Issue date
Pleasant Point Yacht Club was due to open for its 89th year on September 5th 2010, but the events on the morning of the 4th put paid to that.
The Clubhouse on Rat Island Reserve, beside the South Brighton bridge, was so badly damaged that only restricted access was possible and together with the state of the grounds, any idea of sailing our 2010/2011 season from that site quickly evaporated.
Then the quake on the 22nd of February signed the death warrant for the building and in June 2011 the buildings and other structures were demolished and removed from the reserve.
In the meantime, the Club had transferred it’s 2010/2011 sailing programme to Naval Point Club on Lyttelton Harbour and this season has been hosted by Mount Pleasant Yacht Club, sailing on Sundays.
With the slumping of land, it became obvious that previous site on Rat Island Reserve would never be built on again and the Club’s Committee began the job of seeking appropriate land on which to re-establish the Club.
We have been paid out our insurance money and this invested, ready to be used for building new facilities.
The Club’s Committee has been in discussions with the Christchurch City Council about gaining approval to lease a building site in the South New Brighton Domain, the very location where the Club began its life in 1921.
Club Commodore Dan O’Sullivan comments “Pleasant Point Yacht Club is keen to be at the forefront of re-establishing facilities for South New Brighton area… as we have always had a strong association to the South New Brighton area – especially as this was where we started and so many of our members have come from this area over the years.
We have a solid core of members and a focused committee determined to get on with the job. We only need the green light from the Council on some appropriate land to begin investing in a new sports facility for South New Brighton.”
The hold up to date has been that the Domain is still fenced off from public access as many of the tall pine trees that boarder the Estuary beach were deemed in danger of toppling after all the quakes and many have been removed, but the work is not finished and accordingly we have not been able to gain access to this area.
The Council have told us that they are working to open up the area around our desired spot and they will be re-assessing the large trees in this area in February/March. They are also looking to repair the jetty and launching ramps soon. This is good news as the Club will be able to establish some sort of temporary facility in this area, but any decision about a permanent site will have to wait until the release of the revised Management plan for the domain in 2014, a delay that concerns the Club.
With the loss of so many community buildings in South New Brighton, the Club hopes to provide a facility catering for not just yachting, but other passive water sport activities such as kayaking, paddle boarding and windsurfing. Certainly the local community is right behind us on this.
We hope the wider yachting community will support our efforts to get a club with a great history, re-established.
So watch this space … we haven’t gone away!”
