Forget the America's cup, the big sailing event that took place in early 2021 was the Orewa College House Raft Race. This event has been part of the house system for 19 years. The event’s rules have changed over the years along with designs, but the race still takes place in the Estuary and remains one of the major events for the year.

This year, students and staff flocked onto the back field eager to get building with the limited resources they were given. A few barrels, some timber, 150m of twine and a random kayak is all you need to build a sturdy vessel to take on the seas. House’s had 4 hours to build their rafts and at lunch they took to the water to see if the rafts would float and hold all of their paddlers. Some floated with ease while others struggled to keep their team dry.

When the hooter sounded most rafts managed to get off the start line. Some rafts fell apart, others lost passengers, some even had to be flipped to bail water out, but the house raft race was underway.

This year we had a clear winner who won by about 8 minutes. Congratulations McLaren House, 2021 raft race winners.