RAYC Open Day

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Seeing that I had an invite by RAYC to come and have a look at how they did things I thought I wouldnt miss the opportunity seeing that i was sailing with them later on in the day.

 

After a physical opening commodores cup race on Saturday I slowly managed to pull myself out of bed by 9:30am on Sunday and headed straight for the coffee machine at the club where I got served an amazing coffee at a student friendly price and it well and truly hit the spot. As I had missed the breakfast first up was the briefing for the multi sport event which was about to showcase the changing face of the Royal Akarana Yacht Club and how different water sport disciplines can run alongside each other.

 

 

After they had organised the teams and told the sailors that they were no longer going to be sailing in the Platus but instead optis, the commodore said a few words along the lines of 'this club is succsufull and is a great club' and fired the cannon which also started the multi sport race.

 

 

 

 

 

The multi sport race was a mixture of swimming, paddling, running and sailing and saw some of new Zealands best young triathlon talent and the best that RAYC could muster for sailors competing in a fun race that took a bit over two hours to complete.

 

 

 

After they had completed the physical side of things they all had to scull a pint of beer or milk which saw a photo finish for second thanks to the quick thinking Overdraft getting out of the opti who gained valuable seconds by swimming with the boat.

 

 

After an amazing free BBQ lunch which consisted of steak and salmon it was time for the clubs sailors to go out and have fun for the first day of the summer series and see how the competition was shaping up. Team Stephen had a stunning day racing with the flying 15s and we were stoked with our podium finish for our first time sailing together and showed that we might be able to give some of the more experienced guys a fright in the right conditions while the wind warrior racing was taken out by Bushy with a commanding performance winning every race. At the prize giving the spot prizes all went to the skiff sailors baring one so they dont get a mention as to how they got on (and I dont know any of them yet).

 

Overall I had a great time yesterday and RAYC out did themselves with a family family atmosphere that was welcoming to everyone even if they were just interested in the free stuff and not what is going on in the club. With the new clubhouse development given the green light and a ever increasing membership this is defiantly a club to watch out for in the future. If you are interested in joining RAYC their memberships start at $95 for a student like myself to $270 for over 25s, but if you can volunteer for two days around the place then you can receive a discount of $50 off your membership (not including students), What a BARGAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

If you would like to know more about RAYC head to their brand new website http://rayc.co.nz/ or send Aussie a message and she will gladly tell you the exciting up coming events like the remaining gold cup races and the three kings offshore race.

 

If you would like to see all of the photos that I took from the open day head over to the crew.org.nz facebook page and have a look.

 

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