Sailing continues to be one of the fastest growing sports in Tauranga which is not surprising with the city's coastal advantage and the roll call of role models for budding young sailors to aspire to be like.
Olympic silver medallist Peter Burling, Sam Meech, Thomas and Jason Saunders, Sam andMolly Meech, and Andrew Murdoch are some of the internationally ranked locals associated with the Tauranga Yacht and Power Boat Club.
The club, based at Sulphur Point, is at the forefront of training the next generation to follow these sailors and over the summer employed a top ranked coach from San Francisco Yacht Club in Taylor Chittick.
Chittick says he has been impressed with the talented sailors he has coached. "I think it is pretty comparable to San Francisco. The kids are maybe more fun-driven here and I think that is probably a good thing. Also, they are more enthusiastic and everyone wants to be here for practice," said Chittick.
"We do everything from 8 to 9-year-olds who have never been in a sailboat and after eight weeks they can sail around the harbour on their own. We start there to build our programme and then move on to teaching how to race, with basic technique and strategy, to open sailing, travelling the country to national events."
Club manager Christine Headey says Chittick's effect on the sailors and club membership was quite substantial.
"His main focus was on running learn-to-sail courses, and by going to schools and advertising he had no problem filling all his classes, plus he provided coaching for our intermediary and advanced level sailors.
"He has had an impact on their progression and improvement. One of the surprising things that came out of it was just how much interest there is out there. If we had had another Taylor we could have probably easily filled classes for that person as well.
"There is certainly a lot of potential in the area and lots of people wanting to do it and we already have plans in motion to recruit a coach similar to Taylor for next season. We would love to have him back but he is looking to get what he calls a real job. But we are looking to continue the programme from next September as there are huge numbers of people out there in the Bay of Plenty that seem to want to take up sailing."
