Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Sailing forward.
[00:00:01] Speaker B: We're off sailing high and slow here.
[00:00:05] Speaker C: This is Bird's Eye View, your sailing podcast, Live Sail Die. Have put together what we hope is going to be the most informative and entertaining sailing podcast you've ever heard. I'm Darcy Watergrave. I'm hosting and trying to keep these two roustabouts calmed down. Joey Allen, Barbara Kendu, two of the biggest names in New Zealand sailing. We'll be broadcasting from the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron's Crow's Nest, one of the iconic rooms in New Zealand sailing. Lock yourself in, this is going to be fun.
[00:00:37] Speaker B: Bird's Eye View is sponsored by andu, New Zealand's home of feel good living with free next day delivery and price match guarantee. Feel good about your appliances and furniture with Andu. Welcome on in to Bird's Eye View. My name's Darcy Waldegrave and courtesy of Live Sail Die. This is our podcast and when I say our podcast, not only the crew at Live Sail Die, but, but of course, the irascible Joey Allen. Always good to have you on here.
[00:01:03] Speaker D: Great to be here.
[00:01:04] Speaker B: Yeah, thank you very much. Barbara Kendall joining us as always, and today's special guest, a very special guest, Jillian Williams. Jillian, welcome into the podcast. Great to have you on board. This room up here, the Crow's Nest, I expect you'd be rather familiar with this place. You'd be back, back at home right now.
[00:01:22] Speaker A: Thank you. Yes. Spend lots of time up here.
[00:01:24] Speaker B: Lots of time telling people what to do and how to do it.
[00:01:28] Speaker A: Oh, not so much. Lots of time meeting and coming up with good plans.
[00:01:33] Speaker B: Right, let's talk about who you are, where you're going, where you're about to go. You are about to do something quite extraordinary in the sailing world, quite extraordinary for the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron. You'll become the first female Commodore in 153 years. Now that's gobsmacking for a couple of reasons. A, you're the first and B, a century and a half with the men running the show. This is more than well overdue. In all seriousness, this is the way the sport, this is the way the world is going right now. You must be very proud of what you're about to go ahead with a whole lot of big list of plans about what you need to achieve.
[00:02:09] Speaker A: Yeah, it's a big deal.
It's a lot of hard work and it hasn't been easy, but it's.
But it's fun as well. So I love sailing.
[00:02:20] Speaker E: I'm going to butt in. I'm just Registering that fact, it's astounding to me. It's astounding that it's taken. I mean, New Zealand was the first place to give women the vote, but it's taken us 153 years to get a female commodore. Why?
[00:02:34] Speaker A: Why?
It's hard. So it's a lot of time and most women have other responsibilities as well. So it was, it wasn't an easy decision to go, yes, I'm going to do this.
So as well as doing this, I have a job and I'm a mother and I run a house.
[00:03:00] Speaker D: And you run a husband.
[00:03:03] Speaker A: I run a husband as well, yes.
[00:03:07] Speaker B: You spend a bit of time out on the ocean as well, sailing, obviously.
[00:03:10] Speaker A: And I'm a sailor as well. So, you know, it's another thing to fit in.
But having said that, I love doing it like it's fun.
[00:03:21] Speaker B: The problem, I suppose, comes right the way back to males grabbing control and not wanting to relinquish that control. And this is an issue that you had not willing to accept.
[00:03:31] Speaker E: The fact, I'm going to say, is that, do you think that's a problem or it's a fact that we haven't had, like Gillian says, you know, a lot of females, all the things, all the roles that we have running to, to dedicate your time to a voluntary. It's a voluntary role with all these other things going on in a leadership role. And they talk about women in leadership and one of the reasons, you know, particularly if you're a mother running. I don't know, how many kids have you got?
[00:03:55] Speaker A: Just one.
[00:03:56] Speaker E: Just one? Yeah. Even one. It's a lot, it's enough. I know you're running kids, you're running a, a career because you, most of our households are now two income families. You know, you need two people contributing households, children, husbands, jobs and then a volunteer role on top of that.
