About the Clinics

Sailors return to school

In the quest for excellence, competitive yachtsmen and women are opting to spend time in the classroom, at a series of clinics designed to give sailors an edge on the racecourse. Now North Sails Race Clinics are going national, with a four city tour to take place in July and August 2006.

Eight Race Clinics, which are organised by sailing website Crew.org.nz, have been held in Auckland so far, on advanced topics such weather and navigation, boat handling and boat speed, performance tactics, rules of racing, sail trim, as well as an introductory course for those new to racing, and over the winter they will be taken to other New Zealand cities.

Speakers are selected from the top ranks in local and national sailing. Ranging from professionals including Volvo Ocean Race navigator Nick White, and Team New Zealand sail designer Burns Fallow, through to high performing amateur and national level sailors like Cameron Thorpe, Brian Trubovich, Mike Lanigan, John Rountree, Josh Tucker and others – all well known local identities.

The national Race Clinic tour will be hosted by renowned American sailing coach Bill Gladstone.

“Sailing is definitely a sport in which the more you learn, the more you realise you don’t know,” says Zoe Wilde, who runs sailing website Crew.org.nz and founded the Race Clinics a year ago.

“I have been lucky to crew with some extremely good sailors, who have never failed to help me to improve by sharing their knowledge and experience about both the fundamentals and the finer elements of racing,” she explains.

It was discovering the treasure trove of knowledge within the race fleets that inspired Zoe to begin the Clinics, which have so far been attended by several hundred sailors in Auckland, and which will be taken to Wellington, Christchurch and Tauranga later this year.

2005 New Zealand Sailor of the Year, Ray Haslar, who has numerous victories to his name in local and offshore competitions aboard his Davidson designed keeler, Jive Talkin’, places emphasis on knowledge as a success factor in racing:

“If you are a tradesman, 80% of doing the job is know-how, and the 20%, which lies in making a nice job of it, is skill between one carpenter and another. Likewise, when sailing on a yacht, preparation is most important, and the remainder of your success is attributed to good workmanship and having keen yachtsmen around you,” he says.

Richard Bicknell of North Sails, which is sponsoring the national tour, believes that while boat owners invest thousands of dollars in improving their equipment and putting bells and whistles on their boats, there is no replacement for knowledge, and knowledge comes cheaply by comparison. “This is why North Sails is bringing Bill Gladstone to New Zealand,” he explains.

Bill Gladstone is the author and creator of the NorthU Racing Seminars on Racing Tactics, Sail Trim and Boat Speed, and thousands of people have graduated from his seminars over the years..

Bill believes that part of the attraction of sailboat racing is the breadth of skills required for success. “You must know sails and sail trim, boat handling and crew work, tactics, rules, and weather; and you must be able to determine which of those many facets is critical to success at this moment in the race,” he elaborates.

North Sails Race Clinics are being hosted by the Royal Port Nicholson Yacht Club in Wellington, Naval Point Yacht Club in Christchurch, Tauranga Yacht and Power Boat Club, and in Auckland at Bucklands Beach Yacht Club and the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron.

Those interested in registering for the Clinics can visit Crew.org.nz for more information, or telephone Zoe Wilde on 09 376 5100.