BREEZE AUTUMN 2023

BREEZE

Official Publication of the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron

Cover: Equilibrium in its element powering upwind to take overall honours in the Evolution Sails RNI Race. – Ivor Wilkins Photo

EDITORIAL

Please address all editorial correspondence to the Editor, Ivor Wilkins ivorw@xtra.co.nz

Phone 09 425 7791

ADVERTISING

inklink@xtra.co.nz

Phone 09 378-1222.

DISCLAIMER

The views and opinions expressed in this magazine are purely those of the authors and are not necessarily the official view of the RNZYS, nor of the publishers.

PERMISSION

Reproduction rights in part or in full of the contents of this publication must be applied for from the Editor. DEADLINES

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BREEZE MAGAZINE Editor

Ivor Wilkins 021 732 101 ivorw@xtra.co.nz

Assistant Editor

Debra Douglas 0211 856 846 chaucer@xtra.co.nz

Advertising Debbie Whiting 09 378 1222 inklink@xtra.co.nz

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GRATEFULLY

FROM THE COMMODORE

Andrew Aitken

What a summer it has been! Challenging weather conditions have impacted our sailing calendar while many members who cruise report spending some of their Christmas/New Year break back on the marina avoiding the early January weather events. Cyclone Gabrielle in February became just one more issue we all needed to deal with – our thoughts are with members who have been impacted by this and other weather events.

On the positive side, it has been great to meet and reconnect with members at events such as Bay of Islands Sailing Week, and the Evolution Sails Round North Island Race. I can also report that the cruising before Christmas through to New Year was good – it is always a privilege to spend time with members on and around the water.

At RNZYS, in addition to our standard summer programme of Doyle Sails Wednesday Night Racing, 36° Brokers Commodore’s Cup and Squadron Weekend, week-night sprint racing, and combined club Gold Cup & Triple Series racing, we have hosted the Harken Youth International Match Racing, Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron Trans-Tasman Challenge, Classic Yacht Association Annual Regatta, and served as the Auckland base for the SSANZ twohanded race round the North Island.

A busy summer for the Sailing Office, race management volunteers and Food & Beverage

team. For the 36 ° Brokers Squadron Weekend, challenging weather conditions once again proved the value of having the option of racing back to Auckland on Saturday and celebrating at the club – not quite the same as the lawn at Lidgard House, but still a fabulous occasion.

You will likely have noticed a few new faces around RNZYS – a restructure in our member services area, events, and commercial areas will increase focus, save costs and improve delivery. Our new bottleshop has been a success and is starting to help us achieve our beverage sales commitments, while the North Lawn, when weather permits, is now a space that we can use. You will also have seen from the pre-Christmas Sale that our retail area has very little stock. The sale delivered a positive cash outcome while a new range is planned for the near future.

Great to see Emirates Team New Zealand making progress with the sailing land speed record, launch of their second AC40 and recent relaunch of Te Rehutai. Initial interest from members in our travel offering to Barcelona has been strong – bring on October 2024!

On March 16th, we held a members’ meeting to talk about the club’s financial position. For the financial year to 30 April we had budgeted a breakeven result, but we are now anticipating a loss of between $1.4m and $1.6m after depreciation for this period.

Our business model has relied on our hospitality and events business to support a portion of our base costs, to subsidise sailing and our Members’ Bar. Two years of difficult trading, the impact of COVID, supply change issues, event costs and recent weather events together with a significant change in the sponsorship landscape have all impacted. We have also had some unanticipated capital expenditure to address some deferred maintenance issues.

To move forward we have set-up a Reset Committee led by member John Kensington. John is a Senior Partner at KPMG. The brief of the Reset Committee is to analyse and review all operations and expenditure, and recommend changes to how we operate to ensure we have a sustainable club operation going forward.

I also need to acknowledge the Trustees for supporting the club through a loan from the long-term development fund. This will need to be repaid as we recover.

As members, please support your club. RNZYS is what you make it.

Looking forward to seeing members on the water and around the club in the weeks and months ahead.

Andrew

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Impressive

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FROM THE General Manager

Sarah Wiblin

With another Auckland summer quickly coming to an end, it is very easy to feel a little disappointed at the amount of time on the water one achieved this year. After the storms and weather events that have significantly impacted personal time on the water, our summer events programme and the club we all know and love, I do hope we have a warm and settled autumn and can continue to enjoy some warmer days over the Easter Long Weekend, both on the water and here at the club.

This summer has been particularly challenging for the RNZYS, with numerous on and off the water events cancelled, significant storm damage at Kawau Island, a resurgence of COVID both in our members and also across our staff, and significant event cancellations, which have impacted our operations in a big way.

The Harken Youth International Match Racing and the Harken Secondary Schools Keelboat Nationals have been highlights in the calendar and it has been great to be able to deliver these events without any weather interruptions! Seeing a wide and diverse group of youth, so passionate about sailing and getting out on the water in fiercely competitive sailing has been a real pleasure, as have the conversations with many parents and supporters from the club as they watch these events.

The 37th America’s Cup in Barcelona, while still 18 months away, is now closer than ever and we are excited to appoint BCD Sport as our official travel partner. We have an exciting programme in development for members both in Barcelona and here at the RNZYS and are looking forward to launching our Barcelona offer on Thursday 27th April at an exclusive Cocktail event.

We have a number of exciting activities currently in the planning stage and are looking forward to launching these to members. Highlights will include our Winter Member Engagement Programme, Saturday sailing brunches before the Doyle Sails Winter Series, a Sunday Brunch/Lunch Menu, a variety of speaker functions and, just for good measure, a few parties too.

As many of you will know, the club has formed the Reset Committee to review all of our operations and activities as we work toward operating on a sustainable model moving forward. In the coming weeks and months, you will start to see, and be consulted on, many of these changes.

The first changes will start to be implemented in early April. This will see our Members’ Bar close on Mondays for winter. We will also be implementing an across-the-board price increase in our Members’ Bar and wider facilities. This reflects the increase in minimum wage and extensive price increases from our

suppliers. While we are doing everything we can to mitigate costs, the only sustainable option available to us is to pass some on to our members and guests.

I look forward to seeing many of you at the Colin Forbes Easter Rally in just a few weeks’ time, for what is a great family friendly time out. The Easter Egg hunt is high on the radar for my son Sam and many other children who attend! And with the Doyle Sails Winter Series now just a few weeks away, it will be time to get the boat set up and ready to go, so we can get out there and enjoy some cool-season racing. I look forward to seeing you on the water, or here at the club!

Sarah

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PIC Insurance Brokers Cruising and Motor Yacht Series

‘Best Kept Secret of the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron’

With mixed emotions after Cyclone Gabrielle had released her wrath, a fine weather window allowed us some anticipation for a pleasant continuation of the PIC Insurance Brokers Cruising series on February 18th. It was decided to try our new destination being Huruhi Bay, Waiheke Island as the forecast was for a northerly quarter breeze.

Fourteen keen starters set off in ideal cruising conditions including sunshine! A cat

and mouse game followed as we navigated a large wind shadow behind Rangitoto Island. Once through, the fleet enjoyed a short reach to Browns Island Navy Buoy, then a closehauled to cracked-sheets leg to the finish in Huruhi Bay.

Eleanor and Platine, then later Pink Cadillac and Share Delight had exciting duels with only 17secs between each pair over the line.

Prizegiving and salutations were held ashore

was a new experience for some of our sailors.

It was noted there were several other vessels in the bay flying RNZYS burgees, so we invited them to join us ashore, where we were able to acknowledge their years of membership: Tony Park 40 years, SY Mascotte; Jack Hargraves 44 years, SY Optomystic; Bob Blakey 50 years, MV Bobby’s Girl – whose nephew, David, is now

in Te Wharau Bay at the west end of Huruhi Bay, which

Fine post-Gabrielle conditions gave the RNZYS Cruising Division a pleasant sail to Huruhi Bay. – Sheryl Lanigan Photos

2020 Elan Impression 45.1

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Beam: 4.18m

Engine: Volvo D2-75hp

Cabins: 3

Heads: 2.5

Price: $645,000

This stunning Impression 45.1 was personally and extensively spec’d and optioned by our company Director before being sold. It is on the market again with its now owner moving overseas.

According to the Elan factory, this is the most highly optioned and spec’d Elan to ever leave their factory! Features include: Three cabins, Full Bimini, Additional Fridge, Large ocean platform with teak, Extra berth in Saloon, Air conditioning system throughout, Watermaker, Bow thruster with 2 additional batteries, Generator, Additional water tank, Raymarine Axiom 9” full electronics package. In as new condition, with too many options to list, please us full specifications. Inspections in Westhaven, Auckland welcome.

For more images and information, view on our website.

Chairman of the House – and rally series entry

Peter Lavelle, 57 years, Platine

The beach clean revealed three buckets of rubbish, rewarded with prizes from Ecostore. Matt Cole and his Warspite team manned the BBQ with appreciation from all.

Special thanks to Frank Young for expert Race Management and fishing(!), while Barbara was recording finishers. Her neat handwriting was awarded top marks from the Race Office. Line: Terminator – John Faire

Handicap 1st, Zubeen – Garry Lock; 2nd, Terminator – John Faire; 3rd, Pink Cadillac –Basil Orr.

• Remember to enter the Colin Forbes Easter Rally, 7th - 9th April.

All members are welcome for two days sailing and/or to join us for a Spanish brunch, Easter Egg Hunt and family games on Sunday.

Sheryl Lanigan

Enjoying the customary postmatch libations and social engagement at Huruhi Bay.

– Sheryl Lanigan Photos

From the Sailing Office

What a summer it has been! Cyclones, flooding, and debris in the water have all contributed to cancellations and postponements. However, autumn has so far seen some absolutely cracker evenings for sailing whilst still being warm. Let’s hope that the remainder of autumn follows suit.

We have many changes here in the Sailing Office. Peter Linford and Megan Thomson have resigned. Both have been stalwarts of the Sailing Office for the past six years.

Peter, in his first couple of years, doubled the size of the Learn to Sail Programme each year and has inspired many to pursue sailing further and join our membership. Megan has worked tirelessly to keep all the club sailing events running, especially all the detail behind the scenes that often goes unnoticed.

They have left big shoes to fill and I’m sorry to see them go. Peter is moving to Australia with his partner and Megan is off chasing her sailing dreams in faraway lands. We wish them all the very best in their new ventures.

Over the past three months we have run the following events on top of all the Learn to Sail Programmes and Youth Training: Stewart 34 Sprint Series • Barfoot & Thompson Women’s Series • MRX Sprints • Etchells Sprints • Doyle Sails Wednesday Night Series • Y88 Sprint Series • E7 Sprint Series • Havana Club Rum Racing • Starling Match Racing Championships

• 36 Degrees Brokers Commodores Cup • 36 Degrees Brokers Squadron Weekend • PIC Insurance Brokers Cruising Series • Harken Youth International Match Racing Regatta • GIB Regatta • Classic Yacht Regatta • Trans Tasman Cup • Harken National Secondary Schools Keelboat Nationals • Young 88 Nationals • multiple Corporate and School Sailing Days.

As you could imagine, this has kept our wonderful team of volunteers very, very busy. A massive thank you to our mark layers, umpires, race management and handicappers who have done an exceptional job. We must all show our appreciation to these generous volunteers.

We are always open for new volunteers to join our team, so if you are at all interested, please reach out. We will offer training in all facets of race management, boat driving, etc.

We are looking at developing a group of sailors who are interested, or might be interested in racing remote controlled yachts. Open to any yacht type, but particularly the International One Metre Class, Wind Warriors, and Electrons. If you would like to be involved, or would like to check out some boats, please reach out to me in the Sailing Office and keep an eye on the Mainsheet.

I’d like to congratulate a special group of volunteers who give up an enormous amount of time serving as our Flag Officers and General Committee Members. Our representatives defended the Trans-Tasman Cup against their counterparts from the Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron in style, taking first and second place in the four-boat fleet.

