Maritime Museum’s “Little Tall Ship” Breezes Into Its 40’s

As with any lockdown birthday, the brigantine Breeze is enjoying a quiet celebration as it turns 40 this month, nestled into a berth beside the New Zealand Maritime Museum. Plans for a public event to mark the occasion were quashed by the current lockdown – but the “little tall ship” has plenty of adventure in store.

Breeze has been inaccessible to the public for the past five years due to on-going works, but museum Director, Vincent Lipanovich, says this is likely to change come January.

“We’re hopeful that, lockdown levels permitting, we’ll be able to offer regular public sailings on Breeze from January 2022,” he says.

“This presents such a unique experience for maritime enthusiasts and novice sailors alike – passengers will be invited to roll their sleeves up and experience the thrill of sailing a traditional vessel, perhaps even climbing the rigging, as they take in the sights of the Waitematā Harbour.”

Built by the late Ralph Sewell and his family, Breeze was launched in Coromandel, in October 1981. The Sewells had an agenda: to construct and sail a nineteenth-century coastal trader in order to teach old-school skills. Ralph also wanted to promote fraternity.

“[Breeze] will enable enthusiasts to further their association with the sea and benefit from the company of kindred spirits,” he wrote.

To step aboard Breeze is to time-travel. The ship’s 11 sails are still hoisted by purchases and pulley hauley, with no sheet winches and hydraulic tensioners to be seen. The anchor is weighed with a hand windlass.

Breeze came into the museum’s fleet in 1989, four years after it had sailed from Tāmaki Makaurau to Mā‘ohi Nui (French Polynesia) to protest France’s nuclear testing programme. In 1991, it took out the Russell Boating Club’s annual Tall Ships race. It’s a regular at the Mahurangi and Auckland Anniversary Day regattas, and this year it did a celebrity turn escorting the mullet fleet as the boats took part in the 100th Lipton Cup. Ralph Sewell would have approved; he built mullet boats as well as square-riggers.

The 25 museum volunteers who take turns to crew Breeze are a knowing bunch. ‘She doesn’t point straight into the wind like a yacht,’ says master Bob Hawkins. ‘You can’t push her – she won’t go fast into the wind.’ The ship’s idiosyncracies require collegiality, he says.

“To keep Breeze going, everybody has to act together.”

Public sailings on Breeze will be available from January 2022, lockdown levels permitting. Please visit the Breeze page on the Maritime Museum website for up-to-date information.

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