Nine teams entered and Principal Race Officer Tony Hanlon put the crews through their paces with three races on each of the two days. Saturday was a light air day, with the start delayed by about an hour as competitors waited for a six-knot breeze to fill in from the south. By the time the second race began, the breeze had backed around to the north, keeping the crew of the mark-set boat busy.
The first two races were windward-leeward courses, two laps each. For the third race, the northern channel markers were added as an extra reaching mark following the windward set mark near Kororāreka Point.
Sunday turned out to be much breezier with 15-20 knots from the south, making for physically demanding conditions for the sailors who reported some sore bodies and bruises afterwards. It must be said that many of the sailors, and some boats for that matter, sit at the slightly mature end of the spectrum, so no real surprises there.
Again, a windward-leeward course was set for the first two races, this time with the weather mark a little way north of Toretore Island. For the final race, Caters Buoy, one of our regular racing marks located close to Pomare Bay, was added to provide a roughly easterly reaching leg.
Throughout the weekend, there was plenty of close boat on boat action – sometimes a little closer than the Racing Rules allow! And there were a few hairy moments with some impressive broaches, very congested mark roundings and one crew member ending up in the water!
What was not very close though was the overall result, with Jon Henderson, Andrew Vance and Joweal Klaase from Wakatere Boating Club in Auckland taking a decisive victory in Vilda Hilda, a boat they had borrowed for the weekend! With five bullets and a discarded second place, they left no doubt as to who had superior boat handling.
Russell’s best result came from Bobby’s Girl in second place with Alex Koukourakis on the helm. The contest for third place was close, however, with both Quantum from Opua Cruising Club and The Business from RBC finishing on 19 points overall. However, Quantum scored three second places against a best result of third for The Business, favouring the Opua team.
Special mention should also be made of Kiki and David Nicholson and Keiko Giovanni who raced the RBC Etchells, Matauwhi, sailing the boat for the very first time just a few days before the regatta!
Overall, the event was once again a great success, thanks to the support of many volunteers and sponsors. Stephen and Paula Pepperell drove the overall organisation, with back-office help from Ian Holt on registration and documentation. Stephen and Paula also provided their beautiful launch Volantis to serve as the committee boat and their RIB as the mark-set boat. Race Officer Tony Hanlon was supported on the committee boat by Raewyn Hanlon, Anne McGregor, Ian Holt and Bruce Mitchinson and on the mark-set boat by Phil Sweetapple, Richard Stephens and Mark Thomson.
In addition to our lead sponsor Bonus Contractors, we very much appreciate support received from Kuku Construction, Bay of Islands ITM, Boating New Zealand magazine, Cater Marine, Harken, Phat House Brewing and NZ Yacht Services.
