Issue date
Yachting New Zealand was once again at the Hutchwilco Boatshow with two stands, attended by over 35000 people over the 4 days; this is a growth of 5% on last year.
Winners of the YNZ draw to win a rum race on the Farr MRX Yachts this Friday were: Alex Robertson, Anna Ferronds, Peter Szilagyi and Caroline Cornish. They will be taking part in the Friday afternoon rum race at the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron with YNZ staff on board to teach them the basics of our sport.
Also, the Sailing... Have A Go! trailer was in the Youthtown Hall. Activities here included an optimist Simulator, Spinnaker Packing and wind warrior remote control yachts in the pool. All proved to be very popular with the children and adults. Wesley intermediate and Swanson School won the spinnaker packing challenge as a part of the schools programme on Thursday and Friday. This involved packing a Team New Zealand Americas Cup Spinnaker into an Optimist in the Fastest possible time.
Dinghy Central, a celebration of NZ sailing dinghies at the boat show in the weekend was a great success, with huge interest in the dedicated dinghy section of the show.
There were 27 different dinghies at the show, all supported by their non-profit class associations, who were extremely pleased with the opportunity to show off their boats and promote sailing. Some beautifully crafted boats were on display, such a the Zephyr and the Mistral (incidently both Des Townson designs), and a great dynamic display from the RSX and Techno and the Maersk 18 foot skiff which had to be canted at a 60 degree angle to fit it into the 8m high building.
The popular video which was on display at the Yachting New Zealand stand will be available to be ordered from YNZ in the coming weeks.
