COMMENTARY - Saturday 30th March

Saturdays racing was held in strong North Westerly conditions, with 18-25 knots of wind making for a very 
hard day on the water. With a predicted forecast of winds gusting to over 35 knots in the late afternoon a 
decision was made to complete as many races as possible before the wind strength made sailing impossible.

A total of 3 races were held before the wind kicked in giving the crews a hard slog back to the sailing 
club.

Defending National Champions, Aucklands, Alex Vallings and Hamish Hey in "Freckle Deckle" are leading the 
series by 2 points from North Harbours Rob Fordyce and Craig Gilberd in Bungholio. The racing at the front 
of the fleet has been very tight, with the boats always very close together, and showing similar speed in 
the harsh conditions of the day.

The strong winds made for exciting downwind sailing with the boats reaching at speeds of over 20 knots down 
the harbour, and also made for a bit of difficulty with a number of boats capsizing during their gybes, or 
retiring due to breakage of gear.

The final 4 races will be held over the next two days. The racing should prove equally challenging as the 
wind is predicted to stay high for the rest of Easter weekend.

Sunday 31 March 2002

The final day of the "Black heart Javelin Nationals" was held under the threat of 25 knot South Westerly winds making for a hard end to a long competition. Fortunately, the winds held off, with a light day of around 10 knots winds giving a lot more boats the opportunity to race in non-survival conditions.

Race 6 - "Black Heart Javelin Nationals"

A light wind start with the German husband and wife crew of Antje and Jochen Schreiber leading to the top mark in their first nationals. Another "Elder" style hull was also in the play, with ex Olympic 470 crew Martin Winter helming Desperado into 1st place in the light winds. The Cedar beast, from Tauranga, another notoriously fast light airs boat came in 2nd. On the finish line, Bungholio made a tactical call to run into the line on starboard tack giving her right of way, and a boat length advantage over the two 61kg light weight crew on Flying Circus. Regatta leader at this stage, Alex Vallings and Hamish Hey on Freckle Deckle could not get back in the lighter winds and finished in 13th.

1st "Desperado" 325 Martin Winter, Richard Peck
2nd "Cedar Beast" 370 Martin Stacey, Graham Roberts
3rd "Bungholio" 376 Rob Fordyce, Craig Gilberd
4th "Flying Circus" 374 David Brown, Wayne Brown
5th "No Name Required" 359 Phil McNeill, Bob Vernon
6th "Zenith" 320 Antje Schreiber, Jochen Schreiber
7th "Breakaway" 360 Mark Kenah, John Wilson
8th "Barn Storm" 308 Mark O'Brien, Kieran Langley
9th "Clamp Products" 366 Donald Barn, Jason Williams
10th "Horizontal Refreshment" 301 Ross Davies, Richard Buddle
11th "Cannon Hill Flyer" 342 Shane Bellingham, Jon Galvin
12th "www.javelins.org" 362 Peter Precey, Russell Davis
13th "Freckle Deckle" 372 Alex Vallings, Hamish Hey
14th "Ballistic" 377 Murray Bain, Malcolm Scott
15th "Thirty Something" 361 Geoff Copplestone, Matt Gottard
16th "Steroid Sandwich" 330 Hamish Kidd, Anthony Watt
17th "Black Bart" 318 Kez Cameron, Mike Candy
18th "Wildfire" 284 Ross Shanks, Colin Shanks
18th "The Unknown" 368 Nathan Bax, Ben Bax
18th "Bad Blood" 346 Roger Barns, Chris Barnes
18th "Big Bananaz" 273 Nathan Monk, Alexander Tait

Race 7 "Black Heart Javelin Nationals"

A bit more breeze came through in this race, with a close fought competition between Bungholio, and www.javelins.org, Pete Precey and Russel Davis. On the start line Freckle Deckle, now only 1 point in the lead put a very close cover on the 2nd place boat Rob Fordyce and Craig Gilberd in Bungholio. Bungholio slowly worked her way out from under Freckle Deckle, and with a couple of tacks got into clear air and started to extend a small lead. Bungholio held her lead throughout this race, despite a hard charging www.javelins.org, and the inevitable chunk of weed that all the competitors seemed to be dragging around under their boats. At the bottom mark, Cedar Beast held 3rd place over Freckle Deckle, and managed to hang onto this by the smallest margins with a tight port tack crossing on the finish line to push Freckle Deckle into 4th by about 1 boat length.

