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Results of the Season 2010/11

25. January 2012

If you are interested in reports and results in former years, please select the Year above.
Results and reports of international regattas can be found on okdia.org, the website of the OK Dinghy International Association.

New Zealand Ranking 2010/11

This has been a superb season of OK sailing, with 6 high quality contests and 46 competitors making for a superb series.

First up was the Brass Monkey Winter Champs held in Napier in Queens’ Birthday weekend last year, a superb winter contest won by Karl Purdie with Matt Steve 2nd and Alistair Deaves 3rd.

Next was the first of the summer contests, the Rum Bucket in Auckland at Labour weekend. This contest, sailed in superb sunny weather and sea breezes, was totally dominated by Luke O’Connell with 5 r ace wins, followed by Alistair Deaves in 2nd and Ben Morrison in 3rd.

In late November came the famous Turangi International Open (formerly the Turangi Worlds until ISAF’s somewhat unfortunate attack on unsanctioned contests using the word “Worlds” i n their name). Attended by a large fleet as always, Karl Purdie sailed well to conquer Turangi, followed by Ben Morrison and Mark Perrow who pushed Purdie hard in heavy breezes on the final day.

With a number of top sailors absent, the East Coast Champs in Napier was there fo r the taking, and Luke O’Connell took his second victory of the season ahead of Napier local Nigel Mannering, and Brad Douglas of Auckland.

The penultimate contest of the season was the Hurricane Classic in Wellington, and this year Karl Purdie took the win ahead of Owen Anderson and Steve McDowell, although it must be noted that the results would have differed dramatically had Paul Rhodes not suffered two OCS disqualifications as well as Luke O’Connell and Steve McDowell who suffered one each.

Finally, the NZ OK Nationals were held last weekend and won by Karl Purdie ahead of Matt Steven and Luke O’Connell.

So, in the end, Karl Purdie has taken out the coveted double, winning both the New Zealand OK Nationals and the New Zealand OK Ranking Series for the 2010/2011 season. The top 5 ranked OK sailors for the season is ro unded out by Luke O’Connell in 2nd, Alistair Deaves in 3rd, Ben Morrison in 4th and Russell Pagewood in 5th.

The NZ OK Team departs to take on Australia at the 2011 OK Interdominions in Melbourne this Easter, and we wish them all the best.

The 2011/2012 NZ OK Ranking Series will commence with the Brass Monkey in Napier at Queen’s Birthday weekend. See you there!

Many thanks to Alistair Deaves for preparing and calculating the ranking list after every regatta.

The ranking list 2010/11

Rank	Sail no	Name	Club	Points
1	NZL 531	Karl Purdie	Worser Bay BC	153
2	NZL 511	Luke O'Connell	Worser Bay BC	150
3	NZL 542	Alistair Deaves	Wakatere BC	132
4	NZL 530	Ben Morrison	Wakatere BC	128
5	NZL 526	Russell Wood	Wakatere BC	122
6	NZL 500	Nigel Mannering	Napier SC	120
7	NZL 517	Paul Rhodes	Worser Bay BC	117
8	NZL 525	Steve McDowell	Worser Bay BC	115
9	NZL 533	Rob Hengst	Napier SC	111
10	NZL 539	Brad Douglas	Wakatere BC	104
11	NZL 519	Matt Steven	Worser Bay BC	102
12	NZL 502	Trent Pryce	Napier SC	94
13	NZL 524	Matt Sretchmann	Worser Bay BC	86
14	NZL 469	Owen Anderson	Worser Bay BC	82
15	NZL 509	Marty Weeks	Napier SC	82
16	NZL 476	Mark Perrow	Wakatere BC	78
17	NZL 472	Adrian Coulthard	Napier SC	76
18	NZL 518	Josh Weeks	Napier SC	74
19	NZL 536	Marty Pike	Napier SC	73
20	RSA 32	Brett Graham	Wakatere BC	72
21	NZL 504	Adrian Mannering	Napier SC	72
22	NZL 528	Andrew Pardington	Wakatere BC	70
23	NZL 498	Jono Clough	Worser Bay BC	68
24	NZL 475	Greg Wright	Worser Bay BC	59
25	NZL 523	Joe Porebski	Worser Bay BC	48
26	NZL 515	Evert Nijzink	Napier SC	47
27	NZL 509	Chris Fenwick	Napier SC	43
28	GER 718	Peter Scheuerl	Napier SC	43
29	AUS 750	Peter Robinson	Drummoyne SC	38
30	NZL 482	Miles Addy	Wakatere BC	31
31	NZL 510	Nigel Comber	Wakatere BC	30
32	NZL 479	Kagan Weeks	Napier SC	30
33	NZL 490	Grant Pedersen	Wakatere BC	29
34	NZL 501	Michael Morrison	Wakatere BC	24
35	NZL 516	Julian Bishop	Worser Bay BC	24
36	NZL 539	John Douglas	Wakatere BC	23
37	NZL 535	Mike Wilde	Wakatere BC	19
38	NZL 478	Dan Bush	Wakatere BC	19
39	NZL 5	Miranda Powrie	Wakatere BC	18
40	NZL 2	Jake Weeks	Napier SC	17
41	NZL 478	Mark Thirkettle	YC Erica	17
42	NZL 485	Cam Scott	Napier SC	14
43	NZL 494	Ollie Steiner	Napier SC	12
44	NZL 466	Rowdy	Worser Bay BC	11
45	NZL 372	Graham Arcus	Wakatere BC	11
46	NZL 467	Matt Perry	Napier SC	10

2011 Brass Monkey Championship

Napier, Hawke's Bay

4-5 June

2011 Brass Monkey Championship

Place	Name	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	R7	tot	net
1	K Purdie	1	1	1	1	2	8	5	19	11
2	L O'Connell	5	2	3	2	1	4	1	18	13
3	N Mannering	2	3	2	3	4	1	3	18	14
4	B Morrison	3	5	4	5	7	3	2	29	22
5	S McDowell	4	4	5	6	3	7	4	33	26
6	C Fenwick	14	7	11	7	5	2	7	53	39
7	J Porebski	15	6	7	4	6	17	9	64	47
8	T Pryce	10	8	9	8	12	12	6	65	53
9	R Pagewood	6	9	6	10	11	15	21	78	57
10	P Scheuerl	9	10	12	11	9	6	21	78	57
11	G Pedersen	12	15	8	9	13	10	8	75	60
12	A Mannering	7	13	16	13	10	11	12	82	66
13	J Weeks	17	14	13	15	8	9	10	86	69
14	M Weeks	8	11	10	16	15	19	14	93	74
15	B Graham	13	16	14	12	16	14	11	96	80
16	A Coulthard	18	17	18	17	14	5	21	110	89
17	M Pike	16	18	17	14	17	13	13	108	90
18	D Bush	11	12	15	18	18	18	21	113	92
19	Ed - GBR 718	19	19	19	19	20	20	15	131	111
20	NZL498	20	21	21	21	21	21	16	141	120

The Brass Monkey Championship is the main winter event for the OK class in New Zealand, and is always popular. 2011 was no exception, with 21 boats competing and no quarter asked or given on the water.

