Its May! That must mean the St. Johns Rotary sponsored, New Zealand Yachting programme, "Have a Go Sailing", is now under way. Conditions were near perfect for the first week of Have a Go Sailing for 2019; mainly cloudless skies, flat water and a gentle southerly making Okahu Bay a great location for new sailors.
First up were 18 sailors (years 5 & 6) from Panmure Bridge School who were treated to two days sailing. Day one started by heading west under the shelter of the Orakei Marina before venturing into more wind in Mechanics Bay.
After lunch was sprint racing in Okahu Bay. Day two dawned with a light southerly so it was full speed into the water to get to Mission Bay for lunch. That done they motor-sailed back to Okahu Bay for a serious capsizing session; where the confidence levels were so high that boats were capsizing faster than the instructors could talk through getting them back up again. Here is a link to Panmure Bridge Schools Sailing wrap-up, and also some student blogs. https://sites.google.com/panmurebridge.school.nz/pbs-sport2019/weekly-wrap?authuser=0
Next up were 25 St Patricks School students who ranged in ages from 10 to 13. About half of this group had sailed in the programme last year. Lighter winds made for trickier sailing,with more capsize time!
The most recent group to participate was 29 students from Church Hill Park School, see here preparing for the day. Week one is now behind us with 90 kids already having participated and almost all rating the experience as awesome and wanting to sail again.
A huge thank you to Gary K for his time and effort to date. Also a big thank you to Ainie and Kevin for there communications with the schools. Once again Orakei Marine is a great supporting partner - thank you.