Our team raced six windward leeward races in blustery conditions in the Elliott 7s. They then spent a day sharing ideas of

how to improve our clubs and improve the experiences of our members.

Reuben Corbett

Hans Koerselman

Ross Markwick

The race management team would like to acknowledge the sad passing of Hans Koerselman, Race Officer, Boat Driver and Boat Captain; and Ross Markwick, Race Officer, Chairman of Race Management and former General Committee member. They were both mentors and great friends to the Race Management team.

Megan Kensington Principal Race Officer

The Logan masterpiece, Ariki, punches upwind during the Night Race to Kawau as part of the 36 Degrees Brokers Squadron Weekend – Chris Cameron Photo.

House Chairman David Blakey aims to leave the RNZYS in stronger position

Story and picture by Debra Douglas David Blakey, the Chairman of the House, grew up sailing on Auckland waters. His earliest memory of boating is of his father, John, building a Townson 32 outside his bedroom window.

“It was hammer and nails all day and night. The boat was launched when I was five and as Dad was a passionate Squadron member and a stickler for tradition, one of my most important jobs was raising the Squadron burgee to the top of the mast at 8am every morning and lowering it at sunset.

“My first sailing experience was in a P-class. That day, in a stiff breeze, I flipped and spent a lot of time upside down.“

David wasn’t put off by his watery wipeout. He went on to race in a number of classes, including Farr 1020 and Farr 38. He is currently a part owner of the MRX Harken and enjoys surf ski paddling, paddle boarding, ocean swimming and wind foiling.

Off the water and in his Chairman of the House and Membership Committee roles, David says his primary objectives, along with supporting General Manager Sarah Wiblin and her team, is to grow the members’ base and increase the engagement of the members with the club.

David: “In the current economic environment, post-COVID, we are operating in challenging conditions. We face many of the issues that other hospitality and events venues are experiencing. We need to encourage members to use the facilities here, enjoy the food and beverage options and attend events.

“The Membership and House Committee is charged with meeting those challenges, helping to develop ideas to drive and improve

membership engagement and also oversee the maintenance and development of our property.”

One thing that attracted David to the role was being able to apply the work skills and experiences he has had to the challenges the club faces and to plan for the opportunities ahead.

David has had more than 25 years’ experience in the banking and financial services areas. He was recently General Manager for the Northern Region of the BNZ and is about to take up the position of Chief Executive of the Newmarket consulting firm, Bellingham and Wallace, which works closely with privatelyowned businesses.

He has a range of governance experiences, having been a director of family-owned businesses and has recently completed the Institute of Directors course on governance.

This winter will see David competing in the Doyle Sails Winter Series and Friday’s Havana Club Rum Racing, however, his family, wife Keren, son Stuart (23) and daughter Charlotte (21) won’t be joining him.

“They enjoy sailing, but are not serious sailors. My children enjoy other water sports like rowing and surfing.

“My family has a long association with the Squadron and I have a depth of understanding where the club has come from over the decades. There is a lot of tradition on the club’s walls and in our trophy cabinets, but what I would like to see is more recognition of Squadron members’ recent achievements, especially those of our younger members.

“In the meantime, after my time as Chairman of the House, I can hopefully look back with pride that I left the Club in a stronger position than it is in today.”

Meeting new staff members

Story and pictures by Debra Douglas Introducing two new members of staff … Membership Executive Beth Orton and Receptionist Kate Rathbun.

When interviewed for Breeze Beth, who has responsibility for everything to do with members from membership applications to helping set up members’ events, had been at the club for only four days.

“It has been a whirlwind start,” said Beth “There are a lot of new faces and names to remember. Luckily I knew a lot of the staff members already.”

Beth came from Yachting New Zealand. She was with the organisation for over 14 years in a variety of roles, latterly Sponsorship and High Performance Co-ordinator.

“That’s what I love about the sport of sailing. The New Zealand sailing community is quite small, where everyone seems to have a connection with another sailor. I was originally from a village in Leicester in the UK, so it is nice to have that village feeling.”

Beth came to New Zealand in 2008, but she says she didn’t intend to make this country a destination.

“I was in Australia, but my visa expired so I flew over the ditch and fell in love with the place. I love the countryside, everything is so green and

the beach is never far away. I’m not a sailor, however. I have two dogs, a 14-year-old collie and a puppy. They are my sport.

“The Squadron is an exciting place to be. There are many changes happening within the club itself and with the re-structuring of staff. Of course, there is also the build-up to the America’s Cup for members here and at Barcelona.

“I like supporting people, helping them to enjoy themselves. I’m keen to meet members, so do come and introduce yourself.”

Receptionist Kate is also keen for members to introduce themselves. Just weeks into the job, Kate says she is good with names, but still learning faces. And she says being a front-line meeter and greeter requires a lot of patience and cheeriness.

“I have to spend a lot of the day being cheerful, but I’m good at that.”

Prior to joining the Squadron Kate was a swimming coach for three years with SwimTastic, a swim school based at St Johns, offering lessons for everyone from babies to adults. And before that, she was a trampolining instructor for the indoor trampoline park JUMP.

Kate, who has two papers to go to complete a Bachelor of Arts in Criminology and Psychology, came to the Squadron because she wanted

Above: Beth Orton and, opposite page, Kate Rathbun.

a position that offered more administrative responsibilities.

“I had spent a lot of time working with children and I wanted a change of pace, to work with more people my age and older.

“I don’t have any experience in actual sailing, although I am learning a lot of sailing terminology from members. I am hoping to go Friday Rum Racing soon. Of course, If I fall out of the boat, I am going to do great!”

Enjoying summer S UN -days at RNZYS

Many have called our summer a bit of a bummer, but we can console ourselves that sometimes quality out scores quantity.

Squadron members, family and friends took the opportunity to celebrate those rare days when the sun did come out to play with a Sunday afternoon gathering on the new North Lawn for drink specials, nibbles and live music.

Enjoying a Squadron Summer SUN-Day …

1/ North Lawn guests, from left, Murray Mulcahy, Kayne Mulcahy, Mason Mulcahy, Lorraine Nicholson, Kelly Fong and Daniel Fong.

2/ From left, Angie Brionne, Ben Flavell, Mariela Oporto Jorquera, Samia Abait and Dario Rozentul.

4/ From left, Jo Vooght, Kristin Jones and Lynn Jeffery.

5/ Playing sets was DJ Melicious.

• Meanwhile another celebration was taking place on the SUNDay. For the past four years one of the Squadron’s youngest members, Henry Smaill, has celebrated his birthday at the Squadron. This year was Henry’s eighth birthday and 40 of his small friends bounced their way through the afternoon on a ginormous bouncy castle, while his bigger

MARINA, DRYSTACK, HAULOUT AND MARINE PRECINCT.

friends discussed the ‘delights’ of parenthood over glasses of bubbles and fancy cream cakes. Henry is a keen sailor, so the Squadron is the obvious choice for a party. As Henry’s mother, Eva, said: “He feels happy here.”

1/ Birthday guests, from left, Telma Alegria, Camilla De Beer, Lloyd De

Beer, Daisy De Beer, Eva Smaill, Ben Smaill, Tamzin Sheehan, Doug Howlett and Michael Sheehan.

2/ Birthday boy Henry Smaill opens his presents.

Words and Photos by Debra Douglas

Foiling comes to round the world racing, producing knife-edge performance undreamed of in previous iterations.

Ocean Race ushers in big changes to round the world racing

By Ivor Wilkins

With the four remaining IMOCA 60 yachts competing in the 2022 Ocean Race around the world recently passing south of New Zealand on their gruelling 12,750 nautical mile Southern Ocean leg from Cape Town to Itaji, Brazil, the Swiss entry Holcim PRB had seen a healthy lead slashed with all four within three miles of each other.

Although the Ocean Race traces its lineage back through the Volvo Ocean Races to the Whitbread Round the World Races in which New Zealand sailors like Sir Peter Blake, Grant Dalton, Ross Field, Chris Dickson, Brad Butterworth, Kevin Shoebridge, Digby Taylor and others carved giant reputations, much has changed.

For a start, the fleet no longer stops at Auckland, which has long been a crew favourite and a major maintenance point during which the RNYS has played a key role over many decades. The boats, the size and make-up of the crews and the way they are sailed are also very different.

The semi-foiling 60-footers of the current generation are more usually seen in the tough, solo non-stop Vendee Globe race around the world. With huge foils, low freeboard and dramatic deck-spreaders supporting rotating wing masts, these boats are capable of speeds well over 30 knots.

For the Ocean Race they are crewed by three men and a woman (plus an on-board media person). Bearing in mind their origins as singlehanded race yachts, much more crew protection is offered than on traditional round-the-world racers.

While IMOCA 60 sailors still have to venture outdoors for maintenance, repairs and some sail-handling functions, much of the

control and trimming can be achieved from within enclosed cockpits.

The biggest change, however, is that 99% of the helming is now done by autopilots, including for the crewed Ocean Race.

On the face of it, it seems amazing that this essential skill of fullycrewed racing has been lost, according to well-known yachting journalist Ed Gorman, who is following the race. Helming has always been at the heart of competitive performance in previous fully-crewed round the world races and some would say it’s not the same sport if a computer is doing that part of the work.

Gorman put that question to Sam Goodchild, crewing on board the leading Swiss yacht.

“For me, helming is not the essential skill of racing,” Goodchild responded. “There are so many other elements that come into it. You could have Peter Burling driving 24 hours-a-day, but if you go the wrong way, or put the wrong sail up, he’s not going to do much good for you. “Driving is obviously an important element,” Goodchild added, “but we spend much more time and energy, if not more, trimming our pilot than we did driving before, so the skillset has changed, as opposed to disappeared.

“The biggest difference between old school Ocean Race sailors and short-handed French sailors, is trusting the pilot,” Goodchild explained. “They didn’t have pilots on the old Volvo and Whitbread boats and they used to look where they were going. Now you are not looking where you are going, and you are trusting a computer that will occasionally go 90 degrees off course and point the wrong way, though that is rarer and rarer these days.”

Photo Credit: Cory Silken

Goodchild makes the point that not having to steer is often just as well, because high-speed foiling IMOCAs are very demanding when it comes to sail trim. The sailors have to respond to continually, and often violently-changing, conditions as the boats go through a neverending cycle of acceleration and deceleration.

“When a foil picks the boat up out of the water and it starts moving fast, the apparent wind angle might move 10-15 degrees, and then you might smash into a wave in front, and it comes back 20 degrees. That’s where – as a trimmer – you have to find the average which works well between what you are able to do in terms of keeping up with it, and what is a good average setting. Because you can’t possibly ease 2m of traveller and mainsheet every time you come into a wave, and then winch it all back on again as you pick up speed,”

Fellow Briton Will Harris on Team Malizia told Gorman that the way this generation of IMOCA sailors use their pilots in The Ocean Race is just another form of driving. “The term ‘driving’ has been changed,” he said. “It’s gone from using a wheel, or a stick that you hold, to now experiencing the feeling of a boat through a keypad and computer.

“The keypad is effectively our tiller now. It’s not like we push the ‘on’ button and it goes off on its own – it’s not like that at all. We are constantly adjusting the settings. So it is supercomplicated to use.

“If you try to put any old person on it … the boat would be all over the place. We have got to try to make it steer as well, if not better than, a human.”

Paul Cayard, who won the 1997-98 Whitbread Round the World Race with EF Language and finished 2nd in the 2005-06 Volvo Ocean Race with Pirates of the Caribbean, says he feels quite ‘distant’ from the current iteration, where most of the sailing takes place ‘indoors’.

Writing in Seahorse magazine, Cayard commented: “That is strange to me as my strongest memories of going around the world were of getting a fire hose of water in my face, tethering myself on so I wouldn’t wash overboard for the force of the waves rolling down the deck, and having my hands and feet frozen almost continuously on the Southern Ocean legs.”

