Yachting: Trio help grow sailing's new wave

Gary Dawson from England (left) and Jean Montigny from France at the Tauranga Yacht Power Boat Club. Photo / John Borren

An international trio of coaches has boosted sailing numbers at the Tauranga Yacht and Power Boat Club.

Maria Ferrario (Argentina), Greg Dawson (England) and Jean Montigny (France) spent the summer coaching the next generation of sailors to follow the likes of Peter Burling, Molly Meech, Thomas Saunders, Jason Saunders, Cole Rippey and Trent Rippey.

They ran the centreboard sailing division at the club with an impressive roll-call of stars.

Dawson, 24, from Southend-on-Sea in Essex, came across from Australia, where he earned his sailing qualifications.

He had not heard of any of the club's famous alumni before arriving.

"It was all new to me. I had no idea of the monster that I was walking into in terms of the yacht club," he said. "I found out about the job from two people I worked with in Spain who ran the centre here last year."

Dawson enjoyed working with passionate young sailors across wide age range.

"We start them off in the learn to sail level-one course at 7, but before Christmas we had a kid as young as 5 who learned to sail and is now absolutely hooning around the bay, doing brilliantly. We have college groups who we do teams racing coaching with.

"The attitude of the kids and the parents is different here. They seem a lot more laidback compared to England. I am most happy with successfully running the centre and increasing the number of kids through the centre. This is the third year they have got professional coaches and, each year, they have grown and developed the centre."

Montigny, 23, from Blois, used his initiative to get the third coaching role. He knocked on the club's office door and sold his ability to coach sailing, learned off the Brittany coast.

"I was lucky to find a job with sailing at a really big yacht club like this," he said. "It is different here than in France, where you coach sailing during the holidays most of the time. We don't go sailing after school like here. The kids are really into sailing here. It has been great."

The club's Centreboard chairman, John Revington, said the three coaches had been outstanding.

"As a direct result of their efforts, the yacht club has seen a big increase in numbers, especially juniors, and we look forward to this continuing."