[00:04:13] Speaker B: Women, though, are very good by design of multitasking. I think really it's resistance.
[00:04:18] Speaker E: But then you add on a volunteer role of a prestigious yacht club on top of that and all those roles, you must be superwoman.
[00:04:26] Speaker A: No, I'm not superwoman.
[00:04:29] Speaker E: I'm just putting some context here because, yes, it has been male dominated. But why is that? For a start, one, it is because women have all these things going on and then we don't tend to do things unless you're shoulder tapped into leadership roles.
[00:04:41] Speaker B: So what's the resistance been? We'll start from the experience you've had once you decided you were heading along this path and you've Been quite up, I suppose, in the power game at the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron. So the resistance you've experienced so far, has it been as bad or as big as we're making it?
[00:04:58] Speaker A: I think it's the subtle resistance rather than, rather than avert resistance. There's a way that things have always been done, which is not the way that I necessarily do things, which is the whole thing about diversity is getting people in who think and do things differently.
So I don't think, I don't think I've seen any real deliberate obstruction, but it's just the, oh my goodness. What, what, what's she going to do? She's, she's so different.
[00:05:32] Speaker E: Things differently.
[00:05:33] Speaker A: Woohoo. Yeah.
[00:05:35] Speaker E: Fear, the fear of the difference. Fear of change.
[00:05:38] Speaker B: I think that is a male generated situation. It's been like this for years. So why would we change? What's in it for us to actually make that change, but to step to one side and experience that really important. I've noticed this in all sports. This is not just sailing, it's a standard. So you're a flag bearer in this space. Do you feel that responsibility? Does that weigh you down, Julian?
[00:06:01] Speaker A: There is.
I feel it when girls and women come up to me and say that's so cool.
Because then I feel like, oh, I've got to keep going because there are people out there who get some inspiration.
[00:06:20] Speaker E: From it, you know, Role model.
[00:06:22] Speaker B: You've become a role model with aspirations.
[00:06:24] Speaker A: Says the role model herself.
But yeah, but you know what I mean, like it's, if I were to say, oh, this is too hard and quit, you know, what ripples would that have? I'm not doing that.
[00:06:41] Speaker B: But you know, you're being very loud and saying nothing, Joey. I mean, you're sitting their arms crossed again. Or defensively.
Do you see resistance in this space at all or not? I mean, you're part of the old school.
[00:06:54] Speaker D: All I see is I, I, my wife is a, a very humble sailor and she's an amazing girls crew and I just, I just see how much fun they're having with their sailing and other national champions I might throw out there. And honestly just the joy they get is just unbelievable. And you go for it.
[00:07:15] Speaker A: Yeah. And I think that's part of the driving force is that when women go sailing they have so much fun. You know, it's so awesome to see a bunch of women sailing because it's just fun.
[00:07:30] Speaker B: So what do you have to do in your position when you take that up in order to get that? Well, I'D say acceptance, but get more people involved. And there are so many threads from a youth, age, but from a female perspective, what are your marks? What do you have to hit?
[00:07:45] Speaker A: Yeah. So in terms of. In terms of what do I do? I chair the general committee.
When I become commodore.
The. I guess the. The key thing is to drive the change. That.
That sets us up for the future. So I guess getting more women out there, sticking with selecting women into positions of responsibility within the club so that it doesn't get lost. I mean, I need to see that there's succession coming after I move on.
[00:08:31] Speaker E: That's what a good leader always does.
[00:08:33] Speaker B: You're absolutely predominant in this space. What would you like to see from a sailing point point of view, from a sailing mum point of view, from someone who's been there, done that. Where do you see the. The key marks here?
[00:08:44] Speaker E: Well, I think Gillian's done an incredible job, first of all, sticking at it and, and doing it because it's fun, because you can create change and you can. And you can actually bring it, you know, an established. It's like all the time that I spent in the International Olympic Committee. Come in with your guns blazing and. And you want to create change, but it takes a really long time to realize that. It takes a long time to create change in an old, established institution. So the IOC is even older than. Well, it's probably similar to the yacht squadron in the fact that you have this tradition. So it's actually bringing in change, but keeping the tradition, which is the roots of the organization. So it's not just women, it's not just men. It's together. And I think that Gillian's probably right on par with that one. I would say it's just, let's do this together for what. What is the future like? And let's bring us all together on our journey.
