Manukau Regatta at Weymouth Yacht Club, Auckland, New Zealand

Manukau Regatta in Weymouth © Aaron Lowe

Easter weekend saw Weymouth Yacht Club in Auckland, NZL, host the 2012 annual Manukau Regatta.

Each day stood alone, with four sprint races leading into a pursuit style final on Saturday, and two traditional Olympic-course races on Sunday.

In the four scratch races, the sole Jollyboat sailed by Murray Boucher managed a clean sweep of wins (just), with local Frostbite Keith Sharp getting three seconds, with a third behind the Paper tiger sailed by Pete Hagglund.

Local NZ-Moth sailor Rob Kent 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.

At the half-way point, it was Frostbites holding the first four places, Lead by Ashok Magan, with the rest of the fleet just behind. The later 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 easing winds helping him out, with the Frostbites of Ashok and Keith in hot pursuit.

On the run to the finish, Murray 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.

Sunday was the actual Manukau interclub Regatta, with the Manukau Shield up for grabs to the top Manukau club.

Like Saturday, the weather gods smiled on us, with near perfect conditions - hot and sunny, with a nice 10 knot breeze straight from the Tasman sea.

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.

In the junior fleet, Codie McMaster (WYC) was just ahead of Max Gruebner (FBYC) both in Starlings. Next came 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.

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

Overall Results:

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.