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Driving forces behind New Zealand’s expanding trailer yacht fleets
Behind every strong New Zealand sailing fleet is one or two key people. Hartley 16’s and Elliott 5.9’s are no exception.
Helping to drive these popular trailer yacht fleets to success in recent years are Wayne Holdt and Simon Manning.
Both agree communication is a key ingredient to ensuring strong turnouts at club and national competitions.
“Both the Hartley’s and the 5.9s have been around for a while – but they are older classes that are getting driven well, and that’s the important thing,” says the Hartley 16’s Wayne Holdt.
Based in New Plymouth, Wayne has been sailing Hartley’s for years and says they are easy to get into, fun to sail, and provide good, close racing.
“All the boats are the same – that’s the advantage. No one gets left behind.”
“Pockets” of Hartley fleets around the North Island including Manukau and New Plymouth are kept up-to-date through regular emails and facebook updates.
When these smaller fleets then get together for nationals and bigger competitions – everyone is on the same page.
Wayne says affordability is among the many reasons people get involved in sailing Hartley’s.
“You can win the nationals with a $5000 boat – it’s very affordable,” he says.
And part of the beauty of the class is the mixture of people involved.
“There’s the young guys in their 20’s, and you’ll see them yakking to the guys in their 70s – it’s quite interesting and creates a really great atmosphere within the class,” he says.
Meanwhile, the only thing holding the Elliott 5.9’s back from growing is the number of boats available in the country.
Photo © Gareth Cooke / Sub Zero Images
Simon Manning says they’re a popular class with a big following both locally and internationally.
“In reality our profile is probably bigger than the class – we have followers and subscribers all over the world, but less than 40 boats in the country,” he says.
When the fleet was reaching a low point, Simon and a few others stuck at it, and eventually drove it back with a “successful formula.”
This formula involves having most of the sailing events through the winter months, and keeping communication lines up through mailchimp, facebook, and the class website.
The traveller series is one of the more popular events, and Simon says has attracted solid numbers in past years.
Photo © Gareth Cooke / Sub Zero Images
The racing is hotly contested, but with a friendly and helpful social element.
He says the fact that many of the 5.9 sailors co-own boats also boosts participation levels.
“I encourage people to syndicate in buying boats. That way you’ve generally got two committed, or three in some cases to sailing,” he says.
With plans to continue building new boats, the 5.9 fleet will be an exciting one to watch and get involved with in coming years.
Do you have a story idea you would like to see us cover in a future issue of Briefings? Contact the Editor at jodie@yachtingnz.org.nz
