Young 88 One Design Keelboat fleets build to the Nationals
by Mike Leyland 11 Mar 22:04 PDT
2023 Harken Young 88 National Championships © Young88 Assoc
The national Young 88 fleet has awoken from a long Covid slumber and is shaking it off with some very successful summer events.
Young 88s @ Bay Week Jan 24 - 26
The year started with a record equalling 8 x 88s travelling North to the ever-awesome Bay of Islands Sailing Week. The sailing was brilliant and won by Harry Thurston on Danger Zone but the “Club 88 DIY Cocktail Party” was even better. Best cocktail went to the borrowed Jamiroquai - with skipper Simon Grosser aided and abetted by mates Matt Mason and Joey Allen.
More info and full results can be found at this link: www.young88.org.nz/events/190456
Young 88 Auckland Champs Feb 11
Next up was the Auckland Champs hosted by the laid back, great fun Ponsonby Cruising Club. Our very chill race offer Brian “Trubi” Trubovich oversaw racing at the top end of the range, 20-25 gusting 30kts. Seatbelts and lifejackets on! It was inspiring to see how well these boats perform and how much fun they are to sail in plenty of breeze. This event was also won by Harry Thurston on Danger Zone with a neat picket fence of 1st places even after the mother of all Chinese gybes in one race!.
More info here: www.young88.org.nz/events/192894
North Sails Young 88 Southern Champs March 2-3
Akaroa Yacht Club hosted the North Sails Southern Champs with another record equalling 15 x 88s on the start line. Day 1 was for sunbathing, swimming and cold beverages. Day 2 saw race officer Simon Cross doing a great job to get in five races. Surprise surprise, winner once again was Harry Thurston this time on Jonny Bell’s other steed Outrageous. Great to see the fast improving Pip McGregor outsail her number on Eye Spy for a first place on handicap.
More info on this one is here: www.young88.org.nz/events/192262
Nationals Preview:
The season builds to “The Nats” hosted by Bucklands Beach Yacht Club. This Young 88 marquee event has seen many of New Zealand’s top sailors names engraved on the trophy. Entry numbers serve as a bellwether for the health of the class and things are looking good with 2024’s eighteen entries the best seen since 2014.
The big question is “who can beat Dangerzone?” Karyn Drummond will be getting tired of the number two spot and will be leading the charge on Flash Gordon. Sally Garrett and crew are on a roll after winning the Flying 15 Nationals and have borrowed James Hall’s class champ boat Split Decision. We also have plenty of recent refurbs with unknown pedigrees like John and Will Cobb’s Grey Goose and Mark Nicholl’s Fatal Attraction.
For more info go to this link: www.young88.org.nz/events/188463