[00:09:36] Speaker A: Absolutely. So the squadron had. Has had a couple of, I guess, false starts in the past where women have come onto the general committee, stayed on the general committee for a couple of years, and then come off and there's been nobody come behind them.
So I think. I think Debbie Whiting might have been the first woman to go onto the general committee, but then nobody came in behind.
[00:10:02] Speaker B: Is that lack of encouragement?
[00:10:06] Speaker A: I think it's a combination of.
It's hard and finding. Tapping the people that want to and have the time.
Yeah, I don't have time. No.
[00:10:23] Speaker E: Give a busy person a job and they usually get it up.
[00:10:25] Speaker A: Exactly. Somebody who's crazy enough to just keep going. Yeah. A Bit of persistence.
[00:10:30] Speaker B: You know, give a lazy person a job and they find the quickest and most effective way to do it.
[00:10:34] Speaker E: Give it to somebody else. They delegate.
Leadership's. You got to delegate.
[00:10:39] Speaker A: Yeah. You've.
[00:10:41] Speaker B: You're taking over from Aaron Young. Your relationship with him as it's gone on. How's that work for you? He's been quite an advocate, hasn't he?
[00:10:50] Speaker A: No. So it was. So it was Aaron and then Andrew Aiken.
[00:10:54] Speaker B: Excuse me, mate, my bad.
[00:10:55] Speaker A: But yes, I've worked with.
I guess in the time that I've been in, I've worked with Steve Meir, Ian Cook, Aaron Young and Andrew Akin, and they're all different and they're all great.
Aaron has been. Has been a great influence for me. I think he's.
He's a very impressive individual.
[00:11:24] Speaker B: I think in his case. No, he is not. Wahina. He's absolutely not. But when he started in that role, he was seen as quite young, even though he's not that young. But he was seen as quite young when he came in. I'm sure there was some resistance there as well, in that space.
[00:11:38] Speaker A: Yeah, I think he's one of the younger commodores. I don't know the statistics on it.
He's mori also, which is. Which is diversity is not something the squadron's done terribly well and. Yeah. Incredibly supportive of me. And Aaron and I have worked together on a lot of the America's cup issues in particular, which have been quite.
[00:12:12] Speaker B: Large in our tenure, experientially America's cup wise. What has to happen, do you think?
[00:12:19] Speaker D: Don't ask me.
[00:12:20] Speaker B: I am asking you. Say something, man.
[00:12:23] Speaker D: You know, like, honestly, I'm. I'm a good listener right now, soaking in all that.
[00:12:29] Speaker E: I'd love to hear a little bit about, you know, your pathway from sailing.
[00:12:33] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:12:33] Speaker E: So what got you into sailing?
[00:12:34] Speaker A: What?
[00:12:35] Speaker E: You sailed. What led you into standing up? You know, putting your hand up for the squadron.
[00:12:41] Speaker A: Yeah. Okay.
[00:12:42] Speaker E: So there's probably three areas, you know, what got you into it. What, you know, and then what? You put your hand up. Why'd you put your hand up?
[00:12:48] Speaker A: Okay. Yep. So as a dinghy sailor, as you know, Barbara's signature is actually on my Learn to Sail certificates.
[00:13:00] Speaker D: God, she must be old.
[00:13:01] Speaker E: Hey, yay. Yay.
[00:13:04] Speaker A: I'm old.
Yes. I came up through the. Through the dinghy classes, did an Olympic campaign, tried to get to the 92 Olympics, didn't make the team, but kind of came close, so that's kind of good enough.
And then moved into bit of keelboat Sailing, Pied Piper.
Very cool little boat.
[00:13:31] Speaker B: You were involved with Aaron Young in that class, weren't you?
[00:13:33] Speaker A: Yep. Or not involved.
