FROM NEW ZEALAND
NZ is divided into two main islands with a strait between them, that costs a couple of hundred dollars to transport boats and trailers accross on the ferries, this tends to isolate the islands as far as getting the fleets from both islands sailing together. In the past all the Olympic Europe sailors have centred in the North Island, and in the South Island, for the past 15 years, Peter Andrews has been quietly building up the Europe fleet to his goal of 30 boats which he has now achieved, plus 2. In the 4 years I have been involved with the class there has been little or no communication between the NZ Owners Assoc in Auckland, and the S.I. fleet, it seems the Olympics have been the focus for Auckland, while in the S.I. none of us are anywhere near that level, so “never the ‘twain shall meet”. In the S.I. we have a fleet of 32 boats, of which 7 are women, the main concentration being in the city of Christchurch, also where the Europe Class S.I. Owners Assoc is based. We have newsletters going out every 2 months to all the S.I. owners, we have S.I. championships, Canterbury championships (this is the province Christchurch is in) and line honours and handicap trophies for “Special Events”. This is where we might travel as a fleet to some open regatta somewhere in the S.I. and sail together. At our last AGM (this May) we decided to introduce a special trophy for our women, which they can compete for within all our events. The competition is very strong in the S.I. and we take our racing seriously, we just don’t want to get bogged down with the politics and bureaucracy of Olympic and our national yachting administration (YNZ) matters. At our last AGM we determined to try and get a mini website on the YNZ website to promote the class in the S.I. but this involved becoming an Incorporated Society, and affiliated to YNZ, which we aren’t interested in doing, so I have been in contact with the NZ Europe Class to see if we can negotiate part of their website as they have met all the criteria and have a site, but their site is out of date because of the recession of the class in Auckland. This has led to dialogue between us which has not happened in the 4 years I have been involved, so I am hopeful that may be some good for the class will come out of it, and a closer co-operation between the north and south island fleets. So. It is not all bad news about losing Olympic status. We are in the winter time here, so it is the time to set up next seasons program of events, and currently we are enquiring with the N.I. fleets to see if we can hold a regatta together next summer, if it happens that will be another first for a long time. In the S.I. we have had a core of about 3 or 4 sailors who have been active in the class for ages, but recently there has been a lot of new blood joined which has given a new impetus and fresh ideas which has been great, in fact in the last month we have had 4 boats change hands from folks who weren’t using them anymore to people who hopefully will, in fact some of us intend sailing through the winter. One of the bonuses I have found with the Europe here in NZ, is that I can go to any of the local yacht clubs and sail against a lot of different classes and have good racing. Europes seem to be able to hold their own in all conditions with most of the classes of similar type sailing in NZ. Well, that’s what happening over here in NZ, if I can be of any help please let me know. Regards. Tom Arthur S.I. Owners Group secretary.
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