This year was notable mainly because it marked the final OK regatta for current world champion Karl Purdie, who is leaving us to campaign for the Finn Masters world title.

Day 1 was forecast to blow from the NE and build from 15 knots up to around 25 knots fairly rapidly. As is often the case in Napier, it didn’t happen and we had a great day’s sailing in breeze ranging from 10-15 knots, with few passing lanes upwind, a moderate swell and long reaches rewarding downwind speed above all.

Four one-hour races were held back-to-back, a real test of endurance for those sailors who had expected an easy winter sail, and it played right into the hands of the ultra-fit Purdie, who smashed everyone and took four victories in a truly impressive display. The biggest surprise of the day came from Napier veteran Nigel Mannering, in the wilderness for the past few years but seemingly coming from nowhere to post a 2-3-2-3 scorecard. On reflection, Mannering has always been known for his downwind speed and has probably sailed more miles in those particular conditions than anyone else in the fleet, and so in hindsight he was always going to be dangerous. The increasingly consistent Luke O’Connell performed well as expected, as usual making most of his gains on the reaches, his 5-2-3-2 day putting him solidly in 3rd, while Ben Morrison and Steve McDowell rounded out the top 5, with a big gap back to 6th.

Day 2 was bright and sunny, with patchy, difficult breezes veering from NE and NW and ranging from 5-10 knots. Three races were sailed to complete a full seven-race series.

In Race 5, Luke O’Connell led around the first mark and turned on the after-burners on the reaches, extending out to a massive lead which was never seriously challenged. Purdie sailed around the course on his own to take 2nd while Steve McDowell took 3rd (and sailed into 4th overall).

Race 6 was run in an increasingly unstable breeze, and Nigel Mannering led the first triangle, only to be caught up the next beat (by Morrison and Napier’s returned prodigal son Chris Fenwick), then regain his lead just before the top mark and hold on to the finish with Morrison 2nd and Fenwick 3rd. A raised fist and cry of joy from Mannering showed just how much the well-earned bullet meant to him.

Towards the end of Race 6 the wobbly NE breeze was compromised increasingly by gusts from the NNW, and Race 7 began in a NNE breeze that, frankly, could have gone either way. Mannering and Morrison headed left from the start and came out in front with a big margin over the rest of the fleet. O’Connell fought his way clear of the main bunch and almost closed the gap on the leaders by the bottom, taking the lead with a sensational right-hand gamble up the beat and then holding off a series of challenges until the finish to take a tight victory over Morrison and Mannering, as well as 2nd overall and the coveted Tiki.

It was an uncharacteristic final day for Purdie with results of 2-8-5, and this was no doubt due to the emotion brought on by his impending departure from the class. In any event, he did just enough to win his last OK regatta (and third consecutive Brass Monkey) by 2 points over O’Connell in 2nd. Mannering took the bronze in a sensational performance, while Morrison was 4th and McDowell 5th.

Throughout the contest all competitors were well looked after, with excellent meals at the Napier Sailing Club on Friday and Saturday, an even better prize-giving dinner at the Gin Trap on Sunday, and a great entertainment programme for the wives and families.

Special thanks must go to:

• the race committee who did a superb job and ran seven competitive races in trying conditions;
• our event sponsors The Gin Trap, NZ sailing, Raisyes, Settler wines, Ocean Spa and Monkeys Fist Yachting; and
• event organiser Marty Weeks, without whom the Brass Monkey would not happen.

We wish Karl Purdie all the best with his Finn campaign. As always, Purdie arrived at the 2011 Brass Monkey fit, with his boat tuned and his mind focussed on winning. The NZ fleet will all need to be careful that, with Purdie gone, they do not let standards slip. Even without taking Purdie’s results into account the NZ fleet currently dominates world OK sailing by any measure, and that is not a position that we want to lose.

2011 National Championships

Gisborne, Poverty Bay

4-6 March Article in the Gisborne Herald
Pictures from the Gisborne Herald

Pictures by Luke O'Connell

2011 National Championship

Place	Name	Club	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	R7	Points
1	Karl Purdie	Worser Bay BC	1	1	2	2	5	8	1	12
2	Matt Steven	Worser Bay BC	2	9	3	4	4	1	2	16
3	Luke O'Connell	Worser Bay BC	5	6	4	3	1	2	5	20
4	Steve McDowell	Worser Bay BC	9	7	6	5	2	3	3	26
5	Ben Morrison	Wakatere BC	4	5	9	7	12	5	6	36
6	Russell Pagewood	Wakatere BC	8	3	1	11	16	6	10	39
7	Andrew Pardington	Wakatere BC	6	2	7	12	7	18	7	41
8	Matt Stechman	Worser Bay BC	7	8	10	8	15	10	30	58
9	Paul Rhodes	Worser Bay BC	30	30	5	9	8	4	4	60
10	Nigel Mannering	Napier SC	11	12	8	1	18	15	14	61
11	Alistair Deaves	Wakatere BC	15	16	12	19	3	12	8	66
12	Rob Hengst	Napier SC	12	13	15	10	6	20	12	68
13	Brad Douglas	Wakatere BC	3	4	30	6	19	7	30	69
14	Owen Anderson	Worser Bay BC	10	10	14	13	14	11	11	69
15	Trent Pryce	Napier SC	13	11	13	17	10	17	30	81
16	Peter Robinson	Drummoyne SC	14	18	17	15	11	22	9	84
17	Marty Weeks	Napier SC	16	14	16	14	17	13	13	86
18	Jono Clough	Worser Bay BC	20	17	19	22	13	9	15	93
19	Chris Fenwick	Napier SC	19	22	21	18	9	16	17	100
20	Joe Porebski	Worser Bay BC	17	19	11	16	22	21	30	106
21	Adrian Coulthard	Napier SC	22	20	18	20	20	14	18	110
22	Brett Graham	Wakatere BC	21	15	23	21	24	19	16	115
23	Martin Pike	Napier SC	18	21	20	23	23	30	30	135
24	Evert Nijzink	Napier SC	30	30	22	24	21	30	30	157
25	Nigel Comber	Wakatere BC	30	30	30	25	25	30	30	170
26	Josh Weeks	Napier SC	30	30	30	30	30	30	30	180
27	Mark Perrow	Wakatere BC	30	30	30	30	30	30	30	180
28	Michael Morrison	Wakatere BC	30	30	30	30	30	30	30	180
29	Grant Pedersen	Wakatere BC	30	30	30	30	30	30	30	180

Last Thursday the New Zealand OK fleet arrived at Gisborne for the 2011 OK Nationals, which have not been held there for a number of decades. This represents part of the OK fleet’s on-going growth in New Zealand and willingness to hold national championships outside of the traditional OK strongholds of Auckland, Napier and Wellington. That will continue in 2012 with the first South Island OK nationals in many years to be held at Lyttelton Yacht Club.

