It was a disaster for most with 10 lives lost.

1951 wellington lyttelton yacht race. Two boats and 10 sailors are lost when the 19-boat fleet encounters a major storm off New Zealands South Island. Twenty-three boats are abandoned five of which ultimately sink and 15 sailors die when the 303-boat fleet is struck by an unseasonably severe depression in the Irish Sea. It was a disaster for most with 10 lives lost.

Her first The race 1958 based on the disastrous storm-swept 1951 WellingtonLyttelton yacht race in which Arnold France took part won her the Award for Achievement from the New Zealand Literary Fund and established her at once among the countrys best novelists. The fleet ran into a severe southerly storm and only one yacht officially finished the race. To view this map please upgrade your browser.

Start of the Wellington to Lyttelton yacht race on 23 January 1951. It was expected that the fastest yachts would complete the journey in one and a half days the slowest in five days. In 1940 an event had been sailed in the opposite direction to celebrate the capitals centenary.

The Wellington cutter Astral was dismasted. On 23 January 1951 20 yachts left Wellington bound for Lyttelton in an ocean yacht race to celebrate Canterburys centenary. Among the important events highlighted was the gruelling 1951 Wellington to Lyttelton ocean yacht race sailed in storm-force southerly winds and in which 10 competing New Zealand yachtsmen lost their lives.

In 1951 an ocean race was sailed from Wellington to Lyttelton in connection with the Canterbury centennial. A race had been sailed the opposite way in 1940 to. Jan 27-29 1951.

The Centennial yacht race was intended to celebrate the centenary of Canterbury and was expected to take up to 5 days to complete. Only one yacht finished the 1951 Wellington to Lyttelton yacht race the Nelson boat Tawhiri. Stranding of the Hawea Imagine the drama there would be today if a ship ran aground on Rocks Road.