While the current crews get to suffer less of that exposure, it is no cakewalk and, on much

lighter yachts and with much smaller crews, they still have to wrestle with sails and carry out hair-raising mid-ocean acrobatics to repair broken bits up masts, out on the end of foils, or dangling in the stern wash to fix rudders.

The noise alone is debilitating and crew often wear headphones to shut out the din. Reviewing video footage from the race, Ed Gorman commented that when Team Malizia accelerates over 20 knots, “it starts howling like a pack of wolves as the appendages set up a vibrating harmonic that turns life on board into a 24/7 assault”.

Skipper Boris Herrmann confirmed the issue was a serious problem and attempts were made at the Cape Town stopover to reduce the noise. “It comes from all five of the appendages (keel, two foils and two rudders). The worst, I think, is the keel, but it’s the rudders as well. It’s super-difficult to live with on board.”

Holcim PRB is skippered by Kevin Escoffier, who crewed on the giant trimaran Banque Populaire which in 2012 broke the Jules Verne nonstop round the world record in 45 days 13 hours 42 minutes 53 seconds. He was also bowman on DongFeng, which won the 2018 Volvo Ocean Race.

The boats are still engulfed in water, but the crew are more protected and most of the helming involves ‘driving’ the autopilot.

His first solo circumnavigation attempt was in the 2021 Vendee Globe race on a previous PRB yacht, which broke in half and sank in the Southern Ocean. Escoffier was rescued by fellow competitor Jean le Cam and, following the completion of the current Ocean Race, plans another attempt at the solo nonstop race around the world.

The remaining three yachts are Biotherm, sailing under French colours and skippered

by Paul Meilhat, Team Malizia from Germany, and American entry 11th Hour Racing, custom designed for this race and skippered by Charlie Enright. Another entry, GUYOT EnvironnementTeam Europe, had to abandon the current leg and return to Cape Town after a section of the hull delaminated. The yacht has been repaired in Cape Town and will rejoin the race at Itaji, for the final four legs to the USA, Denmark, Holland and Italy.

Gone are the days of wrestling the boats through huge seas with the crew firehosed by water.

On a mission to Barcelona

In late March Vice Commodore Gillian Williams and General Manager Sarah Wiblin headed to Barcelona to put the finishing touches to an exciting suite of travel packages for members wishing to attend the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron’s 37th America’s Cup defence in October 2024.

“BCD Travel, headed by Peter Barlow and Ross Jameson, has been appointed as RNZYS travel partners for the Cup regatta,” said Wiblin. “They are very experienced operators, with extensive international sporting experience including Rugby and Netball World Cups.

“BCD have offices in Barcelona and English-speaking staff members in place who have extensive relationships on the ground, which will be really advantageous for us as we look to leverage the best experience for our members.”

The one-week reconnaissance visit to Barcelona involved Wiblin and Vice Commodore Williams in an intensive round of four to six meetings a day and working dinners every evening, as they visited relevant organisations, including Real Club Nautico de Barcelona (partner yacht

club), AC37 Events Ltd, berthage providers, a number of hotels to identify the best ones to be included in the accommodation offer, and inspect potential venues for a gala dinners and other events.

“The visit enabled Gillian and me to have a much better understanding of the unique Squadron experience we are creating here for our members,” said Wiblin. “It is very important to make sure that the packages are right for our members, both in Barcelona and at the RNZYS in Auckland.

“We will launch our Barcelona Travel Packages to interested members with a presentation at the Squadron on April 27, where details of the offer will be unveiled to those that have pre-registered interest to join the tour group to Barcelona. “

The packages will be based around a core 11-night on ground package, encompassing the first two weekends of the America’s Cup Match (October 9 – 23). This will see members arrive on Thursday, October 10.

They will attend a gala dinner on the Friday night, followed by

From left: Kevin Shoebridge, Emirates Team NZ COO, Leslie Ryan, AC37 Event Director, RNZYS Vice Commodore Gillian Williams and General Manager Sarah Wiblin visit the AC37 Events offices in Barcelona.

© Lissa Photography

Top: The Barcelona port princinct where the America’s Cup team bases will be situated. Above from left: ETNZ mascott and miniature America’s Cup touring in style; Barcelona’s renowned architecture mixes the old with the new; it is also a perfect location for sightseeing by bike.

the opening four races of the Match on Saturday and Sunday, the fifth race on Wednesday 16th and the Women’s America’s Cup final which will also be raced that day, before the next four races the following weekend.

“We also have a number of special events planned, including exclusive member events, local tours and unique experiences for our members.

“A great deal of flexibility is a very important part of the package, so BCD have allowed for many additional options, and a level of flexibility in this offer,” said Wiblin.

Some members may wish to arrive earlier to take in events such as the Challenger Series, Youth and Women’s America’s Cups, a preliminary AC75 regatta with ETNZ included in the line-up, the Challenger Series, the J-Class, 12-Metre Class and superyacht regattas and other events on the summer calendar, which starts with the opening ceremony in Barcelona in late August.

Other members might want to spend time touring in Spain and other parts of Europe and pop in and out of the event and Barcelona during the summer season.

“The core 11-day package in October will enable members to select from a menu of options, which appeal to a variety of activity-types and a variety of budgets,” said Wiblin.

“We also have a number of members who have registered interest in having their boats in Barcelona during the regatta,” she added. “The smallest to date is 14m and the largest is over 100m. A few members plan to buy boats in Europe and then spend some time cruising.

“In fact, 36 Degrees Brokers have two Beneteau’s coming through the factory that will be available in the Mediterranean before the Cup, if anybody is interested in pursuing that option.”

Members who have yachts in Barcelona will have a shore-based package available that doesn’t include accommodation, but enables them to buy into our offer with all other elements included.

Members who remain in Auckland through the Cup regatta will be included in the Barcelona activities, where possible. For example, the gala dinner will include a great line-up of knowledgeable speakers and

the 12-hour time difference means the dinner will coincide with a gala breakfast at the Westhaven clubrooms, with the Barcelona proceedings live-streamed. Local speakers will also address the breakfast audience.

“In Auckland, we will also celebrate milestone events leading up to the Cup,” Wiblin added. “These will kick off this year and include events to mark the 12-month countdown to the regatta, along with Barcelonathemed occasions such as a best-of-Barcelona dinner, some delightful Barcelona beverages, wine tastings and so on.

“We are looking to create opportunities for members to celebrate a number of touch-points on the journey towards the Cup leaving on its OE journey to Spain, with a doozy of a party before the Cup leaves us and an even bigger one when it returns.

“The exciting thing about the Cup is creating opportunities for members to bond and create relationships and have unique experiences. It is different and exciting that the event and the America’s Cup is going to Barcelona, but it is still our Cup. We will definitely be doing some fabulous things here at the same time and that’s what will make #teamkiwi and winning the cup again even more special!”

• Please register your interest at rnzys.org.nz/squadron-travel-ac37, and we look forward to seeing you at the launch event on April 27.

The man-made beach along the foreshore will provide close-up viewing of America’s Cup action.

24 December 8am-2pm

Harken Fosters would like to congratulate all the teams that competed in the 2023 Evolution Sails Round North Island Race. We supplied yachts not only with Harken deck gear, Marlow ropes and Musto clothing, but also offered safety gear with Spinlock and Rescue Me.

25 - 28 December - Closed

29 - 30 December 9am-4pm

31 December 9am-2pm

We are your one stop shop for all your racing and one design and production boats. The team at Harken Fosters continues to provide the right gear and advice at the right price.

1 - 4 January 2022 - Closed

5 January 2022 8am – 5pm.

Racing Cyclone Gabrielle back to Auckland

With Cyclone Gabrielle tracking down from the north, this year’s 36° Brokers Squadron Weekend had to pivot from the traditional format to accommodate the night race to Kawau, but get the fleet back to Auckland before the full force of the storm struck.

Accordingly, Saturday’s Round Island Race became the Kawau-to-Club race, with the after-party held at the Westhaven clubrooms, instead of the Lidgard House lawns.

As it turned out, the night race to Kawau was completed in enjoyable conditions, while the run back to Auckland fully justified the decision as the storm outriders cranked up the wind and waves to make for a boisterous ride home.

“The weekend was 100% successful, despite the challenging conditions,” said Jono Bakker, General Manager of 36° Brokers. “The Squadron did a really good job of recovery. We were very happy with the event and everyone had a good night.”

Photography by Chris Cameron

Clockwise from above: Quentin Folower’s Rum Bucket, Brian Ward’s Systems Thunder and John Meadowcroft’s Carrera charge back to Auckland.

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Well wrapped in foul weather gear, but full of smiles, the race crews charged back to Auckland ahead of Cyclone Gabrielle in boisterous conditions to arrive wet and thirsty in time for showers and a quick change of clothes for the Barcelona-themed after-party at the Westhaven clubrooms ...

Last four berths remaining – 18 & 20 metre

Spanish flavours rock at Squadron Weekend party

The theme of the 36° Brokers Squadron Weekend function at the club was, ‘Party like it is Barcelona’. There were prizes for the best individual and team costumes, food and drink were Spanish-themed, while one-man band, Josh Leys, provided the entertainment.

The 36° team took the Spanish dress-up theme seriously and arrived as matadors, with Jono as the bull. Normally an outing with six bullfighters is fatal for the bull, however, Jono survived the evening. “But it was only just. It was super-hot in that costume!”

RNZYS Commercial Manager Kristine Horne says the feedback from the party-goers has been overwhelming positive: “In a way it was great the party was held at the club, because it allowed more people to attend. Members were able to invite family and friends, who would not have made the trip to Kawau. It was a happy, easy-going social event. Despite the weather.”

By Debra Douglas 4

1. Best dressed crew from Bird on the Wing.

2. Frankie Davis from 36° Brokers with her daughter Ariana (1).

3. From left, Tina Miller, Kate Browne and Jaz Love.

4. Vice Commodore Gillian Williams’s yacht Mr Kite won the race back to Auckland. She receives her prize from Jono Bakker of 36° Brokers.

5. Well-matched Janice of Wyoming crew had a fine night.

6. Stephanie Haden (left) with Amelia Moriarty and Kerry Aston.

7. Best-dressed family from Money Heist and Zorro, best-dressed kid.

RNZYS yachts shine in the Summer of Storms

Words and Photos by Ivor Wilkins

2023 will always be remembered as the summer of North Island storms. Cyclones Hale and Gabrielle and the extraordinary Auckland Anniversary Weekend deluge left in their wake a trail of death and widespread destruction of infrastructure, property and livelihoods.

While retaining a necessary level of perspective, their impacts also extended to disrupt or cancel many recreational, entertainment and sporting events, including sailing.

For only the second time in its 183-year history, the Auckland Anniversary Regatta was cancelled. The first time was in 1900, when New Zealand troops were sent to South Africa to fight in the Boer War.

“With emergency services already stretched dealing with the flooding across Auckland, it would be irresponsible to go ahead,” said regatta chairman David Stone. “We also have a social responsibility, and the committee strongly felt it would be inappropriate to hold a regatta while the city of Auckland is suffering as it is.”

Four days earlier, as Northland felt the force of the weather system, the final day of the Bay of Islands Sailing Week was cancelled, the first time in the event’s 20-year history a day was lost to weather conditions. And shortly after that, the annual Mahurangi Regatta also got the chop.

With those disruptions marking the start of the summer’s sailing season, it closed in similar fashion when the SSANZ Evolution Sails Round North Island race altered course to avoid sailing up the east coast, where Cyclone Gabrielle in particular, wrought widespread devastation in the Hawke’s Bay and East Cape regions, stretching emergency services and leaving the sea littered with forestry slash and debris. Instead, the

fleet retraced its course up the west coast and back to Auckland around the northern capes.

