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In our regular focus on the regions, our four NZ Community Trust regional development managers look at what has been happening in their areas - including in cyclone-ravaged Wairoa - and provide some advice on applying for funding support from the Community Organisation Grants Scheme.
Wairoa Yacht Club members have helped to clear almost a metre of silt and mud from their boat shed and surrounding areas. Photos / Supplies
Wairoa Yacht Club up and running after cyclone devastation
Wairoa Yacht Club is back up and running as recovery efforts continue for the small northern Hawke’s Bay town ravaged by Cyclone Gabrielle.
More than a dozen members and volunteers of the club situated on the banks of the Wairoa River, halfway between Napier and Gisborne, have been helping to clear almost a metre of silt, mud and debris from the club’s basement and boat ramp - almost two months after the storm struck.
The town of roughly 8000 residents was cut off from the rest of the region for days following the destruction of several bridges and landslips and flooding after the river burst its banks during the cyclone in February.
Gabrielle claimed 11 lives and displaced thousands across the North Island, with the clean-up expected to take months and cost more than $13 billion.
For Wairoa Yacht Club, progress has been slow as residents continue to deal with the aftermath of the unprecedented damage to the area.
“We have sailed the last couple of Sundays and a few of us even helped out at the Poverty Bay Champs a couple of weeks ago,” said Jill Metz-Mayhead, who has been involved with the club for decades and is the wife of commodore Adrian Mayhead.
“We had a lot of silt in our boat storage area which is below the club room but before we could even get to it, one of our members had to get a digger in there and clear a big enough area for us to open the doors to the place,” she said.
“We've only got it [the silt] out of the boat storage and off the concrete pad and the boat ramp and a little bit of the surrounding grassy area but it's just in big piles now.
“There was a lot of wood and stuff that was in the way as well, that was blocking access.”
According to Metz-Mayhead, almost all of the club’s 20 members jumped in to help.
“We had a working day with about 14 of us on shovels and wheelbarrows. First, we had to haul out the boats so we could get access to start shovelling the mud and then we water-blasted it all out.”
Fortunately, the club didn’t suffer any major damage to its building or equipment.
“We had taken out the rescue boat prior to the cyclone. We always do that when we're expecting bad weather. We lifted the Optis onto the high racks, but they weren't high enough in this instance - they floated off and some of the other boats had sort of drifted around inside.”
Metz-Mayhead said many of the town’s residents are still grappling with the effects of the cyclone.
“We have had three of our sailing families directly impacted with houses flooded and that sort of thing...and club members and the community have been helping them out as much as possible.”
RNZ reported last week that as part of the Government’s $50 million cyclone business recovery fund, more than 1600 applications for assistance - totalling $41 million - have already been received in Hawke’s Bay alone.
Just 4 per cent of these applications had reportedly been received from the Wairoa District.
Apply now for COGS funding grants
Has your club considered applying for funding support from the Community Organisation Grants Scheme (COGS)?
COGS provide grants to non-profit organisations delivering community-based social services that contribute to achieving locally-determined outcomes.
Read more about the COGS grant here.
Funding for insurance, accounting and audits, power and training are among some of the things the government grant is available for and some of our clubs have been successful in receiving support previously.
It is really important to check the local distribution committee priorities here to see what the focus of the COGS funds are in your area and pitch your application to these as appropriate.
This is a once-a-year grant. Applications open today (April 5) and close Wednesday, May 3 with a decision date of July 21, 2023.
It’s important to have applications in early and, as always, Yachting New Zealand staff are happy to help support your application with a support letter. Please contact your regional development manager for assistance.
Malcolm Dickson is back for a third time in the Solo Trans-Tasman Yacht Challenge - again aboard Sauru.
Iconic trans-Tasman race starts Sunday
After a one-year postponement due to Covid-19, the 2023 Solo Trans-Tasman Yacht Challenge is due to start from New Plymouth on Sunday (at 1pm).
It will be the 50th anniversary of the iconic four-yearly event - the second oldest continuously run single-handed ocean race in the world and the only one of its kind in the Southern Hemisphere.
The 1380nm race is run by the New Plymouth Yacht Club with nine boats competing - six from New Zealand and three from Australia.
The destination for all previous races has been Mooloolaba in Queensland but this year the race will finish at the Southport Yacht Club on the Gold Coast.
Malcolm Dickson, who competed in the race in 1978 and in 2018, is back on the start line - again in his custom-built Sauru - as is his younger brother Alister, who competed in the 1998 edition.
Other skippers back for another crack are Jim O’Keefe (1978), Alan Yardley (2007 and 2010), Trevor Hill (2010) and Mark Hipgrave (2014). Hipgrave has taken the long route to join the fleet having competed in this year's Sydney Hobart and the two-handed Round North Island race in his boat Mister Lucky.
First-time entrants this year are Craig Ansley, Mike Carter and Lucy te Moananui who is the only female in the fleet.
Wakatere Boating Club's Derek Snow took out the Farr 3.7 title. Photo / Stu Sutherland
Farr out! Snow reigns supreme in bumper nationals fleet
With a bumper fleet of 29 boats the Farr 3.7 fleet saw a big increase in numbers for its national championships in New Plymouth earlier this week - hosted alongside the 2023 OK Dinghy nationals and the two-day New Plymouth Yacht Club's annual regatta.