Once again the fleet was very strong, although at 29 it was reduced somewhat from 2010’s pre-worlds nationals in Wellington. Current World Champion Karl Purdie (Wellington) had been training at the venue for the best part of a week leading up to the contest, and was clearly determined to defend his national title from 2010. Luke O’Connell (Wellington) led the 2010/2011 NZ OK ranking series going into the nationals, and other strong contenders included current 2010 Worlds bronze medallist Matt Steven (Wellington) and former national champions Ben Morrison (Auckland), Russell Pagewood (Auckland), Paul Rhodes (Wellington) and Steve McDowell (Wellington).

This year’s event was shared with the NZ Javelin Nationals, which as it turned out did not affect proceedings noticeably, there being only 6 Javelins competing.

The forecast was generally for strong winds and Friday did not disappoint, producing a brisk Northerly averaging 20 knots with the occasional 30 knot gust. Race 1 started just after 1.00pm and Karl Purdie quickly took the lead and extended throughout the race to notch up a solid win, followed by Matt Steven and Auckland’s Brad Douglas. It was apparent early on that, while the race area looked fairly featureless at first glance, there were plenty of shifts and holes to play with – and the middle of the track was not paying. Race 2 was sailed in similar conditions, with Purdie dominating once more and some erratic results coming from others in the fleet. Steven found himself stuck in the wrong corner and finished 9th, while Auckland’s Andrew Pardington and Russell Pagewood sailed a solid race to take 2nd and 3rd respectively with Douglas in 4th. After Day 1 Purdie held the lead with Douglas in 2nd and Ben Morrison in 3rd (having carded a 4th and a 5th).

Day 2 began in somewhat lighter conditions than Day 1, and a shifty, patchy 5-15 knot northerly provided some extremely testing sailing throughout the three races of the day.

Race 3 was a cracker in which Douglas, Purdie and Pagewood battled furiously for the lead throughout. Douglas took an early lead and defended brilliantly under heavy pressure from Pagewood and Purdie to lead across the finish, only to find he had been over early at the start. Pagewood executed some smart tactical sailing to take Purdie at the death and take the race, while Luke O’Connell finished third.

In Race 4 the veteran Nigel Mannering, after struggling on Day 1 with his new WB sail from Finland, finally worked out how to tune it and led the entire race to take a precious nationals race victory. Immediately the word went out – “could this finally be Nige’s year??”. However, that seemed unlikely as Purdie, O’Connell and Steven took 2nd, 3rd and 4th respectively. Once again the Worser Bay OK machine was beginning to showing its dominance, while erratic performances from the Aucklanders were not helping the Wakatere cause with Douglas 6th, Morrison 7th, Pagewood 11th and Pardington 12th. The Wellington form continued in Race 5’s light and fluky conditions, with O’Connell and McDowell showing solid upwind strategy and excellent downwind technique to finish 1st and 2nd, followed by Auckland’s light air specialist Alistair Deaves in 3rd.

On Saturday evening, after the 2011 NZOKDA Annual General Meeting, Gisborne Yacht Club produced a magnificent BBQ dinner and the fleet then returned to the event sponsor Emerald Hotel for spa pools and a quiet Gisborne Gold or two. With everyone being fairly focused on the final day of competition, festivities were quite restrained – this may also have had something to do with the 25-35 knot Southerly that was expected to arrive the next morning.

Sunday dawned rainy and still, with ominous black clouds on the Southern horizon and a number of tired, nervous OK sailors hanging around the yacht club wondering what the day would bring. As it turned out, the big breeze never eventuated although a moderate sou-wester built as we made our way out onto the course. Race 6 started in around 16 knots and Douglas and Morrison shot out to an early lead, only to be cruelly punished halfway up the beat when all the early tackers hooked into a massive right-hand shift and powered to the top mark led by Purdie. Douglas had been far enough advanced to still hold onto 2nd around the first mark, and he and Purdie commenced a tight battle. Unfortunately for them, the battle was so tight that halfway up the second beat, tacking up the middle of the track, they failed to spot Steven, O’Connell, McDowell, Rhodes, Morrison and Pagewood well out to the right and once again in a big right-hand pressure line. Those six carried on to finish in that order, followed by Douglas and Purdie in 7th and 8th.

Going into the final race, Purdie held a slim lead over Steven and O’Connell and the regatta was wide open. The wind continued to strengthen and veer right, and Pagewood rounded the top mark first, followed by Pardington and Steven. By the bottom mark positions had changed somewhat and Steven held a slim lead over Purdie and McDowell, with O’Connell close behind. It all came down to the final run, where Purdie sailed a very good leg to pass Steven and hold his lead up the short beat to the finish and take his second national title. Steve finished the race second and McDowell was third.

In the final analysis, Purdie was a deserving winner with Steven 2nd, O’Connell 3rd, McDowell 4th and Morrison 5th. The Worser Bay sailors were clearly dominant, taking out 6 of the top 10 spots, with Wakatere taking 5th, 6th and 7th and only one Napier sailor scraping in at 10th.

We would like to thank Gisborne YC for hosting a fine regatta, Emerald Hotel for providing excellent accommodation at great rates, and all the competitors for making the trip and giving it their best.

2011 Hurricane Classic

Worser Bay, Wellington

29-30 January

2011 Hurricane Classic

Place	Sail No	Helm	Points	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6
1	NZL531	Karl Purdie	9	3	7	1	1	2	2
2	NZL469	Owen Anderson	17	2	9	2	2	7	4
3	NZL525	Steve McDowell	20	6	3	5	14	1	5
4	NZL517	Paul Rhodes	21	1	2	14	14	3	1
5	NZL511	Luke O'Connell	22	7	1	4	14	4	6
6	NZL523	Joe Porebski	30	5	12	3	5	9	8
7	NZL504	Adrian Mannering	31	12	5	10	8	5	3
8	NZL475	Greg Wright	31	4	4	6	9	8	14
9	NZL50	Nigel Mannering	34	11	10	7	4	6	7
10	NZL472	Adrian Coulthard	42	9	8	9	6	10	10
11	NZL502	Trent Pryce	44	8	11	8	3	14	14
12	NZL58	Chris Fenwick	48	10	6	11	7	14	14
13	NZL516	Julian Bishop	55	13	13	12	10	11	9

Worser Bay dealt a full range of conditions for this seasons Hurricane Classic which was the fourth regatta of the 2010/11 OK Dinghy summer series and the last before the Nationals.

Saturday race one saw a nice 8-10 knot northerly and it was to be a blue print for the rest of the regatta with the fleet tightly packed at each mark rounding, helped by the conditions but also the shifty breeze, it was a tight battle between the Worser Bay sailors, Paul Rhodes, Owen Anderson, Karl Purdie and Greg Wright with the top four finishing in that order.

By race two the breeze had dropped to less than 5 knots and all sailors were awaiting the forecasted southerly to come in, the race got underway in a 3 knot northerly, most of the fleet were expecting the wind to go through to the west as it usually does when a southerly is due however the breeze went through the east and this saw Luke O’Connell, Steve McDowell, and Chris Fenwick clear out from the fleet up the first beat, buy the time the leading bunch were on the reach the breeze died out completely before coming back in from the south where it continued to build to around 20knots, with the breeze back up O’Connell won from a fast charging Rhodes who was enjoying the freshening breeze closely followed by McDowell.

