Marton Sinclair wins 2009 South Island Finn Nostalgia Cup

by Chris Wells on 9 Apr 2009 The 2009 Finn Nostalgia Cup was sailed at the Charteris Bay Yacht Club on Sunday the 5th April. The Finn Nostalgia Cup kindly donated by the late Roel Winters.

History
This was the 12th Anniversary of the Nostalgia Cup with the inaugural Cup regatta being held in conjunction with the Finn National Champs in Lyttelton in February 1997. The intention of the Nostalgia Cup Regatta is to give retired Finn Skippers the opportunity to race again and to meet up with their sailing buddies of years gone by. While it is a social event with skippers swapping boats each race, the sailing is as keen as ever.

Competitors must have sailed in a Canterbury, South Island, or a New Zealand Finn Championship and be at least 45 years of age on Sunday March 29 2009.

Past winners include Bryan Treleaven, Freerk Kempkers, Hugh Dimock, Maurice Duncan, Bill Frater, Paul Pritchett, Ben Winters and Chris Wells.

Unfortunately time has moved on and some of the past Nostalgia Cup skippers no longer feel comfortable sailing so the majority of competing skippers come from the pool of regular sailors who also generously lend their boats for the contest. For those who are still able to compete there is a twinkle in their eye and the enthusiasm is boundless even if the body is not as agile as it used to be. Of course the same can be said for the regular sailors. For those who cannot sail it is good to see them annually for a beer, a chat and some tall tales of sailing Finns with larger fleets and wooden and metal masts.

Results
There were eight competitors who took part in the series of four round robin races. The winner of each race going forward to a winner takes all final.

The first race sailed in a gusty nor’easter was won by Marton Sinclair with the remainder of the round robin racing sailed in soft nor’easters. The second race was won by Andrew McGregor, third by Chris Wells and fourth by Maurice Duncan.

Geof Mead was promoted to the final on the basis of his results to use the 5th boat, with Bret de Thier and Ben Winters going for an early shower.

The Final
As always the start of any race is all important, particularly in a winner takes all race, and Chris Wells gave a fine example to the club juniors of how not to do it being over the line at the start. Not being able to get back quickly meant his race over. Marton Sinclair started to leeward and sailed out from under the fleet to lead at the top mark. Although he was challenged a number of times he was never headed and took out the final comfortably with Andrew second and Maurice third.

Well done Marton. A good result for the retired skippers. Geof Mead won the handicap prize.

Thanks to Race Officer and Sherriff for the day, Matt Wells who organised a good contest and made sure everyone got the right boat and received a fine of some sort. Matt has been the RO for the past 12 years and will finally qualify to compete next year. Thanks also to Ben Winters for sponsoring the event with a donation to cover Charteris Bay’s costs for the day.

A lot of fun was had by all – as always.