Sailors fight for NZ title at Titirangi’s French Bay Yacht Club

by Zoe Hawkins on 17 Mar 2009
Mark Orams added his 14th New Zealand title to his list of sailing achievements this weekend when he won the Jollyboat Class Championships run out of French Bay Yacht Club in Titirangi.

The holder of three world masters sailing titles was part of Sir Peter Blake’s Whitbread Round the World Yacht Race winning crew aboard Steinlager 2, and a member of Team New Zealand’s two America’s Cup defences in Auckland.

Yet he says that sailing with his nine-year old son, Daniel, in the event held on 14-15 March, was a great learning experience – this time in the craft of fatherhood.

'We bought our Jollyboat on his birthday last year. It has been a brilliant way to get him to enjoy sailing,' says Orams. 'He’s getting his confidence up, and he gets to helm sometimes. That’s what the class is all about.'

The Orams’ win came down to consistent sailing in what was a difficult regatta for the fleet of 25 boats. One race win and a handful of placings gave them 17 points to win overall, five points ahead of Maraetai’s Steve Tennant, who took out the title in the single handed division.

'The first day was a bit of a minefield,' says Orams. 'It was very challenging with the tide, big holes in the breeze, and big shifts as well... Things were a little steadier on Sunday, but still very tricky.'

Steve Tennant, who started his sailing career in Jollyboats back in 1993, won the Singlehanded title. He agrees that the conditions were tough. 'If you made a mistake you had to pay for it.' Steve placed second in the regatta last year, and was second going in to the second day, but admits surprise at his win. 'I knew it very much depended on the weather. If it blew up hard I’d struggle. But it didn’t,' he says.

The regatta was studded with some of the country’s top competitors: Mark Perrow is the current OK Dinghy Champion, and Graham Fleury a former Whitbread and America’s Cup sailor.

Both winners were full of praise for the volunteers working at French Bay Yacht Club, which is billed as one of the friendliest yacht clubs in Auckland .

'French Bay did a wonderful job. It was very professional, very well done,' Steve says.

Matt Hall-Smith and Hamish Hall-Smith were the best of the local crews, coming second in the double handed division, and Paddy Charles was the top Titirangi based single-hander, placing ninth overall.

French Bay Yacht Club, based at the end of Otitori Bay Road just five minutes from Titirangi Village , hosts racing with the tides throughout summer and autumn... Membership enquiries are very welcome. The Jollyboat New Zealand Champs and the French Bay Yacht Club are supported by the Western Districts Community Grants Board and a host of local businesses, including My Canvas, Dirty Byrd, Artisan Wines, Red Seal Natural Health, Earthbound Honey, Mamor Artisan Chocolates, Dynamic IT, La Vincci Café and Titirangi Pharmacy.

For further information see: www.jollyboat.co.nz

Overall	Fleet	Boat	SailNo	Club	HelmName	CrewName	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	R7	Total	Nett	Double	Single
1st	Double	Sublime	113	Torbay	Mark Orams	Daniel Orams	2	3	6	3	2	-7	1	24	17	1
2nd	Single	Bartman	91	Maraetai	Steve Tennant		5	-10	2	2	3	3	7	32	22		1
3rd	Single	Plan B	107	Waiheke	Gordon Dyer		3	-9	1	5	6	5	4	33	24		2
4th	Single	Weapon	118	Maraetai	Mark Winters		1	6	-11	4	1	9	8	40	29		3
5th	Single	Storm	150	Waiheke	Alex Stone		6	8	-10	1	7	1	10	43	33		4
6th	Double	Snorter	88	French Bay	Matt Hall-Smith	Hamish Hall-Smith	7	4	4	10	-13	4	6	48	35	2
7th	Single	Ehoa	151	Maraetai	Steve Newcombe		4	-11	9	11	8	2	11	56	45		5
8th	Double	Virginia	61	Torbay	Alex Dyet	Josh Salthouse	9	2	5	8	-18	16	5	63	45	3
9th	Single	Business Time	79	Waiheke	Grant Crawford		-14	5	12	7	4	8	9	59	45		6
10th	Double	Roger	89	NBC	Paul Macintosh	Harry Macintosh	11	1	14	-16	5	13	3	63	47	4
11th	Single	Wood Is Good	92	Torbay	Mark Perrow		13	-15	13	9	10	6	2	68	53		7
12th	Single	Xcellerator	128	Torbay	Brad Collins		10	12	3	6	15	11	-18	75	57		8
13th	Single	Furaha	109	French Bay	Paddy Charles		8	16	8	15	9	12	-21	89	68		9
14th	Single	Peppermint Planet	134	Torbay	Graham Fleury		19	7	7	12	14	10	OCS	95	69		10
15th	Single	Cheerio	103	Maraetai	James Barker		12	14	-15	14	12	14	14	95	80		11
16th	Double	Dry Reach	105	French Bay	Fergus Thomson	Megan Thomson	17	13	17	19	17	-19.5	12	114.5	95	5
17th	Single	-	61R	French Bay	Alan Longmire		15	18	18	13	16	15	-20	115	95		12
18th	Single	Zeahau	108	Waiheke	Sebastian Ziemke		16	-23	21	17	11	17	16	121	98		13
19th	Single	-	127	Maraetai	Jim Molloy		18	-21	16	21	21	18	17	132	111		14
20th	Double	-	51	French Bay	Malcom Woolmore	Ben Laycock	DNF	20	22	18	19	19.5	15	139.5	113.5	6
21st	Double	Hot Shot	104	Torbay	Sean Regan	Connor Regan	DNF	17	20	22	20	21.5	19	145.5	119.5	7
22nd	Single	Splinter	80		John Campbell		DNF	19	DNF	23	22	23	13	152	126		15
23rd	Single	-	137		Ian Macleod		DNF	22	19	20	23	21.5	22	153.5	127.5		16
24th	Single	Blackadder	83		Mark Burton		DNF	24	23	24	DNC	DNC	DNC	175	149		17
25th	Single	-	112		Phil Gardiner		DNF	DNC	DNC	DNC	DNC	DNC	DNC	182	156		18