News of the world
Long time between newsletters, what can I say but sorry … so here it goes, "SORRY"

A heap of things have happened since my last news to you all (November/December 99 if I remember correctly. All of them good for the class in New Zealand and Australia.

General tid bits
A big thanks to Rob Fordyce for getting the Web Site up and going. There is a heap of material there now, and it will be great to see the building process taking place. For those of you who haven't book marked it yet … www.javelins.org Occasionally the page doesn't come up first pop, click the refresh button on your browser, this normally does the trick. The page costs us nothing, so no complaining please!

Rob has also set up an electronic mailing list - details on how to subscribe are on the web site … it is very easy to do. There is a lot of information flowing around on this mailing list, we are considering separating lists - your input would be appreciated. This would mean that you could subscribe to sublists, ie Melbourne, WA, and or NZ, along with an overall list for 'official communications'. If you don't have web access, but do have email, then do this … send a blank message to: javelinskiff-subscribe@listbot.com

As some of you will have seen or read, Peter Precey has stuck the web address right down the leech of his main, great advertising, and makes his boat very easy to spot in a fleet. (You can't afford to make any mistakes now!). Rob is also trying to organise some vinyl stickers which can be stock onto your transoms.

Pete was apparently heard to be in the garage with the chain saw making a few minor adjustments to his aft sections - hope you didn't hit any lead when you cut it in half!

Promotion
Sailing New Zealand Magazine is doing a great deal of work for the NZJCOA. They will be running a Javelin story every month over the next 8 issues. Basically the story line will follow the building of the 3 or 4 new hulls over winter, and then sailing through to the South Pacifics in Wellington. If you don't already subscribe to this magazine, please buy a copy, and check it out. If you decide to subscribe, make sure you tell them what you are interested in! (This means Javelins). Thanks to David Lee, and Rob Fordyce for their efforts on the articles.

Building
As mentioned above, there is a new mould being put together in Auckland. The design work has been extensive, and it is expected that 3 new hulls will be built. It is possible that another 1 or 2 may be built depending on a couple of factors. If you want more information, contact Rob Fordyce. Best bet if you are interested is to read about the design in the April edition of Sailing New Zealand! There is a bet on between Mr Fordyce, and Mrs Hey for a bottle of Coruba on the finishing date. Nothing quite like alcohol to make you go faster. The process of building is also going to be captured 'semi live' on the web. Rob is keeping a commentary with photos, and a cost meter. I think they are also looking for names for hulls, and the mould … send in suggestions - maybe with your ballot on the rule changes.

Rules revision
Included as part of this mailing is an Owners Ballot relating to rule changes. The changes in the most part tidy up the old rules to make them simpler. There are some rule changes which you should keep in mind when reviewing the details - summarised on the ballot form. If you reject a rule, make sure you comment as to why, this gives us ideas as to how we could improve on the rule.

New Owners
Boats that have been bought over the last 12 months include:

Geoff letcher - Cannon Hill Flyer (Auckland)
Hamish Kidd / Blair Davidson - Steriod Sandwich (Auckland)
David brown - Zenith (Taranaki)
Nick Dunne - Wet & Wild (Wellington)
Murray Bain - Coup de Tat (Otago) Rumour has it Murray is considering building a new boat this winter also
Graham Roberts - Worzel Gummidge (Whakatane)
Geoff Wilding - 30 Something (Auckland)
Pointer - Ross "Rosco" Davies (Wanaka)
Part-Timer - Bill Mullins (Horowhenua)

Nationals / Sanders Cup Dunedin
The Nationals, Kingham Trophy and Sanders Cup were held in Dunedin. The regatta was successful from a close racing point of view, and by the sound of things a social point of view. Hamish Hey & Alex Vallings in Freckle Deckle cleaned up all three trophies, the first time since Craig Gilberd and Geoff Copplestone completed the triple in Lyttleton 1995. Brad Webb and Bob Vernon finished second in both the Sanders Cup, and Nationals.

Race conditions varied from ultra light, to 20knots gusting 30 during the regatta. A couple of days were lost to strong, and a lack of wind. The racing from places 2 - 8 was very close, with boats separated by mere seconds across the finish line. There were definitely some right and wrong ways to go on the course, as some boats found out to their detriment.

This was the first regatta Sanders Cup or Nationals won with a carbon rig

North Islands Taupo
The North Islands were held at Taupo Yacht Club on the 11 & 12th of March. Ten entrants with some light airs racing saw Fast Eddie and Craig come through with a win. Several of the crews were new combinations, and featured some young guns. Great experience and fun times yet again in the Taupo bars … if you were old enough to get in!

Local Racing
Local racing has obviously been going on also right throughout the country. We are very lucky to have such a geographically diverse range of yacht clubs with Javelins sailing. If you compare the Javelin class to many other senior classes (ignoring scummies) we have a very wide base. The 12's are only sailed in Auckland, Wellington, and Lyttleton. 470's are really only sailed in Auckland. Laser two's have a wider base, but there aren't really big numbers sailing anywhere except in Auckland. And 14's sail in Auckland (very occasionally) and Napier almost exclusively. We can boast with … Bay of Islands (Phil McNeil), Auckland, Tauranga, Whakatane, Gisborne, Napier, Himitangi Beach (C/-o Bill Mullins), Horowhenua, Wellington, Dunedin, and Wanaka. It makes me wonder what else we can do to encourage juniors into our class given our regional spread.

South Pacifics and Sanders Cup in Wellington
Work on the regatta is now well underway. A major sponsor is being approached at the moment, we expect to have some confirmation of this during May. Right now, we expect to have in excess of 30 New Zealand boats at the South Pacifics. There is almost definitely a container coming from Melbourne, this would add between 7 and 10 boats, and there is a good chance of a further 3 boats from WA. Our aim is to get at least 40 boats to this regatta.

We will be compiling accommodation options over the next 4 - 6 weeks, these will go out once compiled.

Now that we have managed to escape the clutches of the El Nino/La Nina cycle, we are hoping for more settled weather over the Christmas break in the coming season. There are some exciting plans for on and off the water - we will release details as we finalise arrangements.

Across the ditch
There are a couple of new hulls planned for winter - Brett and Warren are planning a hull to their own design, and a new windrush hull is also possible. A new fleet has been started at Elwood in Victoria with 4 Javs expected to be sailing regularly at the club. Elwood is about half way between Chelsea and down town Melbourne.

A reasonable number of boats have also been sold which always sees the enthusiasm rise.