One Ton Revisited- Fitting finalé and a look to the next time

by Alan Sefton on 8 Mar 2015 The inaugural One Ton Revisited event came to a hard-fought climax yesterday with winds of more than 30 knots in the Hauraki Gulf.

The S&S 36 Rainbow II had sewn up victory on IRC corrected time by winning the double point long race on Thursday. But she left no doubt as to the form boat of the five-race series with a second in points-and-a-half, 25-mile finale, even though her spinnaker pole gave up the ghost under compression load on a willing spinnaker run back into the harbour in a northerly squall gusting 32 knots.

The Farr 40 Pacific Sundance (Bernard Hyde) go the gun for the fifth time in a row. But, on this occasion, she failed to break away from the determined Farr 36 Revolution (Tony Wallis/Max Cossey) which crossed the line just 5 minutes behind the gun boat to snatch the race win from Rainbow II by an impressive 2m 41s on IRC corrected time.

Third on IRC was the Carter 39 Wai Aniwa (Roger Foley) which was dueling with Rainbow II and the Lidgard 34 Impact (Kevin Kelly) on the spinnaker ride home but lost any chance of pipping her rivals when she sailed the wrong side of a channel marker and had to correct her mistake.

Wai-Aniwa still did enough, however, to finish fourth on corrected times and finish third on final points.

The Lidgard 36 Result (Bevan Hill), with designer John Lidgard in the after guard, had her moments in the regatta but wound up in sixth (and last) place on IRC corrected time. There was some consolation for her, however, when she was awarded the Altex Coatings Prix D’Elegance for 'best presented boat and crew'.

At the series prizegiving yesterday evening, there was little doubt about the success of the event, despite the small final fleet, with everyone talking in terms of 'next year'. Many of the crews expressed their delight at the closeness of the racing and the spirit in which it was carried out. It was, the older hands agreed, a timely reminder of the competitive quality of Ton racing in days gone by.

Almost in response, Chris Bouzaid told the gathering that discussions were already under way with the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron to stage the event again in 12 months’ time, on a bigger scale. This would be achieved with a more inclusive set of IRC rating bands and by including Quarter, Half and even Two Tonners.

If the response to the proposal is enthusiastic enough, the Squadron could consider including Ton racing in its annual programme