Simon Fry - GBR Challenge, Great Britain

	Trimmer and sail loft co-ordinator Simon Fry, GBR Challenge. © All Sport

He has sailed in Auckland before, but now he’s back as a trimmer for the GBR Challenge, Great Britain’s first foray into an America’s Cup Regatta since 1986-87.

Simon, who works for North Sails, is also the sail loft co-ordinator for the Challenge.

He has his wife Helen with him in New Zealand, plus their daughters Lauren (8) and Millie (4).

Q: What activities do you enjoy while you’re in New Zealand?

A: On our first stop here last summer, I did a lot of body boarding over Christmas when we were up north. On the weekends, a group of about 10 or 12 of us would head out to Muriwai, Bethels Beach or somewhere on the West Coast. There’s no surfing as such where we live in England (Bournemouth). Surfers have to drive a long way to Cornwall to find waves.

As a family, we do a lot of cycling. We bought bikes and we like to go riding along the cycling track on Tamaki Drive.

There’s a group of us at GBR who play a bit of touch and we also went to all the Super 12 rugby matches we could when we were here. Rugby is one of my special interests.

Q: What do you enjoy about living here?

A: The kids really like the freedom generally and especially at school. The style of schooling is very different. Unlike home, there aren’t uniforms at the school we are using and it’s fantastic that the accent is on trying to turn out decent individuals.

We also enjoy walking on the beach here. At home you might do that and run into 10 people who know you. Here you can go out to a beach on the West Coast and be the only ones there.

The fact you can drive along Ninety Mile Beach (in Northland) is a special experience, too.

Q: What tourist attractions and activities have you taken in here?

A: The kids have done most of the attractions in and around Auckland, like Kelly Tarlton’s, the Auckland War Memorial Museum and so on. We’ve been to the Bay of Islands as well as Rotorua and Wai-O-Tapu with the mud pools, the hot pools, the geysers and so on. That was great. We also flew over Mount Tarawera. We want to have a quick look at the South Island later on if we can, especially sights like the whales and seals.

Q: You live in Bournemouth in England. What are the big differences you notice about life here?

A: We live on the outskirts of Bournemouth and what we notice about Auckland is, that while it’s easily the biggest city in New Zealand, it doesn’t feel like it’s so big because it has such a warm, friendly feel.

Q: What would you rate as your favourite holiday destinations in New Zealand?

A: The Bay of Islands, and we’re definitely going back and up to Cape Reinga. We loved it up there.