Sailing Kiwi-style

While these aren't kayaks on car top or trailer, here's what gets NZ kids into sailing, Kiwi-style.

This is a a photo of my cousin Sue's family set-up. On the car top is a Starling--she and her husband have one each--but need to compromise who's out with their two young daughters today. The two boats on the trailer are the famous NZ P Class. This, with the Optimist, are the two most-sailed boats for Kiwi youngsters. The P, as it's most affectionately known as, helped produce some of NZ's most famous skippers, including Sir Peter Blake and Russell Coutts, to name only a few. It's often said that if you can sail a P, you can sail anything!

The 2.13 m (7ft) P was designed in 1923 by Harry Highet, and was first known as the Tauranga class, as Harry lived in Tauranga, which also happens to be my birth place. And they've been strenuously raced ever since.

If you happen to be able to find a copy, there's a terrific novel called Tauranga Adventure (Harrap, 1963) based on kids sailing P Classes. It was written by Tauranga resident (and one of my best friend's late uncle) Patrick Wilson.

The Starling is the next boat up, once you've outgrown your P. It's a 2.9m (9.6ft), one-design, and also has a great racing pedigree.

Great to see that some classic designs just never die!