Burling true beacon for young sailors
Team NZ helmsman has Bay kids lining up to learn the ropes after America’s Cup win
Tauranga sailing clubs have seen an “upsurge” in young sailors keen to follow in the footsteps of America’s Cup Team NZ helmsman Peter Burling. Tauranga Yacht & Power Boat Club sailing coordinator Jess Mcdowell said they had experienced a “huge increase” in interest from Tauranga kids since the Cup began.
“The kids are just getting into it and loving it,” she said.
Sailing was proving most popular with eight to nineyear-olds, who were joining the club “thick and fast”.
“The build-up of the America’s Cup has helped. When you see a New Zealand team at the top – it is always motivating.”
Youth at the club were inspired by Burling, who had a similar starting-out story to many junior sailors in Tauranga.
“He was just a kid who started out with our Learn To Sail and our club racing. Just like the kids do here.
“They find him very relatable, and they think if he can do it then why can’t we. Peter is a cool down-to-earth guy.”
According to Mcdowell, Learn To Sail class numbers had increased by 30 per cent among 7-15-year-olds compared to this time last year. Bay of Plenty Sailing Academy Trust chairman Roger Clark said there had been an “upsurge” in high schoollevel sailing over the past six weeks.
We knew the America’s Cup would create more interest, we have had to double the number of boats available,” he said. “Involvement from schools dropped off last year during the pandemic, so it is great that we are now working hard to meet demand. Colleges as far as Katikati are getting involved.”
Clark said 21 of the trust’s 29 various boats were being used regularly.
“As a trust, we have all the equipment and resources. So more young people being interested in it makes it all worthwhile.”
Anchor AIMS Games media liaison Jamie Troughton said the number of sailing competitors had jumped every year from just over 60 in 2015 to 100 at the last games – and registrations had just opened for the 2021 games.
“We’re expecting another rise in numbers,” he said.
“It took a while for us to host sailing here, but it was a no-brainer in the end with the incredible strength of sailing in Tauranga. Having these incredible world-class sailors with such a high profile absolutely helps junior sailing numbers in Tauranga.”
Tauranga Boys’ College 420 class sailing team manager Herman Rooseboom said the team members are all “pretty chuffed” that Burling and the team have done it again.
“He is such a big part of sailing in Tauranga.”
And team captain 16-year-old Robbie Shirley agrees, saying local success stories like Burling help motivate young sailors.
“The club is really good at acknowledging everyone in Tauranga who is good at sailing, they are all good role models for us.”
Shirley also coaches part-time at the Tauranga Yacht & Power Boat Club.
Nine-year-old sailor Max Mcdowell said Burling was his biggest inspiration.
“He’s someone I know, and it’s cool he does the America’s Cup.” Heather Burling on her son’s career Heather Burling said the passion for sailing at the club helped contribute to her son’s success.
Her son Peter Burling joined the club as a child with his older brother Scott.
“We turned up at the club knowing very little, and it was just an amazing bunch of people who were so willing to help – because everyone loved sailing.
“They have just been so supportive of him the whole way through the crazy, crazy journey.
Burling said she was relieved the Amcup is all over.
“It is nice it’s all done. We are proud of the whole team.
“One of the amazing things about watching Team New Zealand down there is that you are with all the families and all the kids.
“The amount of emotional energy that everyone has put into this over years and years – it’s a whole different feeling.”
Someone has injured the child and significant force has been applied to her head. Dr Jeanine Nunn, paediatric consultant at Starship Hospital
ACrown medical expert in the trial of a man accused of murdering a Tauranga toddler says the girl’s injuries were more likely to be the result of an “abusive head trauma”.
Adrian Colin Clancy, who is on trial in the Rotorua High Court, has denied murdering 17-month-old Sadie-leigh Gardner in Tauranga on March 27, 2019.
The Crown has alleged Clancy violently assaulted Sadie-leigh while she was in his sole care.
