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Big prize at stake in CBRE RNZYS Club Championship

Angie Crafer’s Mojo is current B Division leader in the CBRE Club champs – Billy Woodworth Photo.

For the second year the RNZYS is offering a major prize to the CBRE Club Championships winner. For the 2020/21 season, all the RNZYS club champions for the 12 different divisions were put into a draw, with Barry Martin and his team off Bizarre (B division) winning the prize of flights for himself and his crew to Rarotonga to compete in the first RSC, RNZYS challenge. Unfortunately, due to Covid-19 this has had to be postponed to later this year.

For 2022, the plan is to have a Club Championships final. This would see the divisional winners race off in the fleet of MRX yachts over ANZAC weekend. The wining team will take home a $10,000 travel allowance and the right to represent the RNZYS at the Seawanhaka Cup in Los Angles in June 2022.

The Seawanhaka International Challenge is raced out of Long Beach Yacht club in a fleet of Catalina 37s. These are the same boats used for the Congressional Cup. This is a friendly clubbased event, with great hospitality and would be an ideal chance for the RNZYS sailors to represented.

The Seawanhaka Cup is an historic international challenge for the purpose of promoting small yacht racing and developing the Corinthian spirit among competing yachtsmen. It is considered to be the oldest yachting trophy originated in the United States that is still in active competition.

The first challenge was sailed in Oyster Bay, New York in 1895. The Seawanhaka Cup is a match racing event open to international teams who are all regular members of the yacht club they are representing and a national of the country where the club resides.

The travel grant will come from the RNZYS International Sailing Fund. The Sailing Committee has been seeking ways to encourage more RNZYS members to compete internationally and continue to develop the club brand.

Linking this travel grant to the CBRE Club Championships ensures that the most dedicated sailors at the club have a fantastic opportunity and are suitability rewarded for their time and commitment. The rules for the Club Championships final are set so that it is an ‘owner driver’ event and the crew must be the regular crew that have raced with the yacht throughout the season.

The CBRE Club Championships is decided by a yacht’s overall position in three main RNZYS series. For most divisions this is the Doyle Sails Winter series, Doyle Sails Wednesday Night Series and the 36° Brokers Commodores Cup. For some of the divisions, these series are slightly different. The NOR that outlines the series is on the RNZYS website. Yachts count their best two overall placings towards their final score, meaning one of the series results can be dropped. The current leaders for each division: A Division V5 Brian Petersen B Division Mojo Angie Crafer C Division Juniper Lode Missiaen F Division Hysteria Graeme Cummings E Division Lorenz Cedric Allen S Division Enigma Chris Hirst MRX North Cert Servers Matt Bouzaid Ladies Series NZ Spars & Rigging Karleen Dixon Etchells Windward Laurie Jury