The Volunteer of the Year Award is awarded to the many dedicated RPNYC volunteers that without each and everyone of these dedicated members, our club activities would not survive.
Attributes of generosity, humility, just getting on with it without fuss or fanfare are typical attributes of volunteers who support our club and are passionate to ensure its success.
The Volunteer of the Year Award is given each year to a volunteer who shows these attributes and makes a significant contribution to the running of our club. Every year, it is very difficult to choose a person to award this trophy to as all volunteers deserve our sincerest thanks and our accolades.
This year’s recipient has been a member of RPNYC for a number of years having started sailing on the good ship Gucci in about 1994.
During the Mana Chetwood’s race, the VHF was deployed by this person’s beloved back at their flat to ask when this person would be home so corned beef could be put on for tea. The answer came from Gucci somewhere out in the middle of the Cook Strait “Monday morning”.
This person stopped sailing around 2000 when they had their family and rejoined the club in 2011 probably because this person and the current Commodore were at an engagement party and were wistfully looking out at the Cook Strait. This person was given a trial on the boat this person now sails on and has been on the same boat ever since.
This person is a Race Officer as well as a Caniwi Driver and has taught a number of people to drive Caniwi and Race Officer duties. When the club has been short of volunteers, he has, on several occasions, jumped off his own boat (not into the water of course) to head into the start box and run races.
Beyond volunteering at the club, this person has a passion for building wooden boats. This person built their own wooden boat and named it “Proud Mary” after his beloved (who probably still makes excellent corned beef for tea). In order to build another boat, he needed to extend the house.
He is very much a valued team member on his current boat and is always happy to lend a hand with repairs or when the boat needs to come out of the water. This person is always available to help out at the club and does so quietly in the background. Helping out has included painting walls and door frames after recent earthquake strengthening at the club and providing the finishing touches just in time for last year’s prize giving.
Unassuming, kind and with a wicked sense of humour, this year’s recipient of the Volunteer of the Year Award is John Hunt.
