News

Here’s a look at the up-coming sailing events around the country for the next couple of weeks. See the YNZ on-line calendar for full details of these events and those on in November and December. Don’t see your event in there? Don’t miss out on some free promotion for your sailing events by adding them to the YNZ on-line calendar here.

Andy Maloney returned home this morning from France, after competing in an Extreme 40 event in Nice. Here he tells all about what he has been up to in the last two weeks, including Laser training and racing, as well as how their Extreme 40 team went in Nice.

Marina spokesperson, Jon Nicholson updates on their move to address the shortage of mooring space in the Kawau Bay area… For many years there has been a chronic shortage of mooring space in the Kawau Bay area and south as far as the Mahurangi Harbour. In the Sandspit River there is a 20 year waiting list for moorings and that list has now been capped and the Council is no longer taking applications for moorings.

Four classes 3.7, 12ft Skiff, A Class Cats and Starlings attended the annual Spring Freshwater Sprint Championships hosted by the Rotorua Yacht Club before labour weekend and endured a weekend of wild weather. The ‘Spring Sprints’ as they are affectionately known are an annual event hosted by the Rotorua Yacht Club and are flagship regatta for the club. It has a long tradition of being well supported by a number of the non-Olympic classes and the grass- roots sailing fraternity and this theme continues with good fleets of eight to ten boats in each of the senior classes, and a friendly social atmosphere.

Labour weekend saw the 24th running of the Aviemore Classic sailed on Lake Aviemore out of Otematata Harbour, organised and run by the Timaru Yacht & Powerboat Club and this year supported by Trust Aoraki. The South Island Otago Trailer Yacht Championships attracted 70 entries and were sailed on Saturday along with a fun race in a variety of winds from flat calm to a brisk southwesterly wind. Yachts travelled to Lake Aviemore from as far afield as Picton and Invercargill with some people flying in from Wellington to crew on local yachts.

Hudson Andrews is a 14 year old lad who has cerebral palsy and is mad keen on sailing. Recently Chris Andrews and her son, Hudson, got in contact with Bluff Yacht Club to see how to get Hudson into the sport of sailing. The team at the club has embraced the idea and is totally committed to seeing him on the water. “Chris has recently purchased an Access Dinghy 303 and has been out for a few sails so far,” reports Graeme Wall, Yachting New Zealand Regional Support Officer.

Yachting New Zealand has two new Board Directors elected at the recent 2012 Annual General Meeting held in Wellington. They are Aucklander Peter Dawson (Murrays Bay Sailing Club) and Wellington’s Jamie McDowell (Worser Bay Boating Club).

Whaingaroa Fisheries Company Limited has applied for a significant area of space inside Whangaroa Harbour for marine farming. The area is absolutely inappropriate for aquaculture and it is important that boaties and clubs put in a submission to the Northland Regional Council voicing their concerns otherwise the bay may be lost.

The Service Awards are all about exemplary or selfless services to the sport of yachting – and this list of ten all truly deserve to be recognised. They’re generally the type who don’t seek fanfare, don’t like a fuss, they just get on and get the job done. Giving year and after year of service, the total collective time given to yachting by this group of Service Award winners is extraordinary. It was a tough year for the Judging Panel as many more very dedicated individuals were nominated and they were required to select this year’s ten winners. Come November 23rd each will step up to receive a Yachting New Zealand Service Award at the 2012 Yachting Excellence Awards. This year’s Service Award winners are…