8 minute read
Slow start, fast finish in small boat bonanza
from BREEZE SUMMER 2023
by RNZYS
Slow start, fast finish in small boat bonanza
Story and photos by Ivor Wilkins
Main Photo: The two top finishers, Clockwork and Rehab, established their scoreboard order right off the start line.
After crawling off the start line in painfully light, shifty conditions, the 2023 Coastal Classic fleet romped up the coast in a building SE breeze, which offered a fast reach to Cape Brett, a single gybe into the Bay of Islands and a 20-mile blast to the finish line.
For the 133 crews competing in this iconic annual NZ Multihull Yacht Club ritual, executing what sounds like a simple formula demanded a multitude of decisions, skills and sail changes as they shifted gears and worked to extract full advantage from every opportunity.
Notwithstanding the slow start, the conditions held the potential for fast times, but a start line change due to the major sewer line failure in Auckland shortened the course, which meant none of the existing race records would be threatened.
As it happened, at least three of the competitors – the Melges 40s Clockwork and Sassinate, and a 41-year-old Ross 930, Hotdogger – set faster times than their respective category records.
In the battle for line honours, the conditions favoured monohulls, with the hugely successful Brett Bakewell-White modified TP52 Wired, owned by Rob Bassett, taking the honours, 8 minutes ahead of Whitbread veteran Erle Williams’ 54ft catamaran, Apache. Monohulls dominated the top-10 across the line, by 6-4.
On handicap, the race was a small boat bonanza. Overall monohull honours went to RNZYS Past Commodore Steve Mair’s Melges 40, Clockwork, followed by Mike Sanderson’s Shaw 35, Rehab, with Sinisa Grujicic’s Ross 930 Hotdogger completing the podium. Squadron yachts filled the top five monohull places overall and won divisions 1A, 1B, 4, Y88 and Double-handed.
All three podium finishers basically adopted the same strategy of prioritizing speed over strict course-keeping – and, after some manoeuvres to escape the light wind start, managed to complete the race with a single gybe at Cape Brett.
“We had a plan to sail as fast as possible,” said Mair. “If we found ourselves a bit off of the rhumbline, we were fine with that. We just wanted to get north as fast as we could.”
Switching several times between full main and a single reef and between a masthead A2 gennaker and a fractional reaching code zero, kept Clockwork within a mile or two of the TP52s and the gun catamaran Apache all the way.
“These boats are so exhilarating to sail, although they do ship a lot of water,” said Mair. There were hopes of building a class of Melges 40s in New Zealand, but sadly the trend is in the other direction. Of the four that came into the country, one has already been sold to Australia.
And, as Mair’s Clockwork completed the course, he received a WhatsApp message from Croatia. “I had been talking to this guy about the boat and he sat up all night in Croatia following us on the Predict Wind tracker,” said Mair. “As we crossed the line, he bought the boat on the spot.
“At that stage, we were rapt that we unofficially beat the 40ft record and won our division. When we heard we had won the entire race, I was very happy to end my time with this boat on that note.”
Mair and Sanderson were both supported by slightly unconventional crew complements. Since owning Clockwork, Mair was determined to sail with an all-amateur crew always including two women and two current members of the RNZYS Youth Training Programme. It is a formula that has served him well.
“For me, it is not so much about the boat. It is more about the crew and the people I get to hang out with. We have had so much fun,” he said. When the sale of Clockwork goes through, he already has his eyes on a bigger, less-wet boat with more offshore and international events on his radar.
Sanderson likewise had an eclectic crew combination, including his two older children, Millie (16) and Merrick (14) and a friend Morgan Lay (16), all of whom race 29ers. Also in the lineup was Mark Christensen, who recently returned to New Zealand after many years in the USA.
Sanderson and Christensen last sailed together on ABN AMRO, which Sanderson skippered to victory in the 2005-06 Volvo Ocean Race.
Sanderson has previously involved his kids in Cherub dinghy campaigns. Having graduated to 29ers, Millie in particular was keen to get a taste of offshore keelboat racing.
With the support of three partners, Sanderson picked up an 11-year-old Rob Shaw canting keeler with a chequered history. It began life as a fast cruiser, then spent time in Noumea under French owners, who installed a new keel and carbon fibre rig and campaigned in a couple of Groupama races.
“When we bought it, it was rough as guts. It had sailed on its own bottom to and from New Caledonia, which seemed a bit ambitious to be honest.” After a month-long refit and a new wardrobe of sails, Rehab made its racing debut in the Coastal Classic and promptly claimed 2nd overall.
Sanderson has history with Rob Shaw’s designs, which he rates highly. “Years ago, I had a 10m flush-deck Shaw canting keeler, called Orbit,” he recalled. “Although it was very quick, it was well mannered, with no vices, not an angry boat. That made me comfortable we could do something fun with this one with the kids involved.”
And fun they had, racing north always in company with some of the hot 40-footers. Although they never reefed the main, they did “a fair few sail changes” up the coast, switching between jib, fractional reaching code zero and masthead gennaker.
“We saw 22-24 knots of wind, with a bit more breeze as we approached Cape Brett. We were doing more than 20 knots for much of the race – not bad for a little boat.”
If the first two boats featured somewhat unusual crew combinations, so did the third member of the podium party. Hotdogger only had two on board, Grujicic and his friend Nigel Bish, who also races his own Ross 930.
They came into the Coastal Classic with good form, having won the SSANZ triple series in the winter. “We started with a fairly conservative approach, but as the breeze built, we just tried to keep the boat on its feet,” said Grujicic.
Sailing with a full main all the way and switching between code zero, gennaker and A3 kept them in company with boats 40ft and above all the way up the coast.
“We had a bit of a cluster at Cape Brett when we managed to trawl the gennaker, which cost us about 10 to 15 minutes. It was about 10pm and the breeze was up at 30 knots with horrible seas coming from every which way. It was probably the most confused sea state I have ever seen.”
Having recovered the gennaker, they completed the final stretch under jib and main. “It was a tight reach at that point, in gusty conditions with big bullets that we could not see coming off the hills. It was the fastest run I have ever done on that final section of the race, but by that stage we were running on pure adrenalin. It was good.” Hotdogger’s silverware haul included winning Division 4 and the two-handed prize.
The line honours battle resolved itself into a three-way contest between Bassett’s Wired, rival TP52 Mayhem, owned by Harry Dodson and Tony Bosnyak, and the catamaran Apache.
Mayhem got the jump at the start and led to Tutukaka, where Wired edged into the lead and never relinquished it, fulfilling Bassett’s long-held ambition to add this notch to an already-impressive victory belt.
Across the fleet, however, the customary boisterous post match celebrations were muted, in the knowledge that a fellow racer had lost his life. “It was unimaginably sad,” said Steve Mair. “We had a moment’s silence at the prizegiving. It was a very moving gesture to show respect and a stark reminder that the sport we love can be brutal.”
