Showing support for Ukraine in the current strife

New Head Chef Campbell White at work in the RNZYS kitchen.

Instead of washing dishes, he’s now creating dishes

Story & picture by Debra Douglas

A ploy to get out of doing the dishes steered the Squadron’s new Head Chef Campbell White into the food business.

“As youngsters, we had a pick of chores at home,” said Campbell. “I didn’t like washing up, so I chose cooking and then realised I could start being creative. You could put something into something and make it taste totally different. The fascination with cooking grew from there.”

Leaving school, Campbell took trainee chef courses at Wanganui Polytechnic and the Universal College of Learning (UCOL) in Palmerston North. He paid off his student loan gaining experience at a Darling Harbour hotel kitchen during the Sydney Olympics and after coming home for a year, he returned to Sydney where he worked at the Sheraton on the Park for two years.

Campbell: “I was then lucky to get a transfer to the Sheraton Grand London Park Lane in Knightsbridge to take up a position at One O One, a high-end French and seafood restaurant.”

Campbell’s career then took him to Dublin, Galway and Barna, a holiday spot on the outskirts of Galway, before he returned to New Zealand in 2015.

“Things got a bit rocky then. I struggled to find my niche. The fine dining scene here was almost non-existent then. But I went on to work in Auckland for the HIP Group as Head Chef at the St Heliers Bay Bistro and as Executive Sous Chef at Mt Smart Stadium. I catered for a season of Warriors matches and concerts.

“I was with Mission Restaurant in Mission Bay when Covid struck and I lost my job. Things picked up, however, and I ran the Brit at the Britomart. Before joining the Squadron, I was Head Chef at the Warkworth Hotel.

Campbell says the attraction of the Squadron is the variety of dining experiences that are offered, from bespoke menus, to specials in the Members’ Bar, to private functions, or large scale events.

“Every day is different. As CEO Hayden Porter said to me at my interview, ‘the club is like working in a hotel without rooms’. And a bonus to the job, of course, is the opportunity to learn to sail.” Campbell describes himself as a calm chef. He says his two young daughters have given him the understanding needed to remain relaxed when things don’t go right and could turn to chaos.

“I want my staff to enjoy themselves each day. It is a tough industry, we work hard. I want them to go home feeling they have had a good day.”

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CELEBRATING 40 YEARS OF THE COASTAL CLASSIC

The 2022 PIC Insurance Coastal Classic marks the 40th anniversary of this 120-mile sailing institution. An annual rite of passage and one of the few remaining offshore races on the calendar, it has tested generations of sailors, as Fran Holland records …

In 1982 an entrepreneur, extrovert sort of fellow called Roger Dilly suggested to the committee of the Auckland Multihull Sailing Association (later to become NZ Multihull Yacht Club), a drag race from Devonport to Russell, loosely based on the speed records attempts of the thirties and fifties.

“I was tired of being the poor cousin,” says Roger. “People who sailed multihulls were considered fruit loops. The general comment was ‘Why don’t you get yourself a real boat?’. So I thought: well why don’t we organise our own race?”

The original idea was to have an all-out blast up the coast, open to anybody, no handicaps, no restriction, no classes. The first one from Auckland to the Bay of Islands was the winner.

After some discussion with the AMSA committee, it was decided to

Simon Hull’s big red trimaran, Team Vodafone Sailing, was one of several multihulls to hold the Coastal Classic record over the years. – Ivor Wilkins Photo.

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