Committee

Matt has one sailor in Open Fleet.  He is new to sailing but enthusiastic about encouraging young people into a life long love of the water and sailing.

James sailed Optimist and P-Class before switching to windsurfing through the Athens Olympic cycle, he has two daughters currently in Open fleet. He is focused on sailor retention and enjoyment, to maximise Optimist as a entry pathway for NZ sailing.

Paul has returned to competitive sailing via the three children he has in the Open and Green Fleets. He now lives in Lyttelton (with grandstand views of the SailGP course) and represents the Charteris Bay Yacht Club on the NZIODA Committee.

Paul’s real passion is the outdoors, in particular the teaching and learning that comes with the experience. 

His current aims are two fold encouragement of participation in sailing and retaining Green Gleet sailors into the Open Fleet.

Having relocated to New Zealand six years ago, Chris and her family fell in love with the country’s enchanting sailing culture. Her 13-year-old son sails in the open fleet at the Royal Akarana Yacht Club. 

Chris is passionate about ensuring accessible and enjoyable sailing experiences for families, particularly those without a sailing background. Her goal is to foster inclusivity within the New Zealand sailing community.

Tony doesn’t have much of a pedigree in sailing, having only dabbled with the sport in his lates teens and early 20’s in 2-handed boats like Phase 2’s and Javelins, but does have a strong background in leadership and governance via his role as a director for a multi-national wine company. 

He has a 13 year daughter currently sailing in the Open class and a nine year old son who is still undecided about the sport.  Tony is keen to see Optimist sailing grow in the South Island in particular and would love to see more girls attracted to the sport, given the lifelong skills and opportunities it provides.

Sam overseas the Coaches Pathway and is a passionate and talented past Opti sailor, an enthusiastic coach and is currently the youth and events manager for Yachting New Zealand. He is focused on helping the committee with sailor retention and enjoyment. Sam has a small 26ft keelboat and a WASZP that doesn’t get used enough!

Simon is relatively new to the yachting scene. He has a daughter sailing at KYC where he represents the Green and White fleets.

Simon’s focus is to encourage younger sailors to get out on the water as often as possible through summer midweek training, the Auckland Winter Sprint Series and having a go in regattas near and far.  He has also coordinated a contingent of AIMS Games rookies this year.

John sailed dinghies (including an Optimist) as a youth and has only recently become involved in sailing again after his son took up optimist sailing.

An active member of Worser Bay Boating Club he hopes to add a balance to the NZIODA Committee bringing perspectives from Worser Bay as well as other Wellington clubs.

Wayne has been a competitive sailor for over 50 years and has had a long association with the Optimist class as he had a son at the first Opti Nats in 1996, and with 2 sons competing he attended the next 8 nationals.

He has also coached the worlds team to Martinique in 1999 and has organised the New Plymouth Opti Nationals in 2001 and 2012 as well as all the North Island regattas at New Plymouth.

He works for Yachting NZ as a Regional Development Manager for the Central North Island Region and through that role he has attended all Nationals and North Islands within that region including the Opti Worlds in Napier in 2011.

In addition Wayne also runs “Opti Sail” in Wellington which is a 3 day live in sailing camp for sailors just out of learn to sail.

An active member of New Plymouth Yacht Club he hopes to add a balance to the NZIODA Committee.