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This coming Friday the yachting community will come together to celebrate the year’s successes, achievements and contribution to our sport at the 2015 Volvo Yachting Excellence Awards.
Every year Yachting New Zealand receives a wad of nominations in the Service Award category, the calibre of which never ceases to amaze. Restricted to an annual ‘budget’ of just ten Service Awards it can be a tough job for the judging panel to narrow it down.
The short story is that around New Zealand there are dozens of individuals who quietly contribute hours and hours of service to the sport which we’re all passionate about. These are the people that make our yacht clubs, our class associations and our key regattas tick – and without them things would fall apart.
They all deserve a thank you – every time you see them on the beach or at the lake. And it is Yachting New Zealand’s pleasure to say thank you and pay tribute to their efforts, with a Service Award.
In the lead up to the 2015 Volvo Yachting Excellence Awards, on in Auckland on 27 November, we bring you a feature on each of the ten 2015 Service Award winners. Today we focus on Dr Roger Badham – better known as ‘Clouds’.
Roger Badham – for weather forecasting services to yachting
Dr Roger Badham spent 10 years at university studying meteorology and the last 40 years as a meteorologist – most of that time specialising in forecaster for the marine industry.
Known as ‘Clouds’ in the yachting world, he is one of the most respected meteorologists in the business.
Clouds has forecast for nine America’s Cups, seven Olympic Games, 30 around the world yacht races and countless yacht races and regattas all around the world, with over 35 Sydney to Hobart race forecasts.
He has also forecast more than 500 passages across the Tasman and Coral Seas; from the fastest of just 2.5 days to the slowest of 2.5 months!
