Meeting in Review - November 5th 2020

President Hugh welcomed 33 members and 12 Guests to another very pleasant Dinner Meeting.  The chance to hear from Sam Lucas (Onja), and Peter Lester (TVNZ America's Cup Broadcaster), were obviously a crowd puller and the audience was not disappointed.

 

Sam Zoomed in from Madagascar and we took advantage of the technology working in our favour and launched straight in for an update from Sam.  He was accompanied by Anita, one of the Onja students, who did a splendid job when it came to the Q & A segment of the update.  It is now three and a half years since Sam's dream became a reality and he headed for Madagascar and Onja became more than just a dream. 

 

Sam was able to report that despite Covid challenges, progress is excellent and everything is looking good for the first graduates to commence Coding Assignments with global customers by the end of this year.  Anita reconfirmed that as the students graduate they will commence Coding assignments for customers, but they will remain in Madagascar.  They are expecting Fibre will be installed before Christmas and this will make a huge difference for the operation.

 

Sam was asked if his vision had been achieved and his answer was an emphatic YES, although there is still lots of work to do.  Anita was then asked if Sam's Malagasy (the language of Madagascar) was as good as her English, (which was excellent), and she replied with a very tactful "I guess so".

 

It was an excellent update with many questions from the floor and we look forward to our next Zoom update in March. 

 

Sam was about to be disconnected when President Hugh asked him to stay on the line while he invited Sam's sister Claire and Simon Jones to the Podium and much to the surprise of all, particularly Sam, Claire and Simon, President Hugh presented all three with a Paul Harris Sapphire Award.  These awards were presented as an acknowledgement of the significant commitment, effort and personal sacrifices that all three members have made over the last three years to bring their dreams to reality.  St Johns Rotary are very proud of all three and in return they all acknowledged St. Johns Rotary and Rotary International for the moral and financial support that has assisted Onja to get this far.

 

A delicious Roast Dinner was then served prior to Gary introducing Peter Lester and thanking him sincerely for his association with St. Johns Rotary which goes back over 25 years.

 

Peter didn't let us down, once again providing us with an update on the upcoming America's Cup event which starts with the Challenger Series, (Prada Cup), on Friday January 15th to Monday February 22nd.  The winner of the Challenger series will race Team New Zealand for the America's Cup between March 6th and 21st March.

 

There are three Challengers, 1 from the UK, 1 from Italy and 1 from the USA.  The Cup is the oldest sporting event in the world with the first ever series sailed in 1851, (170 years ago).   The yacht designs have changed dramatically over the years and the foiling mono-hulls that will be sailed this year are certainly no exception.  These yachts, totally made of Carbon Fibre and weighing 7 tonnes, are 12% quicker than the catamerans sailed in the last cup in Bermuda.   In 18 knot's of wind they are capable of travelling at 50 knot's!

 

Peters talk was accompanied by video footage of the boats training in the Waitemata Harbour, and some exceptional graphics which will make this a must watch event.  Our sincere thanks to Peter for taking the time to talk to us once again and to put into laymans language many of the aspects of the racing, the yacht designs and the politics behind the scenes.  GO TEAM NZ!!