Toyota Optimist Nationals - Teams and Adventure racing on Day 3

by NZ Optimist Assoc on 16 Apr 2017 The Toyota Opti Nats held their Teams Racing Day on Day 3, while the Green Fleet had a terrific Adventure Race off Hardinge Road, Napier.

The race started from the Beach at the Napier Sailing Club and sailors needed to collect playing cards from boats that were stationed along the course which stretched along the Hardinge Road waterfront towards the Port. Sailors that returned with the best poker hand would win. It wasn’t all plain sailing however with “pirates” raiding the sailors with water bombs and Easter eggs. It was all very “ahoy me hearties!” with brightly coloured flags and buckets of water being thrown.

The weather was fine with a challenging chop on the water, but it didn’t daunt the competitors focused on winning the prizes.

After Day 2, Sunday April 16, Murrays Bay sailor Seb Menzies stamped his dominance during the qualifying series at the 2017 Optimist National Sailing Championship in Napier on Sunday.

With two days of racing completed, he has five firsts and a small slip on an otherwise perfect score, a second placing in the final race of the day yesterday.

The 177 open fleet competitors had a nervous start to the regatta, the open ceremony on Thursday kicking off as the eye of Cyclone Cook reached Hawke’s Bay. A few competitors were caught by disruption to flights and appalling travel conditions.

The first day of racing on Easter Friday dawned bright and sunny but with a residual four metre swell following the cyclone for competitors to deal with. Despite a few withdrawals due to seasickness, two races were held on day one.

The race is divided into three flights of 59 each; Seb was joined by another Auckland sailor, George Lee-Rush in gaining two wins from two starts on the first day.

Seb maintained his dominance through the second day of racing (Saturday). He is joined at the top of the leaderboard by Napier sailor Josh Gilmore and Christchurch sailor David Buchanan who enjoyed more breeze of up to 15 knots and a two metre residual swell to be sitting in second and third place respectively, and equal on points after both scoring two race wins, a second and a third.

Seb has been the dominant sailor during the national optimist ranking regattas, winning every major regatta this season. The twelve year old Murrays Bay Intermediate pupil has focused on his starts and believes this is one of his major advantages over his peers.

A strong contingent of Australian sailors coached by Napier local Sam Mackay have competed strongly, the best international after qualifying is Blake Wilson from Southport Yacht Club lying in fifth spot. Six sailors from Tahiti and five from Noumea are also competing.

A further 67 novice sailors, known as the green fleet, have also competed on an inner course. For competitor safety, their first day of racing was abandoned but they have been making up for this with racing on Saturday, and an adventure race on Easter Sunday.

Easter Sunday has seen a change of pace, with the New Zealand Optimist Yachting Trust sponsored national teams racing event keenly contested by 22 teams. Two unbeaten teams, Murrays Bay 1, and Australian team Ersplat outclassed other competitors and in a best out of three final, Murrays Bay 1 claimed the title. Seb Menzies led the Murrays Bay team, along with fellow competitors brothers Thomas and Mason Mulcahy, Greta Pilkington and James Barnett.

Fleet racing will resume on Monday, with the open fleet splitting into gold, silver and bronze. Three races are scheduled for Monday, and on the final day of racing, Tuesday, a further two races will be held.

New Zealand representative teams will be decided at the regatta’s completion; the national event counts for 60 per cent of the season’s ranking. The top five sailors will represent New Zealand at the world championship in Thailand in July.