The start of daylight savings at the end of this month is a welcoming thought, with the promise of warmer evenings as we move closer to the official boating season start (Labour Weekend).

It has certainly been a sunny winter in Marlborough. Our region enjoyed its sunniest first half of the year since records began, but there was no escaping some impressive cold snaps, with minus 5.5 degrees recorded on 10th August. These low winter temperatures haven’t kept everyone out of the water though, as we hear stories from divers of scalloping successes in this early part of the season.

Meanwhile, following the end of an eight month blue cod season all eyes are on the possible changes to the fishery rules and regulations before the season opens on December 20. More information about the options can be found on the Ministry for Primary Industries’ website.

So, spring is upon us, which always heralds the start of the Marlborough Sounds Marinas Spring Twilight Series run by the Waikawa Boat Club. Registrations are open now – as we say, “it is the perfect excuse to leave work early.”

Another event to mark in your calendar for October is the Marina2Marina event. We have supported this event since it started, and this year we are proud to be platinum sponsors. Read more about this event here.

A couple of months ago, we welcomed Rhys Welbourn to our team as Manager Business Delivery for Port Marlborough. Read more about Rhys here.

Rhys and Marlborough Sounds Marinas’ Operations Manager Steve McKeown travelled to Wellington at the end of August to attend the Marina Operators AGM along with 75 plus other attendees, where they all heard from a number of industry speakers. And, at the end of September Steve will be on the road again – this time to the Auckland Boat Show with Destination Marlborough to promote our beautiful region to boaties from around the country.

With the hard copy of the newsletter we sent out this season, we also provided you with the Marlborough Sounds Safe Boating guide, produced by the Marlborough District Council, which has tides information for the year ahead on the back. If you didn’t get one you can view it online here, or send us a message on our Facebook page so we can organise sending one out to you.

Have a safe and fun spring out there on the water!
From the Marlborough Sounds Marinas Team.