Nelson Yacht Club

📆 Just 5 days left to claim the early bird discount!
🐣 Are you as excited as we are about spring?
⛵ Secure your place on one of our spring holiday programmes now and make the most of the discount. Offer ends 31st August.

⭐Better Together⭐
Bring a sibling and receive 20% off their course during the school holidays. First up is the spring holiday starting Monday 28th September.
📩 Email us to find out more.

🐣 Early bird discount ends 31st August!
📆 Sign up for the Spring Holiday programme before 31st August to receive your early bird discount.
⛵ Courses from 2-5 days long in Optimist sailing dinghies (ages 8-11) and Fusion Sailboats (ages 11+) beginner, improver, and advanced options!

Holiday Programmes Holiday programmes at Nelson Yacht Club are a "must-do" for local kids. Learn to sail or windsurf, in a safe, fun, learning environment

Good news for Outdoor Education in years 12 and 13! 👏🏼

🎉 **We did it. Outdoor Education is back on the Ministry-led subject list at Years 12 and 13.**

This is an incredible win for Outdoor Education, for our sector, and for the rangatahi who thrive through learning that is active, practical, connected to place, and grounded in relationships with the outdoors and each other.

More than 53,000 people signed the petition. Hundreds made submissions. Teachers, students, whānau, school leaders, academics, outdoor organisations and supporters created videos, shared stories, contacted MPs, spoke to the media, attended the rally, joined live conversations and continued advocating for Outdoor Education.

You shared, and shared, and shared again.

We are incredibly proud of the way this sector came together. Thank you to everyone who stood alongside EONZ and helped demonstrate why Outdoor Education matters.

Outdoor Education is not simply an activity or a setting for learning. It is a subject with its own body of knowledge, learning pathways and contribution to the lives of young people across Aotearoa.

We are delighted that Outdoor Education will now be developed as a Ministry-led subject at Years 12 and 13. We look forward to working with the Ministry of Education and supporting the sector to engage with the curriculum development and consultation processes as they take place.

There is still a critical gap at Year 11.

Our focus will now be on developing an EONZ Year 11 Outdoor Education curriculum to ensure there is a clear pathway between Year 10 and the new Ministry-led subject at Years 12 and 13. We will also continue advocating for a Ministry-led Outdoor Education subject at Year 11.

For schools currently running Year 11 Outdoor Education programmes, our message is clear: **please keep delivering them.**

There is more work ahead, but today we can pause and celebrate what has been achieved.

Outdoor Education is back on the list, and this is an achievement the whole sector can be incredibly proud of. 🌿

I've been enjoying a bit of Dom Barnes Coaching in my feed recently. Highly recommended.

Sailing clubs can spend a great deal of time discussing recruitment, open days, grants, advertising and how to attract new members, then lose somebody in their first ten minutes because nobody says hello.

People do not decide they belong when they complete a membership form; they decide it through the way they are treated when they arrive.

A new sailor is often managing an awkward mixture of excitement, uncertainty and embarrassment. They may not know where to change, which boat belongs to whom, how the launching system works, whether they are standing in someone's usual place, or whether the person they have just approached is friendly, important, or simply wondering why they are being interrupted.

None of that requires a committee policy or a new participation strategy. It requires somebody to notice them, introduce themselves, remember their name, and explain how the club works without making them feel foolish for not already knowing.

It also means including them once they are off the water: a seat at the table rather than left standing with a tea, and a question about how they found the session that isn't immediately followed by someone else's race report. The same applies the following week. Being recognised on their second visit tells a newcomer something no welcome pack can.

Good clubs do not leave belonging to chance. They understand that every established member helps create the atmosphere a newcomer walks into, and that a club can be perfectly organised and still feel completely closed.

What's the one thing a club did, or didn't do, that decided whether you stayed?

It is great to be involved in this awesome kaupapa, and to see the mahi these ākonga are putting in! 🐧 🐧

Great to see the Moanamana programme being recognised nationally.

Congrats YNZ and all the awesome People involved to make it happen, from the national level, down to the local.

🎉 Congratulations to Yachting New Zealand, winners of the Environmental Sustainability Award.

Through RŪNĀ, Yachting New Zealand is connecting young people to their moana – building environmental awareness, strong communities and a growing movement of kaitiaki across Aotearoa.

Toitū te marae a Tangaroa. – The domain of the ocean remains intact.

NYC pennant at half-mast today after the passing of Tommy Sharland, a past member and long-time supporter of the Club. Our thoughts are with his family and friends.

Good news. The NYC We**am is back online... head to the link in the comments. It is also now available as a live stream on our YouTube channel.

Exciting times!

The team from Ground Anchor Systems is now underway with stage 2 of our seismic strengthening.

Huge thanks for the support we have received to be able to get this project on the road to completion.

The New Zealand Lottery Grants Board - Te Puna Tahua, and The Lion Foundation in particular have contributed significantly to this stage.

🙌🏽 thanks for helping us to strengthen the building and the Club for future generstions 🙌🏽