Naval Point Club played host to the 2016 Sunburst National Championships from 23rd-25th January, sailed on the waters of Lyttelton Harbour, Christchurch.
Under tricky conditions across all 3 days, RO Alison Rutherford and her team of volunteers showed great patience and immaculate judgement in managing to get 7 of the 8 races completed for the 23 entrants from around the country.
The North Island boats were always expected to perform well, and favourites Andrew & Cam Brown (Wakatere) on Vagrant, again showing their class and consistency to win all but the last race, picking up a hat-trick of titles.
The results, as always, don't tell the full story, and Brett and Harvey Linton (Worser Bay) on the borrowed Embers chasing hard into a credible second place, but not without a strong challenge from Polly Wright and Penny Linton (Worser Bay) on Rhythm & Swing who ended in 3rd, just 3pts back.
The top 5 were rounded out by Andy & Liam Richards on Plum Crazy (Wakatere) in 4th, and Matt & Emmeline Neale (Mt. Pleasant) on Sunbird in 5th, and first South Island boat.
It was great to see the high level of sailing throughout the fleet, and the fair but intense competition throughout, as always, across a huge variety of crew weights and compositions.
If sailing is the sport for life, then the Sunburst truly is the class.
Special note must be made of Race 7, the last race of the series and sailed on late Monday morning after a short onshore postponement.
With the famed Canterbury 'Norwester in full force, Lyttelton is uniquely positioned to make this particular wind direction an "interesting" environment to race in, as the wind has to make it 300 metres up and over the steep crater rim of the Port Hills, and then 300 metres back down into the harbour. With gusts recorded peaking at over 30kts, the fleet saw some amazing reaches (and wipeouts!) under full sail.
You know it's windy when no-one in a Sunburst fleet even dares to put the kite up (1st reach of the 1st triangle).
I think everyone enjoyed it(?!), but there were no complaints about being sent back to shore to await the (abandoned onshore) 8th and last race.
A big thanks to all volunteers and the Naval Point Club for putting on a well run and enjoyable regatta.
Full results available here; http://www.navalpoint.co.nz/results/Sunburst%20National%20Championship%202016.htm
400-odd photos available here: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/kmtw0jfsc924m3q/AAAir961_bgPeANdV3PmZ2tFa?dl=0
And we've chosen a few for the gallery...
Under tricky conditions across all 3 days, RO Alison Rutherford and her team of volunteers showed great patience and immaculate judgement in managing to get 7 of the 8 races completed for the 23 entrants from around the country.
The North Island boats were always expected to perform well, and favourites Andrew & Cam Brown (Wakatere) on Vagrant, again showing their class and consistency to win all but the last race, picking up a hat-trick of titles.
The results, as always, don't tell the full story, and Brett and Harvey Linton (Worser Bay) on the borrowed Embers chasing hard into a credible second place, but not without a strong challenge from Polly Wright and Penny Linton (Worser Bay) on Rhythm & Swing who ended in 3rd, just 3pts back.
The top 5 were rounded out by Andy & Liam Richards on Plum Crazy (Wakatere) in 4th, and Matt & Emmeline Neale (Mt. Pleasant) on Sunbird in 5th, and first South Island boat.
It was great to see the high level of sailing throughout the fleet, and the fair but intense competition throughout, as always, across a huge variety of crew weights and compositions.
If sailing is the sport for life, then the Sunburst truly is the class.
Special note must be made of Race 7, the last race of the series and sailed on late Monday morning after a short onshore postponement.
With the famed Canterbury 'Norwester in full force, Lyttelton is uniquely positioned to make this particular wind direction an "interesting" environment to race in, as the wind has to make it 300 metres up and over the steep crater rim of the Port Hills, and then 300 metres back down into the harbour. With gusts recorded peaking at over 30kts, the fleet saw some amazing reaches (and wipeouts!) under full sail.
You know it's windy when no-one in a Sunburst fleet even dares to put the kite up (1st reach of the 1st triangle).
I think everyone enjoyed it(?!), but there were no complaints about being sent back to shore to await the (abandoned onshore) 8th and last race.
A big thanks to all volunteers and the Naval Point Club for putting on a well run and enjoyable regatta.
Full results available here; http://www.navalpoint.co.nz/results/Sunburst%20National%20Championship%202016.htm
400-odd photos available here: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/kmtw0jfsc924m3q/AAAir961_bgPeANdV3PmZ2tFa?dl=0
And we've chosen a few for the gallery...