Club commodore Ross Whitburn said Ms Wright (20) had transformed the club and its fortunes by greatly boosting the number of juniors involved.
Ms Wright comes from an accomplished Wellington yachting family — early this year, her father Greg Wright won the Zephyr national championships at Picton, and she was the first female overall.
This year, she also completed her second-year studies for a bachelor of commerce degree at the University of Otago, and had since returned to Wellington for the university holidays.
When she was recently flown to Auckland by her family she thought she was "going up for a birthday dinner".
And later, when she found herself unexpectedly taken to Yachting New Zealand’s Yachting Excellence Awards, she did not realise Mr Whitburn had quietly nominated her for an award.
Ms Wright was humbled and "very surprised" to win the Young Leadership Award, which would encourage her further coaching efforts.
The award recognised outstanding leadership in sailing by a young person aged 16-24.
The award citation commented that Ms Wright was a good sailor, and had made a big difference as a young coach and role model.
"Polly has been a big factor in the club enjoying a 34% increase in membership in the last year."
Her ability to make split-second decisions was highlighted last year when she noticed a young sailor had not surfaced after capsizing his Opti boat.
She had dived in to rescue the boy who was stuck underneath the boat, and, "once the pair had made it safely back to land, received a standing ovation from grateful parents".
Ms Wright said that next year, when she returned to Otago for her studies, she would also "keep moving forward" as junior club coach.
