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January 2002, New Zealand, Javelin News

The season has started again, and its time to get into serious racing mode as we build up for the North Islands and Nationals.

You will find information in this Newsletter about the following wonderful topics, plus also a few reminders about subscriptions and other neccessary evils…

Upcoming Regattas:

·        Javelin North Islands – Notice of Race
·        Javelin Nationals and Sanders Cup – Notice of Race and Entry Forms
·        ECNZ Centreboard Regatta - Lake Taupo

You will also find some regatta results, some of them a little older than planned, better late than never?

This Season:

·        Stink 2001 – Lake Rotorua, Labour Weekend, October 2001
·        Auckland Javelin Championships – November 2001
·        Lake Rotoma – Tasman Shield Regatta – December 2001

Last Season:

· Javelin North Islands 2001 (Lake Taupo)
· Tauranga Centreboard Regatta 2001

Theres also some Gossip from around the country, to let you all know whats been happening.

To keep up to date with what is going on in the class make sure you subscribe to the Javelin website (www.javelins.org) and the Javelin eMail list (javelin@elists.com.au)

The 2001-2002 Javelin Class Owners Association Subscriptions are now due. Our Subscription is $20 per boat, and this allows the Javelin fleet to be a national class affiliated to YNZ, and to promote ourselves, provide the web site and stay in touch with the you, our members. If you have any queries , please let me know:

Those on the Javelin E Mail list will know already that the 2000 – 2001 sailing season marked 40 years since the first Javelin was launched. It was back in 1961 somewhere between July and September when the John Spencer Design hit the water with the name Javelin. John first designed the Javelin in 1958, with the Javelin association being formed in October 1961.

Sea Spray through John Spencer’s column is one of the main contributors to the Javelin class establishing itself through out the country as a serious class boat. The Cheurb and the Javelin classes owe a lot to John Spencer’s early articles in sea spray which openly pushed them as an option to the national boats of the day (P, Z, IA, and X class). By the end of 1961 around 12 – 13 Javs were being built or on the water.

With declining numbers of X class sailing the Sanders Cup, the Javelin took over as the inter provincial senior boat where it still sits to this day. I guess the rest is history.

Need to know how to contact your Javelin Brothers, can’t remember their phone number or email address?. Then look no further than the new improved 2002 Javelin Membership List.

Of course the details can not be kept correct unless you keep us informed. So any changes to your details, please let David Brown know:

For those new to the net, or wanting more information, don’t forget our Internet site: www.javelins.org is full of technical and social information, which is updated as news comes to hand. I see we have had over 20,000 hits at last count, so it is pretty popular and is by far the easiest way to get current information out to you we have at the moment.

Along with the Internet site, we have a mailing list which can keep everyone in contact via email, the address for this is: javelin@elists.com.au This is our class e mail list, with e mail sent to this address going out to New Zealand and Australian Javelin people, as well as a few other interested overseas people.

This at times generates some interesting discussions, with opinions coming from as far away as England. To join this list, just send an email to majordomo@ELists.com.au with the text subscribe javelin as the message body.

Alternatively, just go to the this page on the javelin website and fill in the on-line form:

We had a good fun days sailing off Kohi yacht club last year on Anniversary Day, lets try and get a better turnout this year and show the Javelin to the Auckland Junior centreboarders. 10 boats will give us our own division.

Entries for the regatta can be made on the internet at www.regatta.org.nz (or phone 0800 734 2882) for the huge sum of $10. The briefing is at Kohi at 9.30am, and the first start is at 10.30am.

Last year we rigged and launched from Auckland Sailing Club and arranged for the course details and sailing instructions to be brought down to us from Kohi. We will do the same this year.

This year the North Islands will be held at the Tauranga Yacht and Power Boat Club on the weekend of Saturday 16^th and Sunday 17^th February 2002.

Saturday 16^th

0830 hrs - 0930 hrs Registration

1000 hrs Briefing

1055 hrs Race 1 Warning Signal

1325 hrs Race 2 Warning Signal

Race 3 (back to back)

Sunday 17^th

0955 hrs Race 4 Warning Signal

Race 5 (back to back)

1255 hrs Race 6 Warning Signal

This will be a 5 race series, and be raced in conjunction with the annual Tauranga Centreboard regatta.

Tauranga, and the Bay of Plenty is starting to show increased interest in the Javelin from the junior fleets, so a good turnout should really get the interest going.

Entry Fee for this competition is $20. After last years competition, we can assure everyone that it has good prizes (ask Nathan Bax about is camping chairs) and good beer.

