60 seconds with: Allan Geddes

Allan Geddes says kids love sailing trimarans.

Allan Geddes organiser of this weekend’s French Bay Yacht Club mini America’s Cup.

Let's start with a zephyr. How did the regatta come about?

We're a small club near Titirangi which was on the verge of closing 10 years ago without enough members. We've since had a bit of a resurgence [they now have about 160] and have a youth base coming through but funding's still hard to come by. So we're making an effort to try something new. We have an issue with the tide in the Manukau Harbour because there's only a four-hour water sailing window. When the tide goes out you've got mudflats. You can't use the water constantly, unlike the Waitemata [Harbour] where you can roll your boat out regardless. Holding a major regatta is out of the question. We had to find a way to make it attractive to kids. That's where the America's Cup comes in. It's such exciting racing. Weta Marine came to the party by supplying their 4.4m trimarans which are designed to be sailed by up to three people. They're stable and fast which enables children to sail safely but with the exhilarating feeling of speed.

But presumably without the mischievous AC72 wingsail?

Yes, traditional sails but on a modern boat. Kids love sailing them.

Now for a gale. Have you felt the tyranny of the urgent in the preparation?

Sometimes setting up a completely new event can be a bit of a nightmare but we're trying to get a good template so year on year we can follow the same structure. We've set up an America's Cup-style village where each team has its own tent and the course is the same layout [as San Francisco]. It starts and finishes on a reach with two downwind legs and one upwind leg. We opened the event up to a maximum of 16 teams but, in true America's Cup style, we've ended up with five. Our club has a team, there are two from Wakatere Boating Club at Narrow Neck Beach, one from Maraetai and a school team from Marist College. Each crew has to have one 12- to 13-year-old, one 14- to 15-year old and one 16- to 17-year old. We were determined to have someone from each age group to form a united team rather than just a bunch of 16-year-olds who are already top sailors. The trouble is a lot of 16-year-olds are in the middle of exams and we had to find a time when the tides were right as well as a weekend when we could hire Motu Moana scout camp.

Any other entertainment?

There's an observation test on the first night based on a 15-minute sailing video. We've also got a race on the spinnaker-hoisting machine and a 100 nautical question quiz night.

Is an Auld Mug sorted?

Yes, we've procured a trophy - a big silver bowl we're calling the Young Challengers Cup. It's about 500mm high. It was found in the back of a cupboard. - Andrew Alderson