[00:13:35] Speaker B: Not involved. But.
[00:13:38] Speaker D: Hey, guys, keep this clean, seriously.
[00:13:41] Speaker E: But we know that the Pied Piper classes. The Wild Rebels.
[00:13:44] Speaker A: Yes. Yeah.
[00:13:45] Speaker E: So it's a good introduction, you know.
[00:13:47] Speaker A: And interestingly, it was through party sailing that I met my husband, who was a True Blue Squadron person, had come up through the youth program and it was him that encouraged me to join the club. So I joined the club and then I got tapped on the shoulder, actually, without.
[00:14:07] Speaker E: There you go.
[00:14:07] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. Another lawyer friend of mine, he said. He said, oh, we're trying to tick off a few things on the general committee. We need lawyer and we need. We need some woman. And we need. And we're pretty keen to keep sailors going too. So I kind of ticked three boxes in one.
[00:14:24] Speaker B: That idea of being shoulder tapped, though, is there a reticence for women in this particular sport to actually stand there and put their hand and go, hold on, I got this. No, it's not a record.
[00:14:38] Speaker E: But this is right across all sports, you know, from a lot of.
[00:14:40] Speaker B: The.
[00:14:41] Speaker E: Lot of the experiences that I've had working across many, many sports and in women's leadership, it's the shoulder tap. All of them will say, like the CEO right now of New Zealand football, she was shoulder tapped for the job. So shoulder tapping's a real key to getting this diversity piece working. You know, shoulder tapping for coaching, shoulder tapping for Commodore's, shoulder tapping for come sailing.
[00:15:05] Speaker A: Yeah. And I think. And I think that's part of the. Part of the diversity challenge is that people tend to shoulder tap somebody who looks like them or acts like them. So to shoulder tap somebody who's different is the challenge.
[00:15:21] Speaker B: So the import of actually having women involved in sailing at every level, from the grassroots, right the way through it situation, be it because you were involved with. Was it Oracle from a legal point of view? All different aspects. It's not just necessarily on the water. There's a number of different paths. So why women?
[00:15:40] Speaker A: I don't see.
[00:15:42] Speaker B: Well, why is it important to bring women into the sport at all levels?
[00:15:48] Speaker A: I think it's a sport for everyone. It's a sport that women enjoy and if you're going to get more women doing it, enjoying it, you've got to have other women around them. So they go, oh, yeah, this is a place for me.
[00:16:05] Speaker E: And it's pretty hard, you know, when, you know, I think about when I went on my first. I'm sorry, I'm Cutting in a little bit woman thing. When I went to my first youth youth worlds, I was the only female on the team, full stop. There was no. There was no manager. No other manager. No other coach. I mean, Harold was our manager. Fantastic. But the rest of the team with guys, and so you were. You were solo. And, you know, when we look about belonging, you look at belonging of being a sense of a team and. And the whole thing. There was no other female to hang out with us by myself. And pretty much when I did the World cup, everything running solo. And so when we talk about this, you know, diversity, it's having other women in and around you that are supporting you, coming through and as a lone wolf is really important.
[00:16:48] Speaker B: So what do you think about that, Joe? What do you think? We need women involved in sailing from a very masculine point of view.
[00:16:54] Speaker D: I think they are involved in my little circle. It's a very precious circle. We have two amazing women. Leslie Egnott and Emma. Emma Sanderson.
[00:17:06] Speaker A: Oh, they're both. They're both brilliant.
[00:17:08] Speaker D: And honestly, we.
[00:17:12] Speaker A: We.
[00:17:12] Speaker D: We got to get these girls in here. They are unbelievable. Their stories are just incredible. You get Leslie talking about going head to head with Dennis Connor.
[00:17:23] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:17:23] Speaker D: You know these stories. We've got to get the spades out. We have to.
[00:17:27] Speaker A: Yeah. And I think that the challenge with somebody like Lesley, who I completely agree is phenomenal, is getting the next person coming in behind her, but they will follow. Yeah. And the. The Women's America's cup is. Is going to be amazing this year, and that's hugely inspirational. It's. It's been a long time since Lesley sailed in the America's cup, and we need. We need the steps behind.
