Javelin Nationals - Sunny conclusion to Sanders Cup in Northland

by Antje Muller on 27 Mar 2016 On Easter Sunday, the Sanders Cup was decided on the waters of Parua Bay in Whangarei.

With light winds forecast, the Committee decided to head out on the water straight away on the second day to take advantage of the little breeze that still was around at lunchtime. There was a light wind from the Southwest.

With the pin strongly favoured at the start, Northland opted for a port hand start and got away with it, because the rest of the fleet could not lay the pin. They went over the right hand side of the course, picking up good pressure and a lift to get up to the mark. The Ladies tried the left hand side that looked like more pressure and enjoyed some good lifts but never got the wiring pressure. Second around the mark was Auckland with Manawatu in third.

By the bottom mark, Northland had substantially extended their lead and the fleet was quite drawn out. The wind died however and swung around, which mixed things up again. When the Ladies got to the bottom mark, there was enough breeze from the new direction for them to hoist a gennaker, which saw them catch up to Manawatu by the top mark where the course was shortened to two laps. Northland got two thirds up the last leg when the wind disappeared, which gave Auckland a chance to catch up and for a short time overtake them.

Phil and Craig showed their joint experience and managed to gingerly put Northland across the line first, admitting it was a stressful day on the water though. On the downwind leg, that was now something between a beat and a reach, the Ladies were lucky again and found enough patches of wind to finish in third.

After the finish, the boats drifted around aimlessly for a while until the Committee shifted to set up for another start for a light Southeast breeze, but it did not stay in. Finally, racing was postponed to the next day.

Apart from Northland, the fleet is very close together and looking forward to another sunny day with hopefully a bit more breeze.

Whangarei served up brilliant sunshine again for the third day of racing. The breeze was light to start with but came up as the competition progressed.

In the fourth race, the wind was light but slightly stronger than the previous day. The pin was strongly favoured, and this time the Ladies took the chance and started on port. Luckily for them, they crossed ahead of the fleet and took the right hand side they thought promised pressure. At the top mark, Northland was ahead again though, followed by Manawatu and Auckland. On the second beat to windward, Auckland were successful on the right-hand side and overtook Manawatu who had gone toward the harbour. It was a long race but the places remained the same through the last round. The leaders only just made the time limit by about a minute.

On the fifth start, Manawatu shut out Auckland who narrowly ducked inside just after the gun but in turn closed out the Ladies who had to gybe around before crossing the line. It was close between Northland and Auckland at the top mark and Manawatu was just behind them. The latter managed to creep into second place through the second lap but Auckland rounded the top mark inside them in the third round. Gybing around the mark and hoisting on port that advantage increased as they caught a gust and shift to accelerate away. This saw Auckland getting close to Northland and fighting hard to try and overtake the leaders. In the end however, a few slow gybes saw them finish only just ahead of Manawatu with the Ladies trailing.

Hoping that a port start might work out better than what they experienced at the boat, the Ladies tried for a port start again in race six but this time could not clear Northland and had to tack with the fleet. All four boats were very close together up the first beat and Manawatu rounded the first mark ahead of Auckland and Northland. However picking some good shifts up the second beat together with superior boat speed saw the boat from the top of the North Island in first place again at the second windward mark. On the downwind legs, the wind was comparatively steady but Manawatu went into shore and caught up to Northland again. They lost it again when they hunted the pressure out towards the harbour even though they were trapezing more than the other competitors. Manawatu held on to second place for this race but were still third over all. Allegedly the lack of photographic evidence was due to an empty battery.

For the last race of the series, the wind picked up to a wiring breeze and the crews took the helm on Phlipnhel and Hot Gossip. This did not slow Northland down at all. Even though they were one minute early for their start (claiming later it was for practice), they managed to line up again well enough for the actual gun. It seems like Phil was to blame anyway as he admitted to never ceasing to give instructions.

The fleet stayed close together around the two laps. Northland was leading with Manawatu in second place. Thumper tried the left hand side but it did not work out, which saw them finishing in third place. This gave second place over all to Manawatu on countback. Hot Gossip did well staying in touch; this contest was the first time for Milly on a Javelin, and this was the first race she skippered. For the first time in this series, Phil crossed the finishing line first, crowing his eighth Sanders Cup win.

This beautiful contest was wound up by a friendly prize giving. The fleet was deeply grateful for the volunteers giving up their time and accommodating the preference of the sailors. In the Sanders Cup, Sara Watters was presented the DFL trophy (for the last place boat that finished all races) by previous holder Antje Muller. Vice Commodore Joan Livingstone presented the Sanders Cup to Northland sailors Phil McNeil and Craig Gilberd.

The Sanders Cup is one of NZ's most prestigious trophies and has been contested since 1921. A summary about the varied history of this interprovincial challenge can be read by clicking here

The next regatta of the Javelin fleet is the North Island Championship held at Evans Bay on 9/10 April.

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If you wish to find out more about the Javelin Skiff class click here