Breaking News

Blackmatch Take Second

A very prestigious second place for Blackmatch Racing at the Bermuda Gold Cup. Click Here to read the full report.

Tri Foiler, First Attempt

On Friday Matt Cox brought his recently refurbished Tri Foiler down to Manly where photographer Gareth Cooke and I met up and helped get him into the water.

Bermuda Gold Cup

Blackmatch have defeated Ben Ainslie  (Team Origin) to make the final. Click Here.

VOR start

The 2008 VOR got underway last night NZ time. I'm putting all the press releases and photos here ( too much for the home page), and as always readers are welcome to add comments.
For real diehard fans try the race website.

Black Match in Gold Cup Quarter Finals

All their reports are here.

Ragtime in the Coastal Classic

Yep , it just became official:



Expatriate racer makes homecoming for HSBC Premier Coastal Classic

Ragtime – the 60 footer built for Sir Tom Clark in 1964 under the name of Infidel – has made an epic 7,000 mile southwards journey to New Zealand, only to turn around and nearly immediately depart on another epic journey in the opposite direction, a 119 nautical mile sailing marathon between Auckland and Russell in the Bay of Islands.

It was 1964 when the Ragtime was built by John Spencer for the late Sir Tom Clark and since then she has accumulated more than 100,000 blue water miles. Based in the Based in the Northern Hemisphere since 1970, when she was virtually extradited from New Zealand because of her lightweight design, she has sailed more Transpacific Los Angeles to Honolulu races than any other boat and winning four of them between 1971 and 1974.

But Ragtime, who came to the Southern Hemisphere via a race from California to Tahiti, and to New Zealand just for the HSBC Premier Coastal Classic, is not going to be content with simply putting in an appearance. The boat, which has pre-applied for Cat 3, IRC and PHRF prior to its arrival here, is demonstrating great potential even against boats more than 40 years her junior.

Earlier this year Ragtime set a new record in the 3,571 nautical mile Tahiti Race, finishing in just over 14 days and 16 hours, winning on corrected time and breaking a 14 year old record. Her performance is due to a new carbon fibre rig and high-tec sail wardrobe, and the boat’s plywood hull has also been reconstructed and a new keel configuration added to give her greater stability.

The boat, which is owned by American Chris Walsh and whose home port is now Newport, Rhode Island, will stay in New Zealand until February.

The HSBC Premier Coastal Classic is the biggest coastal yacht race in New Zealand, and one of the biggest in the world. It started life 26 years ago as a drag race between Auckland and Russell for just a few boats, and over the years attracted a bigger and more diverse fleet, consisting of grand prix racers, America’s Cup boats, and small family cruisers.

Organised by the New Zealand Multihull Yacht Club, it is a race designed for speed: except for at the beginning and the end of the race, there are few opportunities to use tactics to overtake, and success can often depend on getting a good tactical start.

The race can take as little as seven or eight hours for the very fastest boats, or as long as two days for the slowest boats in light conditions.

As well as welcoming back principal sponsor HSBC, the HSBC Premier Coastal Classic is supported by some of New Zealand’s pre-eminent marine companies: Donaghys Southern Ocean, Harken, Line 7, Cookson Boats and Sail NZ, as well as the Duke of Marlborough Hotel, Steinlager, Mount Gay Rum, the Sunday Star Times, Trade-A-Boat magazine, De Walt, Dirty Dog and Yamaha Motors NZ.

Napier's Big Regatta

Sometimes I really think clubs and events like this are what it's all about.



Wairoa Yacht Club are celebrating 50 years of Yachting on the Wairoa River this November with The Port of Napier Wairoa River Regatta. East Coast Champs for Optimist Green Fleet, P Class and Laser will also be contested. Yachts are expected from Napier Sailing Club and also Gisborne Yacht Club who's sailors supported this event 50years ago and continue to enjoy the Wairoa hospitality today.
Programme begins on Saturday with Race registrations at 09:00 hr, Briefing 10:00 hr, Race 1commences at 11:00 hr.
Spectators are able to view the racing from the club house or follow the action along the river from the riverside walkway.

Participants are able to camp next to the Club house or the Riverside camping Ground. Competing children are able to camp in the Wairoa Ski Club rooms at the western side of the Bridge.

Jubilee celebrations commence at 18:00 hr with Welcome and speeches followed by a BBQ meal at the Club house.
The club would like as many past members as possible to attend.

Racing Continues on Sunday.
Prizes for Race winners and Spot Prizes will be awarded.

Registration forms for both sailors and non sailors are available enquiries to Jill Metz-Mayhead email amayhead@xtra.co.nz

And some photos of the inaugural regatta in 1958:

Ragtime enters Coastal Classic

An unsubstantiated rumour has been heard that she is less than a week away and has entered the Coastal Classic - watch this space!

Keelboat Nats

The NZ National Keelboat Championships are getting closer.

Click here for Press Release #2 with confirmed entries for this high profile NZ regatta which will be held in Auckland next month.

GPS Problems?

From Latitude 38:

October 8, 2008 – Planet Earth

If you've experienced odd problems with your GPS lately, you're not alone. A number of sailors have reported that after booting up their GPS recently, the screen simply goes blank.

According to several cruisers in-the-know, the problem has to do with a recently launched satellite whose software affects GPS units which employ the WAAS protocol.

While we have not yet had confirmation from manufacturers, word on the docks is that the quick fix is for affected users to simply disable WAAS from within their unit's set-up menu. But that's a band-aid approach, of course. The complete fix will occur when users download new software from their unit's manufacturer. However, in some cases, we're told, that software may not be quite ready for distribution. Obviously, those affected should check with their GPS suppliers for a more detailed explanation.