Have boat, will fly

The 2011 Cook Islands National Sailing Championship in Optimist sailboats will be held on the Aitutaki lagoon outside motu Akaiami from Thursday April 6 to Saturday April 9.

On Wednesday April 5 a record number of 25 junior sailors from Manihiki, Rarotonga and Aitutaki will sail from Ootu beach to Akaiami where Mama Ruru has kindly offered 3 days of accommodation for the sailors and officials at her Akaiami Paradise.

With 25 sailors competing in the national championship, a minimum of 16 sailboats are required to make this a truly competitive event with equal opportunity for each sailor.

There is a lot to compete for as the winner and runner up of this championship races will represent the Cook Islands at the New Zealand Nationals in Wakatere, Auckland, from April 21 to 25.

The Aitutaki Sailing Club, which is organising the Cook Islands National Championship, only has 6 Optimist sailboats but managed to acquire 12 additional boats from the Rarotonga Sailing Cub.

The organisers had to overcome one problem – how to get the boats in time to Aitutaki!

It’s here that Air Rarotonga came to the rescue by offering free cargo space to airfreight the boats from Rarotonga to Aitutaki.

All is now in place for the largest Optimist Sailing Championship in the history of Cook Island Sailing. A big meitaki atupaka to Air Rarotonga.