Issue date
The sailing season is in full swing and most clubs are telling me their learn to sail programmes are full.
Wakatere Boating Club are "bursting at the seams".
This could be on the back of interest from the America's Cup. It’s now up to the clubs to get the new sailors and supporters integrated into the club by making them feel welcome and letting them know how they can support and become part of the club.
The situation at the Wakatere Boating Club is a familiar one. “We are bursting at the seams,“ Commodore Simon Probert said pointing out that they had more than 60 boats out sailing on a regular club day.
Tanner Cup
P-Class Tanner Cup trials have been running around the regions.
Northland will be represented by Nicola Wilson and Kohimarama Yacht Club's Monty Alderson emerged from a fleet of 17 boats to earn Auckland's spot on countback ahead of Nathan Vince. North Harbour will hold their trials on December 16-17.
Kohimarama have been running a P-Class training camp this week and will host the Tanner and Tauranga Cup regattas from January 5-9.
It's a busy period for the club, and recently they ran the intermediate schools Optimist regatta which attracted 44 entries. See here for full results.
Sir Peter Blake Regatta
The Sir Peter Blake Regatta, which started in 2002 with 221 entrants, drew record numbers recently with 492 competitors in 460 boats - potentially the largest multi-class centre board regatta in the world.
The conditions were almost perfect, with warm, sunny weather, sea breezes and helpful tides at the Torbay Sailing Club, and another feature was the visit of the America's Cup on the Sunday afternoon.
A handful of New Zealand's sailors competed, including Gemma Jones and Jason Saunders in the Nacra 17, as well as a couple of crews from overseas, but the real focus of the regatta is at the junior and youth level. There were some really big fleets, including 113 in the Optimist green fleet and for many it was their first regatta.
The highly-coveted Sir Peter Blake memorial trophy, which goes to the best overall sailor, was for the first time awarded to two individuals with Caleb Armit (Starling) and Josh Hyde (Optimist open) recognised. Both were in very competitive fleets and just edged Fran Kayrouz and Jackson Keon (29er), Mattias Coutts (O'pen Bic) and Josh Armit (Laser Radial).
See here to read more.
Bay of Islands
Further up north, the Russell Boating Club are making preparations for their Tall Ships regatta. If you are around the Bay of Islands on January 6, join in the fun of this event.
Don’t forget Bay Week, one of New Zealand’s premier regattas from January 23-26. Get your entries in before January 1 to avoid late fees.
Algies Bay
Prizegiving, Algies Bay style.
Mahurangi College ran a years 7-10 regatta at Algies Bay, which was open to most youth classes. This year's event attracted a fleet of 30 Optimists and a mixed fleet of about the same number. Results can be found on the Mahurangi website.
Have some great sailing over the summer break.
Cheers, Kim
Cheers Kim
