Brits win NZ 470 Nationals at Takapuna

by Christine Hansen, NZ 470 Assoc on 1 Feb 2011
The New Zealand 470 Nationals came to an end at Takapuna, on Auckland's North Shore, with Nick Rogers and Chris Grube of Great Britain taking out the regatta with an impressive second and three first placings.

The regatta is a prelude to the Sail Auckland ISAF Level 1 Regatta to be sailed from Takapuna Beach later this week

Second overall, and first New Zealand sailors, were Paul Snow-Hansen and Jason Saunders who loosened the grip Geoff Woolley has had on the National title for the last (at least) three years, but not totally out of the picture by any means Geoff Woolley and Dan Willcox placed third overall. The first women's crew, and fourth overall, were Jo Aleh and Olivia Powrie. At 20 years of age, Snow-Hansen and Saunders were awarded the Junior NZ Champion's Cup.

Sunshine and wild winds were the order of the day. A very fresh and very shifty offshore westerly breeze created challenging conditions for sailors and the race committee. Takapuna Boating Club's Race Officer commented in the clubrooms after racing that gusts of 35 knots were registered and the average wind speed during racing was 23 knots. 'Gnarly conditions' and 'insane' were the comments from a sailor ashore with gear damage, he also added that the very short steep chop made sailing very difficult downwind.

Crews struggled in the breeze, Aleh and Powrie capsized during a race, the spinnaker pole went flying and after swimming to retrieve it the crew had trouble righting the boat single handedly and needed outside assistance which forced them to withdraw from the race. Maloney and Barbarich-Bacher also lost their only pole during a capsize and had to manage without a spinnaker for the rest of the day, an Australian crew lost their mast early in the day, while Turner and Jones had to return to the beach with gear failure.

Nick Rogers and Chris Grube came ashore at the end of the day smiling, however they and almost every red-eyed sailor made comments like 'wasted', 'absolutely exhausted' and '*!!)*(&^' but also 'awesome to get a full regattas worth in just two days' and talked of how hard it was on their bodies sailing that many high wind races over a short period. Rogers and Grube will remain in New Zealand to take part in Sail Auckland, as will the group of young Australian sailors from Sydney. Conditions are predicted to be similar for that regatta, though a little less intense.

Another feature of this fleet were a number of young crews who are looking towards the Junior World 470 Championship to be held out of Takapuna Boating Club in January/February 2012. Luke Stevenson and Sam Bullock placed top out the crews who will be under 22 years of age to be eligible for the event. James Turner and Mathew Jones are also working towards the event and both crews are aware of reaping the benefits of sailing against, and training with, the strong group of Olympic 470 Class sailors presently in New Zealand.

Website: www.470sailing.org.nz

For full results http://www.470sailing.org.nz/470results.html!click_here