The Laser North Island Champs was again held this year as part of the summer regatta at Napier Sailing Club on the weekend 26/27 November.

• Standard Results
• Radial Results

Saturday dawned with a moderate Northerly breeze to greet the fleet of 40 Standards & Radials as well as good fleets of OK's, Paper Tigers, Flying 15's etc which gave the regatta a great atmosphere. On the way out to the course the breeze shifted to the NW and started to freshen. The first race was held in about 15 knots, a typical shifty and gusty offshore breeze, which continued to freshen throughout the day, peaking at close to 30 knots by the finish of the 4th race. This resulted in many swims through the fleets and more than a few retirements in the latter races. Sunday carried on where Saturday left off, with the wind over 30 knots by 11am causing an early cancellation of the days racing. 

In the 12 boat Standard fleet reigning National Masters champion and defending NI champion Andrew Dellabarca from Wellington was most consistent, winning 3 races to take out the trophy convincingly from Howick's Mark Oliver and Pupuke's Dean Drummond who were tied on points in 2nd and 3rd. Rob Woodward and I had a close battle for 4th with Robs young legs ultimately victorious to clinch 4th spot by a single point.

In the Radial's, with a good fleet of 27, defending NI champion and leading youth Josh Armit was able to successfully defend his title after an extremely close struggle with master Scott Leith and fellow youth George Gautrey, who's unfortunate OCS in the last race saw him finish down the order as there was no discard and ultimately cost him victory in that race and the series. Close behind Scott were another group of youths with Alastair Gifford, Blake Woodfield, leading women's youth Olivia Christie and Joshua Bull all sailing consistently to wrap up the top 6 slots. Second Master was Ed Tam in 7th, just holding out leading women's master Michelle Bain.

Napier again provided a great venue for us, with good racing and a great social in the evening. It was unfortunate that the gales that prevailed throughout the country over the weekend got the better of conditions on the Sunday but with 4 quality races on Saturday and close racing in both fleets everyone could go home feeling well challenged for the weekend and looking forward to next weeks Sir Peter Blake regatta at Torbay.

Nick Page
 

Sunday 13th November saw the the 25th edition of the North Harbour Masters held on Lake Pupuke.

• Results

The first Laser Masters regatta of the 2016/17 season saw a strong turnout of 35 sailors starting their work up to next years World Masters at Torbay in April 2017. There was a healthy mix of the old guard, returning names of old and some new faces resulting in strong fleets in both the Standard and Radial. 

Conditions were pretty much ideal for an early season regatta, with 12 to 18 knot westerlies, gusty and shifty as usual on the lake which resulted in opportunities for all but a few thrills and spills when unexpected gusts or shifts caught out the unwary. It also allowed the scheduled 5 races to be completed easily, even allowing the luxury of a lunch break ashore between races 3 and 4. Starts and finishes right off the car park minimised organisational challenges for PRO Garth Briden and allowed spectators, including the usual tranche of masters not sailing due to age related excuses, a grandstand view of the racing.

In the Standards expat Australian, now from Cambridge, Anthony Merrington (A) was victorious with a strong performance, counting a 1,1,1,2. Racing at the front of the fleet was close at all times but Anthony dominated with consistently strong starts and clever reading of the shifty breeze to prevail from a trio of local Masters; Mark Oliver, who was a close second overall counting 1,2,2,3, followed by Rohan Lord and Dean Drummond. They were closely followed by leading GM Nick Page in 5th and Tony Nicholson (M) in 6th.

In the Radial current World Apprentice Radial Champion Scott Leith (A) was dominant, counting 4 bullets, but tripping up in the last race to let former World Masters champ Mark Orams (M) get one back after Scott had managed to pull out some impressive margins in the early races. Mark was second overall followed by Phil Wild (A), recently back in his Laser after a break of several years, Werner Hennig from Hamilton and then leading GM Pete Thomas in 5th. Pete strong post lunch results, a 3rd and 4th, allowed him to just pip GM Kevin Welsh who ended up 6th overall after a couple of tough afternoon races. Clearly Pete's lunch was faster than Kevin's! Michelle Bain was the first Women's master in 10th overall.