[00:17:56] Speaker D: Can I just say, in. In. In San Diego, there was a. There was a. An hour where we thought we were going to race Leslie in the America's Cup. There was. There was one hour.
[00:18:09] Speaker A: It made.
[00:18:09] Speaker D: It may not have even been that long. And I have to say, we didn't want to race Leslie.
[00:18:14] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:18:15] Speaker D: We did not want to.
[00:18:16] Speaker E: She's fierce.
[00:18:17] Speaker D: We didn't want to race them. We wanted to race Dennis.
[00:18:21] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:18:22] Speaker D: And I can feel the relief when that shitty wind shift dealt Liz, you know, but if you want to be humbled, you spend some time with Emma.
[00:18:33] Speaker A: Yeah. She's an amazing individual, isn't she?
[00:18:36] Speaker D: She sits here at the table with her husband who's the world sailor of the year. She sailed around the world on her own.
[00:18:43] Speaker A: I know, I know.
[00:18:45] Speaker D: Moose had, I don't know, 10, 11 solid, good men around them. I'd say the dinner table would be a bit weird at times in that household.
[00:18:53] Speaker E: Do they have kids?
[00:18:54] Speaker D: Yeah, and they're. Kids are on fire, but Mum's in the background.
I mean, these two.
Yeah, these women.
[00:19:03] Speaker E: Back to this amazing woman.
[00:19:05] Speaker D: Yeah, sorry.
[00:19:05] Speaker E: And her journey into becoming the commodore of the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron. What is your vision?
[00:19:16] Speaker A: I would like to see the squadron develop into a much more diverse group of people and a lot of vibrancy. You know, people calling this their. Their second home. You know, a place where people come, they have fun, they. They can eat, they enjoy. I was. I was at the club watching the rugby the other day and.
And I saw one of the members and she's sort of late 50s. She. She does Romero, saying she's down here all the time. She's. This is her social group and it's like, that's really cool. You know, that's.
[00:19:58] Speaker E: That's people loving your sense of belonging. It's. How do you have. How do you create an atmosphere where people feel they belong?
[00:20:05] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. And that's what. That's what clubs need to be to be relevant.
[00:20:10] Speaker B: The diversity is interesting because, let's face it, sailing is seen as a rich, white man sport. So diversity, not only when it comes to gender, when it comes to the equality, the racials. That is an interesting space for you to be in.
[00:20:23] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. And I think that we can be a lot more open and encompassing of Auckland. And who is Auckland?
[00:20:37] Speaker B: Auckland covers so many different nationalities. Is it huge?
[00:20:41] Speaker A: Absolutely.
We've just formed a relationship with the New Zealand Chinese Yacht Club, which I think has some really huge potential for. For Aucklanders.
[00:20:52] Speaker E: I was just thinking, you know, on a day like today that we could actually, you know, squadron to make it more, you know, vibrant. We could actually put a little, like, floating ramp just off the break wall there that you could actually launch your wings from and have an awesome winging, demonstrationy type event, you know, There you go.
[00:21:11] Speaker B: It's just flying your wings. You're never gonna stop, are you?
[00:21:14] Speaker E: Don't need all the infrastructure, we don't.
[00:21:17] Speaker A: Need diversity of thought.
[00:21:18] Speaker E: You don't need infrastructure like marina berths. And all you need is a launching pad because you can just lift and launch and then you can create this amazing.
[00:21:29] Speaker D: Trouble is, all of my mates would get sluiced down the harbour and they'd come back on the Waiheke Fury.
[00:21:35] Speaker B: Well, honor, as in smeared over the bow kind of honor.
[00:21:38] Speaker A: No, but there's.
[00:21:39] Speaker E: Yeah, you'd have to. Anyway, I mean, how cool would that be for it. Are we looking for diversity or looking for vibrancy? Yeah, because, you know, the other day we were just, just there was 40 wings out, just casually winging around, you know, so if you create. I'm not saying that you should do that, but it's great that you're looking at ways to make vibrancy.
