Rudderless sailing and sailing with your eyes closed. These are the two drills of the month and we explore why and how to teach these skills, including some helpful tips on how to run the exercise.

Picton Harbour was a hive of activity at Marlborough anniversary weekend as the Queen Charlotte Yacht Club held high performance clinics for its young optimist and starling class sailors.

The election of Officers of the International Sailing Federation, will take place at the ISAF General Assembly in Dun Laoghaire, Ireland on 10 November 2012. The ISAF Annual General Meeting is held at the close of the Annual Conference, and every fourth year is known as the General Assembly and brings together all of the Member National Authorities (MNAs), who represent the nations within ISAF. At the 2012 General Assembly attendees will go about their usual business which includes reviews of subscriptions, applications for full or affiliate membership, ISAF Class Championships and any regulations made or amended.

The submission period closes this Friday (9th of November) to have your say on the proposed 24 hectare farm in the Whangaroa Harbour.

It is important that boaties have their say.

Olympian and New Zealand 5000m record holder Adrian Blincoe is helping identify and develop New Zealand’s future sporting champions, in a new job at High Performance Sport New Zealand (HPSNZ). In his role as High Performance Athlete Development Advisor, Blincoe will work together with Athlete Development Consultant Vanessa Paun across targeted national sport organisations to put systems in place to both identify and develop athletes so they can succeed at international level.

What does one of the world’s top yachties do on her weekends off the water? If you are Olympic gold medallist, Jo Aleh, you ‘relax’ by riding one of New Zealand’s toughest mountain bike races, the Magellan Whaka 100, in Rotorua’s legendary Whakarewarewa Forest at Labour Weekend. “I figure if I am going to do a bike race, I may as well do the hardest bike race... why go easy when you can go hard.” says Aleh, who won gold at the London Olympics in the 470 class with team-mate, Olivia Powrie. “I did the Whaka 100 in 2011 and really enjoyed it, so it was just cool to come back again and give it another go. I beat my last year’s time by nearly an hour, so all good.”

Last week EUROSAF announced the dates of a new series of regattas in Europe, under the name EUROSAF Champions Sailing League. After due consideration, it has been decided that the series should be renamed EUROSAF Champions Sailing Cup. The aim of the EUROSAF Champions Sailing Cup is to provide the best possible competition for Olympic and Paralympic Classes. The series is based on established regattas within Europe, in order to guarantee the highest level of event and race management.

 

YNZ high performance manager Jez Fanstone has highlighted peter burling and blair tukes diligence.

"It is testament to all the hard work they have done over three and a half years in every aspect of the sport."

When New Zealand's top coaches don their penguin suits for the 2012 Halberg Awards, expect one name to be discreetly overlooked - former Olympic windsurfing bronze medallist Aaron McIntosh, even though he coached an athlete to a gold medal in London.