Local Legend 60 years in the making

Neil Wood knows Hamilton's Lake Rotoroa like the back of his hand.

And he should, he has been sailing its waters for more than 65 years.

Neil has been a member of the Hamilton Yacht Club for at least 60 years. He has been a competitive sailor in several dinghy classes and over the years has been involved in teaching countless youngsters to sail.

His dedication to the club and Hamilton young sailors has seen him successfully nominated as radio station FreeFM's first Local Legend.

He was presented with a Local Legend certificate by FreeFM breakfast co-host Raquel Martin, who says Neil is an excellent and worthy recipient of the first of a series of monthly awards.

"Neil's outstanding record of service to the yacht club is a wonderful benchmark for this award. I know there are wonderful people doing fabulous things for their community - and we would like people to nominate them as Local Legends," she says.

Neil was nominated by yacht club vice-commodore Ray Oxborrow.

In his nomination Ray stated: "Neil helped to build the club house at the lake - Lake Rotoroa. He has spent years successfully training junior members how to sail on Wednesdays and Saturdays. Some of these sailors are New Zealand champions and national representatives locally and overseas, including Isaac McHardie, Sam Meech, Molly Meech and Katie deLange.

"Neil has his own family. Even though his children and grandchildren were not interested in sailing, he gave a huge commitment to the club. He is a hands-on person and has spent many hours each year helping in upgrading and maintaining our buildings.

"Now he is retired, Neil continues his good work at the club training and helping out with maintenance and is always handy with advice on boats. Hundreds of Waikato youngsters have learned to sail due to his kindness and experience."

Neil, who started out canoeing on the lake with his brother, has sailed in Frostbites, Zeddies, IdleAlongs, Lasers and Zephyrs. He is a regular on the lake in his faithful Zephyr - but avoids competitive fleet sailing.

He now describes himself as a fair weather sailor.