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Andrew Wills and his team on board Raging Hormones rose above a bumper 16-boat fleet to win the 2019 Harken Young 88 National Championships in Auckland last weekend.
It was Raging Hormones' second title in as many years, and third since 2015. In fact, only Raging Hormones and Slipstream, who finished second this year, have taken home the Tanaka Cup in the last five events.
It was challenging regatta with very light 5-7 knot winds throughout the day on Saturday and only two races on the Sunday, but this took the overall total to the required five races needed for the event.
It meant tricky racing conditions, especially as the Young 88s are known to thrive off a decent breeze.
Raging Hormones had a relatively quiet start to the regatta, notching a fourth in the first race, but proceeded to win three of the next four races to finish nine points ahead of Mark Bond's Slipstream with Harry Thurston's Undercover another six points behind in third.
Raging Hormones won back-to-back titles. Photo: Rachel von Zalinski – Live Sail Die
"We had a great team on board this weekend and, even though we wish we had got a bit more breeze and a few more races in, we’re pretty pleased to come away with the win," Wills said.
"I’m really stoked with the great job that the Young 88 Class Association did behind the scenes to put this event on. It’s the most entries we’ve had in a long time. A big thanks to Harken for sponsoring the event and to the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron for putting it on.”
Young 88 royalty was also on the water to witness the 2019 edition of the event, in the form of Young 88 designer Jim Young.
"Somebody said to me the other day – and I chose to believe them, of course – that [the Young 88] is the best all-purpose boat that they know, and I couldn’t help but agree with them,” he said.
Photos: Rachel von Zalinski – Live Sail Die
There was some tight racing all the way through the fleet.
"It’s a very close fleet up and down the spectrum," Bond said. "It doesn’t matter what the skill level is, there’s always a battle going on somewhere on the course, whether it’s between first and second, fourth and fifth or 10th and 12th, so it’s all the way up there is plenty of good racing to be had.”
Full results can be found here and photos and video is on the Young 88 Facebook page.