While Squadron yachts distinguished themselves with outstanding results in both of these events, the club’s own sailing programme had its share of weather-related disruption through the summer.

As Cyclone Gabrielle bore down, the Round Kawau Island race, centrepiece of the 36 Degrees Brokers Squadron Weekend, was cancelled. Instead, the fleet raced up to Kawau as usual on the Friday night, but then raced back to Auckland on the Saturday to escape the worst of the storm.

Club racing on the Waitemata Harbour also had its share of cancellations. Six races were lost in the MRX Open series and the Etchells Auckland championships, three each in the Stewart 34, Coast

NZ Etchells, Barfoot & Thompson Women’s and Elliott 7 sprint series, while two of the flagship Doyle Sails Wednesday Night Races were also called off.

The RNZYS Race Committee did well to complete the Harken Youth International Match Racing Cup, although in this case lack of wind was the problem. After four days of fickle, challenging conditions, the RNZYS Mastercard Youth Training Programme was well represented with a clean sweep of the podium by crews skippered by Josh Hyde, Jack Frewin and Mason Mulcahy respectively.

The outstanding result came after heavy weather conditions forced all Youth Programme training off the water for two weeks leading up to the regatta. International flight disruptions into Auckland Airport also meant an Australian crew had to withdraw.

In the two events that bracketed the summer season – Bay of Islands Sailing Week and the Evolution Sails Round North Island Race –Squadron boats returned excellent results.

During the truncated Bay Week, Rob Bassett and his Wired crew shared equal handicap honours in Div. A with Harry Dodson and Tony Bosnyak’s Mayhem – with Mayhem winning the line honours battle.

Other notable RNZYS results included Clockwork (Past Commodore Steve Mair) and Zephyrus (Matt Cole) taking PHRF and EHC honours respectively in Div. B; V5 (Brian Petersen) swept the boards on line and handicap in Island Racing Div. A with podium results by Rum Bucket (Quintin Fowler), Antaeus (Charles St Clair Brown), Equilibrium (Graham Matthews) and Go (Trustee Bill Endean); Juniper (Lode Missiaen) and No Worries (Ian Thomsen) enjoyed podium results in Island Div. B; and War

Machine, Slipstream III and Sailorman posted strong Young 88 results.

For the Round North Island race, Rob Bassett handed command of his Bakewell-White 52 to his son, Chris, sailing with co-skipper Andrew Duff. Before the start, Chris acknowledged he had big shoes to fill after his father and Angus Small took line honours with Wired in all four legs of the 2020 edition of the race.

As it happened, he did his father proud, taking out the race double, with the fastest elapsed time and winning the overall PHRF elapsed time trophy.

However, the top prize went to the 16.8m Botin-Carkeek Equilibrium, borrowed from owner Graham Matthews by RNZYS member Peter Geary and Angus Small. Equilibrium won the major PHRF points prize by virtue of a 1/2/9 scoreline for the three legs of the race.

Whichway, a 24-year-old wooden Laurie Davidson 16m, co-skippered by Bruce Gault and David Brooke scored 7/5/1 to take 2nd place overall. On the points table, Wired’s 20/1/20 leg results dropped them to 13th.

“We are pretty happy,” said Geary of their win. “Everybody envied Equilibrium as the luxury boat. Actually, I couldn’t believe how lucky we were.”

By most reckonings, the race comprised upwind conditions for 80% of the course, playing to the strength’s of Equilibrium’s size and design. “The boat is very strong upwind,” said Geary. “It likes the breeze. In 10 knots and more it can hold its handicap really well.”

In keeping with its status as the fleet superyacht, catering on Equilibrium was exceptional. “Gus even cooked us a full roast dinner from scratch, including peeling the veges.

“We also had hot showers and we each had our own cabin. Pretty nice going, really.”

It was not all smooth sailing, however. “We hit a whale on the run home just short of Doubtless Bay,” Geary recounted. “We were doing 18 knots with a masthead kite and full main in 27 knots of breeze when we came to a grinding halt and lay on our side.

‘We lost the bottle of rum, but the boat is still in one piece ...’

Top: Overall winner Equilibrium (Angus Small and Peter Geary) powers north in lumpy seas. Above: Wired, (Chris Bassett and Andrew Duff) with an escort of gannets to send them on their way.

“You could feel the whale under the boat whacking away. It was pretty scary: middle of the night with a spinnaker to get down and having to check for damage.” As it turned out, a bit of antifoul scraped off was the only scar.

Equilibrium and Wired, both built by Lloyd Stevenson Boatbuilders and representing

RNZYS, had a great personal battle all the way.

“Angus taught us everything we know about two-handed racing, so we call him the coach,” said Chris Bassett. “Having him and Pete Geary to race against was a lot of fun.

“We really had two goals: one was to bring the boat back in one piece and with no injuries,

and the other was to win a bottle of rum

off Equilibrium

“We reckoned we would beat them by 14.5 hours on elapsed time, but we missed that by a couple of hours. We lost the bottle of rum, but the boat is in one piece, apart from a small issue. We hit what we think may have been a sunfish, or a shark and did some damage to the bottom bearing of the canard.”

Wired’s moment of glory was unquestionably on Leg Two from Mangonui to Waikawa, where it romped across the line 10 hours ahead of the bigger boat. “We had a game plan,” said Bassett. “We stuck to our routeing models and believed we would get a lift to carry us round Cape Egmont. We saw Equilibrium tack out to sea behind us and thought about putting in a soft covering tack, but kept faith with the models and just kept hitting our target speeds.”

After riding the lift past the Taranaki cape, Bassett and Duff piled on sail for the final sprint into the Marlborough sounds, where they achieved the unlikely triple – line honours plus divisional and fleet handicap wins, banking enough time to ultimately claim the overall line honours and elapsed time handicap double. “Leg Two sealed the deal for us.”

While the consensus was strongly in favour of avoiding the cyclone-ravaged east coast, the two long legs down the west coast and back became un-affectionately known on board Wired as the ‘Waikawa Windward-Windward race,’ but the duo were pleased to keep Equilibrium at bay, although not by enough time to claim the rum wager.

In terms of overall PHRF results, the other Squadron yachts scoring podium positions in their respective divisions were Whichway and Focus (Craig Fraser and Rob Croft) in Div. 2; Waka (Sam Cremer and Brett Elliott) and

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Niksen (Marc Michel and Logan Fraser) in Div. 3; Start me Up (Harri Wren and Peron Pearse) in Div. 4.

With divisional victories in all three legs, Whichway easily took Div. 2 honours, but Brooke rued a costly wipeout along the way. The crash came in Leg One, after rounding Cape Reinga at 4am in 25 knots. “We put the chute up and were going fine for about five hours when the wind built to 30 knots and we found ourselves in big waves,” said Brooke.

“It quickly blew up to 38 knots and we wiped out, with bent stanchions and sheets flying everywhere. We had a bit on and probably lost an hour in the process.”

The mostly upwind conditions suited Whichway , which has 800 litre saltwater ballast tanks, plus freshwater tanks that can transfer water from side to side. “That’s like having 10 guys on the rail in upwind conditions,” said Brooke, son of RNZYS Past-Commodore Don Brooke.

“Our disadvantage came downwind. Equilibrium and Wired are both lighter than Whichway. They were doing 18-20 knots downwind, while we were maxing out at 14 knots down waves.”

With so much upwind work, not many competitors coveted a ride on the smallest boat in the fleet. This was the Ross 930 Start me Up, co-skippered by Harri Wren, a Mastercard Youth Programme graduate who worked at the RNZYS for several years, and her partner Peron Pearse.

Their race began with an unfortunate collision on the Auckland startline, which put Guy Pilkington, former Youth Programme coach, and his co-skipper, David Whyman, out of the race with considerable damage to Pilkington’s Stewart 34, Playbuoy

Start me Up was holed above the waterline and broke its bowsprit, but was able to sail the first leg to Mangonui, where the hull damage was

repaired and a new, bright pink bowsprit, hastily fashioned by Steve Mair’s engineering company, was installed. “We were exceptionally grateful and humbled by all the support and help we received,” said Wren, who confessed it was not really an ideal race for a Ross 930. But, to their credit she and Pearse stuck it out while several of their Div. 4 classmates abandoned the final leg.

“We were pretty much on the wind the whole way, except for maybe a 10-15 hour stretch with the kite up, but we were pretty happy with how we managed to stay in touch,” said Wren.

“We are very proud of what we achieved,” she added. “It is cool to race with your partner and to reflect on what we have done.”

As they finally crossed the finish line in Auckland after 283.5 hours at sea, a huge cheer went up from the Sunday crowd at the RNZYS. “That was very cool,” Wren said, adding that she and Pearse remained addicted to racing, but might confine themselves to the shorter SSANZ events for a while.

Also in the fleet was RNZYS Commodore Andrew Aitken (with co-skipper Andrew Hall) aboard his Elliott 1350 Favourite. Competing in Div. 2, he was proud of the RNZYS results in the fleet and said the relationship between the club and SSANZ worked well.

“My objective was to have fun, have an adventure and still be friends with Andrew Hall at the end. We achieved all of those goals, plus what I would call a credible result (7th in Div. 2 and 21st overall),” he said.

“Steve Mair put me in a bit of a spot when he said I had the perfect boat for the race,” he said. “I figured if I didn’t do it this time, I would regret it, and I would be three years older next time.

“So, yes, I am glad I did it. There was lots of upwind banging and crashing and I learned about risk and reward in terms of gennakers in big winds. The rewards aren’t there.”

The 24-year-old 16m Davidson-designed Whichway, co-skippered by Bruce Gault and David Brooke, put up an impressive battle to finish 2nd overall.

Mercury Bay – Canary in the Coalmine

By Ivor Wilkins

As a bellwether for global events, the Mercury Bay Boating Club situated in the idyllic seaside town of Whitianga on the Coromandel Peninsula, seems an unlikely prospect.

Yet, in 1988, the tiny club – with just 30 members and a 1953 Ford Zephyr for its clubrooms – burst upon the world sailing stage with an audacious bid to win the America’s Cup.

The idea that this obscure collective, with a local farmer as commodore and a handful of centreboard dinghies for a fleet, would dare to compete for yachting’s most prestigious prize was more like the plot of an action-hero comic than a serious proposition.

But, sure enough, among the engravings recording the 36 matches

that have been contested in the Cup’s 172-year history, the Mercury Bay Boating Club is listed as the 1988 challenger.

This was the Deed of Gift match sparked when Michael Fay and David Richwhite sprang a surprise challenge on the San Diego Yacht Club, which ultimately led to the mismatch between their giant, 90ft waterline KZ1 monohull and Dennis Conner’s hardwing catamaran.

Fay and Richwhite jointly own the nearby Great Mercury Island and indemnified the yacht club against any liabilities as they sent their huge creation into battle under its burgee, first on the water and then in a series of court battles afterwards. The result in both arenas went the way of the US defender.

However, the lopsided nature of the battle, its rogue origins and Fay’s

deft crafting of the folksy narrative captivated the international media. The club thrived and its membership briefly exploded to 1,000.

The MBBC burgee flew again in the 1992 America’s Cup series, advancing as far as the Louis Vuitton Cup final before bowing out to the Italian Il Moro di Venezia challenge. It was Fay and Richwhite’s last Cup campaign.

The club reverted to its more homespun roots, but a few years later the Ford Zephyr was replaced with permanent clubrooms built and paid for by the members on land leased from the local town council.

However, the heady days when a small Kiwi sailing club shook up the America’s Cup establishment were not forgotten. The MBBC walls were decorated with international burgees, photographs and memorabilia –including the famous letter to the San Diego Yacht Club issuing the 1988 Deed of Gift challenge in its name.

Thirty five years later, the club has once again become a harbinger of global forces, this time in the form of climate change and coastal erosion. When the clubrooms were originally built in the 1990s, the consent agreement recognised that coastal erosion posed a threat and required the building to be capable of relocation at a future date.