His jury trial began on March 15. Sadie-leigh was admitted to Tauranga Hospital in a critical condition on March 27, 2019, before being transferred to Starship Children’s Hospital. She died two days later.
In an opening address earlier this week, Crown prosecutor Richard Jenson described her injuries, to her head and shoulder, as unsurvivable.
The Crown alleges a frustrated or angry Clancy caused the injuries then sought help from a neighbour after realising the toddler was unconscious.
Clancy’s lawyer Kerry Tustin, however, has argued there is no evidence linking her client to the alleged assault.
Dr Jeanine Nunn, a paediatric consultant at Starship’s child protection unit, gave evidence for the Crown on day four of the trial yesterday.
She had reviewed medical reports from Tauranga Hospital and Starship and statements from those who had contact with the child in the days leading up to injury.
Nunn said in the absence of any medical history of trauma such as a significant fall or car accident, the toddler’s injuries were “more likely to be from an abusive head trauma”. “Someone has injured the child and significant force has been applied to her head.” Witness reports suggested the child had fallen in the shower days before or may have been hit over the head with a toy but Nunn said these incidents would not carry sufficient force to cause the injuries. “Not this type of sudden decomposition requiring CPR . . . it just doesn’t make sense.”
Nunn said Sadie-leigh had an unsurvivable brain injury and she was likely to have been blind soon after suffering the head injury.
The child had injuries that might be seen after a serious car crash or from a significant fall from a height, she said. During questioning by defence lawyer Tustin, Nunn said there was no evidence that Sadie-leigh had suffered a significant fall.
“We are talking about falling more than a metre, a complex fall such as in playground with significant momentum or what we sometimes see in a car crash,” she said.
Nunn said there was no clinical history or evidence of a significant accidental fall.
Dr Paul Blackmore also gave evidence. He was the team leader in charge of managing Sadie-leigh’s care after she arrived at Tauranga Hospital’s emergency department on March 27.
He said the toddler was “profoundly unconscious” and she was posturing with rigid movement of her arms and legs which were “ominous signs” of a serious brain injury.
Blackmore also said a quick physical examination of Sadie-leigh revealed a boggy haematoma on the right-hand side of the back of her head.
The toddler’s eyes were “fixed and forced to one side” and she was critically unwell, he said.
Blackmore said in the absence of any history of a significant fall or traumatic injury, he was “overwhelmingly confident” this was traumatic blunt force brain injury, with an underlying skull fracture.
He said he quickly ruled out any septic infection or accidental type of injury.
When interviewed at Tauranga police station by Detective Andrew Veysey and Detective Sergeant Darryl Brazier on March 27, 2019, Clancy denied he had harmed the baby.
The Crown previously told the court a CT scan revealed Sadie-leigh suffered significant bilateral subdural brain bleeds and a fracture to the right side of her skull just below the ear.
As well as the fractured skull, the post-mortem revealed brain swelling and bleeding and a fracture to her right shoulder, Jenson said.
Further tests confirmed the toddler also had significant retinal haemorrhages to both eyes and was unable to see, he said.
The trial continues today.
Six60 will be the headline act for New Zealand’s $62 million push at Expo 2020 Dubai later this year. The band is expected to play for more than a week at Expo, where 192 countries will exhibit. It is regarded by the Government as a part of its recovery from Covid-19, which has savaged the economy.
The economy suffered a worse than feared contraction in the December quarter with figures yesterday showing gross domestic product contracted 1 per cent.
Expo will run for six months and New Zealand’s pavilion is almost complete for the event.
Depending on quarantine arrangements, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern is expected to attend.
While still retaining the Expo 2020 name, it has been delayed for 12 months due to the pandemic and the taxpayer’s commitment has risen by close to $8m due the need to pause and re-start building work and disruption to filming for the entertainment and cultural programme.
Under the theme of Care for People and Place, New Zealand plans to showcase its values, innovation and creativity to the world in the city state.