Race three and four got underway after a lunch break and the forecasted 30 knot southerly never eventuated with the breeze dropping to 8-12 knots with plenty of shifts and pressure lines to keep the fleet close, Rhodes despite winning a race and scoring a third on the water had two OCS results, O’Connell and McDowell who were first and second respectively in race four also were OCS. This resulted in Purdie having two wins with Anderson scoring two seconds, they were closely followed at the end of day one by Wright and Joe Porebski.

Sunday and the forecast was for ‘fresh to frightening’ 40knot northerlies, perfect Hurricane Classic conditions! Race one started in a building 22knot breeze with gust up to 25knots and Purdie, Rhodes and McDowell jumped out to a quick lead on the fleet, by the top mark for the second time it was still very close with McDowell stretching out a lead on the now very windy flat off closely followed by Purdie and Rhodes, with the top three finishing in that order.

Race six, and despite the wind now sitting around 27knots and consistent gust over 30 knots the racing was still very close, the top five boats being separated by seconds at the top mark, and it was the same at the bottom mark, all of the fleet showing great boat handling in the windy conditions. The race officer shortening the course at the bottom mark meant only a beat to the top mark for the finish and in the shifty (but windy breeze!) Rhodes sailed a very tactical beat to be closely followed by Purdie, Adrian Mannering and Anderson.

Overall the 2011 Hurricane classic was taken out by Purdie with Anderson coming in second and McDowell third; Rhodes despite carrying an OCS managed fourth and clearly had excellent speed and consistency across the range of conditions, it is just his starting that needs some work.

New Year Regatta 2011

Napier Sailing Club, Hawke Bay

1 - 3 January

New Year Regatta

Place	Skipper	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	R7	Pts	Pts-1
1	Nigel Mannering	1	2	1	3	3	3	7	20	13
2	Rob Hengst	7	1	4	1	2	5	3	23	16
3	Chris Shannon	5	3	6	7	1	2	1	25	18
4	Trent Pryce	2	9	3	OCS	6	4	4	42	28
5	Marty Weeks	3	8	7	2	5	8	5	38	30
6	Martin Pike	9	7	2	6	4	7	6	41	32
7	Chris Fenwick	DNC	DNC	8	5	7	1	2	51	37
8	Brett Graham	6	6	10	4	10	10	9	55	45
9	Cam Scott	10	OCS	5	8	6	8	8	59	45
10	John Hoogerbrug	4	4	9	OCS	11	DNC	DNC	70	56
11	Allan Cressey	11	10	11	10	12	11	DNC	79	65
12	Josh Weeks	8	5	DNC	DNC	DNC	DNC	DNC	83	69
13	Craig Moss	DNC	DNC	OCS	9	9	9	DNC	83	69

13 Competitors lined up in 12 boats for the illustrious Napier Sailing Club New Year Regatta, with this years contest also being round two of the Eastern Region Series, valuable ranking points were at stake for all.

Boats were divvied out to those keen to give the OK a try, with Napier Laser sailor Chris Shannon getting Ade Mannering’s boat, Returning OK sailor Chris Fenwick getting Josh Weeks’s boat for days 2 and 3 of the regatta, local opti dad Allan Cressey getting Chris Devine’s ‘Animal’ and Auckland Zephyr sailor Craig Moss getting one of Marty Weeks’s fleet.

New years day dawned with a sunny sky and a light SE breeze, along with a few saw heads and new year resolutions.Tthe most interesting being Marty Weeks who made the bold claim that he would not be drinking, (and would be getting fit), until after the nationals. The fact that he had woken that morning on the lounge floor with the dog may have had some influence on his decision.

Race one commenced in similar fashion to the final race of the East Coast Champs, with a light SE, with those taking the right side of the course prospering greatly and those on the left doomed to take the knock all the way back to the right side of the course. Nige Mannering led from start to finish after gaining ascendancy on the right.

Race 2 again started with a building SE, this time Rob Hengst held the trump card, starting at the boat and controlling the fleet to run away with the win. What is the New Year Regatta without a front, and two thirds of the way through the race a southerly shower came down with a bit more breeze, however once it had passed the breeze dropped away

Day 2 dawned hot and sunny and with a light sea breeze, racing got underway on time. Nige again showed his dominance with another bullet, and after three races was dominating the series, (the wheels were about to come off though).

Race 4 got underway in the strongest breeze of the regatta, and Rob and Nige pulled away from the rest of the fleet. Rob lead round the top and wing marks, with Nige getting through at the bottom mark, after splitting tacks up the beat, they came together again at the top with Nige having the most slender of leads. Nige pulled away on the flat off and seemed to have the race sewn up with only the beat to the finish. As Rob tacked on the lay line for the finish he looked over his shoulder to see Nige still heading off in the other direction surrounded by 150 opti’s P’s and Starlings, Rob finished half a meter in front of Trent who had made huge gains up the other side of the course, followed by Marty Weeks, with Nige reaching in for fourth across the line.

Race 5 saw a dieing sea breeze and a big early lead from Nige and Chris, then Nige’s second blunder of the day, when he capsized 2/3rds of the way up the first beat trying to open his venturi!! Chris made the most of the advantage and sailed away for the win.

Day 3 and more light sea breezes, Races 6 and 7 belonged to the two Chris’s with a 1st and a 2nd apiece.

With three boats in contention, Race 8 would decide the regatta. The race officer set a simple Triangle course with a short beat to the finish. Rob got the best of the starts and lead round the top mark in a constantly dieing breeze, Chris blew any chances of taking the title when he tried to force his way in at the top mark, and was forced to tack away by Nige. So with a slim lead over Trent, Chris Fenwick and Nige, Rob lead down both reach’s, rounding the bottom mark in 1st with Nige back in 4th. With the curse of “Turtle” hanging over him, and the title potentially gone, luck was on Nige’s side, with the wind know all but gone and the fleet aimlessly drifting about the race officer blew the race up and sent the fleet home, much to the disgust of Marty Pike, who’s German lake sailing skills had come to the fore as he had sailed from the back of the fleet to be within meters of the finish when the race officer abandoned the race. So Nige had taken out his first New Year Regatta in 8 years, Rob had claimed 2nd, and new boy Chris Shannon taking out 3rd and the unwanted title of first on handicap.

