News

The ISAF Annual Conference being held on 1st -11th November in Ireland will hold special interest for supporters of windsurfing and kite boarding, with the ISAF Council to decide whether the decision on Kite-Board Racing’s inclusion in the 2016 Olympic Games is to be re-visited. The ISAF Council is the decision making body of ISAF and is made up of representatives elected by groups of countries, known as Areas. Each country in the Area has one vote in determining matters before Council.

Queen Charlotte Yacht Club's first High Performance Clinic of the season finished up with a lot of very tired but enthusiastic Optimist and Starling sailors. Club Junior Convenor and Coaching Co-ordinator, Ben Cowley, pronounced the weekend clinic as a great success and said the young sailors were very keen for the next one; “their skills have improved dramatically.”

Previously the IACA Committee Liberty Class Representative, New Zealander Brendan Tourelle has taken on the role of President. In this article, get to know Brendan and everything he brings to the class.

The Gulf Harbour Yacht Club will begin a Youth/Young person’s Keelboat Programme in February next 2013. Find out more here. The programme will provide tuition aboard International Farr Platu 25 Keelboats followed by Fleet and Match Racing as part of the club's own race schedule. Looking forward, further interclub Youth Match Racing will be sought plus interclub and International Class Fleet Racing also.

The 2012 A Class Catamaran World Champion is Mischa Heemskerk from the Netherlands. While only five races could be sailed as conditions steadily deteriorated with the impending arrival of Hurricane Sandy this week, Mischa was clearly dominant in the strong wind conditions. The kiwi team made this event possibly one of our most successful worlds ever... three boats in the top ten; Murray Philpott 5th, Mike Drummond 6th and Allan Coutts 8th. Big thumbs up for Murray Philpott, now Grand Master World Champion and Blair Tuke 19th now Junior World Champion.

THE NEW WEBSITE is operational. Enter on-line. A big thank you to Andrew Turner for all the hard work and for his expertise – take a look it’s really great. We have a few minor ‘teething problems’ to be finished over the next week. As we say every year, it’s more fun to enter now so you can all check out the competition.

Nominations are being called for the Lion Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award which is awarded each year at the Westpac Halberg Awards. Only nominations received before 31 October are considered for this year’s award.

Yachting New Zealand has honoured 22 individuals with Life Membership. The honours were confirmed at the 2012 Annual General Meeting, and recognise exemplary contribution to Yachting New Zealand and to the interests of yachting generally. The list of new Life Members includes men and women whose contributions to Yachting New Zealand are wide ranging. Olympic sailing medallists, America’s Cup accomplishments, promotion of the sport and support of sailors are among the achievements and contributions that these individuals are being recognised for.