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.

Barry Davies is the NZIODA Secretary. He started sailing on a Laser in his mid 20’s with the Tamaki Yacht Club and Howick Sailing Club then moved to cruising, initially with a Raven 26 then bought the Stewart 34, Pandora.

His son Brad started sailing Optimists in 1996 so he got involved too and served on the Howick Sailing Club Committee. Joined the NZIODA Committee around the year 2000 and for the next five years, helped organize the Clinics at Willow Park and also North Island Champs (they alternated between Rotorua and Lake Taupo in those years).

Barry then went on to become a National Race Officer and eventually became the Sailing Manager at the Royal NZ Yacht Squadron. NZIODA honoured me with Life Membership in 2006.

Dianne and Barry left Auckland in 2010 and eventually settled in Timaru where he currently resides.

He has continued with his interest in the Optimist Class and when he saw NZIODA was searching for a new Secretary, Barry offered to take on this role. With his past experience and impartiality, he is ready to serve the Committee and the Optimist community.

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.

Nick started sailing dinghy’s and keelboats at age 14 in the Isle of Man, in the British Isles and has lived in New Zealand for 18 years.

Nick’s current sailing activities (a J14 out of Torbay YC) have recently taken a back seat to facilitate his sons sail racing at Murray’s Bay Sailing Club.

Isaac (12) is sailing Optimist and P-class and Finloe (10) is sailing Optimist and looking forward to starting sailing P-class this winter. Nick is passionate about our sport and believes that sailing should be an activity for life. In Nick’s view, the best way to ensure this is to keep it fun, whatever the level of competition!

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!

Jim brings a considerable amount of racing experience to NZIODA, being a 15 time World Champion, NZ Olympian and multiple Americas Cup competitor, most recdently with the American Magic team.

Living in New Zealand for over 20 years, Jim has been involved with NZIODA activities for many years, stemming back to coaching the 2003 Easter Beach Clinic.  Jim’s youngest daughter Sofia has just moved into Open Fleet after an enjoyable and successful time in Green Fleet and older sister Chloe moved into the Starling this season after loving her time in the Optimist.

Although Jim brings a wealth of top end racing experience to the NZIODA Committee, he is also passionate about keeping kids in the sport and having fun, development, fundraising and coaching.

Although Michael has no sailing pedigree he has over 10 years experience as an opti parent with all 3 children learning to sailor at Kohimarama Yacht Club.  He was fortunate to travel and campaign with his oldest son Noah who was a member of several NZIODA teams.  His youngest child Ollie is currently in the Open Fleet.

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