Issue date
The four Yachting New Zealand regional development managers take a look at what has been happening in their areas and also look at the value of a club newsletter to keep members informed.
Newsletters are a great way to keep members informed with what's going on around your club and are also an opportunity to promote clubs partners and sponsors.
The Waikawa Boating Club recently launched a new monthly newsletter, called Latitude 41, to keep their members up to date. You can catch a copy of it here.
The first newsletter came out earlier this month and has club news, a story on the Evolution Sails Women’s Regatta, tips for selling your boat and a feature on their volunteer of the month, Bill Crossen.
Obviously a newsletter takes some effort to put together but you might be surprised who offers to help if you put the call out. There are also plenty of templates you can utilise when putting together an online version.
There are plenty of other ways to communicate with members, including social media and a club app.
Safety forums
The Waikawa Boating Club hosted the first of a series of forums held by Yachting New Zealand safety and technical officer Angus Willison.
About 35 members attended the presentation, which covered changes and key updates in the revised safety regulations.
It also gave a valuable insight into the work Yachting New Zealand does behind the scenes on behalf of our wider boating community.
There was also a presentation on race officiating and Yachting New Zealand's online learning platform, Embark.
It was a very informative evening and a big thank you to the Waikawa Boating Club for hosting.
Mark laying training
Learn to lay marks and gates to a professional standard and get a taste of the roles needed on a race day with the Buoyzone app at a special mark laying training session at the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron on Saturday (from 9am).
You can RSVP to the event here.
Towing dinghies with a RIB
Getting your inflatable RIB to go to windward while starting to tow dinghies can sometimes be challenging when the breeze is strong.
What often happens when you secure the towline and start towing is that you get pulled sideways and cannot go head to wind.
What you can do is lengthen the towline and get your boat head to wind before the towline gets tight and pulls your stern around.
Having some extra towlines on your RIB is a great idea. You can always shorten the towline when underway.
If you are using your towline, have the sailor wrap the rope around their mast and get them to hang onto the tail. This well enable them to release it if required.
If possible, avoid towing directly from the bow fairlead as this should be used only as a guide through to wrapping around the mast. Starlings are an example of this.
Pulling from the bow is likely to pull the bow/forestay fitting out as the load is made to pull up not forward.
Gisborne Yacht Club
The Gisborne Yacht Club celebrated their 75th anniversary recently with a Friday night get together at the yacht club and a more formal dinner on the Saturday evening.
About 100 people attended the celebrations, with many former commodores as well as life members in attendance.
Rod and Chris McCulloch and the organising committee did a fantastic job of collecting photos and contacting former members, which allowed Rod to put together a great recollection of the club's history.
NZIODA North Island Opti Clinic
Registrations are now open for the annual NZIODA North Island Opti Clinic, which runs from January 10-13, 2023.
It returns to a residential clinic at the Willow Park Christian Camp at Eastern Beach in Auckland and is run by NZIODA in association with the Royal Akarana Yacht Club. All shore-based activities, mealtimes and night supervision will be taken care of by an appointed shore manager and parent volunteers.
The cost is $600 per sailor, which includes a subsidy from the Optimist Worlds New Zealand Trust (OWNZ). The closing date for registrations is November 18, 2022 and you can register online HERE
Manly Sailing Club
The waters off the Manly Sailing Club have been a hive of activity already this season and that's no better illustrated than by the fleet of wingfoilers who regularly race there.
This season the wingfoilers have their own race area, with multiple course options to encourage all skill levels to have a go at racing.
They race on every club day and over the summer the start time may be pushed back closer to 3pm to make the most of the sea breeze. Keep an eye on the Manly Sailing Club or Wingfoil New Zealand Facebook pages to stay up to date with the race-day plans.
And see here for some highlights from last weekend's racing.
This weekend the club's main focus will be on the Manly Spring Regatta, which will feature the O’pen Skiff, RS Feva, Starling and ILCA 6 classes, as well as the 29er North Island championships.
See here for more information on the events, including the notices of race and entry details.
Weiti Boating Club
A rubber duck race, car boot sale and even special parking for 'fancy' cars and bikes will be features of the Weiti Boating Club's opening day on Sunday. Oh, and a spot of yacht racing.
The club have a new social committee and have extended the welcome to anyone keen to head down to the club on Sunday. The car boot sale starts at noon, with the dinghy boat, kayak and SUP races following at 1pm and the rubber duck race at 2.30pm.
Murrays Bay Sailing Club
As many as 92 boats across seven fleets competed in last weekend's Icebreaker Regatta at the Murrays Bay Sailing Club, which doubled as the final event of Auckland's Winter Sprint Series.
A shifty offshore breeze often made things interesting for the sailors, not to mention race committee led by Cameron Dunn, across the four races. But there was a noticeable improvement in sailing skills race by race as sailors shook off some of the winter cobwebs and started to find their rhythm.
It was also nice to see some of the junior sailors catching up with friends from other clubs once the sailing was over.
Murrays Bay will be hosting the Stack Winter Champs on October 15-16, which is open to Optimist green, Optimist open, O’pen Skiff, P Class, Starling Development, Starling, ILCA 6, RS Feva, 420, 29er, Waszp, International Moth, 49er, 49erFX, Windfoil and Wingfoil classes.
See here for more information on the winter champs.
