Issue date
Central regional support officer Wayne Holdt takes a look at what has been happening in his area and offers a number of suggestions for clubs and their members to consider during lockdown restrictions and into the future.
It feels like we can see a light at the end of the tunnel as the country moves to level 3 next week and a possible move to level 2 on May 11.
While a big percentage of clubs in my area don’t have winter sailing programmes, there are still a lot of things to be done like building maintenance, rescue boat servicing and learn to sail boat maintenance to name a few. Hopefully some of these things will be able to be carried out as these restrictions are eased and the 2020-21 calendar is one area I will be working on with clubs over the next few weeks.
Connecting with Members
There are some clubs and class associations doing a great job of staying connected with their members, with sailor interviews, adventure trips and coaching tips being sharing on their Facebook pages. Some are simply putting up a couple of old club photos every now and then to keep the interest up.
Here are some other ways to keep informed or learn new skills.
One of the hardest things to do in this shutdown is for the kids who came out of this season's learn to sail programme and their ability to purchases boats for the coming season. I think phoning them individually is the best option and that's what we're doing at my club, the New Plymouth Yacht Club.
Sailability Programmes
While most people have heard of Sailability, they might not understand the extent of the programmes around the country. So here is a bit of an insight into what’s happening.
Sailability run programmes worldwide but there is no governing body so Sailability programmes are set up by motivated people to deliver sailing as an option to the disabled community as best suits them and the facilities in their region.
In New Zealand, these programs are mainly delivered in Hansa 303s and Liberty boats. This does not mean they are restricted to those classes, because, depending on a sailor's disability, they might already be included in mainstream sailing events.
Sailability programmes are run in a variety of places in New Zealand, including Northland, Auckland, Waikato, Tauranga, Rotorua, Taranaki, Whanganui, Napier, Nelson and three bases in Wellington - Seaview, Evans Bay and Titahi Bay.
Volunteers play a huge part in the running of these sailing programmes, which are normally run midweek, and it's a great opportunity for retired sailors to get to go for a sail. All of the programmes are also closely aligned to a yacht club.
If you would like to volunteer to be a companion sailor or someone to help on the dock, please get in touch with a Sailability group near you.
If your club would like to talk about setting up a Sailability programme in your region, then get in touch with your regional support officer.
Virtual Regatta
A few clubs and class associations have set up various regattas online for their members to sail in. This is a great format and comes at little or no cost, other than someone to host the races ($16 per month).
I have been working with South Island regional support officer Ian Gardiner to set up a teams racing series, which involves six teams and three sailors in each team.
Each team member is part of their secondary school team sailing team and can match the colour of their sails to their teammates. The intention is to run a round robin series followed by semifinals and a final.
They typically race five races each evening and so far the schools involved are Marlborough Boys College, Nelson College, New Plymouth Girls' High School and New Plymouth Boys' High School. Hopefully this will be the start of other regional regattas.
If you haven't played the game or want some more information, you can find it here.
Coaching Information
There is a multitude of information in the Yachting New Zealand club manual, not least of all in the coaching section, which contains a huge amount of videos, drills, resources and lots of other information club coaches could use.
Go to the Yachting New Zealand website and find 'Clubs' then 'Club Manual', scroll down to No 4 'Coaching' and find 'coaching resources'.
Remember, if you are moving out of your region to attend university or for work and would like to stay involved with sailing as a coach, there are always plenty of opportunities available in coaching from learn to sail to race level.
The Yachting New Zealand regional support officers in each region have a fairly good handle on which clubs are looking for coaches so they would be your best option to start with and you can also keep an eye on our situations vacant page.
Coaching is often a good option to earn a bit of pocket money.