The usual generous Pupuke range of prizes, entertainingly presented as usual by commodore John Dowsett, capped off a successful day for sailors and spectators alike. The strong turnout for this regatta bodes well for the full program of regattas this season, culminating with the World Masters Games in April where entry numbers are already strong. Next up for NI sailors is the NI champs in Napier in a fortnight, followed by The Sir Peter Blake regatta at Torbay the first weekend of December and then the Nationals at Taupo in January.

All Results

Four kiwis were included in the 50 strong fleet for the South Pacific Laser Masters at RQYS. We encountered a variety of conditions, from very light to a distinctly testing 20+ knots, but could not fail to enjoy the sun and balmy 27 degree days as a mid winter break from the wet and windy weather back home.

Day 1 dawned with a 4 to 6 knot breeze, just sufficient for racing to commence on time and freshening a bit for race 2. Day 2 blew out any cobwebs with a strong offshore breeze and typical Moreton Bay short steep chop for both races. The wind averaged about 20 knots but with gusts over 30 recorded at nearby Brisbane airport, the day proved a challenge for many in the fleet and the source of great discussions sitting in the sun at the bar afterwards! Day 3 was a drift out and tow back with no racing possible after the light offshore breeze refused to freshen to race strength. The final day started with a couple of false starts in a westerly breeze but this was then replaced with an unsteady NE sea breeze which allowed two good races to wrap up a successful series.

In the Radials Mike Knowsley (M) sailed an excellent and consistent series to finish a creditable 3rd overall, even after being "robbed" (shades of the underarm incident??) of a 2nd over the line in race 1 by an eagle eyed race officer at the start. Our other Radial rep, Roger Winton (GM) from Whangarei suffered a bout of flu which contributed to his having an up and down series to finish mid fleet in 11th overall.

In the Standards the overall results were significantly affected by a couple of unusual factors. In race 3 the majority of the fleet rounded the wrong top mark, demonstrating that ex world champions are not always right and should not always be followed, which really mixed up the results for that race with many sailors withdrawing. The results were also skewed by current GM world champion, expat Kiwi Gavin Dagley, missing the first 2 races after misjudging the start badly by missing his plane to the contest! Anyway the net result was that few in the  Standards were able to post consistent results and I ended up 4th overall in spite of an at times inconsistent effort and Chris Sadler (GM) finished 6th overall after a strong series which suffered from a couple of very unlucky breaks when right in the hunt in several races.

Overall a very enjoyable series and to cap it off there was good interest from many of the Aussies there in coming to the WMG next April.

Nick Page

The forecast glorious weather but light winds eventuated, but if anything it made a holiday weekend in the EBOP more appealing.
A good fleet of 25 Lasers, as well as 6 Jolly boats, 5 Zephyrs and 10 Opti's were on the water.
Great to see 5 women Laser entries, all sailing full rig!

On Saturday the race committee did great to get 4 races in, and even if relatively short triangle or triangle + Windward-Leeward. Sailing in Ohiwa harbour gives plenty of tactical options playing with the tides and sandbanks.

Regular visitors from Panmure, Ian Wallace, Paul Page and Andrew Coffin again gave top locals Barry Cutfield, Ken Tarboton and Mark mackintosh a run for their money.

The club put on a wonderful buffet that evening, with some 60 people cosily filling the club house.

Sunday saw very light winds again in the morning, but threatened to die out. The first race got started for a scheduled triangle with some 2-5 knots of breeze from the east, against an outgoing tide of 1 to 3 knots from the west. Interesting sitting with transom to the start line running at 'full' speed just to hold position. After a very quick beat to the top mark the fleet went for a reach into a channel current to the wing mark, hugging the banks as much as anyone dared. Leading around the wing mark was Luuk Batenburg, trying to keep cool with Paul Page on his transom. Not far behind the rest of the fleet bunched up for some fun at the mark. The second reach had to cross two other channels with a dying breeze. Local knowledge saw Barry Cutfield sneak along the tidal lee of the middle bank to cut across the current well below the bottom mark, rounding it and finishing to win the regatta just before the breeze gave up, so no-one else could get around, let alone finish within the time limit.  Funniest race result ever with one 1st and 24 DNF's!

- Luuk Van Basten Batenburg

Photo - Hannah Morrison

Once again Pupuke BC put on a fine BBQ c/w refreshments and the prize giving was well received with Luke Batenburg winning the Top Section and Nigel Harford the Television.
 

