Greetings Opti Folk
While 2019 soon ends for some of our sailors our season is yet to truly begin. The weather has been a mixed bag but this hasn’t stopped many of our sailors getting their programmes on the water this year.
It was great to see a healthy Green fleet at this years Sir Peter Blake regatta, with lots of excitement around pink flamingos and rainbow union marks – Thanks Kim! New Plymouth North Island Championship was a great success despite all being thrown in the ‘Naki washing machine’. The club supplemented its can do attitude around the weather and Taranaki hospitality with some beautiful trophies. The inaugural White fleet sailing tried hard to make its debut but was curtailed by the weather.
The committee are committed to supporting the White fleet and during this transitional time acknowledge comms around some of its initiatives still need to be improved. The White fleet is expected to grow over time being feed by the upcoming ‘greenies’ though the newbies in the open fleet could still consider the gains in consolidating their skills in this division before moving on. It is important for those aiming for Development Team places to remember that those spots are only allocated on the sailor’s Nationals placings alone (their overall ranking has no bearing). Weather always plays a part in sailing so what you can do on one day is not always and indication of overall skills. We are expecting more white fleet entries at Auckland Champs and are focused on supporting this fleet.
A real success story for this year was the Teams Racing held at Lake Pupuke. Held over two days, participation included 75 sailors of all levels. Hosted by Murrays Bay Sailing Club this second iteration follows an initiative from their Head Coach Connor Corgard. This exciting and well run event is a real skill and community builder. Years of controversy over team racing during Nationals led the committee to support this event and pull it from Nationals as a means of fulfilling our obligations with traveling teams. We received requests for thirteen dispensations almost all from well out of Auckland. We aim to further support distant entries even more for future events.
The new website and registration system have been a significant advancement this year. Substantial work was done on this by our secretary Bryce Day to whom we offer our special thanks. This has been in planning for some time and its development is expected to continue for some time yet. Please also take the opportunity to get your Learn to Race sailors to register (It’s Free) allowing them to get their own sign on tag and get gradually involved in the various NZIODA events around the country.
The general committee have worked well together and we have managed to be more proactive with many long standing issues. While we still have a vacancy for a Treasurer/ Financial adviser, Amy Mulcahy has continued to do our accounts and currently transfers them to a new provider after receiving short notice of a supplier cessation. Many thanks again Amy for all the hard work you willingly put in to NZIODA
Excited to work with this years coaches, the committee looks to foster greater year on year continuity for the class. Thanks go to Glenn, Emanuel and Dan who put in numerous hours to drive the coaching selection process and allowing coaches to be allocated 6 months ahead of time. This again helps to plan and gives us continuity and coaches further opportunity. Mutual concerns we share for our sailors also align with those of Yachting New Zealand so we look to see how we can work together. Eastern beach camp will have three YNZ coaches this year offering an opportunity to get to know our class better.
Your committee are currently finalising a short survey that will be published here in the New Year. The questions are minimal and we wish to follow up your responses with further questions as we set priorities for the coming year. The committee are working towards fulfilling the Vision and Values Document recently posted on the website so your responses will help us. The Mission part – HOW- is a living statement of intention to be applied to our decisions and initiatives. With limited resource there is always much to do for this class and it can always be done better, however importantly, we need to do it together if it is to have effect. Please take the time to respond when it is published.
On behalf of your committee
We wish you a great break, probably to do with water, and look forward to hearing from, and seeing you all in the New Year
David Kayrouz
President
NZIODA
[category news, NZIODA Teams)
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