Knickerbocker Cup Day 1- Two-Three for Kiwi Match

by Brad Marsh on 26 Aug 2005 Kiwi Match are currently in new York for the Knickerbocker Cup. The team for the event is Laurie Jury, Daniel McLean, Robbs Heilkema and Damon Jolliffe.

The Knickerbocker Cup has a long standing tradition within the small yacht club of Long Island, the Knickerbocker Yacht Club. www.kyc.net

The event is sailed in privately owned J105's. These boats have a roller furler headsail, a retracting prod and a gennaker. Laurie also has to steer with a wheel rather than the common form of a tiller.

The event started last night (NZ time) and the team were sailing for the first five flights. On a very light and shifty day they found the conditions very hard going and finished the day with a 2 win - 3 loss scoreline. Damon reported the day as follows 'Due to the conditions the leads in races were changing often and in the space of 1 minute you could gain or lose 10 boat lengths easily. It was very difficult to predict these conditions'

The team have also had to deal with a clothing shortage after both Robbs and Dan's luggage were lost in transit to New York. It has been two days now and they are hoping to recieve their gear by tommorrow.

Kiwi Match would again like to say 'thank you' to our sponsors. As the team travel the world and sail in these high profile regattas our sponsors continue to keep the country running for us. These people are Davis Langdon NZ, Dorlon, Gearlocker on Beaumont St and the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron, NZ's premier club for match racing.

Thanks everyone and keep watching the website for further regatta information
www.kiwimatch.com