Issue date
Dear members,
A lot has happened since my last update when much of the North Island was bracing for Cyclone Gabrielle.
While the devastation caused by the storm has been well traversed, I want to again acknowledge those who have been affected as well as the resilience shown by many in our sailing community in the aftermath of the loss of life and property.
That resilience shone through at our Club Conference last month - back in its in-person format after several years of Covid-19 disruption.
A personal highlight was seeing more women and young people at the conference than in previous years, something I believe reflects the hard work of everyone in club land and at Yachting New Zealand in increasing the diversity across our industry.
This underpins our strategic vision and, as our keynote speaker Professor Mark Orams articulated so well, is something that should be embraced – not feared.
The feedback from conference attendees has been very positive with an agreement that it was a rare opportunity to network, share information and problem-solve between clubs experiencing similar challenges.
Professor Mark Orams was the keynote speaker at the 2023 Club Conference. Photo / Eduan Roos
We recognise the environmental pressures our clubs have faced in the first half of 2023 and will continue to face, and as a group, we need to work together.
One way in which we can make an immediate difference is by adopting Yachting New Zealand's environmental strategy, including our Clean Club programme. This initiative has gone from strength to strength with nine clubs already certified as clean clubs and 19 others on their way to receiving their first stars.
Another valuable tool is our Moanamana programme, the third module in our RŪNĀ school engagement framework designed to equip schools, kura and their communities in marine ecosystem restoration projects.
Ensuring your club has adequate cover when faced with extreme weather events is also more important than ever and we are grateful to have the support of our partners at Aon, whose club insurance scheme continues to offer significant savings to members.
One of the clubs most impacted by sea-level rises and storm surges this year, has been Mercury Bay Boating Club with the Whitianga-based club losing 14m of its foreshore during cyclones Hale and Gabrielle and being forced to move the historic club building some 25m inland after it was left teetering on the water's edge in January.
Commodore Jonathan Kline has since expressed his gratitude to Aon for the assistance the club received during this demanding time for the club.
Mercury Bay Boating Club has lost 14m of its foreshore to storm surges this year. Photo / Eduan Roos
The climate crisis isn't the only significant challenge clubs have had to deal with, with economic and financial pressures amplified over the past year.
While we are still finalising the data collected as part of our affiliation registration process, these factors have contributed to what is expected to be a slight reduction in membership numbers – the first we have seen in four years.
In the high-performance space, 12 of our top sailors are about to depart for Marseille, where the Olympic test event is held early next month.
High Performance director Ian Stewart and his team have been working tirelessly in preparation for what is an important regatta in this Olympic cycle, with our athletes competing at the same venue and in similar conditions to what they will face at the 2024 Paris Games.
Micah Wilkinson and Erica Dawson are two of the 12 sailors representing New Zealand at the Olympic test event in Marseille in July. Photo / Sailing Energy
It also leads into the combined world championships in The Hague in August, where we are hoping to qualify as many classes as we can for the Olympics in just over a year.
Finally, a reminder to make use of our comprehensive club manual or to please get in touch with your local regional development manager for any club-related queries you may have. We are in the process of streamlining our website content and resources to make it even more accessible and we will tell you more about that in our next edition of Briefings.
Stay tuned!
Kind regards,
David Abercrombie
