Sailing through Hamilton

I got to sit down with a good friend of mine Zanthe Kitney and asked her a few questions about her journey in the Hamilton Sailing/ Yacht club.

Zanthe started with expressing “It is one of my favourite places, my happy place. I want others to experience the same happiness and joy it brings me and my family.” Zanthe started as a cheerleader and after getting a concussion she couldn’t continue with her lifelong dream and passion of this. After this heart-breaking news Zanthe did some soul searching to find a new passion.

Stumbling across the spirit of adventure through flyers posted at her high school, she decided to do more research through their website, YouTube and asked other students about their experiences. Once she decided that Spirit of Adventure was a goal she actively wanted to work towards, her parents were on board.

Zanthe started saving and looking for sponsorships to fulfil this new dream. Thankfully the Hamilton Rotary Club, her grandparents are members of, decided to sponsor her journey with the Spirit of Adventure.

After Spirit of Adventure, Zanthe decided to leave high school amongst other reasons and pursue her dream of travelling and working on cruise ships, leaving to study at New Zealand School of Tourism. Zanthe still wanted an extracurricular activity.

This led to re-firing her passion for sailing and joining her brother in one of his learn to sail classes. Zanthe enjoyed the environment and the feeling she got when sailing and decided to focus on what makes her happy: Starting to learn to sail herself and learning how to drive the support boats.

Zanthe also helps out in other aspects of the yacht club such as the kitchen, helping out her mum with big meets, on the water supervising the other sailors or doing odd jobs around the place.

While it is a place Zanthe enjoys being, her family also enjoys being at the sailing club, taking part in all activities and bonding. Zanthe mentioned that sailing is by far her passion and she is happy she found the Hamilton yacht club to support these adventures.

Even though she will be sad to leave in the New Year to travel to Disneyland to take up a job opportunity she will hold the Hamilton Yacht Club as a special place and will visit on her adventures back to New Zealand after she returns from her wonderful stay at Disney.