The America’s Cup is touring New Zealand in conjunction with the Kiwi Cup Regatta and two Westlake Girls Sailors have been selected as part of the team to represent their sailing club, the Murrays Bay Sailing Club. On 2 September, Westlake Boys hosted the ‘Auld Mug’ in a special assembly, and the Westlake Girls Sailing Team was invited to join them.
Year 11 sailors Greta Satterthwaite and Emily Turner will team up with Sam Clarke and Finn Olson from Westlake Boys and Toby Dunn from Western Springs College to compete in the Kiwi Cup Regatta for Murray’s Bay Sailing Club during the first week of the October school holidays. The teams will be hosted by the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron and will compete in Elliot 7 boats as well as ‘camp’ in the Squadron Ballroom during the event, an unfamiliar sight. At the end of August, the RNZYS created history by inducting its first female commodore, Gillian Williams, another unique occurrence. The Kiwi Cup was a fundraising initiative to help schools and clubs with various projects. It offered a once-in-a-lifetime trip to the America’s Cup in Barcelona as the ultimate prize. Following the Kiwi Cup Regatta, the Westlake Girls Sailing Team will ready itself for the Trans-Tasman Inter Dominion Series in the second week of the October holidays, where it will look to defend the Top Australasian Girls School title that it won last year in Sydney.