Issue date
Yachting New Zealand hope a full programme of activities associated with their schools programme, Kōkōkaha - Powered by Wind, will be on offer in term 1, 2022.
Restrictions in place around the country due to Covid-19 have severely curtailed the on-water component of the programme, with only the South Island Yachting New Zealand roaming trailer in operation.
Our South Island Instructors Simon and Christina have spent time in the Nelson and Marlborough regions this summer and is presently at Lake Mahinapua on the West Coast. Next week it will be in Timaru, where they will finish up for the year.
Kōkōkaha provides an opportunity for school children to learn more about sailing through a programme that focuses on the science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) associated with harnessing the power of the wind.
The programme includes classroom-based learning experiences, delivered by teachers, but there is also an opportunity for students to go sailing at their local club or waterway so they can get a chance to feel the power of the wind and put their knowledge about wind and sailing technology into practice.
The programme has been hugely popular, both in the classroom and on the water, and Yachting New Zealand are planning sailing experiences to return to the North Island in 2022. All instructors are fully vaccinated.
Ngatimoti School, a rural primary school near Motueka for children in Years 1 to 8 and with a roll of approximately 93, recently enjoyed a sailing experience and described it as "must do".
“Great programme, great people, extremely well delivered and long may it continue to be so,” school principal Malcolm Hepburn said.
The Yachting New Zealand schools programme in-class material is being expanded under the banner Rūnā to include modules that cover New Zealand’s local settlement history and navigation plus ocean care and conservation.
You can find out more about the schools programme here.
Yachting New Zealand would like to acknowledge the support from Aotearoa Gaming Trust and Volvo for Yachting New Zealand's delivery of schools programme sailing experiences in the South Island in Term 4.
