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A record fleet of 83 sailors is lining up for the annual AIMS GAMES Anchor Regatta. An impressive, 42 competitors lined up for last year’s inaugural event, so a doubling of the fleet for the event in its second year is an impressive achievement and testament to the excellent reputation of the Tauranga Yacht and Power Boat Club in running events.
AIMS stands for Association of Intermediate and Middle Schools and the AIMS Championship is now in its 13th year with students able to compete in 21 sporting codes.
Students sail in Optimists in an open fleet race format under the full Racing Rules of Sailing with prizes for overall champion, top performing school team, and placing in each of the school years 7 and 8 by boy and girl gender.
The AIMS Games is now New Zealand’s biggest sporting event with some 9,300 student competitors taking part this year. Last year’s live-streaming has been upgraded with a Live and highlights package of AIMS TV running over the week. Yachting will feature in Sunday and Monday’s coverage of the event complete with on-board footage.
The yachting regatta starts with safety checks and registration this Saturday 3 September with up to four races to be sailed back to back on Sunday 4th – Tuesday 6th September 2016.
Whilst the overall tournament for many codes is a week-long affair, Yachting New Zealand’s Northern Region RSO Hamish Hey says, “There are so many events on the sailing calendar for these kids that we have scheduled a compact format for the families that supports the kids. It also minimises the leave needed by the local volunteers who have an annual commitment to host the event - a massive thanks to those folk for their time again this year.”
“The key thing is that these kids are recognised by their schools as being sailors and that puts yachting firmly on the school map for kids and their families. It is hoped in time, this will increase participation in sailing in schools for other yachting programs and at other levels of the education system where Yachting New Zealand is actively working to grow the sport also”
New to the event this year is the option of a Medal Fleet being separated out from the rest for the final two races.
“We hope this will create a finals atmosphere similar to what we saw with the Olympics – something so often lacking at a yachting regatta.”
The Notice of Race and Sailing Instructions can be found on the AIMS Games Website: http://www.nzaimsgames.co.nz/
Tauranga Yacht and Power Boat Club Website, http://www.yacht.org.nz/
For any enquiries please contact Hamish Hey, Northern Regional Support Officer, YNZ on 021 433 531.
The Aims Yachting Championship is proudly sponsored by Anchor – a major supporter and supplier to the AIMS Games, with support from Yachting New Zealand, Tauranga Yacht and Power Boat Club, North Sails, Harken, C-Tech, Doyle Sails, and Steve’s Marine Supplies for prizes.