[00:21:59] Speaker A: Winging's definitely on the. On the agenda radar.
[00:22:02] Speaker E: It's easy. Well, apart from just a slight launching issue.
[00:22:05] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:22:05] Speaker E: But you can fix that.
[00:22:07] Speaker B: I'd say in all sport at a grassroots level. Here in New Zealand, the biggest issue is funding the money, the lack thereof. More. The important of what kind of method are you using to encourage more investment? It does have to come through government and we'll look further to the America's cup and what has to happen in order to get it back here once it's being defended, that's another story. But how are you in that space? Because I expect that's very, very difficult. And the current situation, no one's got any money.
[00:22:35] Speaker A: Yeah, it's a. It's a. It's a real challenge. It's a challenge on lots of different levels. So we get some funding for a lot of our youth activities from the charitable trusts, which get their money from gambling, which is down.
We get sponsorship money from corporates, which corporates are suffering, so that's down. We raise money by using our yacht club as a kind of a function venue. But. But people aren't spending, so that's down. So there's a lot that's down.
So we just need to get more creative, work out. Work out how we can create value for people.
[00:23:24] Speaker B: And there's a want to do that. Everyone's on board with. With this about generating more income for everybody.
[00:23:31] Speaker A: Yeah, I think so. Yeah, I think so. I'd say the more we can raise, the more we can do.
And doing lots heightens engagement and it becomes a bit of a rolling stone, you know.
[00:23:48] Speaker B: Are the government interested in helping out on this? Because, let's face it, I've said this a few times. We'll talk about rugby being a national sport when it comes to the different classes and the global reach. Sailing is kind of a national sport.
[00:24:00] Speaker D: Really, isn't it, do you think?
[00:24:01] Speaker B: Maybe more engagement?
[00:24:04] Speaker A: Yeah, it's. I don't know. Barbara might have more on this, but. But.
[00:24:11] Speaker E: The government's got no money in sport, you know, right now they're actually. That's a tight one as well. So particularly, Particularly, you know, you've got two. Two avenues, two stream Avenues. One is high performance sport, which is, you know, competing at world champs and America's cup may come under that. Maybe, maybe not. And then you've got participation in sport that creates healthy lifestyles and, and, and, and what we are about New Zealand. So there's different. And as far as a club goes, you know, you hooking into the different revenue streams from that, but you can't, the government won't come and say, here's, you know.
[00:24:43] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:24:43] Speaker B: Bigger picture was though, when it comes to a defense of America's cup here, the reason it's disappeared is because there was no central funding that has to be engaged in because I'm supposed to feel good nature. What it does for this country is enormous. So what kind of pressure do you, or will you, when you, the Commodore, start putting on people at that high level council and government to go, actually this is bigger picture stuff. Is that the way you're running or not?
[00:25:09] Speaker A: So the Americas, I mean, there's an America's cup team, Team New Zealand, so they, they run the America's Cup. We are a yacht club, so we are about grassroots Corinthian yachting. That's what we do. They have full time people doing this stuff, so we need to leave it to them to do that stuff.
And they are our team and we support them wholeheartedly.
[00:25:35] Speaker E: But they're not a driver of that. No, the America's Cup New Zealand, New Zealand team, they're the driver of that. And there's a club, you're just a supplier of supplies, you know, a supplier really, or a stakeholder, but not a driver.
[00:25:50] Speaker B: So providing inheritance, there's no point in doing that. Just on the back hunting people going, we need some help. That's not part of your range.
[00:25:58] Speaker E: Maybe as a collective.
As a collective and as an instrumental yacht club and drive and say, hey, look, we're really keen to help in any way we can. What do you need us to do? Yes, to support you.
[00:26:09] Speaker A: Yes. And certainly in this current cycle of the Americas cup, which is going to Barcelona, we've very much taken on the role of being the cheerleaders for Team New Zealand. So we're all about creating a fan base, creating the support, doing what we can to host, host and broaden the reach. So one of the things we're planning at the moment is tour of the country with the America's cup before the America's Cup. So the team are busy trying to be super fast and be good enough to win, but taking the America's cup around the country, that's something that we can help with. So that's what we do. And we're all about being the cheerleaders.
