Issue date
Yachting New Zealand has a vision to build a facility that will turn out champion sailors like our recent medal winning Olympians, our internationally renowned America’s Cup and blue water sailors – and we need your support.
The latest draft concept plan for the National Ocean Water Sports Centre (NOWSC) and public reserve can be viewed on the Yachting New Zealand website.
We have a chance to create a facility at Takapuna Beach, on Auckland’s North Shore, that will be the equivalent of the Weymouth base that helped Great Britain attain such success at the 2012 London Olympics.
Creating the NOWSC, Yachting New Zealand’s new high performance centre, will help us turn out more world-beating New Zealand sailors in much the same way as the National Training Centre at Lake Karapiro has for our rowers. With greater depth and competition we can create more high profile results for our sport and more members for New Zealand’s Yacht Clubs.
Olympic Gold medalist Jo Aleh affirms this potential for a significant positive impact for sailing in New Zealand: “Actually having somewhere to base ourselves, at the NOWSC facility in Takapuna, would make a huge difference – not just to everyone in the NZL Sailing Team, but also all of the young up and coming sailors. They would finally be able to not only train with us, but be around New Zealand’s top sailors to watch and learn from the best we have to offer.”
Public beach goers will also benefit; this proposal increases accessible and functional water access through the creation of an extensive new public reserve and new community facilities for water sports such as Sailboarding, kite racing, kayaking, canoeing, triathlon, ocean swimming and the local Waka ama group.
We don’t want your money but we do need you to like us on Facebook www.facebook.com/NOWSC and your submission to Council in favour of the new headquarters or we run the risk of losing this opportunity to a small, vocal pressure group aiming to retain an out of date campsite on this preferred location in Takapuna. The number of submissions in favour and FaceBook likes will be critical in reassuring Devonport Takapuna Community Board members at plan hearings in October that there is widespread local and national support for the Centre.
Auckland Council has settled on the site currently occupied by the old Takapuna Holiday Camp. Auckland Council is not renewing the campground lease, which expires in March 2013 and this opens up the site for this once only opportunity to create a Centre that will keep New Zealand yachting firmly on the sailing world map of excellence. This option replaces a previous proposal based at the Strand beside the Takapuna Boating Club.
How You Can Support Us
FaceBook: simply go to the National Ocean Water Sports Centre page and hit like. The campaign for retaining the old campground is already growing and we need thousands of likes from yachties and anyone else around the country who supports the creation of a national centre of excellence for our sailors.
Submission to Auckland Council: Submit in favour of the centre to the draft Takapuna Beach Reserve Management Plan to be heard by the Takapuna Devonport Local Board of Auckland Council. These submissions close 11 September, 2012.
It is also critical that we have support for the current Reserve Plan, including the centre, and the option without provision for 28 campervans.
Thanks for your support!
