Green Pepper, Auckland Club's Farr 727 on the Ports of Auckland sponsored marina beth at Westhaven

To promote and foster sailing activities in Auckland for Blind & Vision Impaired people, and to disseminate information about the Club and other affiliated VIP Sailing Club's.

To be affiliated to Blind Sailing NZ
Also referred to as
The NZ Council for Sailing for the Blind and Vision Impaired Incorporated

And the to Ponsonby Cruising Club Inc

·To Further the training and instructional programs of the Club

To provide a range of opportunities of social interaction amongst member's of the Club

Our small sailing club was formed in April 1989, to provide, both recreational & competitive sailing to satisfy the need's of Auckland's blind and partially sighted community.

This Club is for those who wish to experience the joys of sailing,
Being out on the water, whether it is for:

The sailing club was formed in 1988 to provide both recreational and competitive sailing to satisfy the needs of Auckland's blind and partially sighted community.

The first sailing trips for the newly formed club, were taken from Torpedo Bay, Devonport, North Shore. The club was then allowed to use the Navy's, crown dinghies on weekends. As interest grew and club member's wanted to stay out longer on the water the Club then purchased it's first 20ft, Ventura trailer sailor yacht, BAD HABIT, followed soon afterward's by a second, yacht VENDACE.

Thus began the formation of our new club, formed as a separate business entity, operating under it's own constitution and first named,

The Vision Impaired Person's Sailing Club (Auckland Inc).

The Club is now known as the
AUCKLAND BLIND SAILING CLUB
INCORPORATED
and
is an extension arm of the
NZCSBVIP Inc.
(The New Zealand Council for Sailing for the Blind and Vision Impaired Incorporated)
(Blind Sailing NZTM)
Our National Organizing body.

The yacht is moored at Westhaven Marina, Pier Xi01 (I=inlet), in St Mary's Bay, Westhaven, through the generosity of Auckland City Councils, Westhaven Marina Assn. This mooring provides an ideal centralized location, which is easy for Blind & partially sighted people to access by private car, bus, taxi, train or foot, especially from the centre of the city, from the downtown area.

Any person with adequate sailing experience may use or come out in the yacht depending on their circumstances. The Cub provides recognized sailing skipper's (instructors), certified to the Royal NZ Coastguard & Yachting NZ standards, as well as, sighted crew.

Prospective Blind & Vision Impaired members will have a trip to see if they like sailing, before joining the Club and paying

the modest Annual Subscription of $10.00
[Introduced in October 2009]

Any Blind member, volunteer or non-member can venture out on our yacht for the day and enjoy sailing with our club member's.
A small Cruising donation of up to $10.00 per individual, per Cruising trip is appreciated, but not enforced and their first Cruising Donation becomes their Annual Subscription.

Everyone is encouraged to take part in all aspects of their sailing trip, Including
Yacht preparation (Before Sailing)
Sailing the yacht & Yacht Mooring (After completion of sailing)
They will also be shown how to carry out all tasks required to sail the yacht. Trips may take from half a day to a couple of days or more, depending upon the weather or what the whole crew can decide on. The club is run by a committee of a mixture of vision impaired & sighted volunteers, who are encouraged to take an active role in all aspects of the club's activities. This also includes General meetings to deal with the clubs business issues, operation & social interaction.

Our yacht departs from Westhaven Marina "V" gate. Just walk Eastward down the ramp and along the pier pontoon for approximately one & three-quarter (1 3/4) minutes, (100 metres), passing "V" & "W" pier's until you reach the end of the pontoon, then turn 90o degrees and walk Northwards for about six (6) seconds, six (6) metres and our yacht, "Green Pepper", is on the right at Xi01 pier (i = Inlet).
Departure for the Clubs yacht is around (1000) 10:00 am most Sunday 's, returning by around (1500) 3:00 pm at the latest.

When going sailing
Please wear and bring along the following;
A pair of white or neutral soled sand, sport's or boat shoes, definitely not black soled.
Sunscreen & hat.
Life Jacket a must if you own one, if not, they are provided by the club.
Warm clothing at all times, especially a sweater, even in summer.
Wet wether gear, especially in Winter or if it looks like the promise of rain and some spare clothing.
Lunch & drink.