Ben Bax has unlimited accomodation for FREE, just bring an airbed and sleeping bag for the worlds biggest shed party.

As per usual, the Auckland Squadron would like to invite anyone in need of a bit of practice to join us in Auckland for our Sanders Cup Trials. Our trials run over 3 weekends, the best weekend for out of towners to join in would be Sat 23^rd and Sun 24^th February when we will be having 5 hard races. Billets will be available, and I think we can organise a good social activity for the night.

We would expect to have a good 10 – 15 boats at the trials, so anyone wanting fleet practice at the Nationals venue is more than welcome to join in.

On the Saturday 23^rd from 10.00am till 12.30am morning we will also be measuring boats for the Nationals to reduce the number of boats needing to be measured over Easter. Please let us know if you would also like your boat measured before the competition

           Sun 10^th February 13:00 – 2 Races
           Sat 23^rd February 14:00 – 2 Races
            Sun 24^th February 13:00 – 3 Races
            Sun 3^rd February 13:00 – Spare Day

If you’re not sick of travelling yet, you soon will be. Our usual venue and time for the North Islands is this regatta at Lake Taupo. Because its only a few weeks before the Nationals we have moved the North Islands instead to the earlier Tauranga Regatta.

However, this will still be an excellent event, and im sure the keener sailors, or those needing justa little more practice will be found in Taupo.

No Name Required – Phil McNeill and Matthew Smith have teamed up again after Wellington, and have been sporting a new mast to replace the mighty Proctor that finally gave up the ghost in Wellington. The new mast is a 470 GoldSpar section, lengthened at the bottom to Javelin Size, with the top section replaced with an alloy windsurfer top section. Early reports are that the top is a bit softer than the old Goldspar, and I think a few luff round changes were being made at the end of last season.

Canon Hill Flyer – Scott Hedgman and Stu brought the Canon Hill Flyer off Geoff Letcher at the end of last season. They have been learning how to sial it over winter, and are starting to come to terms with it all. They have swapped positions on the boat with the bigger, but less agile Scotty now taking the driving position. A bit of a re-build has occurde on the boat over winter also when the Ex crew (Scotty) went through the sidedeck and side of the boat.

Horizontal Refreshment – Dave ripped out the false floor over the winter period and has now reconstructed Horizontal refreshment with new side tanks and a new centrecase support. During the process the boat lost about 10kg in weight and so now should be pretty close to 70kg again.

Rufas – Errol (I really am going to go sailing again sometime) Smith is now back in the country after another 4 months laying telecommunications cables in the middle of Central America. After steaming along at between 0.1 and 0.4 knots for this time, Errol is keen to go a little faster. His boat is almost ready to go, and needs a top coat and some final work on the gennaker prod.

Magic Bus – Eddie Markey is back doing the Americas Cup sail making thing again, this time for the One World syndicate. With the nasty American’s making him work all day and night fixing all their sails, and little 1 year old Jack to play with we don’t se much of Eddie at the moment. Magic Bus has had a few tweaks since Wellington and we here rumurs that Eddie will be back on the water for the Nationals .

Zenith – Antje Schreiber and her husband Jochen brought Zenith off David Brown at the Rotoma Regatta. After getting to know about Javelins (while looking for Europes) at the Auckland South Pacifics while on a holiday from Germany in 1997, Antje decided that emmigrating was the easiest way to get into fun sailing. So she arrived back in NZ at the end of 2001 and brough a Javelin a month or so later. Zenith ha since had a few holes and cracks repaired, a sand and re-coat of the deck paint, and a new gennaker chute fitted. While getting Zenith repaired, Antje has made guest appearances on Horizontal Refreshment, www.javelins.ogr and Bungholio as well as asisting on the ASC Rescue boats with Jochen.

Hot Gossip – Tim Willetts has shut down is Mast making business and is now working at Matrix Masts helping get their new Carbon Mast business working. He’s also been busy with a 3 week trip to Hungary (where his Finn Mould was sold to) and has also brought a house (with a decent sized garage of course). We havent seen Tim out so far this season, but rumors are that his Mast has been strenthened up a bit more and should be super fast, and that his crew Lee Sommerville has broken his foot making sailing a bit difficult.

Steroid Sandwhich – Hamish Kidd has now got himself a regular crew in Tony Watt. These guys have been getting out pretty regularly, in what is now Hamishs second season and I think are starting to get the hang of it all. Hamish managed a guest crewing expreience on Bungholio at the first day of the 2001 North Islands ending up with three seconds places. Tony is in his first season on the Javelin having previous experience with the Fireball fleet in Napier.

