One Ton Cup Revival- Rainbow II does 47 spinnaker changes in light air

by Alan Sefton on 2 Mar 2015 The Farr 40 Pacific Sundance (Bernard Hyde) did the line and handicap double in Race 1 of the One Ton Revisited series on Saturday.

It was a severe test of light airs sailing, with Auckland and the inner Hauraki Gulf locked in the relentless grip of the high pressure systems that have made summer in these parts one of the warmest and driest on record.

The course was shortened to a 24-miler along the northern shore of Waiheke, rounding Gannet Rock and finishing off Terahiki Island (to the east of Pakatoa).

The One Ton Revisited fleet struggled in light airs that fluctuated between southerly and westerly and frequently died. There was a light northerly tantalisingly close to windward along the northern shore of Waiheka but only Sundance managed to cross the divide into the slightly more consistent breeze. It still took her nearly 7½ hours to cover the distance and take the gun, 1h 20 minutes ahead of the Farr 1104 Revolution (Tony Wallis/Max Cossey).

Third home was the S&S 36 Rainbow II (Chris Bouzaid), some three minutes astern of Revolution.

On IRC corrected time, Sundance won by some 26 minutes from the recently restored Rainbow II. Third was the smallest boat in the fleet, the Lidgard design Impact (Kevin Kelly) which, with Andy Ball on the helm led on the water at one stage.

Bernie Hyde (Pacific Sundance): 'We got a good start and were nicely ahead until we ran out of wind off the Devonport Naval base – everyone overtook us. But, once we got going again, we got back into it and had a great ride. Ray (Haslar) did a top job. We snuck through the hole off Motutapu and wriggled around the western end of Waiheke, and then there was no catching us. We’re a bit bigger and newer than everyone else and some of that told'.

Chris Bouzaid (Rainbow II): 'We changed spinnakers 47 times as we kept running out of the breeze and had to wait for it to fill in again. We didn’t get anything remotely consistent until after Gannet Rock when we nosed into the Firth of Thames and the light northerly'.

Roger Foley (Wai Aniwa): We had a bad start but led through middle section only to lose out to Rainbow and Result after Gannet Rock. Rainbow has a great set of sails, well suited to Auckland conditions. The boat is also slippery and well sailed. It’s going to be fun'.

Race 2 in the five-heat series is a 20-mile Olympic course scheduled to start at 11am on Monday.