Monday, April 16, 2012

Hartley 16 sails wanted

I've had a comment left on an earlier post looking for Hartley 16 sails.

Contact the buyer directly on 0221358087 if you can help.

Thanks

Friday, April 13, 2012

Decent exposure

After the moderate success of the Regatta, I managed to get a full report in Yachts And Yachting, possibly the best sailing mag on the planet.

It's basically the two blog posts, stuck together and edited to make sense.

View it here...

http://www.yachtsandyachting.com/news/162518/Manukau-Regatta-in-Auckland

And yes, I'm proud of my achievements!

Thursday, April 12, 2012

OOPS!

I must also thank...

Papakura Coast Guard

For their help on Saturday.

Thanks guys, glad you enjoyed it!

Monday, April 9, 2012

A note of thanks

A special THANK-YOU to all those people who helped to make the weekend the success it was.

In no particular order...

South Auckland Glass Services - event sponsor.

Murray Boucher
Rob Kent
Simon Tidbury
Jodie Tidbury
Pete Hagglund
Codie McMaster
Danya Byrnes

Keith Sharp, for bringing most of Taikata Sailing club along to compete.

Murray and Kim for helping run the races.

Cyril, Tony and Mark, for supplying rescue boats, allowing our members to race.

All the sailors, visiting and local.

And absolutely everyone else involved with the regatta, who I either missed off my list, or don't know your names!

Thanks again.
Aaron.

Sunday, April 8, 2012

Manukau Regatta - Day 2.

Today was the actual Manukau interclub Regatta, with the Manukau Shield up for grabs.

Like yesterday, the weather gods smiled on us, with near perfect conditions - hot and sunny, with a nice 10 knot breeze straight from the Tasman sea. Unlike yesterday's shifty stuff, tho', todays breeze was relatively consistent.

A keen fleet of 21 boats fronted for the first race, with teams from the host club Weymouth, and the defenders French Bay YC. The largest fleet was from Taikata SC, who were not eligible for the Manukau Shield, and instead were racing for their inaugural Frostbite Travellers trophy.

A large olympic course of a triangle and two windward leewards was the order of the day, and OOD Murray Gallagher, from Clarks Beach YC, with Kim Admore from Yachting NZ, had the fleets away nicely.

The visiting Jollyboat sailed by Rene' Vanderboert from French bay set a blistering pace, and lead Murray Boucher, from the home club, also in a Jollyboat. These two were being keenly chased by Jim Quinn sailing a Laser radial, also from FBYC. Next in the mix was a jumble of boats I couldn't keep track of from the safety boat. The lead frostbites were right up there too, enjoying the conditions, as was the Moth.

In the junior fleet, Codie McMaster (WYC) was just ahead of Max Gruebner (FBYC) both in Starlings. Next was the scout cutter, Helmed by Simon Tidbury (WYC), and several sunbursts.

Unfortunately for Murray, he had a slip-up at the final turning mark, and got overtaken by Jim, giving French Bay the top two senior placings. The Junior honours were shared between clubs, with Codie getting the better of Max.

In the Frostbite fleet, Brent Jeffries took this race, followed by Keith Sharp.

The second race was pretty similar, except that the breeze had built slightly, which allowed the Paper Tiger catamaran of Pete Hagglund to get the lead shortly after the start. Sadly for him, the breeze lightened off after a while, and the monohull dinghies got back in front.

Rob's moth had suffered undetected damage during Saturdays racing, and took on a lot of water, so he decided to sit this race out. Codie was feeling too cold to go back for the second race, so also stayed ashore.

After the racing, the results were worked out for all the divisions, and the prizes were awarded as follows:

Senior fleet - Rene Vanderboert, Jim Quinn, Brent jeffries equal first in an unprecedented three way tie.


Junior fleet - Max Gruebner 1, Simon Tidbury 2, Locquahn Tukerangi 3.

Frostbite Travelers Trophy - Keith Sharp 1, Brent Jeffries 2, Adam Fincher 3.

Manukau Shield winning club - Weymouth Yacht Club.

The entire event was sponsored by South Auckland Glass Services.

Saturday, April 7, 2012

Manukau Regatta Day 1 - Weymouth Yacht Club.

Today saw the sprint series, leading into the Manukau Regatta proper tomorrow.

Fleet numbers were lower than we had hoped, mostly because this event fell on a long weekend.

A total of eleven boats were racing, including three visiting frostbites from Taikata SC, and four scout boats. Several local sailors were unable to sail, either away or running the racing.

In the four scratch races, the sole Jollyboat sailed by Murray managed a clean sweep of wins (just), with local Frostbite Keith getting three seconds, with a third behind the Paper tiger sailed by Pete.
Local Moth sailor Rob managed three thirds, before capsizing in the fourth race.

In the Final, which was a Mark-Foy start based around the days performances so far, the Scout Cutter and Sunbursts were away first, followed by three frostbites, then the Moth and another Frostbite, with the Jollyboat and Paper Tiger being last to start.

Sadly for Pete, the wind eased off right before the start, and without the ability to fly a hull, he was unable to get the best out of the cat.

At the half-way point, it was Frostbites holding the first four places, with the rest of the fleet just behind. The late starters were starting to work their way through the fleet, with Murray up to fifth, and Pete in 8th.

Rounding the final mark, Murray had just hit the front, the light winds helping him out, with the Frostbites of Ashok and Keith in hot pursuit.

Closing on the finish, Murray had managed to hold on, around 30 seconds ahead, with the two frostbites side by side challenging for second.

Ashok managed to keep his nose in front, and Keith had to settle for third place - In terms of time, there was around a second between them as they crossed the line.

So, in our first ever Winner-take-all sprint series, it was a local who swept the pool, taking all the prize money home.

Here's a few images from the day. Check the club website (teams section - regatta minisite) to see all the pictures taken today.




Tomorrow (Sunday 8th) is the actual Manukau Regatta, with the inter-club shield up for grabs to the winning team. The current holder is French Bay Yacht Club, but as host club, Weymouth is gunning for it!

Friday, April 6, 2012

MANUKAU REGATTA TOMORROW!

Everything is set, the supplies are in, the guys are ready, the competitors are rearing to go...

The sprint series is set for 9:30 tomorrow, thats Saturday!

Four races, leading to a reverse-start final race. Winner takes all, for a cash prize. Or maybe we'll split it with second and third.

Should be serious fun!

The manukau regatta proper is Sunday, also 0930.

Standard, two long races, set in the awesome sailing waters of the Manukau Harbour.

The harbour is well known for its dangerous waves, and strong winds, when the shallow water gets upset, and waves break with savage force. The harbour is roughly 20 niles across, and circular, yet only around 6 feet deep, and often dries out on very low tides.

Tomorrow is a very big tide, and the forecast is for a beautiful hot sunny day, and 15 knot winds blowing straight up the estuary, so perfect conditions for our short-course races.

Kim Admore, direct from Yachting NZ, is lending us a hand.

Anyone reading this around Auckland, get your "boat" into gear and get down here!