The ‘accidental’ race officer

Star-Studded Line-up returns to their roots for the RNZYS YTP Alumni Regatta

By Billy Woodworth All current and past sailors, graduates, coaches, staff, and volunteers in the RNZYS Mastercard Youth Training Programme are invited to a grand reunion weekend of racing, reconnecting and fun from October 15th to 17th.

The weekend also celebrates the 35th anniversary of Youth Training Programme (YTP) in our 150th anniversary year.

The sailing component will kick off with a fun rum race / harbour race on Friday 15th October, which will be followed by drinks and food back at the RNZYS. Saturday will then take you back to your roots, with the Elliott 7’s hitting the water for some sprint racing. Saturday night is party night. Put on your favourite regatta shirt, have a few drinks and reminisce about the good old days.

Sunday gets more serious with a Super 16 knockout match racing competition, with bragging rights up for grabs and no doubt plenty of banter, followed by a prizegiving that afternoon to finish off a stellar weekend.

Craig Satterthwaite (YTP 1990-92), an America’s Cup winner with Alinghi, 2015 Round North Island winner and former Volvo Ocean Race participant, is ready for the challenge.

However, he is mostly looking forward to “catching up with old mates I have not seen in a while” and returning to where his sailing career started. Some of Satterthwaite’s fondest memories include winning the 1991 Nutrasweet International Youth Match Racing with Simon Dickey and Sharon Ferris, and meeting his wife Paula.

This sentiment is shared by Mark Christensen (YTP 1988-89), a three-time Volvo Ocean Race winner and Transpac Race record holder with Phillipe Kahn in Pegasus 50. He is looking forward to catching up with familiar faces back home again after many years sailing across the world. His favourite memory of YTP was “an epic ride back one year from Kawau, including lots of colourful and good natured advice from coach Harold Bennett”.

Megan Thomson (YTP 2017-19, PP 2019-21), the skipper of the all-female 2.0 Racing team, is very excited to “race against and meet a number of alumni who were before my time”. Thomson is excited that there are several legends jumping in for the event and the opportunity to be on the same start line doesn’t come around every day.

For more details and to enter, fill out the online form at https://www. rnzys.org.nz/rnzys-events/ytp-alumni-regatta/

SAFE CLEAN DRY AFFORDABLE STORAGE.

Until 31 August 2021, store your boat on our hardstand for the same price as your berth rental rate. Need to work on the boat? We’ll charge you the standard hardstand rate for just that day.*

Find out more at gulfharbourmarina.nz