In 1921, the residents of South Brighton saw the need for an organisation, such as a yacht club, to care for the boats owned by the many bach owners who were away from the district during the week. As a result, the Club was formed later that summer, with its foundation members being local identities involved in business and local politics.

Originally the Club was sited on the northern side of the Pleasant Point jetty. However, when the South Brighton Bridge was opened in 1929, the Club moved over to an area on the south side of the bridge that became known as Rat Island. In those days the island consisted of a mud bank and rushes, which were flooded at high tide. A jetty some 50 feet in length, was built from the southern abutment of the bridge with a small shed constructed at the end, as shown in this early 1930s photo.

Over the years, there have been 6 clubhouses and up until 1947 all had been built over the water. By 1947, enough land had been reclaimed to move the Clubhouse onto hard ground. Over time, the Club reclaimed over 2 acres with all the facilities and improvements needed such as ramps, jetties, and buildings. All this effort was financed by Club subscriptions and fundraising. The clubhouse was extensively remodeled during the mid 1980’s with an extension including a mezzanine floor that provided panoramic views of the river and estuary.

In the 1995/96 season Pleasant Point Yacht Club celebrated the 75th season of sailing since those early enthusiasts established the Club.

In the 90s, the Club’s Rat island building was extended with the building of a new rescue boat shed. This was a major undertaking with several of our retired members involved in building a secure facility for the Club’s three patrol boats, the launching tractor and the Club’s learn-to-sail Optimists.

Disaster was just around the corner

In the winter of 2010, the Club ran its usual winter working bees. We have always had winter working bees as a method of improving the Club’s facilities, keeping up with maintenance and creating great fellowship among members.

During the winter, we had purchased a second-hand rescue boat to act as a committee boat and much of the working bee’s efforts were put into fitting her out with the appropriate equipment and preparing her for launching on the Club’s Opening Day on Sunday the 5th of September 2010.

But then… at 4.35 am on Saturday the 4th of September, the first of many earthquakes struck the Canterbury region.

Very few in the area were unaffected by the 7.3 magnitude earthquake. Later that morning, after checking their own homes and families were okay, the Committee and Club members made it down to Rat Island to survey the damage.

What greeted them was hard to believe. The Club house had broken into three pieces, the ground was cut about with deep ravines, the launching ramps were torn apart and the jetties had collapsed and were lying at crazy angles.

Instead of opening on the 5th, the Committee declared the Club season cancelled until further notice and within a week, the insurance assessor advised that the Club rooms were a write-off and told us to get all our gear out and into storage. Earthquakes continued to rattle the region, each one extracting a greater toll on the Club’s facilities.

The reason our buildings were so badly damaged was they were built on reclaimed land on the edge of the Avon River and there was massive subsidence, slumping and liquefaction of that area.

The Club negotiated an insurance payout and then demolished and cleared its facilities from the site in June 2011.

Shortly after the first earthquake, the Club was invited to run its programme at Naval Point Club Lyttelton. We gratefully took up this offer sailing from their club until Christmas 2010. In the new year we went back to sailing on the Estuary, this time hosted by Mount Pleasant Yacht Club … that was until February the 22nd, when a 6.3 magnitude quake centered in the city struck. It was this quake that killed 185 people in Christchurch and damaged and destroyed many homes and commercial premises.

The damage to the City’s infrastructure was significant and the City’s sewage system was failing in many locations and with raw sewage emptying into the rivers and the Estuary, the City Council closed the Estuary to water sports for the balance of the 2011-2012 season.  The Club was without any facilities, without a location, and could not sail on our home waters, so the Committee decided to put the Club into recess until sailing could commence on the Estuary again.

Loyal Club members stayed with the Club and paid a nominal subscription, while others left to focus on the issues they had with their families, homes and at work, or to join other clubs who were still able to sail.

Earthquakes continued to rock the Canterbury region for months.

All the time, the Club’s committee was in discussion with the City Council in an effort to find a suitable site alongside the water on which we could build new facilities.

Uppermost in the mind of the Club’s Committee was the need to simply get back to sailing on our home waters in the northern corner of the Estuary.

As it turned out, we got both… a place to re-establish the Club in South New Brighton Park, a recreation reserve that borders the shore of the Estuary. The site is about 600 meters down-stream from our previous location and not far from where it all started in 1921.

In the winter of 2013, we gained access to the site and set about building foundations for our container storage units… and on our 2013/14 season opening day, we ran our first race from the new site.

The plans and vision for our future

Sailing from our new site in the South New Brighton Park was the first step.

In 2014, the Club commissioned the design of a new, two-lane launching ramp and with funds from the Christchurch Earthquake Appeal Trust and the Fulton Hogan Trust; the new ramp was finished just as we opened in September 2015.

But the Committee’s attention was also focused on building new facilities, including obtaining a lease for an area of land in the park from the City Council on which to build, plus the design, construction and development of new Club facilities.

The journey to re-build was long and trying, but in August 2019, we were handed the keys to a new, two building facility surrounded by expansive decks. The two buildings were originally built for the University of Canterbury as lecture rooms to get the University through their earthquake re-building years. The first building is the Clubhouse, while the second building houses the changing rooms and toilets plus a utility room and start box.

Then in early 2020, the Club secured funding for a new boat shed and by August 2020 the shed was up! The boat shed houses Club member’s yachts on one side and our fleet of rescue boats on the other… finally we have all the pieces back together and are able to move forward with confidence.

While today’s membership is enjoying the new facilities, they have been built with the next generation of Pleasant Point sailors in mind… the future of our Club.

And then to top all the re-build effort off, the Club celebrated its centenary in February 2021.