Team New Zealand has agreed to gift its four Etchells yachts to the newly formed Mana Youth Sailing Trust (MYST).
MYST is a joint initiative of the Mana Cruising Club and Wellington Yachting Development to promote the sport of sailing to youth from colleges and clubs in the Mana and surrounding areas.
Team New Zealand sailed the Etchells extensively during their lead up to the America's cup in a series of Regional Regattas with the emphasis on encouraging youth sailing. In December 2001 Wellington was among 15 centres visited where a local youth team consisting of Paul Verry, Alex Lovelock, Nathan Baldwin & Julia Baldwin put on an impressive performance winning one of the 5 races against Dean Barker.
MYST see a great opportunity to add value to the community by encouraging pride and self esteem in youngsters, some who would normally not have access to such opportunity. With a maximum of four crew allowed on each boat, team building and leadership are just some of the skills that will be learnt.
MYST will be using qualified Yachting New Zealand Instructors on the internationally recognised 9.2m boats.
The official launch of MYST and the handing over of the Etchells by the Team New Zealand Trust will be held at the Mana Cruising Club at 10:30 local time on Saturday 7 June 2003.
Mana Youth Sailing Trust is open to all young people and anyone else who's interested in sailing.
We want to encourage a wider community to experience all the thrills and spills of sailing, learn from the challenges racing presents, and have a lot of fun at the same time.