East Coast Championship 2010

Napier Sailing Club, Hawke Bay

27 - 28 November

East Coast Championship

Place	Skipper	Sail No	Club	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	R7	Pts-1
1	Luke O'Connell	NZL 511	Worser Bay BC	2	6	5	1	2	4	5	19
2	Nigel Mannering	NZL 500	Napier SC	6	2	1	3	3	5	6	20
3	Brad Douglas	NZL 539	Wakatere BC	18	7	2	2	9	1	1	22
4	Adrian Mannering	NZL 504	Napier SC	3	1	3	9	11	3	7	26
5	Paul Rhodes	NZL 531	Worser Bay BC	11	5	6	4	7	2	2	26
6	Alistair Deaves	NZL 542	Wakatere BC	4	10	8	6	1	8	4	31
7	Greg Wright	NZL 475	Worser Bay BC	7	15	4	8	10	12	3	44
8	Mark Perrow	NZL 502	Wakatere BC	14	4	9	5	13	7	11	49
9	Peter Scheuerl	GER 718	Napier SC	5	9	7	10	14	6	12	49
10	Owen Andersen	NZL 469	Worser Bay BC	9	14	11	11	4	9	9	53
11	Jono Clough	NZL 498	Worser Bay BC	12	8	10	13	5	13	10	58
12	Josh Weeks	NZL 479	Napier SC	1	3	12	20	8	20	20	64
13	Rob Hengst	NZL 533	Napier SC	13	13	15	7	12	11	8	64
14	Marty Weeks	NZL 509	Napier SC	8	19	14	12	20	10	13	76
15	Cam Scott	NZL 485	Napier SC	17	17	13	16	6	15	20	84
16	Adrain Coulthard	NZL 472	Napier SC	10	16	18	15	16	16	15	88
17	Marty Pike	NZL 536	Napier SC	19	11	16	20	15	18	14	93
18	Evert Nijzink	NZL 515	Napier SC	16	12	19	17	17	17	16	95
19	Brett Graham	RSA 32	Wakatere BC	15	18	17	14	18	14	20	96

With a forecast of a light southerly and a 2.5 metre swell the scene was set for an interesting and unpredictable East Coast champs.
19 Competitors hit the water on Saturday morning, in light southerly conditions and a rolling swell, after an on the water postponment racing got underway in a light south easterly breeze. “CB” carried on his form, from Turangi taking out Race 1 after leading at every mark, the final short beat to the finish set the scene for the regatta though, with the breeze shifting to the NE and places changing dramatically in the last 500 metres.
So with a light breeze shifting between Sou easterly and Nor easterly throughout the day four races were completed.
Ade Mannering took out Race 2 with a classic “Napier Rules” manouvere, start at the boat, tack immediately after the start and head for the hill. He was followed home across the line by fellow NSC members Nige and “CB”.
Race 3 saw Nige Mannering hitting the left hand side of the course up the first beat, breaking every “Napier Rule” to win the race by the largest margin of any in the series.
Race 4 Saw the closest of finishes with Brad and Luke knocking heads all the way round the course, with Luke taking the win after pushing Brad up into the finish boat.
At the end of the day the “Old Grey Ghost” lead the fleet on the scoreboard and had the honour of wearing the HB jersey, he was closely followed by the Tiki wearing “Fantastic Mr Foxx”.

After gaining one bonus point in Turangi for his kayaking performance, Joe turned up to his second regatta without his boat, this time getting out in a rib, (-2). Stetchy turned up for a beer at the club at the end of the day, (-1). Steve, after rigging his boat on the Friday night, hadn’t shown on Saturday morning, and was packed and gone when the rest of the fleet came ashore at the end of the day, (-5).

The evenings festivities took place at Martys place, and under the watchful eye of wife Susie there was little chance of him repeating the previous weekends performance, (3 broken ribs). The bucket did however come out early in the evening, and was partaken by all.

With an onshore postponment Sundays racing began with a leisurely few hours hanging around the club, followed by an on the water postponment waiting for the seabreeze to come in.
Race 5 finally got underway with a light seabreeze, which steadily built throughout the race. Alistair got away in the light conditions and managed to hold of the chasing pack as the breeze built to take the bullet.
Brad took out Race 6, the windiest of the regatta with ease from Gouch and Ade. Brad and Gouch had both broken the “Napier Rules” to take the top two places, but the right of the course was starting to pay.
Race 7 saw the course set under the shadow of bluff hill, and with the fleet all trying to start at the boat and be the first to tack away for the right side of the course, Bubble pulled of a dramatic port tack start, crossing the entire fleet. Brad however got the boat start and sailed of to the hill and the win. The second beat showed the importance of getting as far right on the course as physically possible, with those getting within touching distance of the Mr Wippy van on the beach making the biggest gains.

After 7 Challenging races “The Fantastic Mr Foxx” had taken the regatta from the “Old Grey Ghost”, followed by Brad Douglas, who was probably rueing his poor start to the regatta when he missed the start of Race 1, possibly the ringing of the previous nights U2 concert in his ears deafened him to the sound of the starters horn.

Turangi International Open OK Championship 2010

Turangi Sailing Club, Lake Taupo

20 - 21 November     

Turangi International Open

Place	Skipper	Sail No	Club	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	Pts-1
1	Karl Purdie	NZL 531	Worser Bay BC	2	1	1	1	3	5
2	Ben Morrison	NZL 530	Wakatere BC	5	3	2	3	5	13
3	Mark Perrow	NZL 476	Wakatere BC	9	10	3	2	2	16
4	Mr Foxx	NZL 511	Worser Bay BC	11	4	4	4	4	16
5	Alistair Deaves	NZL 542	Wakatere BC	7	2	7	9	1	17
6	Rob Hengst	NZL 533	Napier SC	3	6	10	6	6	21
7	Josh Weeks	NZL 479	Napier SC	1	5	12	8	10	24
8	Mike Wilde	NZL 535	Wakatere BC	4	7	8	12	12	31
9	Brett Graham	RSA 32	Wakatere BC	8	17	9	5	9	31
10	Grant Pedersen	NZL 490	Wakatere BC	10	11	6	11	7	34
11	Russell Wood	NZL 526	Wakatere BC	6	13	5	13	12	36
12	Trent Pryce	NZL 502	Napier SC	12	9	11	13	12	44
13	Marty Pike	NZL 536	Napier SC	15	14	13	10	8	45
14	Miles Addy	NZL 482	Wakatere BC	13	8	16	13	12	46
15	Adrian Coulthard	NZL 472	Napier SC	14	16	15	7	11	47
16	Marty Weeks	NZL 509	Napier SC	16	15	14	13	12	54
17	Adrian Mannering	NZL 504	Napier SC	17	15	14	13	12	54

With very light winds and rain forecast for the whole weekend for this year’s Turangi International Open OK Championship, none of the 19 competitors were expecting to have to work too hard. But in reality, this is one of those times of the year, between January and December, when the weather forecasters (even the pay sites) really have no idea what is going on.

The weekend began in the traditional manner with a small group launching a ruthless and high quality assault on the Magical Travelling Bucket of Fun on Friday evening (and early Saturday morning), and a number of weary and aching heads (with nauseous bodies attached) arrived at the iconic Turangi Yacht Club ready for the first races. A light breeze was blowing and the early rain had stopped. The forecasters looked to be right. However, as per usual, they weren’t.

