Team Sailors from South Australia in Cook Islands for Teams Racing

12:57 PM Tue 7 Jul 2009 GMT

'2008 Cook Island Team Sailing'

Thirteen young Team Sailors from South Australian Schools headed of on Friday 3rd July for the Cook Islands.

The representative team consists of seven girls and six boys from the SA Schools Team Sailing Competition Schools.

The group will be accompanied by nine adults.

The team will be involved in the South Pacific Team Sailing Regatta organised by the New Zealand Teams Racing Association as way of promoting team sailing and sailing in general in the Cook Islands.

The first SA team to be involved in the regatta went in 2006 with another group in 2007.

This year South Australia has been fortunate enough to be ale to take a larger group, thanks to the generosity of the organiser, Ross Sutherland from New Zealand.

In 2006 SA formed an Australian representative team with sailors from NSW. In 2007 SA provided the only team and this year they will be joined by a team from Victoria.

While on the island of Rarotonga the team will have the opportunity to take in the beautiful weather, scenery and culture of the Pacific.

The regatta will also involve teams from New Zealand and the Cook Islands.

Sara Wright from Meningie is attending as the team coach, a just reward for Sara who competed for Meningie Area for five years and has continued her involvement by undertaking umpiring at regional and state level.

The team consists of Holly Cameron, Edwina Cooper, Jessica Stephens and Olivia Stephens from Walford, Oliver Crossman from Meningie, Benjamin Doley and Mathew Morley from Victor Harbor, Harrison Fisher from Immanuel, Georgina Minns from Westminster, Brendan Moore from St Michaels, Taryn Thompson and Chloe Robinson from Ocean View and Jae Tyley from Kangaroo Island.

While in the Cook Islands they will stay at a lagoon front guest house and the Soccer Academy and sail on the Muri Lagoon on the eastern side of Raratonga.

2008 Cook Island Team Sailing -

Events such as the Cook Islands trip is another example of the opportunities the sport of sailing provides to its participants.

We are hopeful that from this year's event we may see a team or two of SA girls heading to New Zealand to be part of their first girls Team Sailing Regatta.

With Women's Match Racing being include in the Olympics this is an excellent way of promoting young women in the sport with a pathway to match racing.

So while we are back in SA enjoying temperatures in the low teens our SA rep team will have to contend with ten days of high twenties.

We wish them all the best.

www.sa.yachting.org.au

by Ian Porteous