Chairman's Message 31 March 2021

This is our second newsletter in March, and increasingly members are taking full advantage the APSA news channel to get their news out to the global superyacht community. Again, we have a surplus of news (which is all on the APSA website) but the newsletter is restricted to a dozen stories; if your story is not in this newsletter, then it will be in the next in a couple of weeks’ time.

I am pleased to welcome two new members: Cook Islands Yacht Squadron and Asia Pacific Boating.

The Cook Islands Yacht Squadron (CIYS) is an incorporated society, established in August 2006 to further the recreational and competitive sailing objective of Maritime Cook Islands. It is also the flag state administrator of the Cook Islands’ register for ships and yachts.

Asia-Pacific Boating (APB) is a leading source for news and features on luxury yachting, the marine environment, and conservation in Asia-Pacific - both in print and online magazines.

Season 2 of the APSA Grand Tour Webinar Series is ready to roll, starting with the South Pacific Swing on Tuesday 13th April, followed by the Indian Ocean Adventure on Tuesday 20th April. All the panellist are now confirmed, and we thank Manoa Rey (Tahiti), David Jamieson (Fiji), Katrina Matheson (Cook Islands), Aashim Mongia (India), Priyantha Perera (Sri Lanka) and Nadhira Muneer (Maldives) for agreeing to take part.

The APSA Grand Tour 2021 has also been in the news lately, with stories about the first season appearing in Sail-World.com, latest issue of Yachtstyle Issue 58 and coming issues of Superyacht News. The webinars have played an important role in promoting the Asia-Pacific region to the global superyacht community as one of the world’s three main cruising regions.

Finally, as I mentioned in the last newsletter, Suzy Rayment has expanded her role to take on the administration duties for the Association and will now be Executive Director of APSA . As of April, the handover will be complete, and all administration and membership enquiries should now be addressed directly to Suzy.

Thank you again to all our members who continue to support the Association. On the subject of the APSA 10th Anniversary -  if you have any memorable images of ASPA events or members over the last 10 years, please send them to Suzy Rayment so that she can collate an Online Celebration of APSA in 2021.

Nigel Beatty, APSA Chairman