The shy smiles of two youngsters melted into easy laughter yesterday when they and Team New Zealand skipper Dean Barker chatted about their plans for the Auckland Anniversary New Zealand Herald Regatta.
Abby Donnelly aged 8 1/2, of Glenfield, and Nicholas Smith, 10, of Epsom, are two of 30 children who
have been invited out on the yacht Royal Galerna to watch Monday's event.
The children are patients of Starship, Kidz First and Green Lane Hospitals and were selected from Cure Kids, an organisation that works with hospitals to help children with life-threatening diseases.
Both Abby and Nicholas were born with heart defects, but their liveliness caught the interest of Barker at Princes Wharf yesterday.
He said he would be out on the water too, taking part in the first public demonstration of the team's two black boats since the New Zealanders won the America's Cup nearly a year ago.
Team New Zealand's two black boats will demonstrate a pre-start, followed by a match race over a short course set between Orakei Wharf and North Head.
The yachts plan to leave the Viaduct Basin at 9.30 am and be sailing in view of North Head and Tamaki Drive by 10.15 am.
Nicholas is looking forward to his day on Royal Galerna and is a keen crew member of his family's trailer-sailer.
He received a pacemaker during one of his three operations, says his grandmother, Marie Jujnovich.
Abby's mother, Sue Donnelly, said her daughter had no boating experience, but had "never worried about doing anything."
She had her first heart operation at three weeks old and another one a week later. "We never told her it would slow her down, so it has not slowed her down. The boat trip is something she has never done."
On the boat, the children will get to meet Olympic gold medallist Rob Waddell and his wife, Sonia, Auckland Blues players Troy Flavell, Ron Cribb and Slade McFarlane, former TrueBliss star Megan Alatini's new group Nubian Angels, television stars Stacey Daniels, Petra Bagust and Hugh Sundae from Ice As, and Suzy Cato.
The chief executive officer of the New Zealand Herald, John Sanders, said the newspaper was delighted to offer the children an exciting day on the harbour.
For those who cannot be on the water, a day of public entertainment and activities is planned for Okahu Bay Domain and Mission Bay, and on the North Shore at Woodall Park, opposite Narrow Neck Beach.
Herald Online Marine News
The shy smiles of two youngsters melted into easy laughter yesterday when they and Team New Zealand skipper Dean Barker chatted about their plans for the Auckland Anniversary New Zealand Herald Regatta.
Abby Donnelly aged 8 1/2, of Glenfield, and Nicholas Smith, 10, of Epsom, are two of 30 children who
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