Apia Yacht Club

Monday, October 5, 2009

South Pacific Mini Games - Cook Islands 2009

Thursday, September 3, 2009

Samoa Observer - Sailors head in the right direction

Sunday, 30 August 2009 11:36 - Samoa Observer

Sailors from the Apia Yacht Club representing Samoa at the Mini Games are heading in the right direction with the assistance of Australian Coach Joshua Chant.

“We are very lucky to have him,” said club secretary, Raema von Reiche.
Chant is in Samoa to assist the sailing team with their preparations for the Mini Games next month.

“There is a lot of enthusiasm but we need a bit more work on minor things. There’s fine tuning and a bit more practice and later in training we will focus on some really good techniques like accurate with steering, body position on the boat so it’s efficient to make the boat go faster and boat handling,” said Chant.

L-R : Olivia Hogarth, Shannon Humrich, Sam Hogarth, Mabelle Humrich,(reserve) Tafa Maiava,(reserve) Myka Stanley (reserve).

Chant who started sailing at around 8 years of age became a coach for the Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club in North Sydney and represented Australia in World Championships and other competitions.

“Coming here is an opportunity for me to coach in a different environment but also to help a club that is developing. The other reason was to give back to the sport and maintain motivation for myself,” said Chant.

Chant feels there is definitely potential in the team as long as they train hard. He also feels the team is already in the stage of encouraging each other and lift themselves up which he says is important in terms of team spirit.

The team to represent Samoa at the Mini Games in the laser class consist of Olivia Hogarth, Shannon Humrich, Sam Hogarth, Mabelle Humrich,( reserve) Tafa Maiava, ( reserve) Myka Stanley (reserve) while the Hobie 16 class will be represented by Feolofani Bruun, Patisela Tali, missing Steve Brown (reserve) and Leua Leonard (reserve).
For the Apia Yacht Club, it is only the team for the Mini Games that get assistance from Chant but also the club as a whole with various drills and races.

Monday, August 17, 2009

Fancy Dress Fund Raiser - Movie Character

Malo Lava and Fafetai Tele Lava to all those who supported the event by buying tickets, coming along and especially those who took time and trouble to dress up. Every one looked great and it really made it a fun family evening.

An extra special enormous THANKS to Agnes who willingly went along with the idea of this fund raiser and who did 99% of the work including asking for prizes, decoration of the club (which looked great), buying food and leading the team of Mums and helpers who did all the cooking, ticket distribution and money collector and treasurer for the event. Thanks Agnes you were brilliant as usual. Perhaps we should hire you out as an event organizer.

Very special thanks to Peter (alias Carmen the fruit bowl) and Tony for bar b cuing such delicious food and also to Seini (Miss America or was it Cat Woman and Josie (Wonder Woman) who with Agnes prepared the food.

Very special thanks to all our fantastic parents who generously contributed food and also bought tickets.

Very special thanks to Nynette who quite happily took on the role of MC with at least 1 minutes warning….maybe 30 seconds. Thanks Nyn Great stuff right to the end.

Extra special thanks to Elaine and Jennie who took allot of time to organise our quizzes…great drawings Jennie…couldn’t understand one bit of it, and, who were supposed to be my helpers selecting prize winners and distributing prizes (but due to the fact I couldn’t hear a word of the discussion over the music) took the job on board and managed to distribute everything fairly. Thanks Elaine and Jennie. You looked great Elaine and so did you Jennie whoever you were meant to be…was it Bob the Builder???

Many thanks to Donna F (who were you Donna??)and Zac who held the responsibility for the door tickets and money and who spent a good proportion of the evening outside…an unenviable job. Thank you Donna and Zac.

Thanks to all our sailors who enthusiastically helped with the food and took around plates very professionally, and especially those who prepared all the decorations and decorated the club house.

A VERY BIG Thank you to everyone and my sincere apologies if I have missed anyone out.

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Youthworlds Brazil 2009 - By Eroni Leilua

Our first couple of days was spent orientating ourselves to the area, the weather, the location of the racing and meeting other sailors. The opening ceremony was carried out with a march around the town of Buzios and then the mixing of the water ceremony then the official opening ceremony in the centre of the town. I met my Brazilian Coach, Janatesh who was helping Santiago Lange (the official championship coach for the APP sailors) at dinner that night.

The first day of racing came with nerves and good weather. Meeting Santiago Lange (APP Coach) that day helped the nerves settle and he gave me some local knowledge from his experience sailing here many times. The laser race area was closer to the land than the rest of the courses meaning less waves but shiftier conditions. The first race was 15 knots with 2m swell and the second race the breeze eased off to 7 knots. There was a big wind shift towards the end of the second race making it an upwind to the bottom mark. I found the first race the most exhilarating experience being amongst so many boats from different countries. I had minor problems with my carbon tiller but I was able to fix the problem the next day.

The second day of racing was the windiest day of the regatta and was postponed for 2 hours and later on cancelled, shortening the series to 9 races. The rest of the day was more time for rest and interacting with different teams and sailors.

The third day of racing had action back on the water with 6-9 knots, slight swell and very shifty. Hard day as wind shifted more than twice every beat. I found myself learning more on how to read the shifts around the cliffs.

Day four was the lay day where there were activities organized for the sailors to get to know other sailors. I met heaps of people from different countries and got to know some of the teams really well.

Day five of racing was short of wind but didn’t stop the race committee from getting all the sailors out on the water. The first race started but the wind died off even more resulting in the races being cancelled to further reduce the number of races to 7.

Day six resulted in us having to do 3 races to catch up. Each race I felt myself gaining more confidence despite having minor problems with my traveler and tiller.

Day seven, last day, last race. Weather was perfect with 12-15 knots and 2m swell, everything went smoothly with tiller and traveler holding on. It was sad to know that it had come to an end. On the whole I was glad to see my results improved as the regatta went on. The goal I had set myself was to do the best I could within a world class fleet.

The closing ceremony was a ceremony I will never forget. I was lucky to be voted by the competitors and my fellow sailors to be awarded the ISAF Bengt Julin Trophy for “fostering international understanding and displaying the attributes that should be encouraged in international competition”. This was the highlight of my regatta.

I would once again like to express my thanks to the Samoa Sailing Association for selecting me to attend this prestigest event. I was proud to bear the Samoan Flag and thrilled to receive a trophy for Samoa.