Issue date
The close and competitive racing that exists throughout the Elliott 5.9 fleet has attracted a healthy number of boats for this weekend's fourth round of the Elliott 5.9 Traveller Series, with at least 15 boats descending on the Bucklands Beach Yacht Club.
A lot of interest will focus on two new crews who will be competing for the first time.
Jo Lowery, who sails out of Lyttelton, is the new owner of Bob and Lowery has made the trek north for her first E5.9 regatta. She plans to actively campaign Bob across the E5.9 Traveller Series and other E5.9 regattas.
Auckland-based Ian Baker is the new owner of the well-performed SMAK and brings a wealth of sailing experience to the class. He will also prove to be a strong competitor in this already highly-competitive one design fleet.
Another boat to watch will be R+R. Craig Satterthwaite and Richard (Bart) Bearda have again campaigned R+R to a strong position and they hold a solid points advantage over the second-placed Slam Dunk after three of the five Traveller Series events.
However, Satterthwaite and Bearda will be missing from R+R this weekend and instead multiple national champion Derek Scott will team up with R+R’s national champion bowman Chris Maddock to form a strong combination.
A good result at Bucklands Beach will put R+R in a commanding position to reclaim the overall Traveller Series title they relinquished to SMAK in 2020.
Slam Dunk, currently sitting in second overall, will be wanting to close the gap and give themselves a chance of taking the title at the final regatta to be held at Sandspit on September 25-26.
The battle behind R+R and Slam Dunk is also developing into an interesting contest.
Dirty Circus returns to the fleet after missing the previous Napier event and with strong showings at the first two events they will be hoping to quickly re-establish themselves in the chasing pack.
Zoot Allures are currently third and Bloodline fourth and both will be looking to finish strongly and and put pressure on for the final regatta.
The dark horse of this regatta must be the return of Rob Ward sailing Hobo the Butcher.
Ward has previously sailed Hobo to consecutive national championships titles and, while Hobo has not been a regular in the series this year, they are always competitive and capable of race wins.
With a good number of new crews this year, the rookie title is still too close to call. Ewok, Ice Breaker and Reverly have all shown good form but will be looking for consistency to try to claim the outright rookie title off the currently well-performed Boat 1.
Full results will be available online here and pictures online here
See here for more information on the Elliott 5.9 Class Association.
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Photo: Zoot Allures are presently third in the overall standings.
