Oceania Sailing Federation makes its mark on the Splash Worlds [Sailworld.com]

The fledgling Oceania Sailing Federation asserted itself on Wednesday at the 2010 Splash World Championships when two competitors led the Yellow fleet around the first mark off Takapuna. There are five countries from Oceania Sailing Federation (plus New Zealand) represented at the World Championship in the fleet of 75 competitors from 11 countries.

Tu'iemanu Ripley (14) of American Samoa rounded the first mark in first place in the first of the two races sailed to conclude the Qualifying Round of the regatta. Second was Mabelle Humrich from Samoa. Defending World Champion Declan Burn (NZL) was buried in the pack.

The two sailors emphasized the depth of the talent in the Oceania Sailing Federation with Tu'iemanu Ripley rounding first, followed by a second female, Mabelle. This Splash World Championship is an open fleet with females competing on an equal basis with the men.

It was a very satisfying moment for Andre Raoult, President of the Oceania Sailing Federation which was finally sanctioned by the International Sailing Federation last November after a six year struggle to pass through the bureaucratic processes.

Raoult is a member of the International Jury for the World Championship, and is adjudicating on the water each day, however as luck would have it, he was assigned to the other fleet and did not see the outstanding achievement of 'his' two girls.

'It is the first time they have ever seen a Splash boat', he said. 'So it is a truly remarkable achievement in a fleet of this caliber which includes several world champions.'

Both sailors are aged 14 and 16 years respectively, this is not their first international competition having sailed in the Pacific Games in Aututaki in Laser Radials.

Another OSAF sailor, Etienne Le Pen, from Noumea, won the Open European championship in the Splash class in 2009.

Some OSAF teenage supporters are providing some coaching and on the water support those who travelled to NZ.

Raoult says that the next stage for the Oceania Sailing Federation should be to stage the a youth single handed championship in the Optimist and Laser 4.7 classes.

'Those under 15 will be in the Optimist and those older in the Laser 4.7.'

'As we are now affiliated to ISAF it means we have better access to coaching and development', says Raoult. 'So we can only go from strength to strength, now'

Pacific Mini Games - Sailing Team Medals

Shannon Humrich (winner of the Medal Race) and Sam Hogarth (fastest sailor to top mark),
are being presented by the Air Rarotonga representative, with their Team Silver Medals at the Pacific Mini Games held in Aitutaki, Cook Islands on the Paradise Island, Akaiami, where the sailing competition was held.

Mabelle Humrich and Olivia Hogarth, wrapping themselves in their country flag awaiting their Silver Medals presentation on the podiums set on one of the 3 famous Vaka on the paradise island of Akaiami, in Aitutaki, Cook Islands, during the medal ceremony for the Pacific Mini Games 2009, 1^st Oct 2009.

Our heartfelt thanks to all who kindly sent assistance and messages of encouragement to our sailors in preparation for the Pacific Mini Games 2009.

Kia manuia
Sam, Liv, Mabelle & Shannon

Pacific Mini Games – Cook Islands 2009 Brief

Kia Orana All,

Following a briefing from our Cook Islands Experience:

Air Pacific Flight to Rarotonga on the 18^th September 2009 was an enjoyable moment for our Team Samoa. Arriving in Raro approx 1800hrs with our immigration officer, a sweet small Rarotongan lady, welcoming us with a stamp and calling each of us “sweet” as we pass thru her lane to collect our luggage.

Our Team Samoa management awaiting us outside with buses and trucks to transport us to our home for the next 4 days at Nukutere College, just behind the township area of Avarua. After a welcoming service by the principal and students of the school, together with our blessings by the bishop of the school, we were directed to our rooms for our stay. Dinner was about a 15 minute walk from our camp, and with Telecom on the way to dinner just down the road sim cards and credits for our phones were obtained immediately.

Our first 4 days in Raro were to be idle, and hence my early attempts with the Sailing Council in Raro for leased laser boats and a hobiecat for training, we were not too lucky and decided to kyak our time for training instead. At the Sailing Club, Muri Lagoon, we enjoyed our training hours with the ukulele sounds serenading us as we rinse the salt water after the kyak sessions.

Preparing for the Opening Ceremony on Monday 21^st September was exciting and we were surprised the Team Samoa management and chef de mission requested our girls, Mabelle and Olivia to hold the banner for the Opening Parade. Team Samoa were very popular with TV cameras and crews as we were waiting behind the stadium for our turn to appear in front of the crowds.

