Reflections from Waikato & BoP regions.

 

Regional Congratulations:

Sam Meech finally put his name (TYPBC) on the National trophy in Jan 2021.

We’re also proud of him representing NZ at Olympics; which was a notoriously difficult event to prepare for.

 

Peter Thomas (TYPBC) took out 3rd Masters Radial against some pretty challenging winds & competitors.   Tauranga Harbour doesn’t quite have the waves of Worser Bay; but we do know he snuck out the Harbour entrance once to do some training.  Hopefully Queen Charlotte Sound is more like inner harbour waters?

 

George Lane (HYC) took out 3rd in the Open Radials.  After years away, we knew he was secretly making a comeback, trying to train on Hamilton Lake.  Not really waves training for Worser Bay; so a pretty impressive result.

 

Teagan Denny (TYPBC) held 3rd Youth Woman position. Teagan has benefitted from the AON training; and we appreciate her modelling pathways for our younger female sailors.

 

Congratulations also to the core faithful ILCA sailors that travel to regattas outside of our region, reminding others that we have a strong ILCA core here. They bring back such experiences to our club organisations, etc.

 

Around our Region Clubs

Networking between Clubs is something we’ve tried to develop. 

Queens Bday at Ohope  we tried to commit to getting to one another’s key regattas in some way. Unfortunately Covid has already knocked out Rotorua Sprints, and likely to impact other regattas.  Thanks to Pete Thomas for keeping up the email comms amidst our key regional ILCA folks.

We’d like to draw on some outside coaching, but Covid uncertainty has made that difficult to plan anything.

 

TYPBC:

Tauranga is enjoying a resurgence of ILCAs (referred to as Ironing Boards by the Zephyr old boys).

Over summer & winter the fleet grew to regularly 7-8 radials each Sunday; and 12 on the race list.

2 more youth have purchased ILCAs this spring, and we’re coaxing in the odd adult that happens to launch an old laser for a social sail.

We encourage the adults to sail radials to keep us together with youth as a single fleet.  Yes, even Kent Copplestone can be seen in a radial.

Over winter racing, informally there became jovial competition of masters v youth for top 3 placings each race.  We masters drew on our wisdom & experience to stay ahead of those young fit up & comings.

 

HYC

Hamilton continues to hold a strong core of masters sailors (that also hold the club flag officer roles, etc). They still travel to key regattas, including the odd event in Auckland.  QCYC bookings have already been done for this group.  At the club we’re nurturing a new group of youth that have done LTS and are moving into starlings & old lasers. We’re hoping to expand them out to some regional regatta events.  Who knows in Covid times though?

 

LTYC

Taupo has seen a regrowth in radial sailors, having purchased some second-hand ILCAs. Thanks to Mike Pasco (NZsailing) for buying in trade-ins & getting them back out to our clubs market.  LTYC have been building a good relationship with junior sailing families in Napier; but I wasn’t able to tap into any Napier ILCA sailors through them.

 

POYC

Ohope hosted their regular QB regatta enjoying faithful support from around our region.

 

RSC

Rotorua has a couple of ILCA sailors, that we’re trying to keep links with.

 

Raglan Sailing Club

Although Raglan is not formally YNZ affiliated, we continue to dialogue with key people there. Charlie Watts is a local, also a membership at HYC, that attended Nats in New Plymouth. We hope to get him back to Nats at QCYC.  A few of their youth are now moving into ILCAs, and we hope to encourage our regional youth interacting with one another.

 

Cambridge Yacht Club

Cambridge continues to be led by Chris Raynes, an ILCA sailor.  He got 3 ILCAs over to TYPBC’s regatta in March.

 

Lake Ngaroto Yacht Club

A few hardy locals still pull out their old lasers sometimes.  Some HYCers try to attend some of their events, but the converse aren’t travelling much now.  WTYA Youth program is a strong focus there.

 

Waikato Thames Yachting Association regatta is scheduled for Ngaroto end of Nov (Same weekend as NIs in Napier unfortunately, but Covid may eliminate the clash?)  It’s an opportunity to keep the networking alive in the Waikato region so we’re working collaboratively.  Covid may eliminate the clash anyway.

 

Looking Ahead to the Upcoming Season

Waikato is now in L3, and not allowed out sailing. Its taking a toll on not getting our LTS programs up and running.

At least in Auckland L3 step 1, some training is happening. We may need some way to advocate for a Step 1 in Waikato?

So far BoP has dodged the Covid bullet and are underway with summer racing. 

 

Women in ILCAs in our Region

As above, Teagan Denney (TYPBC) has benefitted from AON Training and we hope this will have a flow on effect for younger females up & coming.

LTYC has a couple of females amidst their ILCA fleet. 

HYC has a core of ILCA sailors. We note there is a near 50% female participation across various club roles & levels of our sailing.

HYC was hoping to host a Women on Water series this term using our Quests.  It could have potential to offer individual coaching done in club lasers for any women interested.   Covid has other ideas!

 

Thanks again for the collegial support of Pete Thomas, as we share enthusiasm in the region.

Thanks to Nick P, Jenny A, and others that share enthusiasm for nurturing ILCA sailing at grassroots Club levels.  We look forward to what Jenny may bring to her new role working with women in sailing, esp ILCAs.

 

Helen Spencer