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As Safety and Technical Officer for Yachting New Zealand, and with plenty of offshore cruising miles under his belt to boot, Angus Willison has a few tales to tell. But here he recounts what is possibly one of the most remarkable stories he knows…

In this day and age of instant communication anywhere on the globe, and an underlying expectation that the ‘cavalry’ is just over the horizon when we go to sea, I thought that I should share a story of self reliance that made me sit up and take note.

Optimist workshop coming to Napier. For coaches and parents to upskill with Optimist specifics. 

Peter Burling and Blair Tuke have secured another victory in the 49er class taking out the 2015 South American 49er Championships sailed in Buenos Aires, Argentina over the past four days.

The victory comes just days before the outcome of the 2015 ISAF Rolex World Sailor of the Year Awards will be revealed. Burling and Tuke are among five finalists for the prestigious award, set to be announced at a gala dinner on Tuesday evening in China.

Greg Wilcox (NZL) maintains his lead on top of the OK Dinghy World Ranking List. He has now been world ranked number 1 since December 2013, a record only beaten by four-time World Champion Nick Craig (GBR).

For more than 50 years the MBSC has operated from a former beachside Bach. With few modifications the original club house facility did an admirable job nurturing the talents of its own and visiting sailors.

No doubt this tale, told by Yachting New Zealand’s Safety and Technical Officer, Angus Willison, will have ‘ring true’ to sailing parents across the nation. It’s all about his daughter Celia’s first encounter with New Zealand’s largest coastal sailing race – the PIC Coastal Classic.

Just as Richie and the All Blacks retained the cup, so did Dave Shaw defend his South Island Paper Tiger Championship Title.

Yachting New Zealand’s on-line calendar is a FREE promotional tool for your sailing or boating event!

Use our on-line event submission form to tell us about what’s coming up and we will include it in our calendar and future issues of Briefings.

With the sailing season well and truly underway, it is time to remind sailing and boating clubs around New Zealand of an exciting event. Following on from two highly successful Volvo National Sailing and Boating Days in 2014 and 2015, this season it is back and bigger than ever…Yachting New Zealand’s Volvo Sailing and Boating Week 2016!

Yachting New Zealand is pleased that 20 affiliated yacht clubs have signed up within a month of launching the Member Card and we encourage others to get on board before Christmas to ensure your members can make the most of the exclusive discount offers available.

New Zealand featured twice in the podium placings at the 2015 China Cup Regatta held in Hong Kong and Shenzhen(Guangdong Province), China from October 30th to November 2nd, 2015.

This years registrations for the Sir Peter Blake Regatta are NOW OPEN! 

There is plenty going on in 420 class and things are set to get even more exciting with the 2017 Open 420 World Championships coming to Australia in December 2017.

The New Zealand 420 Class Association reckon it’s a great time to get involved, and they have just published the Notice of Race for the next year’s 2016 New Zealand 420 National Championships, to be hosted by the Kohimarama Yacht Club in Auckland.

Entries are already coming in for both the Bay of Islands Sailing Week regatta and the Millennium Cup. It’s shaping up to be a spectacular week of sail, with a diverse fleet that includes boats of all shapes and sizes, from sports boats to superyachts.

To help plan you plan your upcoming sailing season, I have compiled a list of most local and some International regattas for the Hansa Class that New Zealand sailors are likely to attend.

French Bay Yacht Club recently held its Open Day on Saturday the 31st October. They seem to get it right at French Bay with a fine day and fresh south westerly breeze.

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 Matt Hall-Smith.

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 Merlin Caskie.

With a summer season of sailing stretching out in front of us, and the first regatta at Lake Ngaroto less than a week away, it is looking like it will be a great season.

Sam Meech finished ISAF Sailing World Cup Final 8th overall, and the best placed of the four-strong  NZL Sailing Team contingent in Abu Dhabi this weekend.

The regatta wrapped up on 1 November in the United Arab Emirates, with kiwis Sam Meech and Mike Bullot lining up for the Laser medal race.

With nine gold medals at stake over four days of intense racing, the 2015 ISAF Sailing World Cup Final gets under way in Abu Dhabi tomorrow with some of the sport's most accomplished elite athletes facing a stern examination.

 

In today’s update I have news from the recent Annual General Meeting, an update on the Member Card and introduce you to our two new Board members, and two new Life Members.

The Sir Peter Blake Torbay Regatta is a finalist in the "Event of the Year" category at the Sport North Harbour Excellence Awards to be announced on Friday the 6th November. 

Yachting New Zealand is delighted to announce that in 2015 two women, Jan Dawson and Adrienne Greenwood, will be awarded Life Membership of Yachting New Zealand. Both passionate about yachting Adrienne and Jan have served in governance and management for Yachting New Zealand each accumulating years of contribution.

Yachting New Zealand has two new Board Directors in Angus Haslett and Jenny de Lisle.

A good fleet of 21 P-class fronted up at the Bay of Islands Yacht Club to contest the2015 P Class North Island Championships. The seven race regatta was held over Labour weekend. After registration on Saturday morning the fleet was out to the race track in the drizzly northerly conditions.  Francesco Kayrouz (WBC) was off to a good start with a couple of wins in the first two races, Henry Wilson (MBSC) and the local boy James Sheldon( BOIYC) were keeping the game pretty close.

Want to give your sailors some encouragement? Check out this video below. I found this on Scuttlebutt. Not a kiwi sailor, but a well known world class sailor. Couple of things I picked out:

Want to brush up on your Opti knowledge? Come along to a workshop to gain knowledge fast, to make your sailors go faster!

Learn to Sail Coach Course (Dinghy) at Royal Port Nicholson Yacht Club, December 2015.

Are you available to coach at BBYC on Sundays? 

Here is an awesome drill that I got from Andrew Wills (former Opti Worlds Coach)

Have you ever wondered if your sail is set to go fast? Ever wondered how the telltales really work?