Sailing legend Russell Coutts doing dry land drills with Whanganui's Eli Kuhne during the Junior Training Regatta at the Sailing Wanganui club at the weekend.
Sailing legend Russell Coutts doing dry land drills with Whanganui's Eli Kuhne during the Junior Training Regatta at the Sailing Wanganui club at the weekend.
When the five time America's Cup winner and former Olympic gold medallist Sir Russell Coutts tells you something about sailing, then treat it like the gospel.
Sir Russell had travelled all the way from Bermuda to be a guest of Sailing Wanganui over the weekend to run the Junior TrainingRegatta at the clubrooms in Castlecliff as well as on the Whanganui River.
In a press release, spokeswoman Sarah Lourie said the regatta attracted 21 young sailors both locally and from the Evans Bay, Parramatta, Napier, Rotorua, Warkworth and Manawatu clubs.
"Alongside Russell was Hayden Whitburn [NZ O'pen Bic representative) and together they were promoting the new class of boats called O'Pen Bics.
"The aim of the regatta was to improve youth sailing and to give the kids an opportunity to train in these very modern yachts, while at the same time gaining expert advice from Russell Coutts."
Lourie said Sir Russell remarked on the strength of the Sailing Wanganui club, which has a great venue for trailing sailors due to changing winds and currents, while still being a safe area.
"Over the weekend Russell showed everyone the evidence of his own ability to focus and his hands-on approach that has made him one of our most successful sailors."
The former Team NZ skipper used white board drawings and land drills to show the group some of the fundamentals, before taking them out on the water.
