Northland O’pen Cup – Fast is Fun

by Aevril Hibbard on 24 Sep 2016 Fast is fun! This was the opinion of the 23 enthusiastic sailors who took to the water over the weekend to contest the Northland O'pen Cup, hosted by Kerikeri Cruising Club

Conditions were wet and wild with winds ranging from 18-30knots. Sean Herbert from Manly Sailing Club took the overall win as well as first in the U16 age division. Second place went to Jack Honey from Bay of Islands Yacht Club, and third overall was Tim Roper from Royal Akarana who also placed first in the U13 division. Kairi Matsuo from Kerikeri was the first in the U19 division and first female.

The Silver Fleet was won by Kerikeri sailor Jake Pye, second was Maddie Gardiner and third went Blake Dawson (both from Manly).

The O'pen BIC is a rapidly growing class in New Zealand with multi America's Cup winner Sir Russell Coutts promoting the boat as a low-cost solution to get more juniors into the sport. The boats are easy to maintain, fun and exciting to sail, making them ideal boats for kids to get involved with sailing. Coutts says sailing can provide valuable life lessons for young people. 'You battle weather conditions, you can sometimes get a bit cold and wet and things don't always go right. It teaches kids to get through these things'.

The Regatta also included the 'Adventure Race'. This is a fun race that does not go towards the overall points score total. The sailors were teamed up with another randomly selected participants to encourage socialising in amongst the fleet. The race started with a 'Le Mans'start, a reach out and around a mark, changeover of helmsman, before heading back to shore and running to the finish flag. This race worked really well after racing in tough conditions and was a great way to finish off the event.

Prior to the event, Sir Russell Coutts, Barry Thom and Hayden Whitburn ran a 2-day coaching clinic for the Northland sailors focusing on boat handling, race starts and strategies. The sailors gained a lot of new skills and knowledge during this time.

A big thank you to Sir Russell Coutts, Barry Thom and Hayden Whitburn for all of their time and effort over the four days.

Also, thank you to the Race Officer Chris Fewtrell, Judge-Ray Haslar, and Aevril Hibbard – event organiser and the Kerikeri Cruising Club for hosting this Regatta.

For the full list of events in New Zealand and Australia head to the class website www.openbic.org.nz