Race 1 got underway in about 5 knots. The usually favoured right hand side didn’t pay for most (except for Grant Pedersen and Ben Morrison who smacked the right-hand corner hard and came back from extremely deep to round the mark with the front bunch), and Josh Weeks came out of the left to round first with a huge lead that he didn’t lose. With the wind dying the race was shortened after one lap, and Weeks held on for the win with Karl Purdie taking 2nd and Rob Hengst kicking of his regatta strongly with a 3rd.

Race 2 started in similar conditions but began with a big right hand shift for those who had tacked immediately after the start, and then a massive 90 degree left hander near the top mark, again favouring those on the left. Purdie, Alistair Deaves and Morrison sailed the classic zig-zag of right to left and rounded the top mark 1st, 2nd and 3rd respectively. The next 3 legs were reaches and so positions didn’t change.

When all the boats had finished race 2 the wind died completely and then the sun came out so the fleet made its way back to the beach to wait. They waited and waited but the day just got hotter with no sign of a breeze. By 3 o’clock, with no sign of any wind filling in, and a few beers downed, the pin was pulled and the evening’s festivities at the Morrison bach got underway with a magnificent BBQ catered for by Mike Wilde and Trent Pryce (with first class salad and vegetable preparation provided by the WAGs).

With somewhat clearer heads the fleet arrived at the club on Sunday morning to find a nice 8 knot breeze and clear skies. Maybe the forecasters were right today? Not so. As the fleet launched, the wind died completely before coming back from the south west at 15 and then 20 knots. During the next 2 races the wind approached 25 knots and was the typical blustery shifty Turangi breeze that picked up a large short chop very quickly.

An early casualty was Miles Addy who, after capsizing before the first start, dislocated his shoulder while trying to get back into his boat. The rescue boat was some distance away, and so entered the hero of the day Karl Purdie. With selfless regard for his own regatta, gear and safety, Purds jumped into the water and let his boat drift off, swam to Miles, pulled Miles’ boat up, hauled Miles back onto it (if you have ever met Miles you will understand what a Herculean effort that was), pulled his sail down and secured it. Once Miles was under tow and on his way ashore (where an ambulance took him off to be mended), Karl got back to his own boat, righted it and proceeded to win two races in a row in 25 knots. A fantastic effort from Karl and one that exemplifies the spirit of our class and the NZ fleet in particular. A nice touch was that, although the start sequence for the first race of the day expired while Purdie was engaged in rescuing Miles, the rest of the fleet refused to start the race until Purds was ready. Good sporting stuff all round.

Wally set a large single lap course for the day that was, in the words of one A. Deaves, “really a big boys benefit”. With the wind and waves up it was hard upwind and just phenomenal off-wind. Purdie won the first in his customary style after coming from well back to take the lead downwind, with Morrison 2nd and Perrow 3rd. Russ Page-Wood had been 2nd after the bottom mark after leading for most of the race, but one of his long-suffering hiking straps gave up on him at that point and he did well to finish 5th in the windy conditions.

Halfway up the beat on the second race the wind started shifting around. Mark Perrow made the best of it and rounded clear ahead from Morrison. With the wind over 25 knots an exciting run ensued with gear breakages and plenty of swimming at the back of the fleet. Once again Purdie caught up at the bottom with excellent boat handling and squeezed inside Perrow and Morrison on the gybe to take the lead and hold it to the finish for his second win of the day.

The wind eased considerably for the start of the last race allowing Deaves to port tack the fleet and take an early lead. Deaves held the lead at the top in the increasingly unstable breeze, closely followed by Marty Pike and Morrison. Halfway down the run the breeze came back to 20 knots allowing Deaves to extend just enough to hold off the big boys on the final beat, finishing just half a boat length in front of Perrow.

Overall Purdie was again dominant, taking the Turangi World Trophy and the Golden Trout for 2010. Morrison took the Silver Trout and Perrow took the Bronze Trout on count-back after finishing on equal points with Luke “Fantastic Mr Foxx” O’Connell. Just one point further back, Deaves rounded out the top 5.

So ended yet another excellent contest run by Wally and his team at the Turangi Sailing Club.

It must be noted that Joe Porebski attended the event, albeit with the wrong type of boat (a canoe), and was the last man standing on Saturday night. For this he is awarded 1 point on the ranking list.

After 3 events on the ranking list, Deaves’ lead has been cut to 2 points from O’Connell, with Morrison 15 points off the lead and just in front of Purdie. The next event is the East Coast Champs, to be held next weekend at Napier.

Wairoa River Regatta 2010

Wairoa Sailing Club

13 - 14 November

Wairoa River Regatta

Place	Skipper	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	R7	Pts-1
1	Trent Pryce	1	1	1	1	1	DNC	2	7
2	Rob Hengst	2	3	3	OCS	2	3	1	14
3	Marty Weeks	3	4	4	2	4	2	3	18
4	Adrian Coulthard	4	2	2	OCS	3	4	4	19
5	Colin Shanks	DNC	DNC	DNC	DNC	DNC	1	DNC	31

The River Rat is born in Wairoa

The Fantastic Mr. Fox may have dominated proceedings at Wakatere, but the Wairoa River Regatta has thrown up it’s own star with Trent, “The River Rat” Pryce cleaning up the first regatta in the Eastern Region Series.

Four Napier OK sailors headed to Wairoa on the Saturday morning for a seven race series. For all of us it was our first experience of sailing on the river, and an interesting experience it was too.

Four races were held on the Saturday in a shifty sea breeze. With a start line set off the clubhouse, and the RO sitting at the window of the club, controlling all aspects of racing.

With a combined start of OKs, Lasers, and a Topper Topaz the first race commenced on the high tide with the fleet unable to lay the start on starboard. Rob made the most of the situation, starting on port and ducking between two Lasers to take a good early lead round the first mark. However, “The River Rat” made his move not long after the wing mark as the breeze dropped and the fleet became caught up with the trailer yachts who had started 5 minutes earlier. Once he had snuck through he showed a clean pair of heels to take the win. The next three starts of the day all commenced with the fleet starting on port with an outgoing tide. This resulted in a large number of individual recalls and OCS’s.

Race 2 featured the closest finish of the regatta with 5 seconds between 1st and 3rd. A quick beer for lunch, and we were back out on the water for the final two races of the day. Through it all “The River Rat” kept on getting it correct on the start line, or if he trailed the fleet, picking the correct side of the river, to stay out of the tide. So, with four bullets for the day, “The River Rat” proudly wore the HB Jersey through the evening as we consumed beer, the huge BBQ put on by the club, and chatted with the Gisborne sailors around the fire.

Day two dawned with a Nor Westerly and the River Race, to start proceedings. With the obligatory port tack start all four OKs lead at some stage as they headed for the bend in the river and the bridge. Once round the bend, “The River Rat” pulled away in the shifty/gusty conditions. On the way back from the bridge the breeze dropped as the sea breeze tried to come in and “The River Rat” took his fifth bullet.

For race six, “The River Rat” handed his boat over to Colin Shanks of Gisborne, who went on to win the race after a tough battle with Marty.

“The River Rat” did not fare so well in Colin’s Laser, finishing mid fleet to a bunch of old men.

