We suspect the typical BCA member, if there is such a person, imagines a voyage to the South Seas perhaps via the Western USA and Mexico. Either during the planning stages or while sitting at anchor in French Polynesia the thought comes to one: “What will we do at the end of all this – or when hurricane season looms?” New Zealand emerges either as an answer to this problem or out of the genuine realization that it embodies greater variety, scenery and local cruising opportunities than all those other spots along the way.
Larry Roberts and Mary Anne Unrau say they were drawn to sail there nonstop the first time by a confluence of somewhat different reasons: They had a daughter studying not so far away at Australia National University in Canberra; retirement happened suddenly as the South Pacific hurricane season approached and good friends invited them to visit them for New Years in New Zealand.
New Zealand offers beautiful, relatively sheltered cruising along its north coast as well as in the Marlborough Sounds and Tasman Bay on the South Island. The SCUBA diving is astounding and the mountainous hiking trails (or tramping tracks as the Kiwis say) are world class. Many cruisers buy or rent a vehicle and wander about the awesome scenery while their boat rests in a northern port like Opua or Whangerei.
New Zealand offers something for everyone.
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Hybrid Meeting Format
In-Person Attendees:
- For those attending in-person, the format will be very much the same as “normal”
- Doors open at 7:00 and meeting starts at 7:30.
- Cost: $5/Members, $10/Non-Members
Virtual Attendees:
Virtual club nights (via Zoom) have enabled BCA to continue our monthly meetings and presentations throughout the pandemic, with an added bonus of expanding our community to members and non-members across the globe. With the return to in-person meetings BCA has continued to provide a virtual component to our club nights as it has significant benefits to our membership. This however comes at a cost for the purchase of cameras, audio equipment and the lost revenue due to a decrease of in-person attendance used to off-set venue costs.
Zoom meeting invitation:
- Click here [1] to register for and purchase your virtual meeting ticket and receive the Zoom meeting invitation.
- Please note that you must be signed in to the BCA website to get the member price.
- Cost: Members – $5.00 per connected device; Non-Members, $10 per connected device.
Note: Due to the small cost of virtual tickets, and an equal or greater cost, to BCA, of issuing refunds, no refunds will be issued unless Vancouver Chapter is unable to deliver the Club Night via Zoom.