In 2020, a comprehensive report on the erosion issue estimated the 14m of grassed land between the front of the clubrooms and the beach could disappear within three years. Exactly three years later, on January 11, ex-tropical cyclone Hale swept down New Zealand’s North Island. The combination of high seas and tides scoured 6-7m of grassed foreshore land away, placing the clubrooms under imminent threat of falling into the sea.

Under the leadership of club commodore Jonathan Kline and his committee, volunteers and contractors worked frantically first to remove the extensive deck from the front of the building.

Meanwhile, supporters delivered 41 1000kg fertilizer bags, tonnes of sand from a nearby construction site and 60 concrete blocks, each weighing 600kg to the site. The plan was to erect a temporary barrier to protect the remaining foreshore, but the council declined permission.

Through a sleepless night and another tide cycle, the sea continued to rage and pound the bank. “This morning,” an exhausted Kline told reporters, “we made the very difficult decision to break the law. We reached out to the community and to community experts to assist us to build a temporary defence.”

The bare patch of earth behind the temporary ‘seawall’ reveals how close the MBBC clubrooms came to falling into the sea. Now in limbo, the club and local council are exloring options to find a more permanent solution for the club, which faces a monumental fundraising task to secure its future.

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While expert contractors prepared to use two massive trucks to jack up the clubrooms and shift the building 25m back from the sea, an army of volunteers swung into action using diggers and tractors to lower the concrete blocks and sandbags 1m down to the beach to create a makeshift barrier. “There were times that digger was operating in the waves to get the job done,” says Kline.

Kline grew up in the USA and had a long career as a superyacht captain before settling in Whitianga. His primary interest was junior sailing and there is now a thriving three-tier programme catering for kids from 11-17, with a professional coach and a line-up Optimists, Fusions and Hobie 16s. Demand is high.

“We are not a high-end racing academy,” Kline explains. “We keep the costs low. We teach kids to be safe on the water, to have a love of the water – more than about sailing as a pathway to the Olympics.

“With strong support of parent volunteers, we built a great vibe. It was a safe space for kids, and parents could sit on the deck watching their kids have fun sailing.

“Extending further into the community, we also worked with schools and foster organisations running programmes for kids with special needs. It has been a joy.”

In the wake of this crisis, a major fundraising effort lies ahead.

Achieving the first objective of saving the building and ensuring sailing programmes could continue exhausted the club’s financial reserves and, while the building remains inaccessible, its revenue stream from weddings and functions is lost.

“There is a misconception that this club was built by the wealthy individuals involved in the America’s Cup and that they will step in and save the club.” Kline shakes his head. “We do not expect that magic bullet to materialise. We are very much a grass-roots organisation.”

With just 165 members, the Mercury Bay Boating Club once again finds itself at the centre of a global story. It is like the canary in the coalmine. In the face of storms rising in frequency and intensity, coastal yacht clubs around the world might face similar issues.

In fact, as Mercury Bay Boating Club confronts difficult decisions to secure a viable future, another option – plucked from its history – occurs to Commodore Kline. “We may have to sell the building and start again with a Mk. II Zephyr,” he says. “We have done it before. We can do it again.”

• To make a donation, go to https://givealittle.co.nz/cause/mercury-bayboating-club-cyclone-relief-fund.

Volunteers fighting to save their club building as the tale of Cyclone Hale devours the foreshore – Jackie Dagger photos

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Sam is loving learning the ropes as a RNZYS Race Management volunteer

Story & picture by Debra Douglas Sailing Office Volunteer Race Management member Samantha (Sam) Knights and her family came to New Zealand from the UK in 2019 to stay for just a little while. That stay has now become permanent.

“We wanted a better life for our children, Freddie (14) and Millie (12),” said Sam. “We knew New Zealand was great for sailing and, as we have a passion for horses, we knew New Zealanders were also great riders, so it ticked all the boxes. We have now fallen in love with the place.”

Sam’s sailing experience includes racing Sigma 33s in national and European championships in England, Ireland and Scotland. She has competed in one of the largest yacht races in the world, the annual Round the Island Race (around the Isle of Wight) and cruised the south coast of England in her father’s HallbergRassy blue water yacht.

It was this sailing background that provided the right qualifications for Sam to join the Squadron’s 2021 America’s Cup Volunteers Team.

Sam: “The AC training was phenomenal. We had great trainers for handling the 9m Rayglass Protectors. We learned all the nuances of the Hauraki Gulf and, as I was not familiar with the Gulf at that point, it was a huge learning curve. It was cool to be selected and great for the self-confidence.

“It was a fantastic experience, becoming a full-time job for several months. But when the Cup was over, well, it was over. That was it. I was at a loss to know what to do next. The Squadron then said because of our experience and skills, we would be welcome to volunteer for the Race Management team.

“We were thoroughly welcomed and I’m working with very talented, kind and patient individuals, some of whom have been involved for a long time.”

Now training to be a Race Officer, Sam says she is again learning new skills, for example, flag sequences, starting and finishing races, reading the weather, laying marks and driving the Squadron boats Tiri and Pembles

“I love working with Principal Race Officer Megan Kensington. There is so much to learn from her. She is so calm, with a great sense of humour. We can have some very long days, but it can still be really good fun out on the water. There’s great banter. Everyone is professional, but at the same time everyone is still enjoying themselves. And if you are not having fun as a

volunteer, then you have to question why you are doing it.”

Sam, whose day job with the NZ Sailing Trust involves organising sailing opportunities and challenges for teenagers, would like to see more young people join the club’s volunteer team and receive the formal training to become active, proficient participants.

“It’s a chance to learn a new skill set and become passionate about doing things to a professional standard.

“It is also important Squadron volunteers are recognised. The racing can’t go ahead without us.”

• Volunteers are essential for running all of our events and are the lifeblood of the club. Without our volunteers it wouldn’t be viable to run all the races we do. We are looking for people who are keen to get involved with mark laying, umpiring, boat drivers, time keepers and race officers. If this sounds like you, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with Reuben Corbett rcorbett@rnzys.org. nz. We can offer all the training required.

Winter menu challenges

Head Chef Campbell White will be adding more than a spoonful of magic to the dishes on his new Winter Menu this year. With orchards and market gardens pummelled by January’s floods and February’s Cyclone Gabrielle, the root vegetables and fruits normally associated with the colder months will be in short supply and very expensive.

“It is going to be a challenge to obtain those familiar vegetables we normally use, for example potatoes, kumara, onions and carrots,” said Campbell. “We also need to hit a good price point for members, as well as take the pressure off our suppliers by using alternative vegetables.

“I’m going to have to look at fast growing above-ground lighter options like leeks, broccoli and cauliflower. And keep the heavier, hearty vegetable dishes on the ‘Specials’ section of the menu. We just need to keep the right balance.”

Campbell says he will also have to re-think his dessert menu, after tonnes of apples and pears were blown from trees to impale on fences or float down the flood waters.

“Citrus fruits, rhubarb and feijoas could be the answer.”

But don’t worry, Campbell assures us he will find a source of potatoes and his popular beer battered fish dish won’t be coming with celery chips! Look out for these dishes on the Members’ Bar Winter Menu, to be launched in late April…

Top/ Confit Maryland chicken, garlic puree, roasted Brussel sprout and bacon jus.

Below/ Surf and turf crispy pork belly, grilled prawns, red cabbage puree, apple batons and bisque vinaigrette.

Story and pictures by Debra Douglas

ETNZ reaches critical phase in Cup campaign

By Ivor Wilkins

With two AC40s out on the water testing and match racing, their 2021 AC75 undergoing modifications before re-launching and the final touches going into the design of their new weapon for the 2024 America’s Cup defence, it is busy times for Emirates Team New Zealand.

The AC40s, one in one-design mode and the other in test-platform mode, have been engaging in some slick and spirited match race practice, doing repeated start sequences and mixing them up with short upwind sprints and occasional laps.

On the day in question, skipper Peter Burling and new recruit and former 49er rival Nathan Outteridge shared helming on one boat, while Liv Mackay, tipped as likely to skipper the women’s America’s Cup crew, teamed up with Olympic sailor Josh Junior to helm the other. Honours were reckoned to be about even between the two boats, with the test version showing glimpses of speed advantage at times.

The comment from the water after one session was that, while the team places huge reliance on its simulator package, valuable insights and lessons were also being learned on the water.

In a summer marred by a relentless parade of storms, conditions

have been less than ideal for sailing, but inside the design rooms and construction bays of ETNZ, weather woes have not prevented work from continuing at pace. The 2021 AC75 Te Ruhetai has been having its grinding pedestals replaced with cycle stations and new system layouts installed to facilitate operation with a crew reduced to eight.

The team’s one-design AC40 will head to Europe for the northern summer, where two America’s Cup preliminary regattas are scheduled to take place. The historic Catalonian port of Vilanova i la Geltrú, has been announced as the Host Venue for the first with racing to take place over four days between 14-17th September, 2023. The Italian port of Cagliari is widely expected to host the second regatta later in the year.

Meanwhile, for the ETNZ design team, the deadline is fast approaching when all their effort designing a new AC75 has to crystallise into final construction drawings for the boatbuilding team to begin the 75,000 man-hour task of building it.

With the rule restricting all the teams to only one new AC75, the pressure is on to get it right first time.

Design chief Dan Bernasconi, who was responsible for redrafting the AC75 Rule for the class of 2024, says the differences between the new generation of yachts will probably be less obvious than the 2021 versions.

“We are all learning the same things about what makes these yachts go fast, so there will be smaller differences,” he expects.

On the question of whether somebody will come up with a breakthrough design, he is sceptical. “I suspect the America’s Cup match will be really close, but I could be wrong. The fleet does tend to get closer as you go forward.

“The things we are concentrating on for this campaign are more about optimisation of details rather than big picture stuff.”

As defender, the goal is to draft a rule that has no loopholes to attack. “You don’t want loopholes,” he says, “although you know the challenger teams are hoping for the exact opposite as they look for what they can exploit.”

Bernasconi says the transition from drafting the rule to designing a new boat is tricky. “You jump from being gamekeeper to poacher. You have to get your head out of a defensive mindset of thinking the rule offers no possible way to be exploited and, instead, go hunting for ways to exploit it.”

At ETNZ, a formidable brains trust of 35 mostly PhD-level design engineers covering virtually every discipline across the spectrum sets about designing the fastest possible solution compatible with Barcelona

Emirates Team New Zealand’s two AC40s jousting on the Waitemata Harbour as the sailing squad hones its skills and the design team tests new concepts.

conditions, which are expected to feature more wave action than the Auckland regatta of two years ago.

A huge emphasis is on the sophisticated simulation package ETNZ has developed over several Cup cycles, which enables the design and sailing teams to test multiple virtual models and concepts in very short timeframes.

Throughout the process, the sailing team led by Peter Burling, is closely involved in defining the characteristics and performance profile they are looking for. “The sailors’ role is really to identify where we think the big opportunities are,” he says.

The sailing team also works constantly on making sure the simulator is as close to reality as possible, identifying where there are subtle differences with how they use particular components, for example, or how different foil shapes work.

“That all really helps to feed back into the design process,” he says. As someone who interrupted an engineering degree to take up professional sailing, Burling thrives in this highly technical environment.

“It does make life a lot easier if you understand a bit about the basic engineering principles when you are having those more technical conversations, but actually everyone in the team has improved their knowledge massively in terms of being able to have a really good, accurate dialogue about how to push the performance of the platform.”

Chief Operating Officer Kevin Shoebridge says that internal dialogue is a crucial part of the culture the team has built over the past 20 years. Across all areas of the team, everybody is encouraged to come up with ideas in the knowledge they will be listened to, he adds.

