Earlier this month, the Timaru Yacht and Power Boat Club played host to the New Zealand Finn Association South Island Championships.
The Finn is a men’s single-handed heavyweight dinghy that was designed in 1949 and used in the Olympics from 1952 until 2020.
Timaru Yacht and Power Boat Club commodore Richard Johnson said it was a big deal for the club to host the event.
"I think it raises our profile a little bit and the people who came, they were they were very impressed by our facilities because most of them hadn’t sailed at Timaru before.
"It’s a big thing that the club maintains the access to the to the sea for recreational boating in South Canterbury.
"In 1968 the Timaru Yacht Club hosted the Finn Olympic trials for Mexico so it was great to have that class back again.
"Although it’s no longer an Olympic class, it’s still a very active class and there’s lots of competition in it.
He said 11 people competed over the course of the weekend.
"There were seven entries from Christchurch, three from Dunedin, including the winner Richard Hawkins, who is also the New Zealand champion, and one from Golden Bay.
"It was a decent little fleet. It was pretty much all of the guys in the South Island who are competitive and not just going out for a bit of fun at the weekend.
"They get together every year for the championship and generally speaking, they usually have it in Lyttelton, Dunedin or maybe up in Nelson.
"They approached us and said they liked the look of the setup in Timaru and to save on traffic and stuff, ‘could we have it at your place’ and we said ‘absolutely’."
"It’s something we run for the youngsters and have done previously.
"The only problem this year is people are struggling. We’ve actually reduced the size of it because I think the economy is hitting lots of people, particularly parents with young children.
"We found it’s difficult to persuade people to come from Christchurch and Dunedin to Timaru for the weekend to take their kids sailing.
"So we’re cutting that back to being a basically a sort of a fun regatta to give our locals some opportunities to do some sailing within the racing rules of sailing, so that they can get a bit more experience and have a fun weekend."
He said the club was in a good spot at the moment.
"We’ve got a stable membership and speaking to other smaller clubs, like the one down in Port Chalmers, we’re actually doing pretty well in terms of the number of people out on the water every Saturday.
"So we’re pretty good, but we’re open to memberships and we do have an introductory membership for new sailors.
"We’re very keen on having new members and showing them how to sail and we’re quite well set up for new members in the sense that the club has plenty of boats that new members can learn to sail in and use once they are sailing."
