3.7 Nationals to veteran, Junior is runner up.
by 3.7 Owners Association on 25 Feb 2007
Kevin Holland showing the upwind speed that won the regatta for him. Event Media
Kevin Holland took the 2006/07 3.7 National Championships sailed in Lyttleton in late January. Sixteen boats competed in the event with several makin the trek down from the North Island
Lyttleton is surrounded by high hills, but the North-Easterly (prevalent at this time of year) blows straight down the harbour and gives a steady sailing breeze with regular chop, which becomes BIG CHOP with wind against tide!
For races 3 – 7 the North-Easterly came in, gently at first, but rising 15 – 25 knots through races 4 -7. We got the M-Course in good breeze with big but steady chop. Fantastic, but rough on people not used to it!
Kevin’s upwind speed had looked a little suspect in races 1-3 compared to some North Islanders, but his offwind trapeze-sailing in stronger wind was beyond compare. He seldom capsized either - although he was guilty of rounding up on nearly every gybe - and the ground he made offwind going down the M-Course could rarely be recovered by those who were marginally quicker upwind.
His placings for races 4 – 7 were 1,1,1,3, - and he was probably sailing very carefully in the last race, when to win, he had only to stay within three places of Malcolm Paine.
Race by race
Race 1: Sstarted in a just-trapezing, slightly shifting NE breeze. Alan Paine and John Elliott came around the top mark 1st and 2nd, with a defendable gap to the next hotshots (Ashley Genefaas, Bruce McCallum, Don Currie, Kevin Holland, etc.) But on the way down the trapezoid course, the NE wind slowly died out. At the start of the second windward leg, the hotshots had caught Alan and John. It took 20 minutes for the 15 finishers to round the bottom mark Drifter… then the breeze slowly went SW, bringing the back boats right up, and with a light puff, all 15 finishers were shunted across the finish-line in 10 seconds.
Alan went from first to 10th, and John to 14th. (This cost both of them dearly when they had gear breakage later on.)
But one zillion points to Donald King ! He was third to last around the bottom mark, but steered the right course to beat everyone over the finish line. One of the charms of yacht-racing!
Race 2: Just trapezing, into a shifty SW, with lighter chop. Alan Paine and Bruce McCallum were clearly best, Bruce just pipping Alan on the line. John Elliott 3rd, Malcolm Paine 4th. Had the wind stayed like this, Alan and Bruce would have dominated the contest.
Race 3: Back to a just-trapezing NE breeze – a bit more chop, and the breeze slowly building instead of dying out like Race 1. Alan and Bruce dominant again, but Kevin Holland showing better form, perhaps liking the choppier water?
Races 4 & 5: M3-Course in big chop (wind against tide) in steady NE going over 20 knots. Kevin Holland took over the contest. Alan Paine started well, was near the lead, but went right upside down on a gybe, and his centerboard broke with a loud rack.
His Race 1 result plus this DNF killed Alan’s chances of taking the title. Remember, Alan was runner-up in 2006.
Bad luck, but another case of too much faith in not enough carbon fibre. Ashley Genefaas also shone in Race 5. He reached the top mark well in front, and was fighting with Kevin for the lead at the end. Unfortunately, he had to limp over the line in second place.
Ashley had fallen on his tiller and all but broken it. He then had to DNS race 5 – a big penalty for him, considering how he went in races 6 & 7. Moral: Fall on your mainsheet, not your tiller!
Malcolm Paine was now going ominously fast upwind, and pipped John Elliot on the line for second in Race 5. If only he would gybe without rounding up, often multi-dimensionally!
Race 6 NE 20+ knots, but Trapezoid course to give us a little break… Kevin proved himself by leading from start to finish in this race.
Race 7 NE 20+++ knots, but less chop than day before, because tide had not turned. M3 course – another 9 gybes! Kevin confounded his supporters by going all conservative and careful, but he knew that he only had to stay close to Malcolm Paine to win.
Ashley Genefaas tacked at the right time not to overlay the top mark, and roared away into a lead that was never threatened, except when John Elliot made some ground upwind on him in the second upwind leg, (with reefed sail) however his sidestay broke, and he failed to finish..
Kevin Holland and Malcolm Paine were a clear first and second in this contest, meaning Malcolm again took the under-21 Div, and Kevin the Veterans’ Cup, as well as that Cup presented by Farr himself.
Some If Only.
• If Ashley had not broken his tiller, he would most likely have been in the top three in Race 5, and taken third place overall.
• If John Elliott’s sidestay had not broken, he would probably have taken second in Race 7, and tied on points with Bruce McCallum for third overall.
• If Kim Humphrey’s rudder gudgeons had not collapsed in Race 5, he would probably have taken a brilliant second place, and had his name up there with Kevin’s for superb offwind sailing.
Reefing Points for the Cynics… Bruce Farr himself agreed that a six-inch reef would make the boat manageable in rough water plus strong winds. Some think that 12 inches is better.
Guys who sail in places like New Plymouth, Lyttleton, Timaru, Napier, Okahu Bay on a bad day, Wellington, when the wind goes over 25 knots in rough water against tide, you would be a lot better off with a smaller sail.
At 60 years, John Elliott has been sailing the 3.7 for over 30 years, and believes that he probably reefs too often. He says' I first had reefing points put in in 1975 when I was only 29, slim and fit. Back then, I would not have reefed for what we had in Lyttleton. It was not all that rough, nor was it over 25 knots. I have sailed in much worse. Back then, I could pull my boat upright many times in a row. I still had reefing points in my sail - I used them much less often.
'Don’t be afraid to reef at places like Wellington, New Plymouth, Lyttleton on hard days. If you go out unreefed, have a ball, but swim 20 times, you may well lose your race, and put others off getting a 3•7. With a reefed sail, you can go just as fast, win, and promote the 3•7!'
Prize List:
1st - Kevin Holland, and first in Veterans’ Div.
2nd - Malcolm Paine, and first in under-21 Div
3rd - Bruce McCallum
Lady’s Prize: hotly contested by Naomi Paine. Proved herself in Races 4 and 6.
Can of Contest: Too many in this contest for assessment of quality, so early provision of multiple incidents was taken as criterion. Mario took this out.
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