Kendall Cup Series wraps up for 2013/14

by Christine Headey on 12 Mar 2014
Last weekend at Wakatere Boating Club, the last of the 6-regatta Kendall Cup Series for 2013/14 took place in sunny, light and at times flukey conditions.

The Kendall Cup Regatta for RS:X and Techno boardsailors was held as part of the Senior Classes Regatta at Wakatere which included A Class cats, OKs, Lasers and Sunbursts. It was a relatively small fleet compared to last year so the RS:Xs and Technos were started together. However, the small fleet didn’t reflect the number of new comers to the class who have been getting to grips with their boards in recent training and will no doubt be competing next season.


Saturday presented the RO and the sailors with some very unsettled conditions with what little breeze there was coming directly off the cliffs, challenging tactical decisions had to be made as the small pockets of wind dropped off the land and gradually made their way down to the windward mark and down the course. The first race started with everyone being able to fetch the first mark on port as it swung to the left during the countdown sequence, but by the time the race was abandoned the first two boards had rounded mark 3 of the trapezoid course while the rest of the fleet were marooned in the middle of the course with no wind.

The race was restarted with again a fetch to the first mark but the wind did rotate a little more to the right forcing the boards to put in a tack or two. Patrick Haybittle and Harrison Hill seemed to pick the shifts right finishing first and second respectively with Finn Croft close behind in third. Patrick again seemed to get the shifts right winning the next two races followed by Xanthe Bowater with two seconds and Lauren Mackenzie showing good form with two thirds. By the end of the day and after three races, Patrick was leading the seven RS:Xs and Coral Headey was leading the three Technos with a 1, 2, 1.

That evening the boardsailors enjoyed a delicious BBQ at the club, all included in the entry fee, accompanied by the sailors from the other classes, thanks Wakatere for your great hospitality.

Sunday’s conditions were pretty similar to Saturday’s but a little more settled. Another three races were rattled off one after the other and again Patrick showed his dominance in consistently picking the shifts right with three more first places, closely followed by Finn Croft with three seconds. Xanthe had two thirds while Harrison had another good race in race 5 to finish third. Coral gave the RS:Xs a run for their money in beating some of them to the finish and got three firsts from the other Technos followed by Zach Stock and Dillon Browne on his 6.8.

After racing the scores and points were accumulated to show the overall winners for the Series where Patrick Haybittle (MYSC) finished first RS:X Mens Youth, Xanthe Bowater (NPCL) first RS:X Womens Youth, Coral Headey (TYPBC) first U17 Girl, Zach Stock (MBSC) first U17 Boy and Most Improved and Dillon Brown (Manly) first U15 Boy. Congratulations to all the winners and to all who have taken part in the series following on from a very successful Nationals in February and culminating in a very busy regatta season for the boardsailors.

A huge thanks to all our sponsors, helpers, volunteers and parents who have put in so much work, especially Paul and Jo Mackenzie, the President of the class and his wife, and Gary Hill who have all worked tirelessly behind the scenes making it all happen.

Plans are now well underway for lots of training over the coming months as Patrick and Xanthe prepare for the ISAF Youth Worlds in Portugal in July and Finn and Coral prepare for the Youth Olympics in China in August.

There will be a number of RS:X clinics taking place and all-inclusive Techno class training days on most Saturdays, a full schedule is available from Paul Mackenzie at themackenzies@xtra.co.nz.