October has been a busy month both on and off the water. As well as courses ramping up, we have mostly finished our winter maintenance, welcomed a new staff member and launched a new course. In the office I’ve been busy tidying up the last of the winter jobs, ensuring things will keep running when my first child arrives and preparing for a new arrival.
On the water we’ve had 27 people start an intro this month – the highest for October for a very long time (possibly ever). We are getting ready for school groups (we currently have around 250 kids signed up with more enquiries coming) and corporate groups in the run up to xmas, along with our regular courses. If you want to take your team sailing at the end of the year, give us a yell – we still have some spots available. From December we will be able to cater for groups of up to 19.
We have Jim Moore, our first of two new staff members, operational having completed our induction and training and having met the Maritime NZ requirements. Jim has extensive experience instructing and has slotted in quickly to our operations. He is currently teaching one of the boats on our Sunday intro course.
We also recently launched our new cruising skipper prep course. This course is aimed at those who know how to sail and have a reasonable understanding of navigation theory. The course is a live aboard weekend with just 3 participants and focuses on longer navigational exercises and maneuvering in a variety of scenarios under power. There are a couple of spots still available before xmas – check out the ocean sports website for more details.
To keep life interesting Morgan and I are expecting our first child any week now. When that happens, Brianna will be in the office keeping the place running, while I face the reality of being a parent! If you have enquiries over this time, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with Brianna – she will be available on the normal office number (939 6702) and monitoring the ocean@rpnyc.org.nz email address.
Finally don’t forget about the buy sell swap on November 3rd. We’ve got a stack of old stuff we’ll be selling (or even giving away), including wet weather gear, harnesses, inflatable life jackets, boat parts, chairs, crockery and electronics. We’ve had a number of other people indicate they will also be down with a wide range of items, so make sure you come along!