2010 Marauder World National Championship Regatta

What a great weekend of sailing! The weather couldn't have been more varied, with strong puffs on Saturday causing a few exciting spinnaker rides, and ending in a drifter on Sunday, after a day of shifty winds, resulting in some good tactical racing

Saturday dawned with an overcast sky and a light south westerly breeze. We knew straight away that it would be course 3 for the first harbour race. We taped the race instructions and a copy of the Harbour Buoys layout on the bulkhead, had a rum coffee and decided that since the crew had not been together for about four years that a trial kite launch may be a good idea. That worked well enough and so did the jibe, so we pulled the kite down again, had another rum coffee and cruised around Northern Leading to wait for the racing to start.

We had about twenty boats milling around our start line on Saturday with only a few hundred metres away another twenty boats on a race start for Buck’s Beach YC.

We found a committee slipup in that the earlier correspondence stated all starts would be at Northern Leading, but the sailing instructions failed to mention that small detail, so one crew was out there looking for the rest of the fleet off Westhaven at 10.30. Thank goodness for mobile phones.

Saturday was a great day for racing as the breeze freshened to the high teens and we navigated our way between the multitudes of buoys to round. The comment was the same from all the Marauder crews we spoke to. Most crews have not raced around the Waitemata Harbour in the last few years so we all had some interesting times trying to identify which yellow buoy to head towards.

One crew who shall remain nameless had even loaded the marks on their GPS. That worked well until they realized that one of the marks was entered incorrectly….oops!

At the second mark Pacific Dogwood and Maggie May were fairly close after choosing different sides of the tide. Then a slow encounter with a Tracker needing too much buoy room saw MM held up and PD was gone for the rest of the race.

Positions in the fleet changed several times throughout the day as the raging tide had a major effect on the tactics used by each crew.

In Division 1, Pacific Dogwood finished in 3 hrs, with Maggie May 12 minutes later, then Scenario, Santosa and Gentleman Joe came in at 2 minute intervals.

In the no extras division, Pinball Wizard finished in 3 hrs 12 and Eyelure came in 10 mins later.

The crews off several Marauders headed for the Bar at the Pons as there was a party going on for the Lipton Cup prize giving on Saturday evening.

The breeze on Sunday started off from the South West again, but lighter than Saturday. We started with a short Harbour race on the same course as the day before so we all knew where we were going and the kites were easier to control. Again it was tight racing with only 6 minutes separating the final three boats in division 1.

After a short break for lunch we started a series of Windward Leeward races.

The first race was great as we all started towards the line in a great rush, only to find one boat heading for the wrong start buoy. Oops, quick, get back over the line and start again.

The race went off in fine style and the short legs meant it was over in 30 hectic minutes.

The second race started well until the wind changed direction only minutes after the start and it became a reach in both directions. At one stage there were boats carrying spinnakers heading towards each other on opposite legs of the same course.

The course was re-laid for the last race in to the new wind and we were off again for the last fling of the day. Unfortunately the wind died out and it turned into a drifter. So much so that one of the Marauders drifted in to hit the bottom mark. They had just got off the mark when another Marauder drifted in to them. The race was cancelled at about 2.30 and we all headed back to our respective marinas. The prize giving was held at PCC that evening and we came away with some good prizes to be awarded at our AGM in July.

We only had 8 boats out for the Nationals this year but they came from all over the Auckland region. With Richard Power flying in from China to attend the Nationals, we could nearly upgrade the event to the Marauder World International Championship Regatta. Perhaps I had better put that to the committee.

Well done to everyone who competed and to the winners. Thank you to the Up To 26’Club and the Ponsonby Cruising Club for organising such great racing, and to our sponsors for providing a brilliant set of prizes.

Final Placings:-

Division 1 – Spinnaker          

Pacific Dogwood 1
Maggie May 2
Scenario 3

Gentleman Joe 4

Santosa 5

Division 2 - No Extras
Pinball Wizard 1
Little by Little 2
Eyelure 3

Photos and full results for the event are available on the UpTo26’ website.

www.upto26club.org.nz , under gallery and racing. These pictures can be ordered from the club in high resolution for a small fee.