[00:27:04] Speaker E: The team behind the team.
[00:27:05] Speaker A: Exactly.
[00:27:06] Speaker B: Quite instrumental, though, in profile of the sport, which is.
[00:27:11] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. And actually that's another, I guess, key thread in what we are trying to achieve is a bit more cohesion within the sport and being a bit more open to other clubs and being closer.
[00:27:34] Speaker E: So being a team New Zealand type. Yeah, it's.
[00:27:37] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:27:38] Speaker E: Do you have like a. Like in Barcelona? Is there. I'm sorry, I'm not. I'm not quite up to see, but is there like a house or a place where New Zealanders that are all going up to Barcelona can congregate? Have you got a partnership with a. Like a sister club, whatever you call it?
[00:27:52] Speaker A: So we got up to the lingo. Yes. We've got. We've got two things going on. So we've got the yacht club over there. So the real club, Northo de Barcelona, that's a sister club of ours. So members can show their card and get in there and be part of that club. But we've also done a deal with a bar on the waterfront for like a Kiwi bar in Barcelona.
[00:28:22] Speaker E: Awesome.
[00:28:22] Speaker A: So that all our New Zealand supporters can find each other.
[00:28:26] Speaker D: Go and talk about what beer will they be serving.
[00:28:31] Speaker A: I imagine it'll be Estrella.
[00:28:34] Speaker D: Nothing wrong with that.
[00:28:35] Speaker E: No, it's really interesting. It's so important, you know, that when we look at fans, you know, clubs that are out there is having this fan base of where you can actually come.
[00:28:42] Speaker D: It's massive. It's massive.
[00:28:44] Speaker E: You know, and with the Olympics this year in Paris, for instance, the New Zealand Olympic Committee has a New Zealand house. So all the sponsors, all the friends and family, they have events there. And it's like a hub.
[00:28:56] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:28:56] Speaker E: And we. And then the Middle Easts come there afterwards and you get to shoulder to shoulder with the Middle Easts within this hub. And last. Last time in Tokyo, for instance, they had done the cloud. We know that this is so important. And same with the Americans.
[00:29:08] Speaker A: I think New Zealand does well going offshore. I think it's. Yeah, I think it's comfortable place for New Zealanders, New Zealand sports people.
[00:29:15] Speaker B: One.
[00:29:15] Speaker D: One thing I remember from Valencia was in the Louis Vuitton final against Prada. And the day one is, you know, 70% Italian flags and 30% Kiwi flags. And there were more and more Kiwi flags flying. And it sends out a really strong message to the. To the athlete who's being towed down that. That harbor, you know, to go out yachting and, man, it was powerful at the end.
[00:29:42] Speaker A: Yeah. And I think. I think what happened in Valencia, because I was there too, was that as. As the event grew momentum, all the Kiwis in London found. Came down, found their Ryanair.
[00:29:56] Speaker E: I hope that happens. I really.
[00:29:57] Speaker D: Oh, my God.
[00:29:58] Speaker E: Happen in bustle.
[00:29:59] Speaker D: I have such vivid memories of. Of towing down there and seeing those flags. You know, that was just. That never changed that flag, you know.
[00:30:08] Speaker E: In my small, tiny experience that I have, because we never had the crowds like what the America's cup have. But when we. When I raced in Barcelona and it was off that break wall where you can. Where you were able, all the spectators were. And when I was. When I. After I'd won the gold medal and. And I looked over and just this wall of Kiwi flags and. Because you don't have that.
[00:30:28] Speaker A: You didn't say that.
[00:30:30] Speaker E: No, you don't. And then when I came ashore and there was just this wall of, you know, Kiwis and in the stands or, you know, a lot of the. The. The friends and families that were in, bustling that time had come down to submittal ceremony and stuff like that. It was really like, never had that at that level compared to that particular time.
