Issue date
Big fleets and close racing were features of the Hansa 303 North Island championships hosted by the Waitara Boating Club and Sailability Taranaki recently.
Only two points separated the top three in the singles fleet, with Tauranga's Paulien Chamberlain edging local sailor Alan McGregor and John Andrews from Wellington in third.
Locals Teryn Haughty and Neil Hodges came through with a series of consistent performances to take out the doubles title by one point from other local crews of Brody Williams-Jury and Dave Allerton in second and Alan McGregor and Nathan Morrell third.
The format for the regatta was a bit different to others with two races scheduled for the doubles each day followed by three races for the singles.
Strong, gusty north-westerlies caused a delay on day one with the race committee postponing racing by an hour to enable all boats to get into the water in plenty of time.
As many as 11 doubles crews got two races away, with Williams-Jury and Allerton winning both.
Seventeen sailors then lined up in the singles division, with Chamberlain showing her class with a 1-2-1 scorecard.
Waitara's newly-refurbished clubrooms provided the perfect setting for Saturday evening's BBQ and everyone enjoyed catching up.
The wind was a lot lighter for day two and it allowed Haughty and Hodges to come through and take out the doubles.
Chamberlain did enough to hang onto first in the singles to continue her good run of results.
Other sub divisions were raced within the fleet, with Tahk Waite winning the B1 blind from Rotorua’s Rob Aislieby. Chamberlain also took out the B2 blind from Allerton. Local crews took the first three places in the seated division 3 with Bob Knox first, Williams-Jury second and Daryl Wray third.
A huge thanks to all the sailors who came to the event and to the great team of volunteers who helped out. Go to the Sailability Taranaki Facebook page for photos and video of the regatta.
Results and standings from the Hansa 303 North Island championships at the Waitara Boating Club:
Singles (17 boats)
1st: Paulien Chamberlain (TYPBC) 1 2 1 4 4 (5) - 12 points
2nd: Alan McGregor (NPYC) 5 1 2 (8) 3 2 - 13 pts
3rd: John Andrews (RPNYC) 4 3 4 2 1 (13) - 14 pts
Doubles (11 boats)
1st: Teryn Haughty / Neil Hodges (Waitara) 2 3 2 2 - 9 pts
2nd: Brody Williams-Jury / Dave Allerton (Waitara) 1 1 3 5 - 10 pts
3rd: Alan McGregor / Nathan Morrell (NPYC) 3 6 4 3 - 16 pts
