An amusing incident occurred in 1919 when members of the Ponsonby Cruising Club posed outside the hotel shown here for a photograph.

The photo was sent to Sir Thomas Lipton, along with a request to donate a trophy to the club.

Sir Thomas, impressed by the "Clubhouse", sent out a solid silver cup then valued at £1800 for the competition, stating that he would like to visit the clubhouse if he came to New Zealand.

The Ponsonby Cruising Club, which did not even have a clubhouse, were relieved when hearing of Sir Thomas' s death as he never managed to visit New Zealand and find out the embarrassing truth.

Thanks to Ian Douglas in Brisbane for sharing this little known fact...