1st "Bungholio" 376 Rob Fordyce, Craig Gilberd
2nd "www.javelins.org" 362 Peter Precey, Russell Davis
3rd "Cedar Beast" 370 Martin Stacey, Graham Roberts
4th "Freckle Deckle" 372 Alex Vallings, Hamish Hey
5th "Breakaway" 360 Mark Kenah, John Wilson
6th "Clamp Products" 366 Donald Barn, Jason Williams
7th "Ballistic" 377 Murray Bain, Malcolm Scott
8th "Barn Storm" 308 Mark O'Brien, Kieran Langley
9th "Desperado" 325 Martin Winter, Richard Peck
10th "Cannon Hill Flyer" 342 Shane Bellingham, Jon Galvin
11th "Wildfire" 284 Ross Shanks, Colin Shanks
|12th "Thirty Something" 361 Geoff Copplestone, Matt Gottard
13th "Horizontal Refreshment" 301 Ross Davies, Richard Buddle
14th "Flying Circus" 374 David Brown, Wayne Brown
15th "Zenith" 320 Antje Schreiber, Jochen Schreiber
16th "Black Bart" 318 Kez Cameron, Mike Candy
17th "No Name Required" 359 Phil McNeill, Bob Vernon
17th "The Unknown" 368 Nathan Bax, Ben Bax
17th "Bad Blood" 346 Roger Barns, Chris Barnes
17th "Steroid Sandwich" 330 Hamish Kidd, Anthony Watt
17th "Big Bananaz" 273 Nathan Monk, Alexander Tait

Race 8 "Black Heart Javelin Nationals"

After a general recall on the startline, generally agreed to have been caused by a match racing Bungholio and Freckle Deckle pushing for perfect starts, the 8th race was restarted. Bungholio showed a definite speed and height advantage in these conditions to round the top mark with a handy lead. Freckle Deckle were down the pack in about 8th position, and looking at loosing a chance to retain their National title. An amazing fightback by Freckle Deckle saw them pass 6 boats down wind and round the bottom mark in 2nd, but about 200m behind Bungholio. Bungholio kept sailing a loose covering course over Freckle Deckle and eventually finished the race in 1st, to put them in an overall tie for 1st in the Nationals with one race to go.

1st "Bungholio" 376 Rob Fordyce, Craig Gilberd
2nd "Freckle Deckle" 372 Alex Vallings, Hamish Hey
3rd "Thirty Something" 361 Geoff Copplestone, Matt Gottard
4th "Flying Circus" 374 David Brown, Wayne Brown
5th "www.javelins.org" 362 Peter Precey, Russell Davis
6th "Wildfire" 284 Ross Shanks, Colin Shanks
7th "No Name Required" 359 Phil McNeill, Bob Vernon
8th "Cannon Hill Flyer" 342 Shane Bellingham, Jon Galvin
9th "Cedar Beast" 370 Martin Stacey, Graham Roberts
10th "Desperado" 325 Martin Winter, Richard Peck
11th "Ballistic" 377 Murray Bain, Malcolm Scott
12th "Clamp Products" 366 Donald Barn, Jason Williams
13th "Barn Storm" 308 Mark O'Brien, Kieran Langley
14th "Horizontal Refreshment" 301 Ross Davies, Richard Buddle
15th "Breakaway" 360 Mark Kenah, John Wilson
16th "Steroid Sandwich" 330 Hamish Kidd, Anthony Watt
17th "The Unknown" 368 Nathan Bax, Ben Bax
17th "Bad Blood" 346 Roger Barns, Chris Barnes
17th "Zenith" 320 Antje Schreiber, Jochen Schreiber
17th "Black Bart" 318 Kez Cameron, Mike Candy
17th "Big Bananaz" 273 Nathan Monk, Alexander Tait

Race 9 "Black Heart Javelin Nationals"

Another tightly congested start line, with 10 boats fighting for the favoured boat end of the line. Freckle Deckle managed to work her way into a good position on the line. Bungholio noticing a last minute shift in advantage to the pin end of the line reaching behind the fleet to start with speed on the pin. With a good bit of height of the startline Bungholio worked her way above the boat end starters into clear air and then settled down for a long beat into the left hand corner of the course for a port layline into the top mark. The lightweight crew on Flying Circus (122kg) were hanging onto the 166kg crew of Bungholio until a small increase in wind allowed the Bungholio crew to start extending her lead. By the bottom mark, Bungholio had extended to a 300m lead, with the chances of Freckle Deckle fading as she fell into 4th place almost a leg behind the leaders. At the finish Bungholio came in 1st, behind the lightweights in Flying Circus. Pete Precey and Russel Davis managed a good 3rd placing just in front of a dissapointed Freckle Deckle in 4th.

