Issue date
The 2015 49er and 49erFX skiff National Championships were recently hosted by the Royal Akarana Yacht Club.
Given New Zealand is a world leader in both these classes, and the fact that the event attracted some top international talent from Brazil, the 2015 regatta was the most hotly contest in recent memory.
Photos by Suellen Davies / Live Sail Die / Royal Akarana Yacht Club
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The regatta was sailor driven with parents, supporters and coaches setting the courses with shorter races keeping things tight with a high priority on starting, corners and boat handling.
Having the international crews meant greater depth in the fleet, and organisers believe it was the biggest fleet in New Zealand since the class was introduced for the Sydney 2000 Olympics.
New Zealand’s new youth sailors were introduced to world class racing. Where else in the world could you race with two current class world champions, Peter Burling and Blair Tuke, and Martine Grael and Kahena Kunze?
Here’s a wrap of the daily action as it unfolded…
Day 1
Eight 49ers (men) were joined on the startline by four 49erFX (womans Olympic skiff) - three women's crews and one youth male crew.
A super competitive fleet with current world champions of both classes. The local boats were joined by crews from BRA, USA and ARG.
Six 12 minute races were completed on day 1, sailed close to shore in Mechanics Bay just off Tamaki Drive.
A beautiful northerly wind slowly increased from 5 to 12 knots through the day. Puffs and irregular wind shifts kept the racing tight.
Day 2 (Final day)
The 12 crews, including four international crews from ARG/BRA/USA, were on the water early on Sunday for the 9.30am start – eight more races around 12 minutes in length were scheduled.
Unfortunately the wind shut down and the course area had to be shifted from Mechanics Bay along towards Orakei wharf. Two races were completed over high tide before an early lunch was called - rain up near the Auckland Harbour Bridge starting swinging the wind all over the place.
The Hauraki Gulf had huge “king” tides over the weekend meaning the current was starting to have a massive influence.
Racing started again at 2pm in a 4-9 knot Northerly sea breeze for another 5 races. Lots of pleasure boats coming home past the course area from a weekends cruising added their boat wakes to the current and confused sea state.
Racing continued to be extremely close all afternoon with 4 different winners in the last 5 races with many lead changes. Alex and Martine shared the FX wins. Large gains/losses were made rounding marks.
Pete/Blair are 49er champions for 2015. Martine/Kahena (BRA) were the top 49erFX with the NZL trophy for top kiwi going to Alex/Molly.
Thanks to Ian Clouston for running a very professional regatta and coping with all our requests.
The NZ 49er association believes the weekend was a great success and a very valuable weekend for 49er/FX sailing in NZ.
NZL 49er Nationals 2015 final results
1 Peter Burling / Blair Tuke 1 1 1 1 [3] 3 2 1 1 2 2 1 3 tot 19
2 Yago Lange/ Klaus Lange 3 [6] 2 3 2 2 6 3 4 1 5 3 2 tot 36
3 Marco Grael / Gabriel Borges 2 2 4 2 4 4 [7] 7 2 3 1 4 5 tot 40
4 Marcus Hansen / Josh Porebski 4 4 3 [6] 5 1 3 5 3 5 6 2 1 tot 42
5 Brad Funk / Trevor Burd 6 3 5 4 1 5 1 2 [7] 7 3 5 6 tot 48
6 Isaac Mchardie / Trent Rippey 5 5 6 5 [7] 6 4 4 6 6 4 6 7 tot 64
7 Markus Somerville / Aaron Hume-Merry [7] 7 7 7 6 7 5 6 5 4 7 7 4 tot 72
8 David Higgins / Will Cobb [8] 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 tot 96
49er FX 2015 Nationals final results
1 Martine Grael / Kahena Kunze 2 2 1 1 [3] 1 2 1 1 1 2 1 3 tot 18
2 Alex Maloney / Molly Meech 1 1 2 2 2 2 1 [3] 3 2 1 2 1 tot 20
3 Erica Dawson/ Ellie Copeland [3] 3 3 3 1 3 3 2 2 3 3 3 2 tot 31
4 Hamish Hall-Smith / Logan McAllister [4] 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 tot 48
