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Heyden Percy and Scott Pedersen took care of Busineff at the Flying 15 national championships recently, even though there were a couple of times when it looked like she would break.
The pair, sailing a boat called Busineff, won the nine-race series sailed off the Royal Akarana Yacht Club by four points over Murray Gilbert and Jon Burgess (Ffrenetic). Craigh Coulam and Adrienne Rekke (Blowffish) were a further eight points behind in third.
Fresh winds of 15-20 knots greeted the sailors over each of the three days, which put pressure on equipment. Percy and Pederson went out for the final day needing only one more good result to secure the title but were a little nervous about their boat which had "broken" a couple of times the previous day.
They were running second on the first race of the day when they thought disaster had struck.
"The first reach was very fast and fun, full hike and smoking," Pedersen said. "We made a good gybe then halfway done the next reach, bang, our worse fears realised and the pole comes away from the mast.
"We pulled the kite down and found the pole was not broken, the beak was just a bit loose so it was a big relief."
The pair went on to finish second in the race to secure the title with one race to spare. They sailed conservatively in the final race, not raising the kite on one run, to finish fifth (their drop).
Percy and Pedersen sailed consistently well up until the final race, winning three races and never finishing outside the top three. The Ffrenetic crew were also impressive, also notching three races wins, but were left to rue two fifth-placed finishes in the 15-boat fleet.
Jenny Price and Alison Howitt were the only all-female combination competing and were seventh overall.
Results from the Flying 15 national championships at the Royal Akarana Yacht Club recently:
1st: Heyden Percy / Scott Pedersen (Busineff) 3 1 1 2 1 2 2 2 (5) - 14 points
2nd: Murray Gilbert / Jon Burgess (Ffrenetic) 2 2 (5) 1 5 3 1 3 1 - 18 pts
3rd: Craig Coulam / Adrienne Rekke (Blowffish) 1 (6) 4 4 3 1 6 4 3 - 26 pts