The Club is also involved in the Auckland Clubs racing scene on the beautiful Waitemata Harbour & Hauraki Gulf and we generally race with the following Yacht Clubs. All results from racing can be sourced from these Club websites.
Ponsonby Cruising Club www.pcc.org.nz
Richmond Yacht Club www.richmondyc.org.nz
Royal Akarana Yacht Club www.rayc.org.nz
The Up to 26 Club www.upto26club.org.nz
We involve Blind & Vision Impaired Club member's who wish to participate and we also provide services for both, Male, mixed and all female racing crews.
In the winter of 2006, we introfuced a Racing Donation for participants who crew our yacht when using the yacht for Club racing.
The donation is $10.00 per individual, per race
This is to help with costs for race entry fees and any damage incurred while racing. This is a donation not a fee and most is happy to oblige.

Please, when coming sailing with the Club, especially if you are using a taxi, let the driver know the direction and exact location by printing this Page (map) or using your own map. The location is: -
Auckland City Central, St Mary's Bay, Westhaven Drive
Westhaven Marina, Pier Xi01 (I = inlet)
· Take the Beaumont St entry, North from Fanshawe St and turn first left into Westhaven Drive, going west.
· Drive through the "S" bend, past Sailors Corner & Pier 21, going south & West.
· Continue to move west out along the drive, past the few shops & Swashbucklers restaurant entrance, past Y, Z and the Charter yacht pier entry.
· Take the 2nd Gate Entry into the second largest car park, turn right and move East along the breakwater until you find gate (V W X).
· Pass gate Number is #6091#.
· Please do not park between the Yellow lines in the Westhaven Marina Car Park, as they are reserved for members only and your car will be towed away, Park between the White Lines only.

The Club has given many people, especially blind and vision impaired the opportunity to taste the fun and skill of sailing out on Auckland's, lovely Waitemata harbour, which provides an exhilarating and challenging playground. We have enjoyed also watching some of our previous member's achieving their goals of reaching the very pinnacle of sailing success. Our NZ, B1 International sailing team winning three (3) World Championship gold medals, the B2's winning six (6) gold's and the B3's win one (1) gold. Overall seeing NZ win five (5) out of seven (7)-world championships and runners up in 1997 & 2002. The world championship's are held, approximately every three (3) years in one of many countries, the latter so far being held in , NEW ZEALAND (Auckland), AUSTRALIA (Fremantle, Perth), ENGLAND (Weymouth), USA (Miami), ITALY (Lake Garda), USA (Rhode Island, New York), NEW ZEALAND (Rotorua), where, approximately up to eighteen (18) countries being involved. The last World Sailing Championships were held in March 2009, at Rotorua, New Zealand. The B1 team won silver, the B2's won gold & the B3's won silver, thus winning the series championship trophy, as well. The next World Championships are to be held in Japan in 2011.

There are three (3) teams (Divisions) that competed for each world Championship.

These are their respective sight categories for each division,
Below 50% vision Approximately
B1 Totally Blind 0 - 10%
B2 Very Slightly Sighted 11 - 25%
B3 Slightly sighted   26 - 50%

On board the yacht, there is at least a minimum of four (4) people in a typical crew.
Skipper Sighted
Crew (Helper) Sighted
Blind or Vision impaired x 2

On the 24th of April 2003, the Club purchased a new yacht, called Green Pepper. It is a Farr Horizon 727 Keeler, racer / cruiser. A racing yacht adapted to cruising and is twenty-four foot (24ft) in length.

The future is now to set up a sailing cruising & racing program based around our yacht, whereby every weekend will be programmed for the year. One weekend will be devoted to cruising while the other to racing and every so often we will take a two (2) to three (3) day excursion cruise in the Hauraki Gulf.

In due course the Club will endeavour to set up sail training workshops through out the year. Using Green Pepper as the training vessel and the Ponsonby Cruising Club as our class room, trainees will be put through four (4) stages of Club certification, (introduction, Confident Sailor, Sailor & Seamanship), over a period of five (5) years. The programs will be modeled around the Day Skipper and Boatmaster courses run by the Coastguard, with fully qualified instructors. There will also be room to allow for club members to apply for NCEA Accreditation, as well.

Maintenance of our Clubs yacht is generally carried out at Orams Marine Boatyard every two years and the yard is situated just across from our boats mooring. The main focus of each maintenance haulout is to clean & repaint our yachts bottom with special paint to stop marine growth from attaching & growing on her bottom and we also wash her bottom with a water blaster on the floating Dock, monthly.
At each maintenance schedule we also try to work in other jobs to try and slowly upgrase & refurbish her as well and this all helps with the safety of the boat and its members when sailing.