After a difficult start HAG has now concluded for another year.
The support that St Johns Rotary has received from Orakei Marine, Yachting New Zealand, the Royal Akarana Yacht Club, and of course Gary Key, has once again ensured a very successful event. A few comments from Yachting NZ follow. To see their complete report covering the full three weeks, click on "Read More" below.
- The Operation this year has presented the team with a couple of challenges – an early brush with Covid caused a scrambled reschedule as did two days of severe weather in the middle. However, the team coped well and we believe we should collectively be very grateful for the effort put in by Steph Vining and Holly Padfield and for the daily support by the Royal Akarana Yacht Club
- Yachting New Zealand values its relationship with the Rotary Club of St. Johns very highly. It is a model we would like to both repeat and expand to other Rotary Clubs. We look forward to a continued and mutually beneficial relationship with the Rotary Club of St. Johns.
2022 Rotary Have a Go Days – Weekly Wrap-up Week 1
Monday 9/5/2022 - Panmure Bridge School
25 children on the water from Panmure Bridge School. A stunning day in Auckland and a great deal of enthusiasm from the kids taking part made for a good day out. Little wind meant that sailing activity was overtaken by other exercises things and it was satisfying to see a number of children confidently capsizing and righting the Optimists – something that would have been a new challenge for all.
Tuesday 10/5/2022 - Saint Josephs Orakei
Postponed following a positive Covid test by Yachting NZ’s lead instructor on Monday evening. Immediate priority for Tuesday was to ensure that the instructor in question was isolating and that the other members of the team took Covid tests as a matter of priority – both tests were negative. In parallel, both Monday’s and
today’s schools were advised and, after discussion with Saint Josephs the decision
was made to cancel the day, with the possibility of rescheduling later in the month.
Wednesday 11/5/2022 - Saint Patricks Panmure
Postponed as above. The priority for this day was to ensure we had sufficient staffing coverage to operate going forward. With help from the Royal Akarana Yacht Club’’s coaching team the staff plan was reworked and a restart planned for Thursday. The staff at Saint Patricks, while understandably disappointed, completely understood the necessity of our action and, once again, we will look to reschedule later in the month.
Thursday 12/5/2022 - Churchil Park School
22 children on the water and another glorious early autumn day in Auckland. Once again light breezes made sailing sporadic and so a number of other activities were entered into involving a daisy chain of 11 yachts and a game of ‘Simon Says’. The objective of these exercises is to build confidence on the water and, once again, success can be measured by the number of boats that end up upside down and then upright again.
Friday 13/5/2022 - Ruapotaka School
20 children on the water and Auckland’s balmy weather continued. Many of this group had not been in a boat of any kind before and so light breezes are actually a bonus as it can take a while for children to grasp the basics of steering and travelling in a specific direction. Once again the emphasis was on confidence and fun in a safe environment, with the children stepping up to what would have been for many of them, a series of challenges.
Monday 16/5/2022 – Churchil Park School
22 Children enjoyed a fun day of sailing and water games. Another day of fairly fickle winds at Okahu Bay so partially sailing and partially water confidence – capsizing and righting the yachts etc.
Tuesday 17/5/2022 – Churchil Park School
20 children involved in activities similar to the previous day, friendly Auckland weather conditions remain in play
Wednesday 18/5/2022 – Glen Taylor School
25 children on the water. A mix of sailing and water confidence once again and a wonderful time for all. Wind starting to build in the afternoon and ominous signs on the weather front, conditions expected to be marginal for tomorrow
Thursday 19/5/2022 – Glen Taylor School
Cancelled due to weather conditions. A close eye was kept on the weather overnight and early morning. In the end the decision was taken to cancel – this proved to be a good decision as the wind and rain built through the day.
Friday 20/5/2022 - Ruapotaka School
Also cancelled. On this day gusts of 60 knots were experienced at the Manukau heads in early morning (often a good indicator of what might happen on the Waitemata), and Harbour Bridge was closed for a period of time during the day due to high winds. Unsafe to operate.
Monday 23/5/2022 – Saint Pius X School
15 Children, a little less than the expected number of attendees but no matter. Auckland weather cooperating again and a good day for the children to try out both their sailing and their boat handling skills. As usual everybody got wet – deliberately or otherwise – in what, for many, would have been something of a new and challenging environment.
Tuesday 24/5/2022 – Saint Pius X School
12 Children, even calmer weather and a day similar to yesterday. However something to note: One of the boys in the class suffers from Spinal Bifida and was, normally, wheel-chair bound. We were aware of this ahead of time and had committed to involve this child as much as we could, as long as it was safe to do so. After conversation with the boys mother it was decided that we should treat him the same as all the rest and so he was put in a wetsuit and life jacket, placed in an Optimist and went sailing with the rest, taking an active part in all aspects of the experience including capsizing and righting the yachts. The comment was made at the end of day that this was one of the few times that this child could partake in a class activity on an equal footing with everybody else. The team did a good job.
Wednesday 25/5/2022 – Spare
While we tried as best we could to fill this day – the intent was to make it available to Ruapotaka School to make up for the cancelled day on the 20th, the short time frame proved too much of a challenge for the school and in the end they could not make it happen.
Thursday 26/5/2022 – Glen Taylor School
27 children – many attending for the second time – approached the day with enthusiasm. Auckland once again turned on the weather and a great day on the water was had by all. Once again a mix of sailing activity and water confidence.
Friday 27/5/2022 – Saint Josephs Orakei.
21 children – approximately 30% of the school roll – and a good turnout of supporting parents made for a great last day of the 2022 season. The parents were involved as much as possible, both heading out on the water and/or assisting with launching and retrieval. Feedback from all was outstanding with a number of requests for yacht club contacts for Learn To Sail programmes. A wonderful day on the water and an outstanding session to finish the season with. The following email was received from the school Office Manager at end of day:
Wow. The kids have come back to school absolutely buzzing. They had the best day ever! So much fun and so many memories. We are so very grateful for being given this
opportunity. They really had such a wonderful day.