“That ties in the sailing team, the design team, the shore team, management – everybody is on the same page. In particular, there is huge value in a sailing team that understands intricately the design process and also having designers who realise that, while they have all the science and the numbers, they still need the practicalities of listening closely to the people on the water.”

Shoebridge says launching the two AC40s represents an important milestone in refining the skills and tools for the team’s Cup preparation. “It has been 15 years since Emirates Team New Zealand has been running two boats at the same time. It goes all the way back to 2007 when we had two IACC boats,” Shoebridge says.

“It is nothing we have not done before, but it certainly isn’t an easy operation. It takes planning and processes, but we have a really impressive shore team that will ensure we can not only manage it effectively but get optimal benefit from the two-boat programme.”

Above left: A large crowd gathered at the ETNZ base for the launch of its second AC40 yacht, Te KãKahi During the ceremony, Director Bob Field, former chairman of Toyota NZ, said: “This current campaign is the most ambitious ever mounted by a New Zealand team and arguably the most ambitious of all time from any team.”

He cited a list of milestones already achieved, including the hydrogen chase boat and the world sailing landspeed record. “This will be my ninth campaign in 30+ years,” he said. “Looking back, I cannot recall any achievement that would match this team over the past 12 months. I truly believe this will be an historic cup campaign.”

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Bottom left: Shelley Horton, wife of ETNZ Director Greg Horton splashes the champagne.

This page: The action was at close quarters both for the competitors and spectators. Opposite page: An estimated 15,000 spectators flocked to Lyttelton to watch the SailGP event.

Far right: Kiwi Phil Robertson savours the sweet taste of success – for Canada.

– Photos courtesy of SailGP

SailGP wows the crowds at Lyttelton thriller

General Committee member Sheryl Lanigan was among the 15,000 people who attended the first SailGP regatta in New Zealand at Lyttelton. She came away impressed at the skill of the pro-teams competing and at the spectator experience ...

Standing in an orderly queue with excited voices all around us was a precursor to a weekend filled with meeting new friends, catching up with previous friends and the thrill of live action at close quarters.

On board the bus to Lyttleton, the chatter volume increased until we were unleashed to the fan zone of SailGP with food and beverage options alongside the merchandise and sponsor’s tents.

Making our way to the ‘grandstand’ (scaffolding) it become apparent we had front row seats. The youth Inspire Learning Programme was in full flight with Feva dinghies, Waszps, and foiling kites all showing off their skills and playful fun to entertain the crowd.

RNZYS member Murray Mulcahy pointed out his grandson Mason, who intentionally fell off his Waszp, then waved to the crowd, receiving a large cheer. He was later seen with legs over the side “running” on water while still foiling!!

A delay due to visiting dolphins also benefitted the sailors as the afternoon breeze filled in and soon we were facing nine F50 catamarans charging towards us in full flight. Pulse rates skyrocketed at the high-speed close manoeuvres – and that was just the spectators’ hearts racing. Witnessed almost

within touching distance, the skill levels of the sailors were impressive to say the least.

On Sunday morning, we visited Naval Point Yacht Club where the race management boats and Inspire youth teams were already out on Lyttleton Harbour in a better-than-forecast breeze, on another blue sky day.

We met volunteer Jo, whose son was introduced to sailing by friends and was now out on the chase boat for the Waszp fleet. After learning to sail, he now is the youngest competitor in the Zephyr nationals and Jo is forever thankful for the friendship, support and life skills her son has learned as part of the sailing community. Our own race management volunteer, Sam Knights, was supporting her son sailing a Feva dinghy.

We enjoyed another fab display of Inspire youth sailing right in front of us as they showed

their enthusiasm and no fear of trying new things – even sitting down on a foiling kite! Kitted out in wetsuits, safety gear and helmets, the only criteria was a love for water – because they did fall in, especially when attempting high jumps and turns.

The F50 finish line was set up right in front of us, so close and literally in your face as these exciting cats zoomed around the

course seemingly in the blink of an eye. There was plenty of excitement as Peter Burling and his Amokura crew reached the finals race, executing a strategic cover over two-time champion Tom Slingsby’s Aussie crew, while Canada, helmed by RNZYS Mastercard Youth Programme graduate, Phil Robertson, took the win.

Returning to Christchurch, the excitement

was replaced with the buzz of elation at what we had just experienced – live sport augmented by big-screen displays with plenty of locals and new-to-sailing ‘armchair experts’, alongside the truly knowledgeable. This is a great way to promote our sport, the yachting community, our club of members, who will share stories for decades/generations. A great experience – and the sun shone over us all.

Superb seakeeping, range, fuel efficiency and extended living comfort attract interest

In this time of rising costs, fuel economy is playing an increasing role in boat purchasing decisions, according to feedback from the Auckland Boatshow in March. It was certainly high on the list in Selwyn Mexted’s selection of a new Beneteau Swift Trawler 48 from 36 Degrees Brokers.

Mexted and a partner were moving up from a Kennedy 46 they had co-owned for 22 years. The Swift Trawler semi-displacement hull has already proved a highly efficient passagemaker. Unlike some designs, which drag their sterns lower and lower as the power comes on, a big effort has gone into achieving a flatter attitude, which eats up the miles.

With twin Cummins 6.7 litre 425hp engines and 2,000-litre fuel tanks, the 48 has a range of 700 miles at 9 knots in displacement mode. “At that speed, it will burn approximately 35 litres/hour,” says Jono Bakker from 36° Brokers. “Coastal cruising, the sweet spot would be about 16 knots, but it will go happily all day at 22 knots. Sprint speed is up to 26 knots.”

Mexted, who is an accountant, confirms that fuel economy and efficiency were big considerations in the purchase, although he regrets that since taking delivery in December, this summer’s weather has not been conducive to long-range expeditions. “We have mostly been cruising around the Hauraki Gulf,” he says. “Both partners have only done about 20 hours each through the summer.”

That has been enough to confirm the other features that attracted them, largely ease of handling, comfort and space. “The way we use our boat is mainly family cruising and a bit of fishing,” says Mexted. “We tend to go up to the Bay of Islands, so it is mainly about coastal cruising.”

Mexted is hopeful that next summer will provide a better test of the Swift Trawler’s passagemaking capabilities with a planned trip to the Marlborough Sounds.

The Swift Trawler 48 utilises the same hull as the earlier 47, but with a revamp of the interior styling. Three years ago, the first 47 arrived in the country and had to be delivered to its purchasers in Tauranga. It turned out to be a boisterous passage from Auckland with winds of 25 knots most of the way. “In those conditions, we were able to maintain speeds of around 20 knots with no problem,” said Conrad Gair, managing director of the brokerage, who was “hugely impressed”.

Assisting the hull’s seakeeping abilities are a deep-V bow section flaring out towards the deck to reduce slamming, high freeboard to keep the decks dry and a deep keel for added stability.

As with the 47 version, the superstructure is offset to port, widening the starboard sidedecks. With a sliding door on the starboard side next to the helm station, the boat is easily controlled by one person coming alongside. Bow and stern thrusters and fly-by-wire throttle controls on the twin engines make pin-point control very straightforward.

As the boat settles alongside, the helmsman can step down to the dock through a side gate in the starboard bulwark to secure the lines. For fueling up, the diesel and water tank fillers are also conveniently placed on the starboard side. Although the port side-deck is reduced, there is still plenty of space for line-handling on that side and moving fore and aft.

This ease of handling was a major factor in Mexted’s attraction to this boat. Mexted and his wife live in Hamilton, but own an apartment at Gulf

The Swift Trawler 48 at speed in the Hauraki Gulf offers long-range seakeeping and fuel efficiency.

Photography by Chris Cameron

Harbour with its own 15m marina berth. “If I just want to pop out and have a fish on my own, it is very easy to operate single-handed,” he said. In terms of home comforts, the Swift Trawler 48 is designed for extended onboard living, with high-spec amenities and large storage capacity.

Large windows and hatches provide great connection with the

outdoors and fill the interior with light. The saloon and galley are well set up for entertaining with genuine teak veneer joinery finished to a high standard (other joinery options are available). The U-shape settee around the saloon table offers seating for six. The table drops to provide an extra double berth, complete with a wrap-around privacy curtain. Forward of the dining area on the port side is a large chart table, with

Above: Note the level attitude of the boat at sprint speed. Below: Large windows and hatches flood the saloon with light and provide great views.

a 40-in TV mounted inside the table lid. Across on the starboard side is the single-seat helmstation with Raymarine electronics and monitors.

The standard galley features a gas cooker, but the owners of this boat opted for an electric induction cooktop and a convection oven that can also operate as a microwave. A 10Kva Whisperpower genset lives up to its name, providing hardly-audible electric power for the appliances.

Accommodations comprise a three-cabin layout featuring a large owners’ stateroom forward with an island bed and ensuite head and separate shower. Two guest cabins, one with twin beds and one with a double, share a head and shower. The owners of this version have opted for triple-zone air-conditioning throughout the interior.

Outdoor entertaining spaces include the generous aft cockpit, with a wide stern boarding platform (with options for a hydraulic system that can lower the platform into the water). From the boarding platform to the forward end of the saloon/helm station is a single level.

The flybridge extends right aft, providing shade and protection to the maindeck cockpit below and offering 40m2 of space above. It features an upper helm station, generous lounging and dining areas, and an exterior galley with worktop, sink and optional electric grill and refrigerator.

Mexted and his partner have opted to shade the flybridge area with a hardtop bimini, which features a soft blind that can slide open to create a sunroof effect.

“We are finding these boats are particularly popular with ex-yachties,” said Bakker. “They have more of a nautical feel about them and they like the low-consumption. We are also finding growing interest from owners of large, sportfish type boats. They are attracted to the lower fuel-burn and the amazing seakeeping of the Swift Trawler range, which includes a 35, 41 (flybridge and sedan versions), the 48 and a new 62 Grand Trawler, which is drawing considerable interest at the moment.”

Ivor Wilkins

BENETEAU SWIFT TRAWLER 48 SPECIFICATIONS

LOA

Hull length

14.74m (incl. swim platform)

12.77m

Beam 4.42m

Light displacement

12,200kg

Air draft 5.79m

Draft 1.15m

Fuel 1,930 litres

Water

640 litres

Engines Cummins 2 X 380hp or 2 X 425hp Design Andreani Design

NZ Agents 36° Brokers

The owners’ stateroom features a large island bed with ensuite head and separate shower.

Capturing historic objects and their stories in sharp relief

By Ivor Wilkins

“It’s a beast!” declares internationallyrenowned photographer Rick Guest as he packs up his equipment following a brisk session shooting the America’s Cup. His comment is in no way an offense against the famous trophy, which he has travelled halfway round the world to photograph.

Instead, it relates to the hours and hours of painstaking post-production layering and editing of multiple exposures that lie ahead before the unique quality and detail that characterise his images is achieved.

With a broad-ranging portfolio of advertising work for major international brands, along with acclaimed images of ballet, fashion, sport, Formula One, exotic cars, magazine covers, solo exhibitions and no less than eight portraits accepted into the permanent collection of the National Portrait Gallery, the London-based photographer might be expected to travel with the world-weary hauteur of a prima donna.

Nothing could be further from the truth. He bursts with energy and enthusiasm, engages strangers with friendly chat and easy laughter, shares a host of funny insights and anecdotes, approaches each assignment with a wide-eyed curiosity and is quick to deflect acclaim. “I make

it up as I go along,” he grins. “It is all smoke and mirrors.”

Outside of his commercial commissions, his latest passion project is photographing in microscopic detail a range of objects that have associations with historic or heroic achievement (Legacyandart.com).

Ernest Shackleton’s battered chronometer, which survived the explorer’s incredible open-boat voyage in Antarctica following the destruction of his ship, Endurance. The stopwatch that recorded Roger Bannister’s sub four-minute mile. Robin Knox-Johnson’s sextant that plotted his course around the world in the first solo nonstop circumnavigation.

