John Foster, of Narrow Neck
John Foster received the Insignia of a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to yachting. Mr Foster has been involved with yachting for more than 50 years, and has been involved with Devonport Yacht Club for all of this time. He was one of the first people to sail a small keel yacht around New Zealand and was the driving force and the inaugural Chair of the two-man round the North Island race in 1977. He undertook many yachting expeditions with Sir Peter Blake, including the Atlantic passage on Condor of Bermuda and helped to build the yacht Ceramco, for the New Zealand Whitbread Challenge in 1981. Mr Foster has also been Commodore and President of the Devonport Yacht Club, was the secretary and Executive Director of Yachting New Zealand, and was the registrar of the America’s Cup Arbitration Panel.