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2012 marks 45 years of teaching sailing for Penny with the Penny Whiting Sailing School. In that time she has taught over 30,000 beginners how to sail and crew a yacht. Penny's "services" to sailing reach far beyond the practical aspect – she has been involved in the Spirit of Adventure Trust, the Auckland Maritime Museum, the Young Mariners of NZ, and Waterwise, which teaches practical water safety in schools. She also provided commentary with Peter Montgomery and the rest of the TVNZ team for the Whitbread Round the World Race in 1990. Penny has authored several books on how to sail, which include great advice on sailing – and even recipes ideal for cooking in a galley. Even after all these years of teaching men and women to sail Penny still gets a buzz out of people learning the mysteries of sailing a boat. She still loves each daily challenge with the weather and the new students wanting to learn to sail on the Waitemata Harbour. Penny is proud to boast that she hasn't seen a winter for many years - from November through to April she teaches sailing on the Waitemata Harbour in her 47ft keeler named 'Endless Summer'. Once the weather turns cooler, Penny goes off to Newport or Florida to crew yachts, via a brief sojourn to Tahiti where she skippers charters for Sail Connections. It's fair to say that Penny was a pioneer of the 'super mum' figure in the 80s – with her two young children literally in tow she still headed off to the yacht, harnessing the kids on to it or putting them on her back, and single- handedly sailing them for four weeks during the Christmas holidays alongside her father's yacht Tequila. When Penny got her first chance to commentate for the famous 1986/87 America's Cup in Freemantle with then husband broadcaster, Doc Williams, the whole family relocated to Western Australia for several weeks. Then when Penny got the opportunity to commentate the Whitbread Round the World Race with Doc, they took the kids to England and enrolled them in school for six weeks. Onland, Penny developed a passion for watching her kid's play rugby, to the point where she became a coach for the Ponsonby Under-7s, Under-8s, and Under-9s rugby teams. Meeting the Market Head On: Far right: Penny (33) aboard her old yacht, Northerner with her son, Carl (2) assisting WW: Many well-known brands have a story behind them – briefly tell us your story from the initial idea to your business as it is today. I was born on Auckland Anniversary Day and have been boating all my life. Forty years ago my father sailed our family boat around the world with an all girl crew including my mother, sister and brother's girlfriend. Every six months, when the sailing school wasn't operating, I'd join them wherever they were and for the New Zealand summer I'd come back. This went on for five years. In the end they didn't actually get around the world. Instead they went up and down it. For the first three years the business serviced women only and after that point it was mixed, and instead of teaching people how to race I taught them how to sail. I believe that sailing is about timing – not strength. I've sailed with my six and seven- year- old grandsons and they could do everything on the boat that adults can do because they knew the right time to do it. WW: How would you describe the defining essence of your brand? A one woman show. WW: How have you differentiated your brand in a competitive market through marketing and actual product features? There is a very small market in Auckland and New Zealand. There is not a lot of room for other sailing schools. I'm open for five months a year and sail seven days a week over that period. There are other little sailing schools that come and go. I would say my competitors spin off what I'm doing. I'm setting the benchmark. WW: What was your initial set-up capital and how long did it take for your business to become profitable? In the early years I used one of my father's two boats. He had a 36ft yacht then he built the 47ft yacht that he used to sail around the world. When they did that I had to buy my own boat in 1968; a 47ft keel boat which cost about $16,000. Today you would pay upwards of $300,000 for something similar. WW: Once your company became profitable in which areas did you mainly reinvest to develop your business? I reinvested in marketing. I had to learn to keep up with the computer age so invested money in equipment at home and in the office so I could stay being a one-woman- band and not have to employ staff. WW: Why was it so important to keep the business solely dependent on you? I just wanted to be open five months a year. Staff would be transient because of that so it was easier to keep it to myself. I do the teaching, the maintenance, the bookings and running the office. WW: What were some of the core values you built your business on? Have these changed over time? It's an amazing thing that the school started off with five, three-hour practical lessons with me on the boat, and for 45 years it has stayed in that same format. I believe that is what people need and I can't certify them to go out into the big, wide world as a sailor until they've done those 15 hours practical with me. Of course I've done a lot more sailing and everyday one learns something that makes them a better teacher in the end. The people get so excited to learn they can do it and they don't have to go to a gym everyday to sail a boat. WW: What is the biggest way that doing business has changed since you began? The electronic age. I used to hand-write out every address and confirmation. Initially I found it very hard to get into the computer age but I'm alright now. I even have an iPad on the boat with all my charts on it. I know when someone's trying to get a hold of me. People demand so much more than they ever used to because they're paying their deposit online and they need to know that I've received it. WHO'S WHO 2012 | 27