Wakatere Boating Club's Derek Snow took out the Farr 3.7 title with four wins from eight completed races, while Steve McDowell (Worser Bay Boating Club) claimed the OK Dinghy crown by a commanding 11 points.
Napier's Noah Hengst was the first junior in the OK Dinghy fleet. Photo / Stu Sutherland
Results and standings from the 2023 Farr 3.7 national championships and OK Dinghy national championships:
Farr 3.7 fleet (29 boats):
1st: Derek Snow (Wakatere Boating Club) 1 (4) 2 1 3 4 1 1 - 13 points
2nd: Paul Moriarty (Waitara Boating Club) 4 1 (5) 2 1 2 4 3 - 17 pts
3rd: Mark O'Brian (Hamilton Yacht Club) 2 (6) 3 3 2 1 6 2 - 19 pts
OK Dinghy fleet (25 boats):
1st: Steve McDowell (Worser Bay Boating Club) 3 1 4 4 (18 BFD) 2 1 1 - 16 pts
2nd: Greg Salthouse (Wakatere Boating Club) 4 5 6 (9) 1 4 4 3 - 27 pts
3rd: Rod Davies (Wakatere Boating Club) 5 2 10 1 (18 BFD) 1 3 16 - 38pts
Full results here.
Muritai Yacht Club welcomed more than a dozen different classes to the Wellington Centreboard Regatta.
Muritai the centre of attention
Muritai Yacht Club hosted this year’s Wellington Centreboard Regatta with over a dozen different classes competing.
Zach Worthington (Muritai Yacht Club) and Nico Holmes (Worser Bay Boating Club) won the Opti green and open fleets, respectively, while the honours in the Open Skiff class went to Emily Summers.
Plimmerton Boating Club's Jack Olson took out the 16-boat Starling fleet, while Alan Swinney (Farr 3.7), Peter Kaufman (ILCA 6), Andrew Dellabarca (ILCA 7), David Nalder (RS Aero), Peter Robins (Paper Tiger), and Guy Taylor Smith (Zephyr) also won.
In the double-handed classes, Sarah Couper and Amber Lim (RS Feva), Ben and Harris Coubrough (420), and Wal Louden and Colin Dalzeill (Sunburst) finished top.
Full results here.
Register now for coaching course
There are still a few spots available for the Learn to Sail (Dinghy) Coach Course at Manly Sailing Club later this month.
According to Yachting New Zealand's coach development manager Kirsten Moratz, the course is a "great first step on your coaching journey".
"It's the perfect way to finish off the season - to learn the basics of coaching from experienced coach developer Chris Wood," Moratz said.
"Whether you are a sailor, a parent, or a volunteer looking to upskill and give back to the sailing community, this is the course for you."
The course runs from April 22-23 at the club.
For more information and to register, click here.
St Kentigern College beat Auckland Grammar Gold in the final of the 2023 Auckland Cup. Photo / Live Sail Die
St Kents trump Grammar to claim Auckland Cup
St Kentigern College and Westlake Girls High School are the 2023 Auckland Cup champions after taking out the boys' and girls' titles at the Auckland Team Sailing Regionals hosted by Royal Akarana Yacht Club on March 30-31.
St Kents A beat Auckland Grammar School Gold 2-0 in the final, while Westlake Boys managed to top Grammar Blue by the same scoreline in the petit final to take third place overall.
Westlake Girls won back-to-back races against Diocesan in a repeat of last year's girls' to retain their crown.
Full results and standings here.
The inaugural Harbour Classic attracted 34 boats of different classes. Photo / Live Sail Die
New event 'could become a classic'
The inaugural Harbour Classic had an impressive 34 competitors on the start line last weekend - leaving organisers confident the latest event on the New Zealand sailing calendar could, in time, turn into a... classic.
The race, hosted by the New Zealand Multihull Yacht Club, had near-perfect racing conditions with a 15kn northerly making for an ideal windward/leeward course from North Head up the East Coast Bays to Torbay and back.
A big part of the event is the festival atmosphere in Wynyard Quarter where boats can moor before and after the race.
The concept, which sees boats of all sizes start on the same line and time, is based on the Barcolana Regatta in Italy which has been running for over 50 years and holds the Guinness World Record as the largest regatta in the world - with 2689 boats competing.
Full results here.
Cruel Jane - sailed by Anatole Masfen, Simon Cooke and Matt Kelway - won the 2023 Etchells national championships. Photo / Supplied
Runaway Etchells triumph for Cruel Jane
Cruel Jane is New Zealand's undisputed queen of Etchells after her triumph at the 2023 class nationals at Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron last weekend.
The boat - sailed by Anatole Masfen, Simon Cooke and Matt Kelway - won the first four of five races to claim the victory by a whopping 11 points from Magrette.
Competition for the other podium berths was much closer, with only four points separating second and fourth.
Yachting New Zealand regional development manager Hayden Whitburn who, along with colleagues Sam Mackay and Peter Soosalu, teamed up with local sailors for the event praised the calibre of racing - and the class.
"It is probably the best one-design racing and the closest keelboat racing around,"Whitburn said.
All Etchells are constructed to strict one-design measurements and has a strong international following.
The primary New Zealand fleet races from Westhaven on Tuesday evenings.
Full results here.
