Bay News: Women on the water in Bay of Islands Sailing Week

The only all-women crew entered in Bay of Islands Sailing Week. Team "Yeah The Girls" is headed by skipper Robyn Caundle (top) with teammates (clockwise) Kerry Caundle, Elly Warren, Beth Ross, Kate Harvey and Lindsay Howard (centre). Photo / Lissa Reyden

BAY NEWS BITES - Bay of Islands Sailing Week starts on Tuesday.

Women are still a relatively rare breed among the sailing community which is why their considerable endeavours are recognised.

New Zealander Dame Naomi James is high profile in this country and the number of MBEs and OBEs among British women sailors is considerable.

Over the Tasman, Kay Cottee and Adrienne Cahalan have both been awarded the Order of Australia and these are just a few examples.

Even the strongly male bastion of the America's Cup is slowly allowing women to filter through the portal.

Sail HP, headed by Sir Russell Coutts, has already chosen six women sailors to vie for a place in Team Emirates after the America's Cup is completed.

Two of those women will go to Bermuda to train on F50 catamarans in April after which one woman will finally be chosen to join the team.

It's not unusual to see women in the crew of numerous New Zealand boats in dozens of regattas but 21 years into the 21st century and there remains a gap between crewing and taking the helm or owning the boat.

This year, though, that mould seems to be cracking if not breaking.

Robyn Caundle is the skipper of Young 88 boat Rascal Tom. She is involved in getting more women on the water through the Tauranga Yacht and Power Boat Club's programme called Women on Water (WOW).

She has entered the CRC Bay of Islands Sailing Week for the first time with an all-female crew. Called "Yeah The Girls", they have been racing competitively together for the past two years so they literally know the ropes.

Robyn says she is happy sailing with a mixed crew (male and female) but sailing with the girls is characterised by inclusiveness and kindness.

"The hardest thing is getting access to a boat and I enjoy being able to give that opportunity to other women. It's nothing against mixed crews, it's just the way we formed as a crew."

In the Island Racing division is Women's Keelboat National Champion Sally Garrett who will be sailing with co-skipper and co-owner Christine Weston in the Farr MRX Ovlov Marine.

It has a majority female crew with a "couple of boys" in the mix.

"I figured you can't just have one boy, it's not fair, and I'm sure they'd do the same for us," said Sally.

She has competed at least four times previously in the Bay of Islands Sailing Week originally in her Flying Fifteen, and most recently with Rob Croft in a Farr 38 Expedition Coppella.

Above its weight and below the radar

It's not stretching facts to say the Bay of Islands Sailing Week is one of the southern hemisphere's premier yachting events.

Some of the 60 or so volunteers running the annual January Bay of Islands Sailing Week, the biggest participatory yachting event in New Zealand. Photo / Lissa Reyden

The Tall Ships Regatta held 11 days ago on the other side of the bay, offshore from Russell, attracts a similar number of entries and it's not an extravagance to suggest these two regattas combined are among the biggest nautical events in the world at the present time.

As such they deserve recognition but where is the television coverage? Why aren't radio commentators on the briny yelling into a microphone live-to-air? Where are the print journalists bashing out copy from a media room?

Both events are run by volunteers. For Bay of Islands Sailing Week there is an organising committee of 11 and around 60 locals and other volunteers from around New Zealand giving of their time on and off the water.

In addition, there are nine escort boats on the water – four mark laying boats, three signal boats, a jury boat and a "floater".

The event has a professional media liaison person and Helen Horrocks has been answering questions for weeks now.

Russell Boating Club, on the other hand, relies on the goodwill of one or two club members to push out announcements a few days before the event and a day or so after.

CRC are BOI Sailing Week naming rights sponsors and around a dozen other sponsors have come on board. Most of those are local so where is the local promotion?

Northland Inc, the regional tourist organisation (RTO), doesn't mention either the Tall Ships or BOI Sailing Week on their website.

In fact, they're still publicising events from October last year.

Nina Kiff who, along with husband Tony, founded the event back in 2002. For the 20th anniversary next year, organisers are planning "something special". Photo / Lissa Reyden

The Bay of Islands Marketing Group, as the name suggests, markets the Bay of Islands but they have not marketed BOI Sailing Week and no reason given.

With borders closed every region in New Zealand is reliant on domestic tourism yet there doesn't appear to be any incentive packages from hotels or motels in the Bay of Islands enticing domestic tourists to the sailing events.

Both regattas punch above their weight in terms of the number of boats and competitors they attract but unless one is involved in sailing, they both seem to be below the radar in terms of national, or even local, publicity.

Next year is the 20th anniversary of Bay of Islands Sailing Week and co-founders of the event, Nina and Tony Kiff, are planning "something special".

The America's Cup will not be the dominant sailing event in New Zealand at that time so the potential exists for media interest to be heightened.

What's in a name?

Some boat names are logical, think Blue Water or Ocean Wave or the simple Sail Away for example. Then there are those whose names defy immediate understanding and are probably only explained by the owners.

One of the glamour yachts entered in the Bay of Islands Sailing Week with the relatively "normal" name of Apache, skippered by Erle Williams. Photo / Lissa Reyden

A glance over the 100 or so entries in the Bay of Islands Sailing Week reveals names that range from amusing and confusing to downright strange, and occasionally all of those.

In the E Division category there is For Fox Sake, a Mull 22 skippered by Peter Boyd and the name's about as subtle as the former political blog Whale Oil Beef Hooked.

A Diam 24 skippered by Greer Houstonis called Boat 2 Dirty Circus. What was going through the owner's mind when the champers was banged on the bow during christening?

And could Craig Partridge from Kerikeri please explain Animal Biscuits?

In the Sports Boat Division there are three boats whose names could be grouped together in a kinky arrangement – Daisy Duke, Magic Trick and Team Sex.

In the same vein, Pretty Woman might have fun alongside Physical Favours unless Flaming Lips gets in the way.

Then there's Zamzamah, a Farr 41 Mx skippered (we presume on a shared arrangement like the Greens) by Peter Hay and Kim Mcdell.

According to Google Zamzamah means humming or thundering or a lion's roar or, indeed, an 18th century gun.

One boat with a more earthy dub is a Shaw 550 skippered by the patrician-sounding Tony Dalbeth-Hudson.

One simply can't imagine The Queen snipping the ribbon, releasing the Moët and announcing as the craft slips gracefully down the ramp, "I name this ship … Cut The Crap".

Far more elegant and (it has to be said ) more picturesque is Monet and Picasso both racing in the E (Non-Spinnaker) Division.

Sliding in between those in the entry list is the rustic Udder Life. Really? Get a grip.

In the glamorous Multi-hull Division (usually catamarans) there is the glaringly obvious Stray Cat and then another glaringly obvious Straycat.

Either leading or following these feline waifs is Cation which is an ion that has lost one or more electrons but has gained a positive charge which, under sail, they hope they'll have.

These three will all be looking at either the bow or the stern of Apache, the across-the-line winner of the recent Tall Ships Regatta in Russell and whose skipper, Erle Williams, was awarded the Cock of the Bay trophy for reasons that haven't quite been made clear.

• Email Sandy Myhre at mywordmedia@yahoo.com if you have any news you'd like to see in Bay News.