Race seven saw the slight chance of being able to lay the start on starboard and Rob took his opportunity. However, with 5 seconds to go he was pushed over the line by the tide. Quickly ducking down below the line and tacking on to port right on the pin saw Rob to weather of the fleet. Making the most of the small lifts, he eeked out a lead at the top mark, which he held to the finish in the dying breeze. “The River Rat” had won the regatta but lost his mojo sailing the fish bin.

A great weekend was had by the OK boys at a small rural club, where possibly every club member was either on the water competing or officiating, the local ITM providing prizes for all.

2010 Rum Bucket

Wakatere Boating Club, Auckland

23 - 24 October     

2010 Rum Bucket

Place	Skipper	Sail No	Club	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	R7	Pts-1
1	Luke O'Connell	NZL 511	Worser Bay	1	1	1	4	1	1	3	8
2	Alistair Deaves	NZL 542	Wakatere BC	4	2	3	1	3	3	1	13
3	Ben Morrison	NZL 530	Wakatere BC	5	4	8	3	6	6	2	26
4	Russell Wood	NZL 526	Wakatere BC	2	3	12	11	2	5	4	27
5	John Douglas	NZL 539	Wakatere BC	7	6	5	2	4	4	7	28
6	Paul Rhodes	NZL 535	Worser Bay	6	8	10	6	5	2	6	33
7	Mark Perrow	NZL 476	Wakatere BC	8	7	4	5	7	12	8	39
8	Adian Coulthard	NZL 472	Napier SC	10	11	6	10	8	8	9	51
9	Marty Pike	NZL 536	Napier SC	9	10	7	9	9	10	18	54
10	Miles Addy	NZL 482	Wakatere BC	11	13	9	12	10	8	10	60
11	Mark Thirkettle	NZL 478	SY Erica	14	9	11	7	12	14	13	66
12	Miranda Powrie	NZL 528	Wakatere BC	3	5	2	19	19	19	19	67
13	Brett Graham	RSA 32	Wakatere BC	12	12	14	11	14	7	18	70
14	Andrew Pardington	NZL 528	Wakatere BC	19	19	19	8	11	11	5	73
15	Julian Bishop	NZL 516	Worser Bay	15	15	13	13	13	13	11	78
16	Michael Morrison	NZL 501	Wakatere BC	13	14	15	14	15	15	12	83
17	Graham Arcus	NZL 372	Wakatere BC	16	16	16	16	16	16	14	94
18	Nigel Comber	NZL 510	Wakatere BC	17	17	18	15	17	17	18	101

Fantastic Mr Fox Dominates 2010 Rum Bucket

During Labour Weekend (on 23 and 24 October) the highly anticipated 2010 Rum Bucket was held at Wakatere Boating Club on Auckland’s North Shore. As expected, Auckland turned on some incredible weather and great sailing conditions, and all seven scheduled races were run in fine style by Principal Race Officer Dean Coleman (who is also Commodore of Wakatere).

Saturday morning dawned fine and clear, with a cool, light, patchy south-westerly breeze.

Race 1 got underway in a light sou-wester, and with a heavy pin-end bias on the start line and a strong left-to-right tide flowing, whoever could claim the pin and tack early was always going to be looking strong. Luke “Mr Fox” O’Connell managed it the best and led the whole way to win Race 1, followed by Russ Wood in 2nd and Miranda Powrie in 3rd. New Zealand’s No.1 Olympic prospect in the Laser Radial, Powrie was a great addition to our fleet and in her element in the light breeze, putting on an impressive performance considering it was her first time in an OK. Race 2 was virtually a repeat of Race 1, again totally dominated by O’Connell with Alistair Deaves in 2nd and Wood in 3rd. In Race 3 the breeze picked up a little but was still very patchy, and the three light-air specialists revelled in the conditions once more, with O’Connell rounding off a stellar opening day with his third victory, followed by Powrie in 2nd and Deaves in 3rd.

So, after day one of the Rum Bucket, O’Connell led with three wins, Deaves was in 2nd and Powrie in 3rd. The fleet were treated to a fine BBQ dinner at the yacht club, followed by some delicious rumpos (generously scooped from the NZOKDA travelling rum bucket, which is not to be confused with the Rum Bucket trophy).

Day 2 was scheduled for 4 races and was a glorious Auckland day yet again. The fleet put to sea at 12pm with a nice sea breeze filling in, which started at around 8 knots and increased to a nice 14 or 15 knots by the end of Race 7.

Race 4 was led from start to finish by Deaves, who was first to the clearly favoured right hand side after the start and extended his lead from there through some excellent downwind sailing. John Douglas sailed an impressive race to take 2nd, particularly so when you consider that John has not sailed single-handed dinghies since his glory days in the Finn some 30 years ago (including a 10th in the 1980 Gold Cup). Ben Morrison was 3rd. In Race 5 O’Connell came storming back, taking the lead on the reaches and never relinquishing it, while Wood showed good pace in the relatively light breeze to take 2nd and Deaves was 3rd. Race 6 was yet another display of speed sailing by O’Connell, taking his 5th victory of the series – something we haven’t seen in the competitive New Zealand fleet for a very long time. Paul Rhodes, finally finding some form in a borrowed boat, sailed well to take 2nd and the ever-consistent Deaves was 3rd. And in the final race (O’Connell having already won the series) Deaves took 1st, Morrison was 2nd and O’Connell 3rd.

So, in the end, Luke O’Connell showed devastating form to comprehensively win the 2010 Rum Bucket, followed by Alistair Deaves in 2nd and Ben Morrison in 3rd.

A big vote of thanks must go to Wakatere Boating Club, Dean Coleman and his assistants for hosting and running a superb regatta. Thanks also to Russ Wood and Mark Perrow for doing the bulk of the organisation, and to our regatta sponsors Harken, Magic Marine and BRG Consulting who donated some superb prizes and refreshments. Great regattas like this cannot happen without the time and support of people like these.