1st "Bungholio" 376 Rob Fordyce, Craig Gilberd
2nd "Flying Circus" 374 David Brown, Wayne Brown
3rd "www.javelins.org" 362 Peter Precey, Russell Davis
4th "Freckle Deckle" 372 Alex Vallings, Hamish Hey
5th "Cedar Beast" 370 Martin Stacey, Graham Roberts
6th "No Name Required" 359 Phil McNeill, Bob Vernon
7th "Desperado" 325 Martin Winter, Richard Peck
8th "Barn Storm" 308 Mark O'Brien, Kieran Langley
9th "Thirty Something" 361 Geoff Copplestone, Matt Gottard
10th "Clamp Products" 366 Donald Barn, Jason Williams
11th "Ballistic" 377 Murray Bain, Malcolm Scott
12th "Cannon Hill Flyer" 342 Shane Bellingham, Jon Galvin
13th "Breakaway" 360 Mark Kenah, John Wilson
14th "Wildfire" 284 Ross Shanks, Colin Shanks
15th "Horizontal Refreshment" 301 Ross Davies,
16th "Zenith" 320 Antje Schreiber, Jochen Schreiber
17th "Steroid Sandwich" 330 Hamish Kidd, Anthony Watt
18th "Black Bart" 318 Kez Cameron, Mike Candy
19th "The Unknown" 368 Nathan Bax, Ben Bax
19th "Bad Blood" 346 Roger Barns, Chris Barnes
19th "Big Bananaz" 273 Nathan Monk, Alexander Tait

Final placings "Black Heart Javelin Nationals"

This was the first Nationals win for the skipper of Bungholio, Rob Fordyce, and the 4th for his crew Craig Gilberd, Craig having won his first Javelin Nationals in 1976. The dissapointed defending champions Alex Vallings and Hamish Hey finished 2nd, and were dissapointed at not being able to make a hat trick of wins after their 2002 Dunedin and 2001 Wellington victories. Defending Sanders Cup champion Phil McNeill finished 3rd with Javelin guru Bob Vernon crewing. Reversing the usual Auckland dominance of the event, was the Tauranga crew of Cedar Beast in 4th, and the two Gisborne crews of Ross and Colin Shanks, and Martin Winter/Richard Peck in 5th and 6th.

1st "Bungholio" 376 Rob Fordyce, Craig Gilberd, POINTS: 10.0
2nd "Freckle Deckle" 372 Alex Vallings, Hamish Hey, POINTS: 14.0
3rd "No Name Required" 359 Phil McNeill, Bob Vernon, POINTS: 26.0
4th "Cedar Beast" 370 Martin Stacey, Graham Roberts, POINTS: 33.0
5th "Wildfire" 284 Ross Shanks, Colin Shanks, POINTS: 51.0
6th "Desperado" 325 Martin Winter, Richard Peck, POINTS: 54.0
7th "Clamp Products" 366 Donald Barn, Jason Williams, POINTS: 54.0
8th "www.javelins.org" 362 Peter Precey, Russell Davis, POINTS: 55.0
9th "Breakaway" 360 Mark Kenah, John Wilson, POINTS: 57.0
10th "Cannon Hill Flyer" 342 Shane Bellingham, Jon Galvin, POINTS: 60.0
11th "Barn Storm" 308 Mark O'Brien, Kieran Langley, POINTS: 66.0
12th "Ballistic" 377 Murray Bain, Malcolm Scott, POINTS: 69.0
13th "Flying Circus" 374 David Brown, Wayne Brown, POINTS: 77.0
14th "Thirty Something" 361 Geoff Copplestone, Matt Gottard, POINTS: 88.0
15th "Horizontal Refreshment" 301 Ross Davies, Richard Buddle, POINTS:106.0
16th "The Unknown" 368 Nathan Bax, Ben Bax, POINTS: 114.0
17th "Bad Blood" 346 Roger Barns, Chris Barnes, POINTS: 114.0
18th "Zenith" 320 Antje Schreiber, Jochen Schreiber, POINTS: 125.0
19th "Steroid Sandwich" 330 Hamish Kidd, Anthony Watt, POINTS: 129.0
20th "Black Bart" 318 Kez Cameron, Mike Candy, POINTS: 139.0
21st "Big Bananaz" 273 Nathan Monk, Alexander Tait, POINTS: 154

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