It is expected that about 600 representatives from private sponsors, NZ Trade and Enterprise staff and performers and entertainers will make the trip to Dubai.
Choreographer Parris Goebel has developed an entertainment programme celebrating New Zealand’s creativity, diversity and youth.
While it is unknown what quarantine requirements will be needed when they return to New Zealand, organisers want to ensure those attending are vaccinated before they leave this country.
Dubai is part of the United Arab Emirates which is vaccinating its 10 million people are a fast rate.
More than half the population has had the jab and the vaccine rollout should be finished by the end of the year.
All our major trading partners are participating at Dubai and host country the United Arab Emirates itself is New Zealand’s 10th biggest trading partner taking exports of $3.9 billion a year and they are growing.
By the middle of last year exports were up 16 per cent on the previous 12 months.
The Middle East region is New Zealand’s seventh largest trading partner and a source of demand for this country’s food and beverages — a big part of the push at Expo. The New Zealand pavilion will showcase food and drink at its site restaurant.
Last year it was estimated 25 million people could visit Expo with 75 per cent of them from countries other than the UAE.
The sprawling Expo site covers more than 4.4sq km, including big stage areas where Six60 will play at the event.
About 80 per cent of the site will be retained as a new city — District 2020 — when Expo has finished.
While New Zealand’s commitment to Expo was reviewed in the depths of the pandemic last year, this country’s commissioner general, Clayton Kimpton, said the country had leveraged expos in the past at pivotal times in its economic history.
Osaka in 1970 gave the country the opportunity to promote meat exports to a wider range of countries as Britain was getting closer to Europe and an event at Shanghai in 2010 came at a good time as the world was emerging from the global financial crisis and New Zealand was bedding in its free trade pact with China.
The rapid vaccine programme in the UAE comes as it had a massive spike in Covid cases in January.
But it has been able to drag down rolling daily averages of more than 3600 cases to half that number.
More than 1200 people have died of the disease, from more than 400,000 who have contracted it.—
NZ Herald
Like us, the South Island tourism industry is eager to welcome Australians back. Justin Watson
Christchurch Airport says it is ready for a two-way transtasman bubble which could be in place next month.
The airport welcomed news yesterday of a possible re-start to transtasman travel and said it had been safe and ready for such a bubble since last October.
Chief aeronautical and commercial officer Justin Watson says the airport’s processes are all in place, have been approved by government agencies and offer a safe environment.
“We have been ready and safe for months to welcome both travellers and partner airlines who travel the
Tasman, with others waiting to come here from further afield,” he said.
The airport had made changes to allow for separate processing of “red” and “green” flights based on schedule separation and cleaning.
“We have also begun construction to physically split the international arrivals area into two distinct pathways to allow simultaneous operations, because we anticipate red and green flights will be required for some time.”
The airport’s frontline staff have been vaccinated and are looking forward to safely welcoming international travellers again, said Watson.
International airlines Qantas, Air New Zealand, Cathay Pacific, China Airlines, Emirates and Singapore Airlines have continued to operate into Christchurch across the Tasman during the pandemic, taking highvalue South Island produce to international markets.
“Like us, the South Island tourism industry is eager to welcome Australians back, ” Watson said.
The airport used to handle almost 1.4 million passengers a year on the
Tasman and welcomed up to 32 aircraft movements a day.
Auckland Airport has also taken steps to separate passengers according to their origin and Covid risk.
The Government is under growing pressure to start a two-way arrangement with Australia, although on Wednesday Covid-19 Response Minister
Chris Hipkins said a transtasman travel bubble was still at least three weeks away.
Hipkins said airlines and airports would need at least three weeks to put practices in place so a bubble could operate safely.
Only one visitor from Australia so far this year tested positive for Covid19 while in managed isolation, and health experts have described a transtasman bubble as very low risk.
— NZ Herald