Enough 470's to fill Eden Park - Mackay Boats celebrate a success

by Richard Gladwell/Sail-World.com/nz on 6 Sep 2014 Mackay Boats celebrated the build of their 1000th 470, on Thursday afternoon, with the cutting of a special 470 cake.

The occasion also called for some quick calculations, as to what had been achieved. If all the 470 built were put together, the fleet would cover the whole of Eden Park, including the area occupied by the grandstands.

It was 20 years to the month, and almost the day, when the second generation boatbuilding company built their first 470 dinghy in 1994 for Simon Cooke and Matthew Brown.

That first boat was built in a barn at Owen Mackay’s house in 1994, carrying on a family tradition, with father Jim being the top wooden racing dinghy boatbuilder in New Zealand building the cold moulded Flying Dutchman Olympic class and many others.

A former Youth World champion in the double handed event, Dave Mackay, placed third in the 1977 World Championships before moving onto the Flying Dutchman class competing in the 1984 Olympics.

Six years later after that first 470 was built, Cooke went on to win the 470 European Championships and then in 2002 won the 470 World Championship in Calgiari in his third Mackay 470 with Peter Nicholas crewing for him.

The one thousandth boat was built 20 years latter, in the Mackay factory in Silverdale, five minute's drive from the farm where the first few hundred boats were built.

The boat that carries the #1000 serial number is for Luke Patience and Joe Glanfield (GBR), and will be part of a three boat shipment to top British Olympic sailors, this coming week.

Patience won the Silver Medal at the 2012 London Olympics and Glanfield is a previous 470 World Champion.
Both have sailed a number of Mackay 470’s over their years of sailing.

The 998 boats constructed by Mackay Boats between these two have been for sailors from every 470 sailing nation in the World.

Mackay built boats have won many Olympic and World Championship winners with the very first Mackay 470 World Champions being the Kouwenhoven twins from The Netherlands in 1996, and the most recent being Jo Aleh and Polly Powrie from New Zealand who won the 2013 World Championships.

In the 20 years of construction, Mackay 470’s have claimed 18 Olympic 470 medals and 55 World Championship Medals.

Their success with the 470 has led to the construction of other classes, notably the 49er which is fast catching up to the 470 with 500 being built to date. Other classes built include the 29er, 420, VX One, and Starling, as well as foil production.