This grad came straight out of the Grad programme, and their immediate approach to life at Port Nich was – what can I do, how can I help?
From initial foray’s out on Te Ruru, to helping out with a Rum Race, to jumping behind the bar, within weeks they soon become a face that was missed if they weren’t around.
From rum racing they volunteered to help with twilight racing, where within a number of racing was enquiring as to why things were done a certain way and was exposed to the expert skills of Shayne Priddle and Paul JD.
Along side helping with race management, they had also joined the Grad’s go sailing programme and starting sailing on Friday nights.
However, not put off by working with Paul and Shayne, when it came time for the Port Nich Regatta, they put their hand up to help once again.
During the regatta her contribution to the Race Management team on the water can’t be understated. Her attitude was ‘give me a job, tell me what you expect, and trust me to get on and do it’. And that is what it turned out to be. The first day of the regatta, we were one down on our ideal number of people on the signal boat. The smooth experience you sailors had was in no small part to her handling all the visual signals from the Signal Boat – watching her working the flags, sometimes with a halyard between her teeth (ok that may not be literally speaking), she had the whole process under control. We knew that we were in capable hands, and that was an area that didn’t need any more attention than normal.
Her sense of humour also came to the fore (show picture of ‘Bugger-off’ – or talk about it….) helped with a really enjoyable and fun time for all the team on board.
She picked up the fundamentals of race management really quickly, and as a race committee we had no hesitation when she stepped forward to run the majority of racing during our Club Week.
During Club week the Duty officer changed each night, to which after each race, I’d ask how they thought she was going. To which Bridgey’s response was – did you send me up there to get schooled on race management?
On top of all that she then turned her hand to giving championship racing from Pt Jerningham on go.
If you haven’t already picked it, Ellie it’s grads like you the re-energise club. Your passion for the sport, the club and its members and your enthusiasm to get involved in every aspect of club life doesn’t go unnoticed. Everyone that sails alongside you, volunteers alongside you and drinks with you, enjoys the fun to bring to the club.
Congratulations Ellie – you’re a champion!