The inaugural Cathedral Cove Classic 2024 ended up being a Boxing Day explorer event by Bruce Kendall.

Bruce left Hot Water Beach wearing a personal VHF and a phone in his life jacket. The wind was a 12 to high 20 knot westerly, northwest to west offshore. However, when he got close to the cliffs at the north end of Hot Water Beach the wind was being sucked back into the cliffs, so there Bruce was actually sailing in the light onshore breeze from an northeasterly direction, and either reaching or tacking in about 2 to 8 knots of wind. This allowed him to sail very close to the beach and cliffs in clear glassy water. From there he was able to sail inside Orua Cave. This is the second biggest sea cave in New Zealand, the biggest being the famous cave at the Poor Knights, which is moreover the largest sea cave in the world. They are sea caves because the bottom of the cave is in the water, and it’s very deep.

Bruce was lucky to be there at the same time as a motor boat. The boat driver took pictures. After that he continued sailing north exploring the coast line closely to Cathedral Cove. By the time Bruce reached Cathedral cove, the wind had swung further around to the northwest so, Bruce sailed further out to sea to make use of the strong cross offshore winds back to Hot Water Beach, where he caught a few waves in the break near the surfers.