Hectic start to winter racing season

Upwind in less than 10 knots of breeze on the Waitemata Harbour, the Dehler exceeded 7 knots.

“Everything you need for short-handed racing has already been done and comes as factory standard,” he says. “You are good to go.

“There are no rating compromises. All the go-fast bits are there,” he adds, citing the long prod, big sails, water-ballast, rig position, twin rudders on a central tiller, good control systems for the sailplan and solid adjustable foot chocks for the helmsman, crucial in offshore conditions.

In contrast to all this muscular machismo, the interior is surprisingly spacious, with two large quarterberths aft, a double berth forward and a seating area, complete with table, galley and sink and enclosed head in between.

The internal carbon grid system means there are no bulkheads, optimising the sense of space. While the external graphics and sails are all about black-belt marshall arts, the ambience below is bright and modern. Even the most hardened offshore campaigner would enjoy its respite, while it also fulfils a requirement for comfortable weekend cruising.

Mostly, though, it is the performance characteristics that appeal to Michel. “When I was growing up, New Zealand was at the cutting edge of high performance small boats, from quarter tonners up,” he says.

“I used to drool over the boats coming out of New Zealand, yet we seem to have lost that except at the very high end of the sport.

“When you look at the sub-35ft size range, most of the local fleet is 25 years old. It is quite an indictment, really. It is nice to find a 21st century boat of this size.”

Dehler 30 One Design Specifications

LOA Hull length LWL Beam Draft Mast Displacement Sails 10.30m (33ft 10in) 9.14m (30ft 00in) 8.97m (29ft 05in) 3.28m (10ft 09in) 2.20m (7ft 03in) 12.20m (40ft 00in) 2,800kg (6,173lbs) Evolution Sails

Engine Design

10hp Judel/Vrolijk Interior Judel/Vrolijk & Dehler Dehler Stealth Drive Bieker Boats NZ Agent Windcraft New Zealand

Hectic start to winter season

Words and Photos By Andrew Delves The sailing force was certainly with us at the RNZYS throughout the month of May, with three spectacular national championship regattas and two wintery races to kick off the Doyle Sails Winter Series, all taking place within the space of four action-packed weekends.

The fun began with the Barfoot & Thompson NZ Women’s National Keelboat Championship sailed on the 1st and 2nd of May. Eight allfemale teams were on the bill, including defending and six-time champion Karleen Dixon.

As a contrast to last year’s event where the breeze was as close as you can get to the upper limit, this year it was very light and made for some extremely tricky racing. After an up-and-down first day, Dixon found herself sitting in third coming into the final day and needed to get some results at the pointy end if she were to lift her seventh title.

Right in the mix heading into the final day was past-champion Melinda Henshaw, who had finished second at the three previous editions of the event. Also in the running was 2019 champion Sally Garrett, as well as the RNZYS Performance Programme team helmed by Megan Thomson.

Dixon and her experienced team came to race on Sunday, and

Main Picture: Close action in the Doyle Sails Winter Series. Below: The Barfoot & Thompson NZ Women’s Keelboat Nationals were keenly-fought and finally won for the seventh time by Karleen Dixon and her crew

race they did, notching up two wins and two second place finishes to pounce to the top of the standings and secure a seventh title by a slender one-point margin.

For Henshaw, that made it four second place finishes in a row as she and her crew couldn’t quite do enough to hold off the storming Dixon. They will no doubt be back again in 2022 for another go. Megan Thomson and her much younger team managed to stay near the front of the fleet throughout the final day, earning a well-deserved place on the podium.

“It was a pretty sweet victory,” Dixon said. “Last year was super-windy and it was nice to do it back-to-back in completely different conditions. For anyone who thought we won last year just because it was windy, we showed that we could do it in the light as well, so it was really nice.”

Next up in the national championship stakes was another long-standing event, the Harken National Secondary Schools Keelboat Championship sailed in the Elliott 7’s on the following weekend (7th – 9th May), under the watchful eye of Brian Trubovich and his Race Management team. This year saw 18 young crews converge on the RNZYS from right around the country, including from as far north as Keri Keri High School and as far south as the South Island Combined Team.

The fleet was split into two qualifying pools, with one racing on Friday and one on Saturday. The top half of each pool then qualified for Gold Fleet racing on Sunday, and the rest moved into the Silver Fleet.

With plenty of close racing on Sunday, the Gold Fleet morphed into the now-dubbed ‘Battle of Westlake’, with two Westlake Boys High School teams, led by Brayden Hamilton and Josh Hyde, duking it out for the title. Heading into the fourth and final race, either of them just needed to beat the other over the finish line to claim regatta honours.

With the best breeze of the day the stage was set for a Titanic battle between fellow school mates. Hamilton and his crew set off like a bat out of hell off the start, picking the shifts and staying in front of the fleet for the first few legs. Finding form in the clutch time, they built a huge lead and sailed away with the regatta, leaving their school counterparts, and the rest of the fleet, in their wake.

As the results were so tight, Hamilton and his team didn’t actually know they had won when they crossed the line. However, seconds later the news came in that they had in fact won on countback, instigating huge cheers and celebrations on board.

Speaking on the dock, Hamilton was thrilled to get the win. “We were so stoked when we found out we had won! It was a great competition out there and to come down to countback in the final race shows how close the racing was. A big thanks to my team, our school, and to the RNZYS for putting on a fun regatta.”

After two such epic national championships, the Theland NZ Open National Keelboat Championship didn’t disappoint on 15th & 16th May. Like the women’s event, the racing was in the MRXs, and this time 11 keen teams were chasing glory.

Nick Egnot-Johnson and his Knots Racing team of Graeme Sutherland, Zak Merton, Alastair Gifford, Sam Barnett, and Bradley McLaughlin were the leaders after sailing five exceptional races on day one, claiming four wins and one third place finish. The Knots Racing team came into the final day with a fivepoint lead over Chris Steele and his Theland

Above: The Harken National Secondary Schools Keelboard Championships were won by Brayden Hamilton and his Westlake Boys High crew.

Brisk conditions made for great racing in the Theland NZ Open National Keelboat Championships, won by Nick Egnot-Johnson and his Knots Racing crew.

Race Team, but still needed to finish strong in the three races on Sunday to come out on top. The first race of the day was a classic as Steele realised he needed to do something drastic to claw back some points on the Knots boys. Both boats engaged in a match racing dual, with Steele pushing out Egnot-Johnson at the top mark, which in turn allowed other boats to sail underneath them and overtake. Once they both rounded the top mark, Steele was leading, however Egnot-Johnson found better breeze to survive the onslaught, finishing third, with Steele finishing one back in fourth.

The battle came down to the wire, and with a congested fleet for most of the final race, it was still up in the air right up until the last leg. However, Egnot-Johnson’s crew held their nerve and claimed their second Theland NZ Open National Keelboat Championship in three years.

NZL Sailing Team Laser sailor Thomas Saunders was the big mover on the last day, notching up a first, a second and then powering home in the final race to notch up another

Photo Credit // Bob Martin for SailGP

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