Jack Tar Auckland Regatta at Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron - Overall
by Andrew Delves 26 Mar 2017 07:59 BST
24-26 March 2017
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If you were out on the course today it would have been hard to take your eye off the Division A TP52's battling out off Browns Island, with the supreme conditions ensuring these guys were sending it up and down the course in spectacular fashion. As opposed to last year where Beau Geste (not present at this year's regatta) were the dominant force, it was a really mixed weekend with multiple teams claiming race wins to set up an intriguing and very unpredictable contest. In the PHRF standings it was Ran Tan II who had the measure of the fleet, taking 4 race wins out of 7 races and with them the overall PHRF title. David Nathans' V5, a stalwart of the RNZYS racing fleet, were the next best in 2nd – with Harry Dodsons' Mayhem 3rd overall. Temptation, Viento 2, Georgia and Wired (who did not race today) rounded out the fleet. However in the line standings it was Mayhem who were the fastest on the water, claiming the gun in 4/7 races and taking out the line honours. Viento 2 were only 1 point behind them in 2nd, with Temptation a little further back in 3rd.
It was an all RNZYS top 3 in the B division PHRF handicap stakes and a real tale of 3 boats after 7 really competitive races across the weekend, but it was the impressive Young Guns sailed by Bruce Herbert who won the division on PHRF, taking out 6 races and finishing 2nd in the other to claim the overall B division PHRF honours (as well as 2nd place line honours). Ice Breaker also had a beauty of a regatta, leading from the front by claiming 4 guns and two 2nd place's on line to comfortably take out the line honours, as well as being deserved 2nd place overall PHRF finishers. A J Reids' Anarchy finished 3rd on PHRF and 3rd on Line to round out a great weekend of racing in this division. Georgia One, Pacific Sundance, Zealous and Urban Cowboy were the next best on the PHRF leader board at the completion of the regatta.
Buckland Beach Yacht Club's Rainbow IV sailed by Alan Smith were the division C winners on General Handicap, with four 2nd place finishes today getting them home, and even with a 5th in the final race - they had already done enough to claim the overall honours. Just behind them by a narrow 1.5 point margin was Ponsonby Sailing Clubs' No Worries helmed by Ian Thompsen who had mixed day today with finishes ranging from 1st to 7th across the day, and behind them was Bay of Plenty's Tony Poolman on board Elevation taking out 3rd. Roger Rushton's Frenzy, who won the gun in every single division C race in this year's regatta (undoubtedly claiming line honours) finished 4th on handicap, with Manxman (2nd on Line), Perfect Alibi and Hotdogger rounding out the division.
After 3 days of competitive tit-for-tat racing across 12 races in the Pacific Keelboat Challenge, defending Champion Chris Way secured himself back to back titles after a solid display in breezy conditions today. Way, from the Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club in Australia, took out the trans-Tasman bragging rights and managed to claim 4 race wins out of 5 today, propelling him to an unassailable 10 point lead over the next best team. Local RNZYS skipper Matt Bouzaid had 5 second place finishes today, and after being in 3rd after two days racing, managed to move up the leader board and claim 2nd overall – a great reward for some very consistent MRX sailing. Fellow RNZYS skipper Tom Macky started the day well claiming the gun in the first race, but 4 subsequent 3rd place finishes in the final races weren't quite enough for him to cement the 2nd spot, slipping back to 3rd overall for the regatta. Perth's Paul King finished 4th, with Euan Little (RNZYS), Meridy Boyd-Clarke (RNZYS) and Queensland's Chris Morgan rounding out the fleet in that order.
The open multi hull division's two entries, Frank Racing and Boat 2, shared the spoils in their division with Frank Racing winning the battle on line and Boat 2 taking out the handicap honours. With much more wind on offer today, these boats were really showing us what they're made of, with Frank Racing getting up on the foils and reportedly hitting the 32 knot mark, while Boat 2 wasn't far behind.
Dirty Deeds are the 8.5 open multihull national class champions after 4 superb race wins today. Sailed by Clive Wright, 'the deeds' showed great skill in today's gruntier conditions and will now hold the bragging rights over the rest of the class – until next year at least. Dean Williamsons' Hurts like Heaven weren't quite as good today as they were on Saturday, but they still did enough to claim 2nd overall, with Ed Ayres' Attitude rounding out the podium after 3 great 2nd place finishes out of 4 races today. Freedom finished only 2 points back in 4th, with Sledge, Whio and Tigre completing the remainder of the leader board in that order. The top 3 on general handicap were Tigre, Freedom and Sledge – showing that they too sailed really well to their boats capabilities.
The 12 entries in our Sports Boat division were having an absolute whale of a time out on the water today, making the most of the breezy conditions and absolutely screaming up and down the course in what was a great sight to behold, including some impressive wipeouts. But as it happens in sailing, there is only one winner and that was Mike Hindrups' W8-Up who will go away with the handicap honours after keeping himself within the top 5 finishers in all of today's races, finishing with an overall score of 26 points. Royce Hawkins Smoke Wagon unfortunately smoked out a bit today after being on fire yesterday, but still did enough to claim 2nd place on handicap. The big improver by a country mile was Nick Egnot-Johnsons' Just Fast who had 3 race wins and two 2nd place finishes on the final day to climb right up the leader board and round out the podium on handicap – a huge contrast from yesterday's 10th, 10th, 9th and 11th. Enigma, Team Sex, Faster, Atomic, Steinlager III, Helter Skelter, Wassup, Sign it Magic and Maine Magic were the rest of the finishes respectively. Helter Skelter took out the line honours after being the fastest boat on the course, with Faster and Just Fast taking home the 2nd and 3rd place line honours for the weekend.
It really was another great edition of the Jack Tar Auckland Regatta, with a good mixture of light and heavy wind conditions giving competitors a bit of everything and not making it easy for anyone out on the water. We would very much like to thank all our competitors who took part this year, as well as our fantastic race management teams and regatta sponsors Jack Tar. We look forward to seeing you all back on the water next year.
Results can be found here.