Sunburst Nationals- 71 year Age Range of Competitors

by Nigel Price on 15 Feb 2015 There is still a 71 year Age Range of Competitors at the Sunburst Nationals

Last year, after the 2014 Sunburst Nationals held at Wakatere, we wrote a story on the 71 year age range of the competitors.

We included a photo of the three youngest and the two oldest competitors in the regatta, which we have repeated here, and we can report the same five turned for the 2015 Nationals held at Muritai Yacht Club – The age range is the same, it is just that everyone is another year older.

Colin Dalziel , on the left of the photo is now 78. He is crew for well known Muritai helmsman Wal Louden, and this year they have a collective age of 150 years. They came 11th overall in this regatta that had 32 starters in the main fleet. Wal won the Veteran category for helmsman ( first skipper over 60 years of age ).

Jack Beavis, second on left is now 7 years old, and came fourth overall, crewing for his father Scott.

Cam Brown, third from left is now 8 years old, crewed for his father Andrew and they won 4 races out of the 6 races, and the regatta overall.

Flinn Olson, fourth from left has now just turned 7. He crewed for his father Nick, and they came third overall.
Maurice Scott, fifth from left, now 76, has sailed at 20 out of the 22 Sunburst Nationals held so far. He came 24th in the 32 boat fleet.

It would be interesting to know if any other centreboard class sailed in New Zealand has such a diverse range of ages sailing. We note how well 72 year old Ian McLennan has done in the recent Paper Tiger Nationals, and it is great to see these traditional New Zealand designed classes still attract young and old alike to their fleets.

The Sunburst Class has always had a diverse range of ages and crew weights sailing. This year 3 new prize categories were introduced :
Lightweights : first crew with a combined weight of less than 110kgs.
Middleweights : first crew with a combined weight of 110-140 kgs.
Heavyweights : first crew with a combined weight of more than 140kgs.
(140kgs is the combined weight of two normal sized adults, and there are many crew combinations of this weight sailing in the fleets throughout the country.)

Some of the class wags were suggesting beforehand that most of the first to 10th placings would be filled by lightweights, most of the 11th to 20th placings by middleweights, and most of the 21st to 30’s placings by heavyweights, but this was not the case. Whilst the regatta winners, Andrew & Cam Brown are in the lightweight category, second place getters – Mathew Stevens & Sophie James are in the heavy weight category, and third place getters, Nick & Flinn Olson are in the middleweight category.