Pleasant Point Yacht Club again played host to the Canterbury championships, held over the 13th and 14th of February 2016.
With racing starting early in the morning due to the tide, the fleet was expecting some delays, and the high likelihood of variable light winds. Saturday delivered on this in spades! After an onshore postponement, a few boats ventured bravely out in a veritable drifter, before a tenuous Southerly rippled across the upper reach of the estuary directly out from the Pleasant Point Club. With 6 races planned, all races to count, and 4 races were needed to get a series, a race was duly started in what seemed a light but stable southerly breeze. Several boats got to the top mark, before the breeze died, leaving the entire fleet drifting to (and then past!) the various marks. A couple of crews played inadvertent bumper boats, whilst the more canny "anchored" using their centreboards to avoid being pushed too far off course! Picking small zephyrs of breeze, the fleet gradually nosed their way around the course to a result, although 3 boats were unable to finish. Race 1, completed with mere minutes to spare, went to Paul Duder and Ian Douglas on 1563 Bad News, Peter and Catherine Shanks on 1059 Solar Flair took 2nd, with Ross Dawson and Kate Matson on 1525 Ripper in 3rd. There were a few half-hearted grumbles about the conditions, but everyone was glad to get off the water! Sunday bought a light easterly, and with the course set out in the deeper area of the estuary adjacent to South Brighton, it was "game on", with a number of boats vying to get redemption for Saturday's lottery. Incredibly, 4 races were squeezed into the short time available, with Murray & Heather Walls dominating, picking up 3 straight wins, Peter and Catherine Shanks sailing well to pick up the 4th. Further back, Ripper nailed two second places, whilst defending champions Matt and Emmeline Neale on 1668 Sunbird sailed consistently in the top 4, with past champions Craig Tomlinson and James Palleson on 1816 Tecary also putting in a strong showing. As the fleet headed back to shore, the mental arithmetic had become too hard, with a number of boats in the running, and the maths was left to the RO to sort out. A 5.7 magnitude aftershock, just offshore from the club, was a rather dramatic way to introduce the results announcement, and the sums having been done, revealed that Paul Duder and Ian Douglas on 1563 Bad News had done enough, with 17 points, to take the Championship. They were followed by a group of 3 tied on 18 points, which was sorted on countback with Murray and Heather Walls on 1632 Fun in 2nd (clearly disadvantaged by their DNF in race 1), Ross Dawson and Kate Matson putting in a good performance on 1525 Ripper in 3rd and Matt and Emmeline Neale on 1668 Sunbird in 4th. The full results and high points show just how close the racing was! 1st 1563 Bad News (P. Duder & I. Douglas) PPYC 17pts 2nd 1632 Fun (M. & H. Walls) WSPBC 18pts 3rd 1525 Ripper (R. Dawson & K. Matson) WSPBC 18pts 4th 1668 Sunbird (M. & E. Neale) MPYC 18pts 5th 1816 Tecary (C. Tomlinson & J. Palleson) PPYC 21pts 6th 1059 Solar Flair (P. & C. Shanks) WSPBC 24pts 7th 1576 Soothsayer (M. & J. James) WSPBC 28pts 8th 1711 Uinme (A. & C. Barrett) PPYC 41pts 9th 1621 (A. Barrett & A. Collins) PPYC 46pts
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The 2015 Sunburst Canterbury Championships were held over the weekend of 28th and 29th March on the Avon-Heathcote Estuary in Christchurch, hosted by the Pleasant Point Yacht Club.
13 boats representing 5 clubs took part across both spinnaker (7) and non-spinnaker (6) fleets, with some very close and competitive racing across the fleet. All 6 races were sailed, and with all 6 to count (no dropped races), sailing consistently well was rewarded, and any mistakes were cruelly punished! Saturday saw 4 races away in a nice 12-15 knot north-easterly breeze, Sunday saw the final 2 races away in a 7-10kt NE sea breeze, following a brief postponement whilst the breeze settled. The non-spinnaker fleet was sailed on the same course and off the same start as the main fleet, but with a shorter windward mark, this worked really well, with both fleets able to sail quite independent races. In the non-spinnaker fleet, Rhys O'Cain and Alice Barrett (PPYC) sailing the PPYC club boat (# 1621) took out all 6 races, with Richard Ineson & crew (CYC) ending up 2nd, and Scott Lancaster & C. Barrett (PPYC) on "Gremlin" (# 1365) picking up 3rd. The spinnaker fleet saw some close racing all the way to the finish, with Matt & Emmeline Neale (MPYC) on "Sunbird" (# 1668) taking the overall win, followed by Daniel Smith & Hannes Hille (NPCL) on "Bad News" (# 1563) in 2nd, Murray Walls & Charlotte James (WSPBC) on "Fun" (# 1632) finished the regatta in 3rd. It was great to see representation from virtually all the local clubs, the racing throughout the fleet was very close (the average winning margin was just 18 seconds), the overall standard of sailing was very high. It's been said time and again, it doesn't really matter which end of the fleet you're at in a Sunburst, there are always boats you're consistently racing with, and it's always close, competitive, friendly and enjoyable. Pleasant Point YC put on a very well run regatta, with RO Alison Rutherford handling some tricky initial conditions on Sunday with ease, resulting in very enjoyable racing for all. Final Standings Spinnaker Fleet 1st 1668 Sunbird (M. & E. Neale) MPYC 10 pts 2nd 1563 Bad News (D. Smith & H. Hille) NPCL 12 pts 3rd 1632 Fun (M. Walls & C. James) WSPBC 18 pts 4th 413 Meindad (C. Tomlinson & J. Palleson) PPYC 22 pts 5th 1576 Soothsayer (M. & J. James) WSPBC 30 pts 6th 1059 Solar Flair (P. & C. Shanks) WSPBC 34 pts 7th 1603 Sunburnt (D. & A. O'Sullivan) PPYC 43 pts Non-spinnaker Fleet 1st 1621 (R. O'Cain & A. Barrett) PPYC 6 pts 2nd 1683 (R. Ineson) CYC 24 pts 3rd 1365 Gremlin (S. Lancaster & C. Barrett) PPYC 25 pts 4th 1655 (B. De Thier) CYC 28 pts 5th 1656 Passing Wind (I. Bamford) CYC 32 pts 6th 1656 (P. Leighs) CYC 33 pts |
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