Robert Falcon Scott’s wooden snow goggles from his doomed attempt to reach the South Pole. Herbert Ponting’s camera that chronicled Scott’s expedition.

The multi-function steering wheels of Formula One champions, and their race helmets. Everest ice-axes, items from missions to the moon, or from journeys to Challenger Deep, 11,000m under the sea.

And now, the America’s Cup in its current pride of place at the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron.

“Its incredible history is so alive in it,” Guest

remarks, captivated by the trophy’s place in a continuum that began 172 years ago and will keep going long into the future. “It has the stories of its past literally etched onto its surface with the engravings of all the winners.

“It is a physical manifestation of all their stories – the great vision, effort and passion they have poured into winning it. The oldest trophy in international sport.” He shakes his head. “Wow.”

The seeds of this project were planted when Guest was photographing a recording session in the famous Abbey Road Studio in London. During the shoot, he got chatting to one of the studio technicians, who made a passing remark that every microphone in its inventory had its history documented. “They could point to a particular microphone and say, ‘John Lennon – Sergeant Pepper’. Incredible.”

Then, when Covid struck, Guest’s livelihood as an advertising photographer came to an abrupt halt. “It led to a lot of personal reflection: what am I doing with my life and so on. It was great to have time to reassess what I wanted to do.”

The Abbey Road experience sprang to mind and he secured the studio’s permission to photograph its microphones. “That started this

Rick Guest and the America’s Cup at the RNZYS – Ivor Wilkins Photo.

journey of photographing objects that carry a story,” he says.

“I truly believe these artefacts bear witness to the events they were involved in. They also carry with them some of the spirit of the owner, or the person who made them. I went off the deep end photographing objects.

The Red Bull magazine Red Bulletin (redbulletin.com) became interested in the concept and will be publishing a series of features. Ultimately a book is planned with Guest writing short pieces to accompany each photograph, telling something of the object’s history and the often equally interesting story of how he came upon it.

Asked about how he approaches such a wide range of different subjects – each of which poses particular technical challenges, but also artistic considerations – he says years of experience provide the expertise to figure a way around difficult subjects, while intuition informs the artistic decisions.

“Any artistic pursuit always poses the question of why the artist viewed the subject from this particular angle and not that one,”

Guest muses. “I don’t have a proper answer, other than it is part of your brain doing something you don’t necessarily understand.

“Everything I shoot is in service of the story we are trying to tell. I try not to unpick it too much. It is part of the magical mystery. There can be far too much post rationalisation about these things. I have nothing to offer on that but my own confusion,” he laughs.

In describing the two days of postproduction work he expects will be required to create the final America’s Cup image, the purpose is not to smooth over its blemishes. The patina of marks and scratches from more than a century of polishing and over-boisterous victory celebrations are central to the story.

It is more about dealing with the multitude of reflections and colour shifts that make polished silverware such a difficult photographic subject. The very act of recording the image also captures glaring reflections of the camera and equipment and surrounding environment, which intrude on the story.

• For the technically-minded, the process involved the camera remaining in a fixed position throughout, but with six different lighting set-ups. For each set-up, there were 10 exposures with 10 different focus points, proceeding in equal increments from the nearest surface of the trophy to its furthest point, a distance of some 400mm.

Each exposure produces a raw file size of 250mb, about eight times the size of a decent mobile phone image.

In post-production, the resulting 60 images are layered one on top of the other to ensure every plane, edge and undulation of the Cup’s topography is razor sharp, while unwanted reflections or highlights are removed – without compromising the clarity of every tap of the engraver’s hammer, or each mark of its illustrious story.

It is a monumental task demanding great patience, skill and concentration. A beast, indeed, but something Guest undertakes with cheerful devotion in pursuit of his passion to reveal these extraordinary objects in a way they have never been seen before.

Encrusted with corrosion, the sextant Sir Robin Knox-Johnson used on his 1968-9 non-stop voyage around the world as photographed by Rick Guest..

How to Handle Negative Bias

By Richard Pilley - Financial Adviser

If you’re anything like me, you will have been spending a lot of time reading over the summer. As I waited for the cyclones to roll through in January, I was devouring all the reading material I could get my hands on; books, magazines, newspapers etc.

While reading the newspapers, I noticed an overwhelming predominance of bad news stories. This is due to what psychologists call “negativity bias” – in other words the natural human reaction to prioritise and remember bad news. The theory goes that we have evolved to react quickly to potential threats, so bad news could be a signal that we need to change our behaviour quickly.

I suspect reports of a possible recession will continue to dominate the news over the coming months and they will hit a peak when/if an actual recession is declared (as defined by two successive quarters of negative real GDP growth). The negative headlines around this will doubtless worry many investors and potentially lead some to re-allocate assets from risk assets, such as shares, into more safe areas such as cash. Whether or not this is the right thing to do remains to be seen. However, many experienced professional investors will likely be looking forward to the recovery phase and will be busy identifying opportunities to benefit from this. Financial markets are forward-looking and often trade on predictions for future developments rather than what the economy is experiencing at the present time. Therefore, as an investor, it is important to maintain a balanced view and not focus too much on headlines that are designed to evoke a response.

Avoiding a knee-jerk reaction to negative news

History shows that sticking to a strategy and not chopping and changing in reaction to bad news stories provides a much better outcome for investors.

Headline writers and newspaper editors around the world know this and take advantage of it. In the highly competitive world of online media where every “click” matters, the effort to attract eyeballs leads to this overweight of negatively-worded headlines and stories. This leads to more time being spent by the reader on the bad news stories and the algorithms behind the newspaper sites and social media sites will continue to serve up these negative stories to satisfy our insatiable appetite for such news.

The financial media is no different. Late last year, most stories in the financial press revolved around uncontrollable inflation, rising interest rates and the cost of living crisis. These stories are still around, but they have been joined recently by a focus on the possibility of a forthcoming recession and earnings downgrades.

All the above are causes for concern, but sometimes it is worth standing back and taking a broader view before taking action. One should read as much as possible and take in differing opinions, but the trick is knowing when (and, more importantly, when not) to act on this news flow.

The important factors are to have clear objectives for your investments and a clear idea of your risk tolerance and time horizon. These factors will allow you to focus on creating the correct asset allocation for your circumstances rather than being influenced by short-term movements and negative headlines.

LEGACY WILL LIVE ON

RNZYS PERFORMANCE PROGRAMME

It has been a jam-packed and exciting local season for the Performance Programme (PP) teams, highlighted by a podium finish at the Barfoot & Thompson Women’s World Championships for 2.0 Racing. Our PP teams are currently planning their upcoming seasons. Here is a short summary of what a couple of our teams are targeting.

Jack Frewin, who was formally crewing for Robbie McCutcheon, has decided to try his hand at helming and has already displayed his potential by snagging 2nd place at the Harken Youth International Match Racing Championships. Jack has shown great drive and enthusiasm through his training, and we look forward to what he achieves over the next year.

Megan Thomson is, unfortunately, leaving her role at the RNZYS as the Sailing Manager after six solid years with the club. We will miss her positive presence in the office, and we wish her all the best as she heads off to pursue some exciting sailing opportunities overseas.

Megan will start her tour in Long Beach California, where she will compete in the Ficker Cup with recent World Match Racing Champions KNOTS Racing as her crew. This is the qualifying event for the Congressional Cup, which is the 2nd biggest match racing event in the world after the America’s Cup.

Megan will then head to San Francisco to meet up with her 2.0 Racing team to compete in the first leg of the Women’s Match Race World Tour. Here she will be fighting for the

Casa Vela Cup out of the St Francis Yacht Club before hopping across the USA to Annapolis for the second leg of the tour, competing for the Santa Maria Cup.

Following on from the USA, Megan and 2.0 will return to Le Havre, France where most of the team unfortunately, caught Covid last year. Although they were proud of Serena and Lisa for managing to scrape together a crew at the last minute, they have a sense of unfinished business and are all eager to compete this year.

The peak event for the team will be the Women’s Match Race World Championships, where they hope to improve on their bronze medal from last year.

“Last year was an incredible learning experience, and we feel lucky to have had the opportunity to represent the RNZYS on the world stage right here on home waters. We are so grateful to all those that supported us last year,” says Megan. “We thank our sponsors and supporters that made last year a possibility, in particular, the RNZYS Performance Programme, Atlantis Park Resort and Musto.”

• Megan is always eager to take on opportunities as she continues to develop as a sailor. If you would like to support Megan and the 2.0 Racing team, you can reach them at twopointzeroracing@gmail.com. Follow their adventures on twopointzeroracing.com, or on Facebook and Instagram.

Zak Merton

ENSURE THE ONGOING SUPPORT & SUCCESS OF OUR SAILING PROGRAMMES & SPECIFIC PROJECTS FOR FUTURE GENERATIONS TO ENJOY

From left: Anna Merchant, Josi Andres, Megan Thomson, Ellie Copeland.

MASTERCARD YOUTH TRAINING PROGRAMME

SUPPORTERS

Although the RNZYS’ Mastercard Youth Training Programme was out of season, the summer sailing schedule has kept our eager athletes as busy as ever. Already this year we have run a match racing training clinic, we’ve had a large contingent of youth schemers sailing on members’ boats, we’ve had teams compete locally and overseas – and win! All this already, and the excitement is starting to build as we look forward to the year ahead.

We kicked off the 2023 year with a threeday match race training clinic. We managed to squeeze in a few days with stunning conditions, which allowed the crews plenty of time to practice their starting. I observed gains being made particularly in the lead-back timing, which is often a pivotal moment of a match race and an important skill for our young sailors to learn. The clinic served as an ideal build-up for the early regattas of the season.

In February, we had two RNZYS teams travel to Sydney to compete in the Hardy Cup, which was held out of the Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron. Both teams showed moments of brilliance and represented our club well. The team of Mason Mulchy, Braedyn Denney, Luis Schneider, Harry McMullen and Poppy Hoskin made strong improvements throughout the event and were going toe to toe with the top guys by the end of it to finish 5th.

We also had Josh Hyde’s Yosemite Sam Racing Team of Jack Manning, Zach Fong, Cody Coughlan and Ryder Ellis narrowly missing out on the finals to finish a commendable 3rd place. Well done to both teams.

There was no rest for these teams as the very next week we held our own regatta here at home: The Harken Youth International Match Racing Championship. This edition was a hotly contested event which really highlighted the high level of the Australasian Youth Match Racing scene. In the aftermath of Cyclone Gabrielle, we were left with very little wind, which made for a tough event for race officer Colin Lucas and his team of volunteers, who did a great job to get the racing in.

We managed to get a full RNZYS podium at this one! It’s in events like this that we see the proof in the success of our Mastercard Youth Training Programme – and well done to Josh Hyde and his Yosemite Sam Racing Team for taking out the prestigious win.

As we look ahead to the start of the 2023 Mastercard Youth Training Programme in April, a reminder for all members that we have availability and would love to see new sailors join the programme.

Anybody from aged 15-23 can apply via our website, www.rnzys.org.nz/ytp-2.

Zak Merton

BOAT SPONSORS

From left: Guy Pilkington, Jack Manning, Cody Coughlan, Josh Hyde, Zach Fong, Ryder Ellis

ADB Classic Regatta 2023 snapshots

The weather conditions for the 22nd ABD Annual Regatta allowed this year’s organisers to breathe a sigh of relief after high winds and Covid restrictions impacted our two previous regattas. This year, the 26 entrants enjoyed outstanding divisional fleet racing.

While the vessel lists change through the years, the vision, generously supported by our CYANZ racing custodians, goes on, as has the Annual Regatta. It is an absolute delight to see so many yachts out racing year on year, and we thank our family of sponsors for their

ongoing amazing support.