[00:30:47] Speaker B: Gillian, let's wind the clock back a wee bit because we've gone superstar and we're going to pull it right back to the grassroots, which essentially is the most important thing. You've got a Women's Day out coming up in August. Tell her about that.
[00:31:00] Speaker A: Yeah. So we did that for the first time last year and it was such an amazing event. So the idea is that women can sign up as an individual or as a team, whatever they like, and member boats are used and we go out, we do a couple of yacht races.
The format of the event is intended to be everything's taken care of. So coming back to that thing about women are busy, you know, so you go for the day, you get. You get your breakfast, you get your lunch, you get your dinner, you get your boat, you just turn up and it's all taken care of and then you go out on a yacht. We do a couple of yacht races.
We did it on my boat, Mr. Kite, and we had a bunch of women, mostly my mates, but we took a couple of other people. I just signed up as individuals as well, and we laughed and laughed and laughed all day. It was just fabulous.
[00:32:04] Speaker B: And I'm really inexperienced. I'm an inexperienced woman. Just imagine. And I've had zero experience, but I want us. I've seen it on tv. I've been driving around Auckland having a lookout. I want to have a go at that. Zero experience required. You can't get anybody.
[00:32:17] Speaker A: Zero experience. Zero experience. And like, yeah, yeah, shoulder to shoulder with people that do have experience. So, you know, we had own Karen McMaster sales with me and you know.
[00:32:31] Speaker D: She is another legend right there.
[00:32:33] Speaker A: What a legend. She sail around the world and she bought her two daughters out.
[00:32:38] Speaker D: Oh, my God.
[00:32:39] Speaker A: And we just, you know, I've got this amazing photo of her with her two daughters. It's like awesome. You know, that's, that's cool.
[00:32:48] Speaker B: And these women are going to do it for pure enjoyment and they're not going to end up challenging someone like Joey Allen. But the ones that are coming through, what's it like when you get beaten by a girl? How's that testosterone zone for you?
[00:33:04] Speaker D: I'm very used to it because when I was young and I've got a younger sister and a younger brother and dad would take us out in the yacht and I was the seasick one and my younger brother was at the top of the mast vomiting on us and my sister was staring and she has, has and is always been a better yachty than I've ever been. You know, she can steer for hours and she can trim for hours and I'm very used to getting beaten by girls. I don't enjoy it, but I'm used to it.
[00:33:38] Speaker B: I was just examining something on the floor while he's managing to rescue himself out of that very tricky situation. Gillian, would you like to leave with any particular message for people out there watching this? And this is not gender specific, by the way. Right across the board. Us boys too.
[00:33:53] Speaker A: Yeah.
I think get involved and encourage other people to get involved because yachting's fun and it's more fun if more people are involved.
[00:34:06] Speaker B: Extraordinarily simple. Got anything to add to that?
[00:34:10] Speaker E: Same. That was well said. Really well said.
[00:34:14] Speaker D: We need more girls under the umbrella.
[00:34:16] Speaker E: Yeah, we do. And really big ups, you know, impressive.
I was just like blown away. Awesome. Keep it up. I can be on your right hand. Just give me a call. 0800. Barbara.
[00:34:28] Speaker A: I've got the signatures. She got me started.
[00:34:31] Speaker B: And more women holding the umbrella as well. I'd suggest not necessarily being under it. Thank you so much for joining us. Looking forward to your. Your tenure as the Commodore. First woman, Jillian, in 153 years to be pulling the strings, pulling the ropes as epic for everybody concerned. Not as I said, just gender specific. But for people, full stop thinking. Fantastic job. Thank you so much for joining us here at Live Sail Dies Podcast. This is Bird's Eye View. I'm Darcy Watergrave coming to you from the Crow's Nest. The hallowed Crow's Nest. Like to thank everyone involved with this podcast, particularly Liv Sa and the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron, who allow us to come up here and for once said, and pollute the atmosphere with our sailing talk. Jillian, thanks very much for your time.
[00:35:18] Speaker A: Awesome. Thank you.