Blunderbus – Bob Vernon has widened his spinnaker chute, and fitted a new roller on the inside to help get his gennaker in a bit quicker. After teaming up with Geoff Copplestone, Bob thought about re-entering the Sharp End club, but after a day back up front he has decided that his days of crewing are over.

Night Nurse – Grant MacDuff has now got the mighty Night Nurse, the greatest Javelin ever built. A major rebuild project was started in September, the goal, to replace the false floor and put in side tanks. This started with a hiss and a roar, and in 15 minutes with an angle grinder the floors and decks were off. Grant is going to take up the blunt end, and has a new super crew from the worlds of Mullet Boats “Wendy”. Wendy is a deft hand at marine maintenance and will be an asset to the team once the Sledge Hammer, Gas Axe and ¼ horse power angle grinder stage of the project starts.

Breakaway – John Wilson as been busy sub-dividing his latest section, but has still managed to get down to the water a few times, e.g RotoVegas. He lent his boat to Chris Barnes in Tauranga while competing work on the section, and now has it back Auckland, has had a bit of a re-varnish job ready to hit the water in February.

Thirty Something – Geoff Wilding has put his boat away for a while to concentrate on his Design course at Polytech. He is teaming up with Chris “Skins” Skinner for the Nationals. Skins works for Ken Fyfe, and is the skipper of a 12 foot skiff.

www.javelins.org – Pete Precey is again sailing with Craig Shelly, but has been a bit quiet at the start of the season because of crew and skipper “breakages”. Craig has broken himself a few times already this seaon, the most serious time when doing a “Grant Dalton special” and failling from the old windward side of a keeler to the new side. Let this be a lesson to all others that cross train on keelers, not only do you have to have the psycological councilling to adjust to 6knots of boat speed, but there is the possibility that you will hurt yourself. Thankfully most Javelins have crumple zones for this sort of problem and the deck and sides will give way not hurting the crew too much.

Clamp Products – As per usual Don Barns boat I looking flash as, and is rearing to go. Don has been out once or twice this season, and should be teaming up with Selby Howard making a good competitive boat and crew for the Nationals. That is, when they can drag themselves away from their super busy companies.

Freckle Deckle – Hamish Hey has been out a bit this season also, teaming up with Ginge Alex “Ginge” Vallings, Alex Hinton, Eddie Markey and a few others. Hamish is sill going pretty quick, and won the Auckland Championships with Eddie in November. Hamish has left Connell Wagner and has started up in business for himself, working out of Auckland and Taupo. When not sailing the Jav, Hamish can be found counting his money with his new yachting friendly accountant Phil McNeill, or breaking Ginge’s 12 foot skiff.

Bungholio – Rob Fordyce has teamed up with Craig Gilberd on Bungolio, most of this season has been spent playing around with bits and pieces on the boat, with repeated changes to the kite sheating and hoisting systems.

Bad Blood – This boat has been brought by Chris Barnes of Kawerau from Craig Gurnell and Richard Kiff who have built themselves a sport boat. Unfortunately a lot of deck gear went into the spotr boat, so a bit of a re-build is underway to get Bad Blood back on the water.

The Unknown – Nathan and Ben Bax have The Unknown flying again, Ben having won the North Islands last year with Alistair Bax. The boat is now sporting a C-Spar carbon mast, and self tacking jib. With Nathan, Ben won the Rotoma regatta late last year.

Cedar Beast – Martin Stacey has bitten the bullet, and has replaced his old flexi-tip, 9 or ten piece composite evil mast with one of Hamish Heys old carbon masts. This mast has made a bit of a difference, althought Marty swears that it was not $1,000 worth, we definitely noticed the difference in Rotovegas, especially after the lowers were fitted. Marty has been sailing with his son Luke, and with Doug Roberts who has now moved up to Tauranga and is studying.

Wild Fire – Colin Shanks teamed up with Ruben Millar on Wild Fire for the Rotoma Regatta. The boat being completely unrecognisable with a new coat of bright red paint, and a new clear Fyfe main and Jib like on Bungholio. Top marks to Ruben who after leaving Gisborne and going to University to study engineering for 4 years has prefected the construction of cummunal beer drinking and BBQ shelters using little more than a $2 warehouse cover, and a set of ring spanners as pegs. Unfortunately, Colins Proctor fell over (they all seem to be doing this), in the 4th race. A new C-Tech mast is on order.

Desperado – Richard Peck from Gisborne has brought Desperado from Doug “student” Roberts. Richard has an older Green coloured Javelin up in Gisborne, and has now upgraded to a Gennaker boat to give Colin a sailing partner after Brett Chapmans move down country.

