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OKAIHAU COLLEGE SAILING DAY

When Blue Newport,a teacher at Okaihau College became aware that pupils who lived inland never got the opportunity to experience the joys of sailing he decided to do something about it. He regularly races his Lotus 10.6 Valentine at the Kerikeri Cruising Clubs events and so approached the club to assist him in achieving his goal.

The ultimate result saw 60 students and 11 yachts coming together to have a crash course in yachting and at the same time see just what it is like to take part in close quarters racing. After only 20 minutes tuition the boats lined up for a short course around the buoys in the Kerikeri River. This was run as a proper race with a five minute gun and a countdown to the start. The students found the close quarters start and the loud calls of starboard and buoy room a little intimidating but soon entered into the spirit and added to the general mayhem.

Tem minutes after the last boat finished a new longer course was set out to the Brothers and Kent Passage and away they went again. Flukey winds made life difficult but all yachts finished within the set time. Following the races it was great to see the students packing up and folding sails. Polite, enthusiastic, and obviously having a good time they were a credit to their school. All skippers said that they had found the students a joy to have and the yachts spokesperson invited them back next year. The skippers were surprised at how quickly their crews grasped the intricacies of sailing and the terminology used. Obviously, young minds are much better at taking in new thoughts and concepts than older folks.