Sailing in the Cook Islands
Water & Wind
by Rachel Smith
Saturday morning at Muri Beach and
the sand and water is full of kids.
Brightly coloured ‘jellybean’ Optimists
line the waters’ edge while out deeper
a handful of fibreglass Optimists and
Sunbursts weave their way between the
buoys.
“You come down here and the place
is alive with kids,” says Craig Bennett,
Commodore of Rarotonga Sailing
Club (RSC). “It’s a good healthy family
environment. As a sport it’s a great leveller
- success is independent of gender or age.”
RSC’s history is also in its people and the
countless hours of time and energy they
have put into the place: Commodores
have included judges, a former Prime
Minister, community and business
leaders. Peter Heays, who served 24
years as Commodore, is now the Senior
Club Captain, and has an enduring
relationship with the clubs landowner.
“We recognise we wouldn’t exist without
our landowners consent and hospitality,”
says Craig. “And we also wouldn’t exist
without the generosity and ongoing
The RSC clubrooms, which
include Sails Restaurant and
Bar, have been in the same spot
since the club began back in
the 1940’s, initially set up by
New Zealand expatriates sailing
converted outrigger fishing
canoes with sails made from
flour sacks.
Much has changed since then;
Sunburst sailing dinghies were
added to the fleet in the 1970’s,
followed by Optimists in the
1990’s, allowing younger sailors
to get on the water. There have been some
challenges along the way with fleets wiped
out by cyclones in the early days and a fire
in 1998 destroying the clubhouse with a
loss of all records, trophies, memorabilia
and 20 sailing boats.
58 • Escape Magazine
water in the open class afternoon sailing
sessions.
Teakuao (Tex) Framhein started out
sailing here on a Saturday morning, a
leg injury and family encouragement
leading him to trade in his soccer boots
for a sailing boat in 2010 when he was
10 years old. He was part of a supportive
group of young sailors, discovering over
the years that he had a talent for sailing.
Now 19 years old, Tex represents the
Cook Islands at an international level,
becoming part of a small group of top
sailors including recent former
Olympians Taua Elisa, Helema
Williams, Teau McKenzie, and
windsurfer Turia Vogel.
Most of Tex’s summer of
2017/18 was spent out of the
country racing alongside fellow
Cook Islands sailor Helene
Johnson at the Youth Sailing
World Championships in China
and the United States, and
national championships in New
Zealand and Australia.
support of the broader community.”
The club hosts a fleet of boats that
now includes BICS, Lasers and Hobie
catamarans, as well as the locally designed
18ft Tangaroa Class ‘Vaka’ outrigger.
It’s these Vaka’s that you can see on the
“I use the school holidays to
travel overseas for competition practice,”
Tex says, who completed Year 13 at
Tereora College last year. “The thing
about going overseas to find competition
is that the level changes.”
It provides the opportunity to watch and