AUCKLAND HAS LARGE FLOATING POPULATION

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 237, 27 December 1927, Page 16

AUCKLAND HAS LARGE FLOATING POPULATION

YACHTSMEN ON HOLIDAY It is estimated conservatively that at least 3,000 Aucklanders are spending their Christmas and New Year holidays afloat as members of the crews of scores of yachts and launches owned on the Waitemata. In few places in the wide world are there cruising grounds to equal the stretch of ocean a hundred miles and more north and south. No other city has been more richly endowed with natural facilities for the aquatic recreation of its thousands. The Hauraki Gulf, with its dozens of islands, each one possessing a charm of its own, is world-famed as a yachtsman’s and sportsman’s paradise. The numberless bays and diminutive harbours to be found every few miles ensure the safety of cruising in this great playground, even of craft of • such a size that dare not venture outside harbour limits in less favoured cities.

The early arrival of summer this Christmastide, and the promise of a long period of sunshine, has been the signal for a great exodus of pleasure boats to the innumerable resorts round the coast. Anchorages and mooringplaces round the harbour present a strangely deserted appearance, and all except the very small craft are scattered far and wide. Their fortunate crews and their guests are enjoying a holiday such as the landsman could never hope to better.