Champagne sailing in BMW Auckland Regatta - Day 2

by Ivor Wilkins on 19 Mar 2011
From unlikely beginnings, the BMW Auckland Regatta produced a champagne day of sailing today – finishing up with a spectacular full moon BBQ on Motuihe Island.

The day began with the racing fleet totally becalmed on glassy seas. But, slowly a southerly breeze filled in and some superb racing got under way.

'It was a difficult day from a race management point of view,' said Megan Kensington, Principal Race Officer on the Eastern Beach course. 'When we tried to move the course left to align with the wind, the wind would go right, and vice versa. It was just one of those days. We basically had 0-2 knots of breeze at the beginning, but in the end it all came right and we were sailing in 9-13 knots.'

As the fleet gathered after racing for a magical BBQ on Motuihe Island, Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron Commodore Ross Masters, who is racing in the highly competitive Young 88 Division, commented: 'Superb racing and a superb location. This is New Zealand at its best.'

The BMW Auckland Regatta is jointly run by the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron and Bucklands Beach Yacht Club. Sixty one yachts in seven divisions are competing in the regatta, which continues tomorrow and finishes on Sunday.

At the end of today’s racing, the provisional results on BMW Handicap have the following yachts leading their divisions:

A Div: Bullrush
B Div: Boogie Flash
D Div: Crac-a-Jac
Farr 1020: Hard Labour
Open multihull: Charleston
8.5m multihull: Ocean Pacific
Y88: Abracadabra

For full results, please see the event website: www.bmwaucklandregatta.co.nz

Racing this weekend will take place off Northern Leading and Eastern Beach and will comprise a mix of windward-leeward courses and harbour courses.