We welcome submissions, whether it’s regatta reports, news or preview stories.
There are a few things you can do to make our job easier and also improve the chances of your story being published.
You can submit news online or via email.
Email it to Yachting New Zealand communications manager Eduan Roos - eduan@yachtingnz.org.nz. You can either write it directly into an email or use Microsoft Word but please avoid PDFs (it’s not easy getting them off there).
Please use the full name of those involved, not their nicknames or just their first names, and their position if it is relevant (eg commodore, youth coach etc). With regatta reports, ensure you have the essentials like the full name of the club it took place, the name of the regatta, the classes involved and when it happen.
Results
Including results makes a big difference, because it helps tell the story of what took place. It also ensures more people get mentioned and everyone likes seeing their name in lights, right? Again, please don’t send them in PDFs or scans of a results sheet because it’s very time consuming transferring them over and it’s unlikely they will be used.
The best format is:
Position: Sailor(s) name (club) results with the discard in brackets - followed by the net points, like below.
Results from the 2018 Optimist national championships at the Queen Charlotte Yacht Club:
Open (137 boats)
1st: Fletcher Walters (Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club) 1 2 2 3 3 2 4 2 1 (5) 3 - 23 points
2nd: Daniel Links (Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club) 3 3 3 3 4 1 (15) 6 13 3 5 - 44 pts
3rd: George Lee Rush (Wakatere Boating Club) (OCS 47) 1 1 2 2 21 3 3 3 1 8 - 45 pts
If it’s a keelboat regatta, then the name of the boat and skipper can be mentioned as follows:
Results from the Jack Tar Auckland Regatta hosted by the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron:
Division A (7 boats)
1st: Temptation - Skipper - Anatole Masfen (RAYC) 2 3 1 1 - 7 points
2nd: Ran Tan II - Brian Petersen (RNZYS) 5.5 2 3 2 - 12.5 pts
3rd: Miss Scarlet - William Goodfellow (RAYC) 1 6 4 3 - 14 pts
Photos
Providing a photo is essential because every story runs with an image. We realise you’re not all professionals but try to send the highest quality images you can - anything under about 100k will result in a pretty grainy picture. If the shot is from a professional, please ensure you have permission to use the picture. List the photographer’s name so we can make sure they get the credit they deserve. You also need to list who is featured in the photo and give a short description of what is happening to give the image some context.
It’s best to attach JPGs to the email. Please don’t embed in the body of an email or inside the Word document or PDF because this compromises the quality of the image. It’s good to send options but please don’t be disappointed if all of them aren’t used.
Social media
From time to time we will post your story on social media. It helps if you mention any relevant Facebook pages or links so we can tag them in the posting.
Changes
We all make mistakes - yes, it’s true - so please don’t hesitate to get in touch if something needs correcting or updating. Include the link or story and mark the section in bold that needs updating.