Thanks to JD for use of his rescue boat and to the rest of Pupuke BC Committee for putting on a great event.

And special thanks for the support from Collinson Forex and all the sponsors.

Don’t forget North Harbour Masters Lake Pupuke in the 2nd week of November.

 

Standard

Radial

The 2016 Auckland Masters was held at Tamaki on Saturday 2 April. 

The fleet of 25 Full rigs and 9 Radials arrived to a promise of a building N to NW wind for the day. Unfortunately it was not to be and we never got much over 5 knots all day which, combined with an offshore power boat race through our course at lunchtime, resulted in only 3 races being completed before a rain squall completely killed the breeze for the day.

The light and patchy conditions made consistency almost impossible, with everyone getting caught in holes and unfavourable shifts at times. The first race started on time and in the Standards ancient local knowledge proved the difference with GGM and Tamaki commodore Bob Blakey somehow finding his own breeze in the middle of the course to take the lead at the half way point and carry on to an epic victory. Not to be outdone the next generation of Blakey made it a father and son double with Master Richard winning the Radials first race.

The fleet now alerted to the Blakey magic was on their toes for the second race, managing to relegate both Blakey’s down the fleet showing that even at Tamaki lightning doesn’t strike twice! Team Hamilton visitor Ken Atchison (AM) enjoyed an all the way victory in the Standards while AM Scott Leith managed to show the Radials that he was on form after all and the first race 3rd was an aberration. In the 3rd Race Chris Brodie (M) backed up a 2nd in Race 1 with a convincing victory in race 3 to take out the Standard trophy from Ken with former top Laser sailor Mark Oliver (M) getting back into a Laser after many years to start his training for the World Masters Games and secure 3rd overall. First GM was another Hamilton visitor Scott McDougall in 4th overall.

Whangarei visitor GM Roger Winton was victorious in R3 of the Radials but Scott’s second was just enough for him to come out on top by a point from Roger with Richard a couple of points back in 3rd the first Master.

So another strong Masters turnout for the Roast Beef sandwiches at the prize giving and thanks to sponsors Smart Marine and Watershed for some great prizes.

Nick Page

All Results

Murrays Bay SC hosted the 2016 Auckland Laser Championships this weekend with the 46 Standard and Radial sailors facing a variety of challenging conditions over the 2 days. The fleet included a strong international contingent, who were competing as a prelude to Sail Auckland next weekend, with sailors from Canada, China, Korea, Singapore and South Africa competing in addition to a good cross section of the local Laser fleet.

The start of racing on Saturday was delayed due to an unstable SW breeze fighting a forecast sea breeze that in fact never eventuated. Racing finally got underway in a light and very shifty SW breeze which constantly challenged all the sailors with major shifts and pressure variations from less than 5 knots to an occasional 12 knot puffs which seemed to appear from nowhere. The scheduled 3 races were completed with the cream as usual rising to the top in spite of the challenges. So after day 1 world top 40 ranked sailor Colin Cheng from Singapore led the Standards with reigning Apprentice World Champion, and current MBSC commodore, Scott Leith leading the Radials.

Day 2 provided significantly more breeze, with a tricky & variable 10 knot SW for the first race shifting to the South and strengthening to about 15 knots for the final 2 races, which still delivered plenty of shifts and pressure variations. 

In the Standards Colin Cheng held onto his overnight lead with a strong 1/2/1 record to win convincingly over South African sailor Stephano Marcia with Chinese sailor Jianan Wu in third.  First under 21 sailor was Tim Adair from Murrays Bay in 7th overall while the first master was another local, Dean Drummond in 9th overall.

In the Radials Scott Leith was also able to hold onto his overnight lead, although two bullets for leading NZ women’s sailor Sara Winther did put some pressure on Scott and lifted Sara to third overall. Leading Youth, in 2nd overall, was a consistent George Gautrey, who continues a great streak of form following his excellent results at the recent ISAF Youth Worlds and NZ Laser Nationals. Visitor Kim Da Jeong was the leading female youth sailor.

So following this weekend successful regatta we can look forward to a top quality contest at next weeks Sail Auckland regatta also being held at Murrays Bay, with the NZL Laser team sailors and more international sailors joining the fleet.

Nick Page
NZLA Chairman

Laser Standard

Laser Radial