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Covid-19

Regional Roundup - Coaching resources

Issue date

The four Yachting New Zealand regional development managers take a look at what has been happening in their areas and also remind you of some of the great coaching resources available.


Coaching Resources

Books

While many of our clubs use the Yachting New Zealand learn to sail level 1 and level 2 Go Sailing book, did you realise there is also a level 3 Go Racing booklet?

This is an introduction to racing and is a great resource for those in their club green and learn to race fleets. Remember, there is a wall chart that goes out with the learn to sail books, which is a great way to track your new sailors - not to mention a good way to remember their names.

The level 3 booklet is a comprehensive syllabus which starts with a general module on what racing is all about, then goes in to learning about the finer skills of yacht racing from boat setup, sail tuning, start techniques right through to rules and preparing for regattas.

Yachting New Zealand also developed a new Introduction to Keelboat Sailing book earlier this year and, while it says keelboat on the cover, this book would be great for clubs to use for their adult learn to sail even if the course was in dinghies.

You can find these resources in the Yachting New Zealand shop here.

South Island Opti Clinic

Optimist nationals
Photo: Yachting New Zealand

The Queen Charlotte Yacht Club in Picton will host December's South Island Opti Clinic, a three-day, live-in camp for young Optimist sailors of all abilities.

The camp takes place from December 19-21, 2021, at the same location that will host next year's Interislander Regatta – NZIODA’s only ranking regatta apart from the nationals this season. Treat yourselves to an early Christmas present and take the whole family, or even pitch in to help out.

Places will fill up fast so get ready to hit register by noting these all-important dates:
 
September 13: Registrations open to South Island Sailors with 30 places
October 11: Open to Wellington regional sailors
October 18: Open to all sailors nationally 
November 19: Registrations close
 
This camp costs $350 and is suitable for green, white and open fleet sailors. The focus is on having fun, making friends, working on race strategy and gaining independence through personal development.

The North Island Opti Clinic will be held in Auckland on January 11-14.

Strategy update

Yachting New Zealand have a refreshed strategy to guide the next few years and committee members from the central and lower North Island and top of the South Island are invited to join a strategy presentation on September 9 (6.30pm).

Yachting New Zealand chief executive David Abercrombie and national sport development director Raynor Haagh have been touring around the country to present the strategy. The present lockdown means the next session will be done online for clubs in the North Island excluding Auckland, Northland and Wellington as well as clubs in the top of the South Island.

An invitation to join the session has been sent to each club but please contact your regional development manager if you would like to attend.

A session for Auckland clubs will be held online on September 16 (6.30pm).

Wellington Keelboat Interclub Series

Evans Bay

The timing of Covid alert levels dropping in the capital should work well to bring the Wellington keelboat fleets together with the first event hosted by the Lowry Bay Yacht Club on September 26.

The second event will take place at Evans Bay Yacht & Motor Boat Club on October 2 with the third round the following weekend at the Royal Port Nicholson Yacht Club.

These events tie in with each club's opening day and have been well supported in the past.

The RPNYC will be hoping their earthquake strengthening work which has been taking place over the winter will be completed by then.

Lockdown learning

Akarana

Just because we have all be in lockdown (and some still are) and no one could go sailing, it doesn’t mean our clubs haven’t been busy entertaining and upskilling their members.

The Royal Akarana Yacht Club have been running a series of guest speakers to ensure members keep training during lockdown. RAYC Laser coach and 2021 Laser Radial women’s national champion Olivia Christie gave a great session on heavy-wind skills to academy sailors, parents and club members last weekend.

Having grown up sailing and racing in windy Wellington, Olivia had some useful heavy-wind tips like hiking, rigging, de-powering and more. She even had everyone practice some stretching and core muscle exercises.

The Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron have also been running Zoom sessions to upskill members, all from the comfort of their own home. Sailing director Laurie Jury ran a rig tuning and boat speed session last week, giving top tips on how to get your boat in the best position, tuning your rig and sailing faster.

More sessions are planned for the coming weeks as well as Friday night eSailing competitions and a kids colouring competition.

The Richmond Yacht Club got into the swing of lockdown by running their winter series prizegiving live on Facebook. Well done to Rosy Herstell for running a great live event that even included spot prize vouchers and a bottle of rum, of course!

The club have also recently run a Facebook photo competition asking members to post their lockdown sailing adventures and comments. We loved this one below.

Covid-19
Photo: Mat Dunne.

RS Feva Class Traveller Series 

RS Feva
Photo: Yachting New Zealand.

The NZ RS Feva Association have released their dates for this summer's Traveller Series, which will obviously depend on the situation around Covid-19 and the relevant lockdown levels in place.

The first event in the eight-round series is due to be at the Kerikeri Cruising Club on September 25-26, Covid permitting, and concludes with the national championships at the Maraetai Sailing Club on April 2-3.

The winter champs at the Murrays Bay Sailing Club on October 16-17 is a non-Traveller Series event but will still cater for Fevas.

See here for a full rundown of events.

Aoraki Aviemore Classic

Aviemore Classic

The Timaru Yacht & Power Boat Club have added another day to the Trust Aoraki Aviemore Classic, turning the Labour weekend regatta into a three-day event.

The major reason for this is that they are hosting the Noelex 25 and Ross 780 South Island championships and need to be able have a greater number of races to comply with the class rules.

Organisers are well into planning next month's event and, like last year, will be able to run the regatta in both level 1 and 2 restrictions (unless rules are changed).

The Interislader are offering a 15 percent discount for anyone travelling from the North Island and all enquiries should be directed to Geoff Swan

Events postponed

A number of events around the country have been postponed or cancelled due to the latest lockdown so it would pay to check in with the relevant club or class association to see if an event is still going ahead.

Other clubs are staging new events to mark the fact they can go sailing again, like the Taipa Sailing Club, who are holding a Back to the Water Regatta on September 18.

It would also be useful if event organisers got in touch so we can update our regatta calendar.