Fusion Round White Island Ocean Race 2008

The 2008 Fusion Round White Island Ocean Race kicks off next Wednesday 26 November, with briefing at the Royal Akarana Yacht Club.
There are 10 official entries so far, with the expected rush of final entries due on closing date of Friday 21 November. This includes the 25ft Reactor, ‘Wishbone’ who successfully got Cat 2 and has entered the shorthanded division, aiming for the SSANZ Trophy. Both the IRC Round White Island Trophy and the Fusion
Trophy (PHRF) are also on the line.
The race starts off Orakei Wharf with the Corinthian and JOG Divisions leaving Thursday Night, and the Premier and Multihull Divisions leaving Friday Night. After leaving Orakei, the course is then to keep Channel & Cuvier Islands to Starboard rounding White Island to Port, leaving Cuvier and Channel Islands to Port to finish off the Orakei Wharf.
Entries to date:
Whitebait, Cosmic Cruz, Mako II, Starlight Express, Nevenka, Wishbone, Open Country, Island Girl, Foreign
Exchange, Sunstone

Send race reports to Crew.org.nz on 021 760 621

NZ Keelboat Nationals

Club Marine New Zealand National Keelboat Championships 2008
Press Release – Sunday 16 November, 2008

A steady 15 to 18 knots made the last day of the Club Marine National Keelboat Championships 2008 an intense battle between the top two crews, young Olympian Peter Burling and regatta-hardened Dean Barker from Emirates Team New Zealand.
The stronger winds today saw most of the Platu 25s including Barker’s crew come close to laying the mast in the water due to the excitable nature of these brand-new boats. The positions changed regularly during the day’s racing but in the end, Barker’s experience resulted in consistent placings and he and his crew won the regatta by 10 points.
Burling was second, followed closely by the up and coming young Wellington crew headed by Josh Junior.
At the prizegiving, Barker commented on the extremely high quality of the competitors as a whole, saying ‘I think we might have to up the minimum age for America’s Cup sailors in order to keep our jobs!’
Read what they are saying on the forums here.

Keelboat Nats

These got under way yesterday after a slight pospponememt to wait for the breeze to fill in.
With my usual lack of efficiency I missed the racing, luckily our readers are better at reporting than I am. Click here for story and photos from Simon Manning of BoatSpray.
I'm up early this morning to go out on the media boat, and I hear Gareth Cooke from Sub Zero is coming out on the media boat, so look for more good photos soon.
And I think R.A.Y.C. are due a round of applause, just getting the new fleet of Platus to the start line has been a huge achievement - well done.

NZ Match Racing Champs

The following competitors have been confirmed for the upcoming NZ Match Racing Championships:

Dean Barker
Josh Junior
Laurie Jury
Adam Minoprio
Ben Ainslie
Jessica Smyth
Rueben Corbett
Jonathan Rankine
Jan Dawson
Adrian Short
Rod Davis
Phil Robertson

The NZ Match Racing Championships are running in Auckland 26 – 30 November 2008.

The event is managed by the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron.

Keelboat Nationals

The Royal Akarana Yacht Club this week hosts the 2008 Club Marine New Zealand National Keelboat Championships which will be
contested by a who’s who of New Zealand yachting. Amongst the 20 skippers and their teams selected for the event are several Americas
Cup stars, Olympians and several top international dinghy and keelboat sailors.

Weiti BC Single Handed Series

A day out of the bag, twelve single handers and a 28 mile course, couldn't have been better. More photos here.

And This From Ragtime's Owner

This letter appeared in Scuttlebutt, from Chris Welch:
Not to be biased, but you missed the most significant Sydney- Hobart entrant in our world: Ragtime, Ex-Infidel, the only boat from the USA in the race, and more importantly, the only boat returning to vanquish the 41 year old ghost of being outlawed from the 1967 Sydney-Hobart.
As I've said to my crew, the Sydney-Hobart virus has hit. We've got the rig out
for inspection, safety reviews underway, chain plates are being reinforced, new
heavy weather sails are on order, and we're excited to be going!
For those that don't know the complete story, Ragtime (Ex-Infidel) won the 1967 Keelboat Fleet Championship in Auckland, displacing Ranger. Sydney-Hobart was the final goal for Tom Clark and his new boat, but the 1967 regulations were amended to demand a thicker hull thickness than Ragtime had. Outlawed and unhappy, Tom sold the boat to America and had Bucanneer built, a new boat that met the hull thickness specification for 1968 and he went to Sydney. And they won.
Now 41 years later, we are eagerly looking forward to participating in this
year's event.

I've never met him but I like this guy already.

Infidel's New Rig

In anticipation of the Australians finally allowing her to enter the Sydney Hobart Race, the American owners have gone for a more conservative rig for the Infamously brutal race. Click the Headline.

The Loss of Aztec

Jim Bolland's Brush With Sail never lets me down. This month he has a chilling read of the loss of the Wellington Spencer design Aztec, click the headline.

Club Marine NZ National Keelboat Nationals Press Release #2

Entries have now been finalised for the 2008 Club Marine NZ National Keelboat Championships to be held from 12 to 16 November 2008 and hosted by the Royal Akarana Yacht Club.
The regatta is also notable as the first for RAYC’s new 11-boat fleet of one design Platu 25 keelboats, whose official launch will be held after the National Keelboat Championships briefing.