Dave Shaw dominates 2012 Maersk Line Paper Tiger Internationals

by Rowdy Leatham on 16 Apr 2012
Dave Shaw dominated the 2012 Maersk Line International Paper Tiger Catamaran Championships held over Easter weekend (5th – 9th April) with a near perfect scorecard.

Five race wins and a third place left Shaw (Nelson, NZ) 18 points ahead of second placed Bryan Anderson (Australia) with Scott Barker (Wellington, NZ) sailing a strong regatta to finish third overall.

The event was hosted by the McCrae Yacht Club, nestled at the foot of picturesque Arthur's Seat, southeast of Melbourne, on Port Phillip Bay. The venue provided challenging but enjoyable tactical racing.

A record fleet of 50 of the best Paper Tiger Skippers from Australia and New Zealand fought to win the ultimate prize in the class, with Shaw winning convincingly and becoming the first New Zealander to take the individual title since 1981.

The fleet comprised the national teams and invited skippers, based on firm criteria of performance in national and state championships.

The Australia vs New Zealand teams challenge which is regarded as an important reason for the success of the Paper Tiger class over its four decade history was fiercely competitive with the New Zealand Team attempting to defend the Trophy for the first ever time in Australia. Unfortunately the performance from the New Zealanders was not quite strong enough with the Australians taking the Teams Trophy by 26 points, the closest finish in the event for at least the past decade.

The junior title was a fierce battle between Nathan Percy (Napier, NZ), Dylan Taylor (New Plymouth, NZ), defending International Junior Champion Jamie Hatch (New Plymouth, NZ), Jacob McDonald (Australia) and Josh Thorp (Australia). After six tight races Taylor came out on top to win his first International title and finish 26th overall.

New Zealand Overall results include:
1st Dave Shaw PT 3084 - Feral Nelson Yacht Club
3rd Scott Barker PT 3075 - Bad Boy Muritai Yacht Club
4th Scott Pedersen PT 3070 - Double Vision Napier Sailing Club
6th Bob Preston PT 2962 - Cool Cat Nelson Yacht Club
8th Hayden Percy PT 3073 - Aquaholic Napier Sailing Club
10th Peter Robins PT 3088 - Runaway Train Muritai Yacht Club
18th Stuart Taylor PT 2529 - Gray Power New Plymouth Yacht Club
19th Ryan Leatham PT 821 - Flyer New Plymouth Yacht Club/Evans Bay Yacht & Motor Boat Club
20th Stuart Morrish PT 3090 - Majik Blu Napier Sailing Club
21st Mike Hood PT 2970 - Sundae Muritai Sailing Club
22nd Mark Hatch PT 2811 - Crazy Diamond New Plymouth Yacht Club
24th Colin Rankin PT 2972 - Mustang Sally Muritai Yacht Club
25th Denis Leatham PT 2988 - Learning to Fly New Plymouth Yacht Club
26th Dylan Taylor PT 2351 - Smugg New Plymouth Yacht Club
30th Rick Martin PT 2987 - Butterfly Evans Bay Yacht & Motor Boat Club
34th Jamie Hatch PT 2634 - Roar Speed New Plymouth Yacht Club
36th Leon Johnstone PT 2966 - X Factor New Plymouth Yacht Club
41st Nathan Percy PT 2812 - Captain Morgan Napier Sailing Club
43rd Murray McLaughlin PT 2986 - Against the Grain Evans Bay Yacht & Motor Boat Club
47th Chris Reid PT 3074 - Scram Napier Sailing Club

Full results can be found at: www.clubops.org/RegattaMicroSites/PT