Climate 24 Hour Yacht Race - New Plymouth sailors in day-long race
by Wayne Holdt on 24 Dec 2012
Le Mans start - Climate 24 Hour Yacht Race Pauline Sutherland
Sailing the seven yacht club owned 420 dinghies, the teams started with a Le Mans start. They raced over a short inner harbour course, giving close quarters racing for the full 24 hours.
The weather played its part too, with light winds and warm day and overnight temperatures making the all night viewing very comfortable in front of the brazier on the beach. The teams had a compulsory crew change every two hours for the duration of the race.
It’s been 13 years since the last 24 hour race when Sunburst dinghies were used and it is certainly one way for the members to get to know each other a little better.
The fleet were doing 10min lap times during the first part of the race, but when night fell so did the wind and 25min lap times were not uncommon, there were big losses and gains for some teams as the breeze came from different directions during the night.
The winning team with 125 laps were, Paul Moriarty, Alec Frankham, Tristan Hodge, Rebecca Haylock, Adrian Robb, and Emily Batchelor.
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