Issue date
Peter Graham was named Otago Yachting Administrator of the Year.
Peter with his Otago Yachting Administrator Trophy
Peter Graham, from the Ravensbourne Boating Club, was the instigator of the successful Otago Optimist Summer Series (OOSS) now in its third year. The success of this series is recognised well beyond Peter’s own club. Other clubs on the Otago Harbour have seen the benefits of Peter’s initiatives and efforts. One such club, the Port Chalmers Yacht Club, had no hesitation in nominating him for the Otago Yacht Administrator of the Year Award.
The Club says; “The OOSS is the initiative of Peter Graham, who saw a need to encourage the kids in the Optimists to step up into the competitive area of yacht racing and to do this by travelling around the clubs on the Otago Harbour to compete in their regattas.”
Some of the kids showing off their Rash Tops for the OOSS as supplied by Peter Graham
“This concept, whilst nothing new and certainly been tried by others with varying degrees of success, has certainly worked extremely well under the guidance and enthusiasm of Peter.”
“Through his company, Peter has sponsored this series to encourage its up take by the racing Optimist sailors on the harbour. As a result for the last couple of seasons the fibre-glass racing Optimists would be the biggest single class fleet at any club’s regatta. This in turn has helped drive the Learn to Sail Optimist sailors to quickly progress up to the racing fleet and likewise it has made the purchasing of a fibre-glass racing Optimist for some parents seem all the more viable, especially if there will be some potential young sailors soon stepping out of the plastic Opti’s.”
Peter Graham with the some of kids in the OOSS Series 2012. From left: Dylan Edwards, Ollie Hargreaves, Peter Graham, Alessandro Pezzuto and George Early.
Principles behind OOSS
• OOSS is Free (all entries no cost)
• Run the races in conjunction with other clubs in Otago on their major race day and spread the racing around as many clubs as we can.
• Create good exposure for these up and coming young sailors and hopefully make other young sailors aware of the OOSS.
• Run races on same courses as the club courses (not separating the Opti fleet), enabling the sailors to get that big fleet experience they need in order to accelerate their sailing skills into the future (giving us that edge that other larger regions may have). Also being close enough to the more experienced and older sailors out on the water while racing so that they can pass on those valuable pointers on and off the water.
• Get all the kids together mixing and sharing their knowledge and skills, and creating a competitive atmosphere and stable fleet.
• Utilise the resources we already have within Otago and hopefully attracting other regions to come here for weekend racing.
• We need minimum of 5 boats each race to qualify as an OOSS race, this gives the sailors the incentive and responsibility for organising and making sure their fellow sailors turn up for each race.
• Increase sailing as a whole by attracting young kids at early stage into the sport.
“The Port Chalmers Yacht Club believes that these principles above clearly shows that underpinning the OOSS is the belief of making the sport fun, competitive, encouraging the sustainability of our existing harbour clubs and unashamedly embracing that concept of winning and striving to win.”
“Whilst we need variety of people doing many different roles to make our sport happen we do believe that if a few more people did the minimal like Peter in the area that makes the biggest impact then all our clubs would reap the benefits.”
