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Oceanbridge Sail Auckland , hosted by Royal Akarana Yacht Club on Auckland’s Okahu Bay, is the largest Olympic, Paralympic and invited classes regatta in New Zealand. This year it was held 26th February – 1st March 2015 and attracted over 200 boats spread across all the classes, including two Sonars, four SKUD 18s and two 2.4 mRs.
Day one started with a delay as light conditions saw boats held ashore until the early afternoon before racing could get underway.
Day two starting out much the same until a light nor-west breeze allowed boats to get underway late morning. By the time a front came through the Paralympic fleet was in the middle of their first race of the day, which had to be abandoned due to the severity of the electrical storm. Luckily nobody discovered just how well carbon fibre masts conduct electricity, although there was at least one close call. However, conditions settled after that, allowing racing to resume.
Day three brought more “hurry up and wait” as light conditions again saw the postponement flag hanging limply from the flagpole for 6 hours, and the predicted the arrival of the Volvo Ocean Race fleet was delayed until later that night.
Day four saw yet more delays, with very light conditions again.
By the time racing wrapped up, the 2.4mRs had completed eleven races, with Paul Francis finishing in first and Brett Willcock second. The SKUD 18s managed to complete ten races, with the pairing of Tim Dempsey and Gemma Fletcher finishing first, Helena Horswell and Mark Winters in second and Paul Wager and Rachel Shardlow in third. The Sonars completed eight races, with the boat helmed by Richard Dodson finishing in first and John Weston’s boat second.
Read the full results here