My 18 years of CYANZ Regatta racing enjoyment have flown by, from my earlier time racing on Katrina II in A Bermudan Division, first as a trimmer and then helming for a number of years, against some immensely qualified sailors. Later, I moved to A Gaff Division racing, with my present role as tactician/ navigator on Ariki, where manual halyards of the same colour are tied off and new terminology (throat, widow maker, bowse, saddle) re-endorse history.

It is an immense privilege to participate in the divisional

racing of our heritage vessels – and to chair the CYANZ with help from an able Committee and fantastic Secretary in Joyce Talbot. I thank them and all CYA members for their remarkable support for our NZ heritage vessels

– Richard Cave, CYANZ Chair.

Series Results [PHS]

A Bermudan: 1, Little Jim; 2, Katrina II; 3, Ngataringa.

A Gaff: 1, Rawhiti; 2, Thema; 3, Ariki.

B Bermudan: 1, Tango; 2, Teal; 3, Orion II.

B Gaff: 1, Jonquil; 2, Corona; 3, Gloriana.

Modern Classics: 1, Taaroa; 2, Starlight; 3, Talent.

Overall winner

CYA yacht captain, Peter Brookes is “overjoyed’ that Rawhiti (which he co-owns with Andrew Barnes) took the trophy for the best performing boat in the regatta, as well as coming first [PHS] in the A Gaff Division. “I am so glad for my boat – I love to see her going so well.”

Peter has sailed gaffers for almost 50 years now (since crewing as a boy on his father’s fishing smack back in the UK), and, having restored Rawhiti, knows her better

than anyone else, he says. But winning is definitely a team effort: “These are big boats. You don’t do it on your own. A good crew makes all the difference.”

Rawhiti joined the CYA fleet three years ago. Peter has three other Logans – Lady Wilma, Rona and Kotiri – in varying stages of restoration at his Waimauku boatyard, along with the Lidgarddesigned Matia . “One day these will also be part of the classic fleet,” he says.

Trans-Tasman trophy

Winner of the TransTasman trophy – for the third time – was Jennie McKenzie, crewing on Frances on Friday, Gloriana on Saturday and Orion II on Sunday. It made for three completely different days of sailing, she says.

Whether helping hoist Frances ’ “beautiful new sails”, hauling in sheets underwater on Gloriana (“she is so overpowered”), or having a helming lesson on Orion II, it was “so much fun and I learned so much.”

Jennie has flown in for the regatta from Melbourne (where she crews on the A class Bermudan, Mercedes III) for more than a decade now – and she’ll be back next year. Meanwhile, she’s hoping to see a good contingent of NZ sailors in Melbourne for the Classic Yacht Cup Regatta there in November.

Racing again

The ABD Classic Regatta was the first time Pastime and Waitangi had raced against each other since 1895 – and

Pastime’s first racing in more than 30 years. “It was a huge honour to join the fleet and such a thrill to be out on the harbour amongst all those classics,” says skipper Andy Pilcher. “We raced all five races and managed to win the last one on handicap.”

To say racing her was a learning curve would be an understatement, says Andy. “In the first race we even had the topsail on backwards … we learnt we had to keep more sail up, how expensive any manoeuvres are in terms of time, and how important it is to get a clear start. It took us all of the regatta, but we finally got there in our last race.”

Pastime was successfully raced for 11 years from 1886 by Malcolm Miller, who built her at his Lyttleton Shipyard, then over the next six decades by his son Malcolm ‘Jimmy’ Miller and later Jimmy’s nephew, Alex Miller.

Passing out of the Miller family’s hands in 1963, she continued to be raced and cruised in until 1989 when Christchurch hotelier Arthur McKee bought Pastime and floated her in a specially-built pool next to his tavern, so patrons could dine on board. Her sailing and racing days appeared to be over. After the sale of the tavern in 1995 she languished on the hard in a Lyttleton boatyard.

That’s when two of Malcolm Miller’s great-great-grandsons, cousins Chris Kendrick and John Erkkila, stepped in. A trust was formed, and four years dedicated to restoring their great-great-grand-

father’s yacht, working with boatbuilder Craig Wild and his son Ryan in an old corrugated iron shed on the outskirts of Hamilton. Pastime was relaunched in Tauranga in 2021.

Now moored between Ida and Rainbow at Auckland’s Heritage Landing, the 135-year-old is launched on a new racing career, with the CYA.

Wellington CYA represented David Fisher, skipper of the Wellington-based classic yacht Lizzie and a trustee of the Wellington Classic Yacht Trust, joined the crew of Waitangi for this year’s ABD CYA regatta. He was one of several out-of-towners enjoying three glorious days of competition and camaraderie on the Waitematã.

“It was amazing to be part of the regatta and to see so many classics out sailing,” he says. “We don’t have that in Wellington.”

The Wellington Classic Yacht Trust formed in 2010 to save Lizzie (built by Ted Bailey at Balaena Bay in Wellington Harbour and launched in February 1909). Lizzie had broken from her moorings in Auckland and sunk. Members of the Royal Port Nicholson Yacht Club contributed to the salvage and transport back to Wellington, where she was restored by volunteers over two years.

Lizzie is the only purely racing yacht Ted Bailey built – and the oldest remaining Wellington-built racing yacht. “She is a pretty little boat

(she’s only 22’ on deck) and fast and nimble for her age. Waitangi seems enormous by comparison,” says David.

Some people refer to Lizzie as his boat, he says, but she’s not his in the formal sense – although he is her skipper and he does maintain her. In the past couple of years Lizzie’s deck has been rebuilt (“that took maybe 1000 hours”), three cracked ribs have been repaired, a wooden pattern made for the cranse iron on the end of the bowsprit, a steel fitting on the gaff replaced, and now some of the varnish is getting away on him, he says. “There’s always something to do.”

David began sailing on Lizzie after volunteering to help with the restoration of the 40’ Atalanta, built by Ted Bailey’s older brothers, Chas Jr and Walter, in Auckland in 1894, and donated to the Trust in 2013.

Atalanta, which arrived in Wellington in 1895 in time for the Anniversary Regatta and remained there for the next 80 years, also has a rich racing history. She is currently moored in Clyde Quay boat harbour and the Trust is working to raise funds for her restoration.

His intention, says David, is to encourage other Wellington Trust members to come up and sail with the CYA in Auckland; and any Auckland CYA members who would like to sail in Wellington should get in touch: “Lizzie regularly takes guests sailing in Friday night rum racing, and if we can make it happen, we will.”

By Penelope Carroll

CLASSIC YACHT ASSOCIATION CONTACTS – GENERAL ENQUIRIES: Joyce Talbot, admin@classicyacht.org.nz

CLUB CAPTAIN YACHTS: Peter Brookes, yachtcaptain@classicyacht.org.nz

CLUB CAPTAIN LAUNCHES: Shirley-Ann McCrystal, launchcaptain@classicyacht.org.nz

Marine Scen e

36 Degrees back fun fishing tournament in beautiful Northland

It was another fantastic couple of days out on the water at this year’s 36 Degrees Brokers Tutukaka One Base Tournament. Annually hosted at the Whangarei Deep Sea Angler’s Club (WDSAC), the tournament, attracts anglers from across the country for a keenly-contested, fun-filled event on one of Northlands’ most beautiful coastlines.

Fountaine Pajot push environmental technology

Multihull Solutions and The Yacht Sales Co showcased three world leading yachts at the 2023 Auckland Boat Show in March – the Fountaine Pajot Astréa 42 sailing catamaran, and two new models by Absolute Yachts, the Absolute 47 FLY (pictured above) and the luxurious Navetta 58.

The Fountaine Pajot Astréa 42 was awarded 2019 European Yacht of the Year and 2018 Multihull of the Year and has been acclaimed for its outstanding ocean-going performance.

Marlow Rope’s new D2 Club line offers great benefits

Marlow’s new D2 Club line has been developed to provide an upgrade to polyester sheets and halyards offering the benefit of reduced weight and reduced alongation thanks to the lightweight Dyneema SK75 blended core.

Due to the ropes equivalent strength and diameter to to typical polyester braids, it can be simply substituted without the complexity and expense of having to modify or change deck equipment such as clutches and winches. The coated core provides extra durability and ease for splicing.

To summarise, the benefits of D2 Club included: easily spliced; excellent UV

The Absolute Yachts 47 Fly impressed with its expansive living areas and powerful technology that delivers optimal safe and comfortable cruising.

Absolute Yachts’ Navetta 58 is ideal for extended cruising. The Navetta 58’s saloon, cabins and galley have all been beautifully designed and finished to the highest quality while her master suite sets new standards in luxurious design and livability. multihullsolutions.com.au

With loads of great prizes up for grabs, 30 boatloads of anglers rigged their gear and chose their favourite lures in preparation for a whirlwind few days of fishing.

The event delivered on an action-packed competition, managing a contest tally of 14 marlin, alongside a collection of tuna, mahimahi, kingfish, shortbill and snapper.

Lines out and towing wide during the day, a few cold ones at the WDSAC club in the evening, and some entertaining banter with mates – what more could you ask for! We’re proud to have backed this premiere fishing event, with a great turnout and much fun by all.

resistance; good abrasion resistance; good chemical resistance; good clutch and jammer performance; good strength; light weight; and reduced elongation.

fostersshipchandlery.co.nz.

Strong sales, buoyant mood at Auckland Show

Volvo Penta’s DPS enhancing experience for all boaters

Volvo Penta’s DPS system, initially launched in 2009, allows boaters to have total control on the water, at a touch, by automatically keeping the boat’s heading and position despite wind or current. It is easy to activate through the press of a button on the Volvo Penta joystick control, which is integrated into the DPS solution.

Reports of strong sales set the tone for the first return since 2019 of the Auckland Boat Show. Held in central Auckland in March, the fully-booked event saw 112 boats, and more than 500 marine brands on display.

The team from Hutchwilco reported a steady show with the new Jellicoe Harbour layout paying off. “The show was easy to move around, with a bigger footprint than ever before and layout that made the most of its central city location.”

Exhibitors have reported strong trading across the range of marine displays; from berths to large yachts.

A study commissioned by NZ Marine last year showed 1.9 million New Zealanders take part in boating, with more than 1,540,000 boats on the water in a $2.9 billion dollar industry which is growing by an estimated 44,810 vessels per year.

auckland-boatshow.com

Through DPS, preparing for docking, waiting to refuel, or waiting for a bridge or lock to open becomes safe and straightforward. It is also easy to disengage through the simple press of a button or shift of the control levers. Now, the benefits of DPS will be available on all Volvo Penta boats with electric steering from 20ft to 120ft.

Anders Thorin, Electronics Product Manager at Volvo Penta, comments, “We are proud to champion automated features which aid the boating experience. Through a step-by-step evolution, we’ve been able to continuously help more boaters gain confidence in some of the more stressful aspects. Now, a wide range of boaters from water sports enthusiasts all the way through to superyacht owners can benefit from our DPS feature. This is just one of the many steps we are taking to enable more boaters to enjoy and experience life on the water.”

Volvo Penta’s DPS feature is enabled for twin, triple, or quadruple solutions across the company’s marine leisure range worldwide. An additional pre-requisite is electric steering. To access DPS, a software update and installation of an antenna are also required.

www.volvopenta.com

Kevin Dibley design wins top honour in the US

New Zealand naval architect Kevin Dibley’s striking Lyman-Morse LM46 yacht has been awarded Cruising World magazine’s ‘Domestic Boat of the Year’ in its 2023 Boat of the Year competition.

“The Lyman-Morse LM 46 is a heck of a boat,” said judge Mark Pillsbury. “Cold-molded construction, top-notch systems, a powerful sail plan, and an interior that is both practical and lovely at the same time. Wow!

“Purpose-built for an experienced owner, for sure, but in terms of a pure sailing machine, the 46 was the standout boat in this year’s lineup of new models.”

The judging panel was thunderstruck by both the formidable sailing prowess and the exacting level of execution of the LM46, which received their unanimous nod for Domestic Boat of the Year.

dibleymarine.com

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