Big Bananaz – This boat brought from Peter Wallace in Auckland after sitting idle for a few years by Nathan Monk and Alexander who have returned to Napier. The boat is being fitted out for a prod, and will be getting a new Fyfe gennaker. A bit of structural repair work has also been going on, and a new gennaker chute will be put on using the Auckland Squadron mould.

Nice One – Brought by Warren Foulds from Shae Goomb. Warren will be sailing with Gavin Earle. Nice One has had a gennaker prod fitted, but so far have not heard whether it has hit the water in its new form yet.

Vertigo – Jason Trow has been slowly getting towards his Gennaker convresion after beating all the gennaker boats way back in the Taupo Nationals using just a spinnaker. As training for the Nationals Jason is competing in the OK dinghy worlds, I expect his hiking will be exceptional by the time he gets to Auckland for the Nationals.

Sliver – Another boat which has been on the shelf for a few years re-surfaces. This time the super light weight Sliver, which was purchased by Bruce Christenson from Ben Cowley. Bruce has taken the foredeck off and is busy trying to negotiate his way around the alloy space frame to find a place to fit a gennaker chute. Bruce has also had to do some remedial work on the bottom of Sliver from its long time sitting on the trailer.

Flying Circus – David Brown has been busy down Taranaki way, but unfortunately, his home sailing waters of Lake Horowhenua in Levin have been closed due to Algae an Weed problems. David is sailing his Javelin at Foxton in the Manawatu river mouth, but has had the odd problem with hitting submerged vans, and trying to beat flat running boats while reaching against the river with his gennaker.

Indecision –Brett Chapman has moved down to Feilding from Gisborne, but so far has not been seen on the water, due no doubt to the fact that the water has been closed and can not be sailed on. Lets hope the council clear up the problems and everyone can get sailing again.

Plan A – Peter and Steve Holt finally got their boat going last year for the Javelin North Islands in Taupo, after narrowly missing their own Nationals in Wellington. With a winter to iron out any problems, and a new boat to sail these guys will be keen to get on the water and play with their new toy.

Dry Reach – Virgil and Richard had some quick learning to do in Wellington for the Nationals as they got used to the gennaker and got their boat back in tune. However these guys learn fast and had some good boat speed at times.

Psycho – Dave Tyrer is not seen on the water much these days, which is a shame, as the mighty Psycho is a pretty dammed fast boat, and will be hard boat to beat in the lighter conditions with Daves overpowering crew weight holding it down. I think his lack of sailing is something to do with being a Daddy, however Kerry being such a good sport is sure to give Dave a leave pass for the Nationals. Anyway, the shopping is soooo good in Auckland at Easter, how can she refuse.

Summer Breeze – Nick Taylor and Jen Cheyne were feeling a bit left out, after deciding to practice in their 470 in Taupo rather than join in the Javelin North Islands. Nick has been sailing out of Auckland as part of the Olympic 470 training programme, and has thought of sailing at the Auckland Sanders Cup trials for some practice. Unfortunately the National clash with Olympic Sail, so we wont see Nick on the water, but we might be able to twist Jen arm a it to turn up. Last minute rumour is that she will be sailing the family boat with her brother.

Ballistic – Yes, we now have a Javelin in Canterbury again, I can vouch for this after sailing on the boat at Akoroa on an amazing day in December. Murray Bain and his father built Ballistic in Otago last year, based on the remains of the Coup de Etat. Murray is sailing with his crew Malcolm in Christchurch until he sends Malcolm up to Auckland University to check out the Okahu Bay sailing waters, and sabotage the Auckland fleet. Ballistic is an interesting boat, sporting self taking jib, scooped false floor, new C-Tech rig and Fyfe sails, heaps of Carbon and a design up front that is quite radical.

Pointer - Roscoe Davies has been sailing with his brother down in Wanaka, and reports that three Javelins are regularly hitting the water down there. Roscoe is aiming to make the Nationals and Sanders Cup and will be in the North Island for his fathers Birthday over Easter. His goal is to win the DFL, but he will need a standby crew for the day of the birthday party…

Just Perfick - Wes Cooper has been racing the Just Perfick with a new crew now that Perry is playing on Superyachts in some mediteranean places with white sand, blues seas and a host of other temptations to tempting to write in a familiy magazine. Wes has just started his own business maintaing power boats for rich Aucklanders who have realised how nice Wanaka relayy is.

Rapscallion – No news from the land of Speights on what Graham Wall is up to, short of a few rumors that say he has been spotted on the water somewhere.