Issue date
I know many of you, like me, will be looking forward to a break over the Christmas period after what has been a difficult year.
Despite this, I'm feeling optimistic about what 2022 will bring, especially with so many events and programmes to look forward to.
You might have seen yesterday's announcement of the launch of the Clean Club progamme, which provides a template for yachting and boating clubs to be more environmentally focused. We're really excited about this initiative, so I'd encourage you and your club committee to look into what you can do - it's simpler than you might imagine.
We're really grateful to the New Zealand SailGP Team, who have partnered us on this initiative, as well as the support from Sailors for the Sea.
Relationships are so important, now more than ever, and we are very thankful to have retained the support of our key sponsors over the last couple of years.
We couldn't operate the way we do without the likes of Aon, Volvo, Zhik, Orbit World Travel, Maersk, Oceanbridge, Lawson's Dry Hills, Railblaza and NZL Sailing Foundation so, if you get the chance, it would be great if you could direct some business their way.
We've had to do things differently over the last couple of years and that was highlighted by this year's Volvo Yachting Excellence Awards, which we held online.
We felt it was still important to recognise the achievements and contributions of people in our sport from grassroots through to high performance. Jesse Tuke did a wonderful job hosting the awards and you can still watch them here.
As part of that presentation, we announced a couple of new Yachting New Zealand life members: former board chair and president Greg Knowles along with event supremo Peter Dawson, who organised three immensely successful world championships in this country in the last decade.
Both have contributed so much to yachting and boating in New Zealand and were worthy of this recognition.
We're rounding out the year with our last Aon National Youth Clinic which will be immediately followed by the Yachting New Zealand Xmas Cup for youth sailors.
We're really hopeful we'll be able to send more sailors overseas in 2022, including the youth worlds, and will hold the youth trials during February's Oceanbridge NZL Sailing Regatta at the Wakatere Boating Club.
This year's Tokyo Olympics might not have gone as well as we would have hoped but we can't afford to dwell because the 2024 Paris Olympics will soon by upon us.
There will be a handful of new sailing events at the Paris Games and we're doing a lot of work in the background to ensure more depth, particularly in female sailing. We were delighted to add former Olympic champion Jenny Armstrong as Yachting New Zealand women's sailing manager to take over from Rosie Champman and are excited about some of the talent coming through.
For now, though, please enjoy some time with your family and friends and I look forward to touching base with many of you in 2022.
