New boats for Taipa Sailing Club powered by Mangonui Lions

Mangonui Lions Club president Graham Stanaway presenting a delighted Taipa Sailing Club Commodore Aevril Hibbard with proceeds from the Lions' playhouse raffle and the Far North ITM anniversary weekend fishing competition. Sailing club Patron Paddy Simms and Lion Dave Shalders were there to make sure the cheque wasn't dropped.

Mangonui Lion Dave Shalders reckons selling raffle tickets is a good way to tell how the recipient of the proceeds is regarded in the community.

And the Taipa Sailing Club was held in very high regard, he said last week.

"People don't support clubs they don't like, but they like this one," he said.

Lions club president Graham Stanaway handed a $12,000 cheque to Commodore Aevril Hibbard, with $4000 of that having been raised by the Lions' playhouse raffle over the summer.

Taipa Sailing Club Patron Paddy Simms and Commodore Aevril Hibbard with Mangonui Lions Graham Stanaway, Dave Shalders and Wayne Zander, also representing Far North ITM, with one of the two 420 boats the Lions have paid for.

The other $8000 was part of the proceeds of Anniversary Weekend's Far North ITM fishing competition and auction, which the club will use to buy a chase boat and a Laser.

The Lions' donation was spent on two 420 yachts, bought by the Taipa Club from its counterpart in Kerikeri at mate's rates.

"This is a massive bang for our buck," Vice-Commodore Roger Hall said.

He said the boats would have "10 or 15 years in them," and represented a big step up for the club. He had no doubt that they would get plenty of use.

Clearly labelled as sponsored by the Lions, and with the Lions' logo on their sails, they would be used for Have a Go days and teaching the next generation of sailors, and would also be available for use by Far North schools.

Mr Hall said the club had secured the two boats, and had then told the Lions that they needed some money, and the Lions had not let them down.

Mr Shalders said he had been gratified by the response to the raffle, and was delighted to see the money being put to such good use.

The cheque was presented on Saturday evening, when the sailing club hosted its benefactors at a barbecue at the club headquarters on the Taipa estuary, where the importance that the club had played in many once-young lives was clearly evident.

Mr Shalders had been a keen competitor in a Z Class boat during his teenage years, while Paddy Simms — who signed on at the age of 10 — said taking on the role of club patron felt like "coming home."

He began his career in a P Class boat, followed by a Flying Ant, later graduating to keeler sailing.

It had been a big club in those days he said, with 25 boats regularly heading out into the bay on a Sunday morning.

And while the fleet might not be quite that big these days, Mr Hall said the club was very much on a roll, with strong support from the community and the next generation of sailors. Interest had been further boosted by last year's visit by the America's Cup.