SSANZ Safety at Sea NZ Spars and Rigging 60 is big boat benefit

by Richard Gladwell/Sail-World.com/nz on 11 Aug 2014 Saturday's SSANZ Safety at Sea NZ Spars and Rigging 60, for two-handed crews, was sailed largely without incident, in moderate southerly breezes and cold temperatures.

The fleet started in a 15kts SE breeze, gusting to 20kts, at the bottom end of Waiheke the wind swung South, staying at the same strength, but easing later in the afternoon.

Principal Race Officer, Jon Henry commented 'nothing much to report from the Race Management team, everything went off well with a nice 15 kts on the beam.'

'Everyone got away cleanly and it was good to have most finish in the breeze and daylight, with just the last dozen or so finishing in a very light SSW and out going tide', he added.

The Div 1 monohulls predictably had a waterline race in these condition and course with the Marten 55 Equilibrium being first home, with the Elliott 1650 Celadon second and Power Play third. On corrected time Celadon topped the points table.

In the Multihulls, Taeping was first home, followed by Triple 8 and Charleston, with her two crew sailing off racks. But on corrected time it was a small boat race with three 8.5metre multihulls, Vroom, Borderline and Freedom taking the top places. Taeping was fourth.

The Shorthaul 60 was won on line and PHRF by Namu, a Young 37, followed by Rainbow V and Wandering Star. The Stewart 34 Pahi was third boat home but finished sixth on PHRF.

Many thanks to the intrepid Will Calver of Ocean Photography www.oceanphotography.co.nz and www.oceangallery.co.nz for the excellent images. More images from the race can be viewed and ordered from his two websites.

For full results right click here

For the race tracking replays click here - note not all boats are carrying trackers

The final race in the series if the Evolution 100 to be sailed on September 6.