We wish to acknowledge the tragedy that occurred at Abbey Caves and our condolences go out to the Whanau and the Whangarei Boys High School Community. Such events bring so much sadness and stress to a community. A time to come together to support each other in need. It is also a time for the NZ Sailing Trust to review their Health & Safety policy and procedures for all our programmes.
We celebrated quite a few moments over term one and the school holidays. We enjoyed sharing these experiences with even more students from our long standing schools Howick College, Kings College, Westlake Boys High School and Pinehurst School. We welcomed back, after 2 years, Ranum Efsterkole from Denmark for 4 days sailing on Lion NZ. We were happy to work again with our partners Scouting Aotearoa to deliver their ATL@S programme (Advanced Training Leadership at Sea Programme for Senior Scouts), Bluelight Charity for their four day adventure programme and we wish to thank BLAKE and Yachting NZ for the opportunity to host the BLAKE Inspire for Sailors programme for 3 days. One of our newest schools to come on board is Te Aho o Te Kura Pounamu Correspondence School for a daytrip.
This summer, we were fortunate to have some of our former skippers join us on a few trips. Finn Prosser-Wood, who used to be our Maintenance Skipper and now resides in Tasmania, accompanied us on three journeys. Meanwhile, Mick Johns, another former Maintenance Skipper who currently lives in Denmark, was part of the crew for the Ranum Efsterkole group. We are sincerely grateful for their contributions and dedication in helping us deliver these programs. Stay tuned, as both skippers are eager to return in the future.
We have a very busy winter period in store as we have a number of projects on each boat to work on. Steinlager 2’s will have its five yearly rig check, this involves removing the rig from the boat on to shore by crane. She will be lifted from the water to have antifoul applied to her hull. Antifoul minimizes growth on the hull to provide a smoother action through the water. Lion NZ is expected to have works done to her rig as well.
We have a few dates available for term 3 and term 4, so if you wish to book a trip start your planning now.