The 2010 Brass Monkey Regatta

Napier Sailing Club, Napier

5 - 6 June     

The 2010 Brass Monkey Regatta

Place	Sail No	Skipper	Club	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	Pts	Pts-1
1	531	Karl Purdie	WBBC	2.0	2.0	1.0	1.0	6.0	12.0	6.0
2	519	Matt Steven	RPNYC/WBBC	4.0	1.0	3.0	3.0	11.0	22.0	11.0
3	542	Alistair Deaves	Wakatere	1.0	4.0	14.0	12.0	1.0	32.0	18.0
4	539	Bradley Douglas	Wakatere	3.0	10.0	9.0	2.0	4.0	28.0	18.0
5	525	Steve McDowell	WBBC	12.0	18.0	2.0	5.0	2.0	39.0	21.0
6	524	Mattr Stechman	WBBC	5.0	11.0	4.0	4.0	12.0	36.0	24.0
7	511	Luke O'Connell	RPNYC/WBBC	7.0	3.0	8.0	7.0	10.0	35.0	25.0
8	509	Kagen Weeks	NSC	9.0	6.0	DNS	19.0	3.0	66.0	37.0
9	50	Nigel Mannering	NSC	21.0	16.0	6.0	8.0	7.0	58.0	37.0
10	533	Rob Hengst	NSC	8.0	8.0	17.0	14.0	8.0	55.0	38.0
11	502	Trent Price	NSC	11.0	14.0	10.0	11.0	9.0	55.0	41.0
12	498	Jono Clough	WBBC	6.0	9.0	20.0	18.0	17.0	70.0	50.0
13	518	Josh Weeks	NSC	14.0	7.0	19.0	15.0	14.0	69.0	50.0
14	526	Russell Page-Wood	WBBC	13.0	19.0	11.0	10.0	DNS	82.0	53.0
15	718	Peter Scheuerl	NSC	19.0	12.0	13.0	13.0	15.0	72.0	53.0
16	475	Greg Wright	WBBC	23.0	21.0	15.0	16.0	5.0	80.0	57.0
17	504	Adrian Mannering	NSC	DNC	DNC	7.0	6.0	16.0	87.0	58.0
18	5	Marty Weeks	NSC	26.0	13.0	16.0	21.0	13.0	89.0	63.0
19	478	Dan Bush	Wakatere	17.0	25.0	5.0	17.0	DNF	93.0	64.0
20	530	Ben Morrison	Wakatere	15.0	DSQ	12.0	9.0	DNS	94.0	65.0
21	02	Jake Weeks	NSC	10.0	5.0	OCS	24.0	DNS	97.0	68.0
22	536	Martin Pike	NSC	16.0	15.0	21.0	20.0	18.0	90.0	69.0
23	472	Adrian Coulthard	NSC	20.0	17.0	18.0	23.0	19.0	97.0	74.0
24	515	Evert Nijzink	NSC	22.0	26.0	22.0	22.0	20.0	112.0	86.0
25	7	Brett Graham	Wakatere	25.0	20.0	23.0	25.0	22.0	115.0	90.0
26	494	Ollie Steiner	NSC	18.0	22.0	25.0	27.0	DNS	121.0	92.0
27	466	Rowdy	RPNYC/EBYMBC	27.0	24.0	24.0	26.0	21.0	122.0	95.0
28	467	Matt Perry	NSC	24.0	23.0	DNS	DNS	DNS	134.0	105.0

Report by Ben Morrison

The second annual Brass Monkey Regatta took place at Napier over Queen’s Birthday weekend and attracted a stunning turnout of 28 boats including a few new faces. The forecast was for similar conditions to last year with little wind on the Saturday and a winter gale on the Sunday. In reality there was some very good and close racing in tricky conditions.

After a cold frost on Friday night, the sailors arrived to find a thick layer of ice on all the boats on Saturday morning, and we realised that there is a reason why this regatta is called the Brass Monkey. However, the sun was out so no one minded. The race committee kept the fleet ashore until 1.00pm when a 5 knot easterly breeze developed in the bay and everyone was sent out to race.

The first race, just a windward/leeward/windward course, started in a light breeze with most of the fleet choosing the right hand side of the course. Alistair Deaves (known as “Devious” for his light air cunning) in his latest new boat found a few nice shifts up the middle and rounded clear ahead from World Champion Karl Purdie and Brad Douglas. While the fleet closed up on the long run, Deaves’ lead was never seriously challenged.

Race 2 was held in similar conditions but with the breeze dying slightly. This time it was Junior World Champion Matt Stevens who found the best route and led around the top from Purdie and Luke O’Connell. The run became a very broad reach and places stayed more or less the same until the finish. One notable battle was between the three Weeks brothers for places 5-7, with the youngest Jake winning from brothers Kagan and Josh.

With the breeze almost gone and the light fading the fleet was then sent ashore, meaning that Stevens would take out the sacred Tiki and wear it for the evening with the blessing of the OK Kaumatuas. And what an evening it would be.

After 2 or 3 cold beers, at just 5.00pm Mr. Stechmann broke out the Rum Bucket and Mr Morrison filled it with rum - and a classic OK evening was under way.

While the fleet had of course distinguished itself on the water with our usual high level of racing, at this year’s Brass Monkey the off-the-water performance was particularly impressive. This was our first regatta since the 2010 Worlds campaign, and therefore our first regatta in a long while without Worlds qualification/preparation to think about. Any thoughts of restraint on Saturday night were therefore entirely absent. After numerous “Buckies” and some huge steaks, the fleet was ready to hit town having only suffered a few casualties. Mr Stechmann was one; after leading the charge for most of the early part of the evening his spirit was broken when the Napier Sailing Club expelled his faithful dog Ralph, and he departed the scene. Mr Purdie and Mr McDowell also faded at that point (having brought their wives) and some of the juniors decided the pace was too hot and bailed out. The remainder of the fleet then hit Napier’s waterfront night spots, where Junior World Champion Matt “Munter” Steven, proudly wearing the sacred Tiki, stepped up and took out the Golden Harpoon in devastating fashion – this heralded a new high (or maybe low) for the class, as the Tiki-Harpoon double has never before been achieved in a single day. The fleet spent the rest of the evening conversing with the locals, sampling rum and tequila and toasting Mr Stevens’ efforts.

Sunday morning brought a forecast of 35 knots and huge swells, which might have tested the resolve of many after the exertions of the previous evening, however, at the club a steady 16-18 knots was blowing and the fleet suited up and put to sea. By the time Race 3 started the wind had dropped to around 15 knots, and together with a large rolling swell (which caused some inexplicable cases of seasickness), the conditions were almost perfect.

Dan Bush sailed a flawless first beat to round ahead of Purdie and the chasing pack. The first reach was awesome, with big drops and long rides available on the peaking swell. Purdie capitalised on the waves, showing awesome off-wind speed to lead by the wing mark and then to the finish.

Race 4 was sailed in similar conditions with the wind dropping off slightly towards the end of the race and again going left. This time Purdie made no mistakes and led from start to finish in his customary style. Brad Douglas sailed another solid race as did “Whale Rider” Stevens.

With the wind still dropping and black clouds on the horizon, the final race got underway. Again most of the fleet again went to the right side of the course. Steve McDowell and Deaves went left and then tacked and were lifted right up to the top mark. McDowell rounded first followed by Deaves and Kagan Weeks. The first reach turned into a fetch and Deaves took the lead which he never gave up – another victory (and the sacred Tiki) for the Devious One in light, tricky conditions. As the black cloud passed the wind slowly filled in again allowing all the boats to finish and sail ashore.

And so Karl Purdie won his second Brass Monkey from Matt Stevens and Alistair Deaves.

The prize-giving was held at the Gin Trap bar and restaurant during the evening with an excellent buffet dinner provided. Many thanks to Monkey’s Fist Yachting for another great event and to the Gin Trap who were the principle sponsor. Thanks also to Tim Sandall and his Race Committee team who did a superb job as usual.

The event looks set to become a regular on the annual calendar and is proving so popular that even the Australians are going to have one.
Kiwis lead the way yet again!

© NZOKDA 2012 -