in a race around the triangular course. The HMNZS Koura, a naval reserve training launch from Dunedin, commanded by a brother of the club commodore, Mr Ross Smith, and the secretary, Mr Desmond Smith was platform for starting the first race. From left, on board the Koura: Mr Doug Shears (vice commodore), Lady Arthur (starter), Sir Basil Arthur (obscured), Mr Ross Smith (club commodore), Mr Lindsay Smith (lieutenant commander Koura), Mr Raymond Smith (club secretary).
Looking to the Yact Club on the side of the port - Photo Geoff Cloake 2023
As the decades passed and Caroline Bay grew sandier and shallower, the calm, sandy bay has been the perfect training ground for new sailors, and to those whose feel the salty water run in their veins. Their Yacht Club welcomed the world to Caroline Bay for the Flying Fifteen World Championships in 1994.
The Sea Scouts shifted from garages to temporary dens before finally hammering together their own headquarters in the 1970s. In both cases, parents, volunteers, and leaders gave time, money, and effort to create places where young people could belong.
My reflection from learning about the two clubs past
I think that while we would describe these as sports clubs, they were actually schools of life in disguise. Teaching teamwork, responsibility, respect for the sea, courage, resilience and how to recreate on the water.
I don’t just see bricks, windows, and a balcony. I see memory. I imagine, the clink of rigging against a mast. I hear kids laughing after capsizing in the sea. I hear the hum of chatting sailors after regattas.
And just beyond, Caroline Bay itself tells the same story. A bay that once looked raw, stoney, small and unwelcoming is now wide, shallow and family-friendly. The advancing shoreline has made the Yacht Club’s position even more valuable... The land and the people, the sea and the stories, have shaped each other.
I think that when we learn these stories, we remember and recognise who we are. We are people who make do with what we have... a blacksmith’s shed, a borrowed hall, a patch of beach, and turn it into something greater. We are people who adapt to change, whether it’s a shoreline galloping outward or a generation of children looking for somewhere to play, gain experience, skills and belong.
Most of all, we are people who understand that wellbeing isn’t found in isolation. It’s found in hauling boats together, in fundraising concerts, in working bees with hammers in hand. It’s found in sitting in a clubhouse, looking out at sails against the horizon, knowing you’re part of a story crossing generations that hopefully will continue long after your feet pass through the door.
Next time you walk along Marine Parade and out onto the North Mole, stop and look at the sand, carried there by decades of tides. The clubhouse walls full of memories, built by hands that cared. And look to the horizon and think about where as a city we have been, and are going. They’re reminders that our past and present are tied together by this sea, bay, community... this place we call home.
Fun Facts About the Timaru Yacht and Power Boat Club
- The club’s very first Commodore in 1934, Captain A. Rathbone, served as an army officer in the First World War.
- In the early days, yachts had to be dragged across the shingle beach at Evans Bay before each race.
- Timaru has hosted some of New Zealand’s most prestigious contests, including the Sanders Cup and the Cornwall Cup. In 1968, the Olympic Finn Class trials for Mexico were held here.
- In 1994, the club hosted the Flying Fifteen World Championships right off Caroline Bay — an incredible achievement for a regional club.
- Sailing here has always been a family sport, with mums, dads, children, and even grandparents crewing boats together.
- Despite the name, the club has always welcomed a mix — from power boaters and jet skiers to divers and social members who just enjoy being part of the atmosphere.
- The advancing sands of Caroline Bay have made the shallow, sheltered waters an even better playground for beginners — proving the land itself is part of the club’s story.
Roaring 40s at Caroline Bay. Photography Geoff Cloake
This photo was shared to the clubs Facebook page to share that Yachting New Zealand was calling on yacht clubs across the country to join nearly 50 other sporting bodies in opposing proposed gambling law changes that could threaten a key source of community sport funding. Photo Insight Media - Formerly Jacob Fewtrell Media
View from Beverley, Timaru and Whales Creek viaduct. Main North Road. Caroline Bay. LeCren’s Terrace. Melville Hill. Lough's House (site of Hydro Hotel) Sarah Street, Hewlings St, Wai-iti Rd. Looking towards the sea near Timaru (1871-1875). Hocken Digital Collections, accessed 17/04/2025, https://hocken.recollect.co.nz/nodes/view/23692 Low quality image. For further information on use of low-quality scans and on how to order a high-quality image please see the conditions of use.
Whales Creek Railway Viaduct at the foot of Wai-iti Rd and Evans Street, Timaru, New Zealand, 1904-1915, Timaru, by Muir & Moodie. Purchased 1998 with New Zealand Lottery Grants Board funds. Te Papa (PS.001051)
Caroline Bay 2023 at sun set - Geoff Cloake
Caroline Bay: Children's Gala Day - South Canterbury Jubalee History 1916 - photo from book
Caroline Bay from Benvenue Cliffs - Photo Geoff Cloake 2024
Timaru, "Ben Venue" stranded, stern c1882 https://collections.tepapa.govt.nz/object/1346853
Caroline Bay Pontoon Caroline Bay - May 2022 - Photo Geoff Cloake 2024
New Zealand - Timaru - Looking south along Caroline Bay towards Marine Parade - 1916? - Radcliffe, Frederick George Photo
Children's playground area on Caroline Bay in Timaru, circa 1970.Photographer L W McGrath. Image courtesy of South Canterbury Museum 2014/008.055
Caroline Bay Playground 2024 - Photo Geoff Cloake
1910 Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections NZG-19111011-0030-02
My mum, Marthy Cloake enjoying a refreshing dip at Caroline Bay, slightly different to the swims she had in the North Sea growing up as a child. Photo by my father, Geoff Cloake 2016.
Families swimming and paddling at Caroline Bay - Geoff Cloake 2018
Aerial view of Timaru, showing Caroline Bay, harbour and town between 1920 and 1939. - Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections FDM-0690-G
Sea Scouts See New Headquarters Opened (6 Dec 1976). Aoraki Heritage Collection, accessed 27/08/2025, https://aorakiheritage.recollect.co.nz/nodes/view/90
Timaru Yacht Club 21 Years Old (25 Jun 1955). Aoraki Heritage Collection, accessed 27/08/2025, https://aorakiheritage.recollect.co.nz/nodes/view/1407
It is interesting to look back on past events at the club. This article, from the Timaru District Libraries Online Heritage Collection, records the occasion of opening the extension to our clubrooms, almost 50 years ago.