2022 Team Members:
Samantha Norman
Polly Powrie
Miranda Addy
Bex Costello
Hana Hielkema

Samantha Norman: Skipper

Sam was once the highest ranked female match racing skipper in New Zealand and campaigned for the London Olympics. Sam claimed her first placing on the international match racing scene in 2008 under the guidance of sailing veteran Scott Dickson, where she came third in an impressive line up of female sailors at Long Beach Yacht Club event in California. From there she went on to win the inaugural Buddy Melges Challenge in Sheboygan, USA for two years running, as well as competing in various International Womens Match Racing Events across Europe, Australia, and America. She won the Womens’ Keelboat Nationals in 2012, and also holds two NZ Match Racing National titles. Born and raised in Kerikeri, Sam is a Northlander at heart and attests much of her sailing passion to Kerikeri High Schools’ Teams Racing team, in which she was part of their National and International winning team for 7 consecutive years.  Sam is a physiotherapist, teaches on AUT’s physiotherapy course and is completing her Masters. She lives in Te Atatu Peninsula with her husband Graham and two girls Mackenzie and Charlie.

Polly Powrie: Trim

Polly is a world class sailor winning Gold and Silver medal in the double handed women’s class in 2012 and 2016 Olympics. Polly and her sailing partner Jo Aleh were known as ‘Team Jolly’, and were the first New Zealand women to win the Rolex ISAF Female Sailor of the Year award in 2013. Polly has six World Championship medals in the 470 class; 2 x Gold in 2007 and 2013, (Auckland, La Rochelle), 3 x silver in 2010, 2014 and 2016 (The Hague, Santander) and 1 x bronze in 2011 (Perth). Polly was appointed a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to sailing in 2013. Her love for sailing was fostered at Kohimarama Yacht Club in Auckland, where she sailed a range of boats including the 420, Yngling, and Laser Radial. Polly remained in the Olympic scene after retiring from Olympic sailing in 2017, taking on the High Performance Operations Manager for Canoe Racing NZ. Her Segway into Match Racing came as an opportunity to expand an impressive sailing repertoire, and she brings a cool, calm and collected demeanor into Match Racing Mums. Polly is currently on parental leave following the arrival of her second child in June this year.

Miranda Addy: Main

Miranda has been a top ranked Laser Radial sailor, campaigning for the Olympic games in the single-handed women’s class. Miranda won the Laser Radial women’s youth world championships in Canada in 2003 and finished second in the open championship. She was one of the recipients of a Herald junior sporting award as part of an upsurging of young sailors to hit the international scene at the time including Tom Ashley. Miranda remained heavily involved in the New Zealand sailing scene after finishing her Laser campaign, and has also skippered her own womens fleet and match racing teams in various series since. Miranda is a North Shore resident, works as a digital marketer and is the proud mum to two girls Jane and Sophie.

Rebekka (Bex) Costello: Bow

Bex has been an active sailor in local, national and international events in Match racing, fleet racing and ocean racing. An empowering team member and talented sailor, Bex competed in 10 consecutive coastal classics on board different keelboats, her last one being as a new mum where she expressed over a litre of milk on route, with her team re-naming their navigation station the ‘lactation station’! Bex has competed in the Auckland to Fiji race, Hamilton Island Race Week in Australia, Kings Cup in Thailand, and was one of the first team members to sail with Sam on the international match racing scene in Europe in 2007 during Kiel week. Bex has also competed in the Auckland to Fiji race two times, and was part of a delivery return crew from Fiji in 2014 to endure a dramatic rescue off North Cape when their rudder suffered damage in big seas.  Bex competed in the Womens Matching World Champs in 2008.  The Birkenhead resident is a Registered Nurse and is now working as a Health Coach, and has two girls Zoe and Molly.

Hana Hielkema: Float

Hana is a seasoned ocean sailor, dinghy racer and match racer. She has competed in numerous national and international events, and was part of the first womens’ team to compete in Sail Arabia The Tour – an event hosted by Oman Sail in a fleet of Farr 30’s, in 2013, and went on to participate again in 2015. Also an early member of Sam’s match racing team, Hana competed with Sam in women’s match racing events in Australia and New Zealand, part of the winning team for both keelboat titles. She has cruised around the world on various yachts, with over 10,000 offshore nautical miles covered across ocean passages throughout the Caribbean and Pacific. The Bay of Islands resident and journalist is now living aboard their family yacht, Chico 42 ‘Vesper’ with her two boys Luka and Kobie, and is currently cruising Fiji.