By Airwaves writer Sara Morgan Watters (saramorgan@sail1design.com). Sara is our “down under” correspondent, writing for Sail1Design while she works toward her Master’s Degree. Enjoy.
How to Grow the Sport of Sailing: A Wellington, NZ Case Study
If you talk to anyone in Wellington about sailing, the chances are pretty good that they aren’t picturing you lounging on a sailboat in the sun with a book and cocktail. New Zealanders tend to know what sailing is. In fact, 9 months after the fact, they are still likely to bring up their bitterness and disappointment toward the America’s Cup.
In April when Prince William and Kate Middleton began their royal tour in New Zealand, it was only natural that something sailing related was one of the country’s welcoming activities on their holiday itinerary. Team New Zealand America’s Cup skipper, Dean Barker and Prince William teamed up to take on The Duchess of Cambridge, Kate, and Team New Zealand Team manager, Grant Dalton to do some head to head match racing with the royals at the helm.
These are just some examples of how widely sailing is supported in this country. Maybe only second to rugby. So what makes a country so fond of sailing from layman to expert? With a lot of recent talk and concern about growing the sport of sailing, it may be useful to examine just a few reasons why sailing is so widely popular in New Zealand. Looking at just one recent development in the Wellington area, we can see an example of how they are doing it.
Over the last 3 years a big effort has been made to increase participation in all types of water related sports in Wellington through a program called the Wellington Ocean Sports Centre, which is based out of Royal Port Nicholson Yacht Club near the Wellington city center. Although the program includes many water activities like stand up paddleboard, waka ama (traditional outrigger canoes), kayaking, windsurfing, and dinghy and keelboat sailing, exposure to water sports of any kind has undoubtedly contributed to an increased interest in sailing. Since it was started three years ago, an impressive 11,980 people have participated in the program. At the center of it all is Wellington Ocean Sports Centre Project Manager, Matt Wood who gave me a little insight into how the program runs and how it has contributed to the sport of sailing.
Financial support for the program has come both from the national and local government. The Wellington City Council applied on behalf of the Ocean Sport Centre to Sport New Zealand, a government organization dedicated to sports and recreation in New Zealand. Other financial and logistical support has come from other local partnerships like Water Safe New Zealand, Wild Winds, Wellington Windsurfing Association and other local clubs and associations. All of these groups have worked together to help build the program.
The Centre runs by making these different sports accessible to the general public. Without having to commit to multiple week programs, the Ocean Sports holds “Have A Go” days on the last Saturday of every month to give people the opportunity to discover different ocean sports at the very low cost of 5 NZD (4.36 USD)! They also team up with schools during vacations to encourage students to experience the different sports. As Wood says, having multiple complimentary sports available, exposes people to different opportunities and opens up to a new group of participants.
Within sailing, in addition to the “Have A Go” days, they also offer, keelboat and dinghy sailing courses. With Learn to Sail Keelboats, to Racing and Cruising Crew courses, the Centre aims to give those interested the opportunity to go from complete novice to sailing in regattas or being competent enough to own your own boat. To cater to everyone’s interests other options include business and group harbor sailing cruises. Through these programs they have been successful, with many participants in the program going on to crew regularly during the summer and winter series regattas and some even chartering or buying their own boats eventually. Finally, if that isn’t enough, the Centre also offers Coastguard boating education and powerboat courses.
When asked how this program contributes directly to the sport of sailing, Wood said that in addition to sourcing new participants, the program helps channel people to the yacht clubs and gets them on a path to be able to race and compete in high performance sailing. He says, the Centre does not do the actual high level coaching, but rather it establishes the pathways so people can advance independently. By partnering with local yacht clubs and associations, the Centre can help give participants the basic skills they need to filter them into these more advanced opportunities.
By providing these opportunities to a range of people from a variety of backgrounds and ages, they are opening the sport up to those who otherwise wouldn’t be aware of these sports. It also helps close the gap between people who learn to sail growing up doing the summer programs and those that want to learn how to sail as an adult.
As the numbers show, the program has been very successful so far in reaching many Wellingtonians. As the Centre reaches the end of its’ three year benchmark they are looking forward to the program continuing to grow even without the help of its governmental subsidies. They are also hoping to move into the next phase of building their own facility. As Wood said, everything is in place now, and they look forward to forming new partnerships and continuing to work with all groups in order to move forward.
For more information about the Wellington Ocean Sports Centre: www.oceansports.org.nz
Also, just posted on the Sail1Design Career Center, a sailing industry job in NZL!
Read more in Part II of this article: https://www.sail1design.com/growing-sailing-national-level-part-ii/
wellington ocean sports centre
