The Team
The people who run the club and its sailing programmes.
Flag officers
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Chris Bowman
Commodore
Chris leads the club as Commodore and sets its overall direction. He has returned to the role after more than ten years as Commodore previously, and in 2023 he received a Yachting New Zealand Service Award in recognition of his leadership of NBYC. Chris is also the club’s self-appointed Chief AI Officer, rebuilding its IT and technology systems with AI. Whenever he gets the chance, he’s out sailing his RS Aero at the club.
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Dave West
Vice Commodore
Dave helps manage the club and is its accountant. A qualified National Race Officer, he runs the racing at NBYC regattas and other regattas around the country. Dave sails an RS Aero and is actively involved in several other yacht clubs including the Royal NZ Yacht Squadron and Murray’s Bay Sailing Club.
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David (Paddy) English
Rear Commodore and Club Captain
Paddy grew up in Ireland, where he was a keen sailor and went on to qualify as an RYA sailing instructor and dinghy coach. As Club Captain he is often the Officer of the Day, running the club’s operations during sailing sessions. He sails a Laser, and his two sons, who both learnt to sail at NBYC, are now coaches here too.
Sailing and coaching
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Annabelle Rennie-Younger
General Committee
Annabelle learned to sail at NBYC and has been coaching for ten years. She has won national titles in the ILCA 6 (Laser Radial) and 470 classes, finished in the top five at the Youth World Championships in the ILCA 6, and won a medal at the U23 Junior European Championships in the 470. Most recently she was a performance engineer with Emirates Team New Zealand’s successful America’s Cup campaign, and she is bringing that experience back to the club where she started.
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Josh Hyde
Head Coach
Josh learned to sail at NBYC and has gone on to race at the top of the sport. After world championships in the Optimist, O’pen Skiff and RS Feva, he found match racing through the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron’s Youth Training Programme and held the world number one youth ranking for several years. Josh now competes on the World Match Racing Tour and is ranked 8th in the open world rankings, making him New Zealand's top-ranked match racing skipper. In 2026 he won his first senior international title at the Chicago Grand Slams. Josh is excited to be back where it all started, helping the next generation of NBYC sailors find their own path in the sport.
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Andrew Goldfinch
Coach
Andrew learnt to sail at NBYC in a Starling when he was 13 and has been sailing here ever since. For him, sailing is freedom: a chance to forget about everything else. As well as being a great sailor, he is a qualified boat builder and builder, which makes him very handy around the club.
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Maria Treadaway
Coach
Maria learnt to sail at NBYC in 2014 and was hooked straight away, despite capsizing about seven times on her second outing. She has since built up extensive sailing experience, including crewing on large yachts sailing internationally. She loves dinghy sailing on the harbour and passing on what she has learnt to others.
Patrons
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Joey Allen
NBYC is proud to have Joey Allen as one of our Patrons. Joey has built a remarkable international yachting career, beginning with victory in the 1981–82 Whitbread Round the World Race aboard Flyer II and second place at the 1984 470 World Championships.
He is perhaps best known for his part in the America’s Cup, winning as bowman on Black Magic in 1995 and successfully defending the Cup in 2000. He also won Match Racing World titles in 1988 and 1990. After his racing career, Joey moved into coaching, guiding Team New Zealand and Oracle Racing through America’s Cup campaigns from 2003 to 2013.
Closer to home, Joey has spent many hours coaching NBYC’s youth and adult sailors. We are honoured to have a sailor of his experience supporting the club.
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Graham Thow
Graham was Commodore of NBYC for eight years from the early 2000s, and then Rear Commodore for a further five. He raised the funds for and led the building of the new clubrooms, a significant achievement and a lasting legacy for the club. These days Graham splits his time between Auckland and canal boating in Europe.