Issue date
The New Plymouth Yacht Club will host the 50th Hartley 16 Nationals Championships 14-16 January 2016 with a measurement day on January 13th.
The Hartley 16 fleet is still very strong with over 25 boats entered to race off the Taranaki coast.
While some small modifications have been done with cabins being lowered and transoms being brought out to the full length measurement allowable under the class rules, the class is still as close as you get to one-design.
Most of the competing boats will have been built in the 70s and 80s when trailer yachting was in its boom years, but while lots of other classes have had their numbers drop off the good old Hartley has seen a resurgence in recent years.
The reasons for this is that it offers one-design class racing in which it is affordable to be competitive, only needing two people to sail it, no outboard needed, only needing a small vehicle to tow it, and probably the best after-match functions of any class around.
Not having a spinnaker doesn’t concern them, with racing as close as it is there is a lot of ground to be made downhill. It’s also hard to get the Hartley class to sail more than three races a day at their nationals, very few race officers have succeeded.
Age doesn’t seem to be a barrier to boat speed with the age spread from 20s to 80s, also plenty of female sailors owning boats now as well.
The class has even banned compasses, with the availability of electronic memory function equipment it was decided to stay with the old seat of the pants method of picking shifts.
There are still a lot of boats around waiting to be reconditioned and plenty of help available from the sailors to get you up to speed. The Hartley 16 class is very much about helping each other out and enjoying some great racing and friendly banter.
If you are a past Hartley owner you are most welcome to come along to the Nationals in New Plymouth, I’m sure there are still some sailors in the fleet from your era whenever it was.
