In 1971 Sir Jack provided the club with Miss Chesdale. Another boat Ches'n' Dale was dedicated in 1979. More Ches'n'Dale boats followed, with numbers three and four donated in 1985. Piha won the gruelling Tuakua Sands River Race, from Tuakau to Port Waikato in 1983, 1984, 1985 and 1986. In various competitions during 1987 Piha accumulated 33 wins and 2 seconds. In 1985 at Mount Maunganui a Piha crew comprising Steve Booten, Mike MacDonald, Peter Digan, Mark McCarthny and Mike Zainey as sweep became the first New Zealand "Test" Crew to beat Australia. The first attempt at rowing a surf boat from Onehunga to Piha over the unpredictable and treacherous Manukau Heads Bar was made in April 1971. It was decided to negotiate the north channel as the safer south channel used by shipping would have added another seven kilometers to the row. As the crew comprising Andy Sekula, Mike Zainey, Ray Markham, Brian Sullivan and Alan Foubister rowed down the narrow northern channel with big dumping surf on either side, huge swells came up and the channel petered out leaving the boat in the suf zone. There was no route to get through the surf line leaving no option but to wait for a lull and head for the beach on a wave. The boat hit the beach with such force that the keel was split in half and all the ribs in the boat were broken. Despite the boat being a write off, sponsorship for the row and publicity gained about $2,000 for the club. The feat of getting all the way to Piha was not fully accomplished until 1992 with a crew comprising George Thompson, Brett Sullivan, Martin Wienk, Johan Broekhuizen, Duane Rice and Geoff Calvert rowing Lend Lease all the way to Piha. The trip took over five hours in high swells and stiff winds. At one stage in this row George Thomson was thrown overboard after the surf boat hit a swell. The first Piha Big Wave Classic (Day of the Giants) was held at Piha Beach in April 2005 with 12 crews on the beach and Piha coming in second in the open men's race. These races, held annually are part of the national surf life-saving championship surf boat series. In 2007 three crews came from Australia (Bronte, Jan Juc and Austinmer) to compete in these races. In 2014 Piha became the first club