Our flight to Aitutaki the next morning was at 0800hours. The welcoming reception by the Aitutaki community and especially our supporting school students from Araura College made us feel like kings, queens, princes, and princesses. Our home for the next 10 days was with Inano Resort with Mama Vi’ia and Papa Moeau who was our chef for our breakfast every morning at 06:30am. Our cereals of all sorts, fish/eggs/spaghetti/baked beans were specially prepared by Papa Moeau without fail. Noni juice was plentiful for those who liked it. Bananas pawpaw mangoes were also plentiful. We even had a taste of octopus at breakfast one morning.

The daily experience on the speed boats was awesome. There were numbered 1-13 speed boats available to transport all the teams to the island of Akaiami, our venue for the competition. It is another paradise on its own with turquoise coloured vast ocean. 0730 every morning was takeoff time for all the speedboats to Akaiami island. We preferred the number 11 speedboat. Not only the skipper, Ron Henry, was handsome and had the deepest blue eyes like the ocean we travelled on daily, his boat was the fastest out of the fleet. And he owned the Blue Nun night club in town. The slowest boat and took twice as long to get to Akaiami was the officials and the jury boat.

Lunch was handed out on the course island were as usual sandwich with two types of fruit with a yoghurt, but the fresh caught fish by the Fijian manager, Bruce, was the highlight of our lunches on the “motu”, barbequed with lime coconut cream and bananas and all prepared by the friendly old Aitutaki ladies that look after the island. Aunty Ruru and husband, owners of the island, went out of their way to offer the first bungalow to the Team Samoa sailors free of charge. There we left all the sailing gear equipment at the end of the sailing competition day, and saved us carrying bags backwards each day.

The popular meeting place for everyone was the Boat Shed, the Sailing Club Room, where the jury carried out their meetings every evening after dinner. And where all of us with the young sailors would go to have a drink with other team management members while the sailors play around and swinging on the hammocks by the beach end of the Club. The Menu offered at Boat Shed was most enjoyable by those who would have preferred breakfast, lunch or dinner there. The young sailors very much enjoyed their meetings with participating country sailors at the Boat Shed and became friends throughout the weeks of competition. Our dinners provided at our eating centre at Samade were even more scrumptious than the Boat Shed restaurant dinners. The choice of 8 types of salads to have with ham/lamb/fish/beef/potato salad/baked veges/pasta and soups, not to mention our desserts afterwards, were so popular that the officials complain about the desserts running out before they arrive for dinner.

Sharing the moment competing, socializing, eating together, mingling, praying together with other participating countries made the week felt short and until we heard of the earthquake/tsunami tragic in Samoa, we became sad and touched by the numerous condolences and sympathies expressed and conveyed by our fellow country members alongside us that morning. We were thankful our immediate members of families were all safe.

Our last debrief with the laser Team became exciting to find out we were just leading in fewer points and medals were looking good. I remember looking at Shannon during our debrief, and immediately I sensed a winning streak somehow. And yeees the next day, Shannon came first in the Medal Race…. Everyone was asking… why didn’t you do this last week? And more excitement when our Mabelle came second in the Medal Race… beating the New Caledonie sailor!!

To cap off the day and end of competition, it was a great pleasure to watch our laser sailors with huge smiles on their faces, they were bright stars on the podiums cladding themselves with their country flags, as they were receiving their Silver Medals. The drums of the islands kept us dancing with joy.

Our heartfelt thanks goes to all the support from each and every one of the Apia Yacht Club, the parents and sailors and members involved with fundraising towards the Team Samoa, and especially the encouraging messages from everyone for our Team Samoa for the Pacific Mini Games.

My special thank you to Raema who gave all her time available to coach our Team Samoa. Thank you also to Alex for every moment given to our Team on the water during the hot and dry times throughout the races providing water and snacks for the Teams. The Team also would like to say thank you v.much to Poleti for his assistance and rescue attendances during their training before leaving for the Cook Islands.

Last but not least, I would like to acknowledge the support and assistance from the following sponsors:-

Food On the Move, Sydney. Jon & Jocelyn Salter – Rash Shirts/Caps
Meripa Weir, Brisbane – T-Shirts
Misty Agnes Humrich – T-Shirts
Graham Hogarth – Team Insurance

Our best wishes to you all for your kind donations and may our Team Silver Medals mean something towards your very kind sponsorship.

Happy sailing to you all.
Seine Hogarth
The Team Samoa Mother
Pacific Mini Games – Cook Islands 2009

South Pacific Mini Games - Cook Islands 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.