The Sanders Cup competition kicked off for its 80^th time at the Bay Of Islands Yacht Club, Waitangi. In all eight Provinces were represented, (Northland, North Harbour, Auckland, Bay of Plenty, Waikato, East Coast, Taranaki, and Wellington).

New Zealand Herald, Saturday 10th April, 2004

Tuesday, 6 April 2004, Race 1

Was sailed in gusty conditions, ranging from around 8 – 15 knots throughout the race. This race saw the first retirement due to gear failure with the Waikato entry destroying their rudder stock prior to the start, and being towed in. Northland (Phil McNeill & Mathew Smith), Bay of Plenty (Nathan & Ben Bax) and Auckland (Peter Precey & John Thorman) went left out of the start with the remainder of the fleet heading to the right. The three boats out to the left experienced shifty conditions culminating in a left hand shift that saw the three of them leave the others over 100 metres behind at the top mark.

The race was very quick, only lasting about 20 minutes in some very shifty winds. Defending champions Bay Of Plenty took out this race, with a healthy margin over Northland and Auckland.

Race 2

A much longer course was set, and another lap added, making the race around 45 minutes. Two hoots were heard at the start signalling somebody was a bit too quick off the mark. Auckland had been pushed up by the Bay of Plenty, and had to return. Bay of Plenty took the right hand side of the course in the first lap, with the rest of the fleet opting for the left. The left paid, and saw the winners of the first race trailing the bulk of the fleet going into the top mark. Auckland managed to claw their way up the fleet, with a broken kicker, seeing the gap between them and East Coast (Ross and Colin Shanks) rapidly closing. Taranaki (David Brown sailing with Peter Gilbert) put their gennaker in the tide on the last hoist, which nearly saw Peter’s sons sailing for Wellington beat their father. Northland won this race, with Bay of Plenty 2^nd, leaving the contest wide open.

Wednesday, 7 April 2004 Morning, Race 3

A quick boat swap for Waikato (Black Bart In, Breakaway out) as a result of the rudder issue on the first day, and a quick crew change for Taranaki, and the long awaited arrival of North Harbour (Nick Taylor & Simon Baker) and everything was set for a eventful day with up to 35 knots forecast. What we got was 15 – 20 knots with some big shifts and localised gusts, with Taranaki taking a 300 meter lead at the 1^st mark after taking the left side of the course on their own. Northland, Bay of Plenty and Auckland rounded the mark in a gust of almost thirty knots which saw all three decide that the gennaker was not going to be a good thing and two sailed down to the bottom mark with the crew out on the wire. All three successfully gybed at the mark, very well done. A capsize on the final leg saw Taranaki drop back to third, with Northland 1^st, Bay of Plenty second.

The wind had increased to 20 – 25 knots, with some big bullets, and the now customary 30 degree wind shifts. The start was badly congested with some of the entrants spat out on the line. Close racing saw Northland once again take the gun from North Harbour and Bay of Plenty.

Between races East Coast managed to break their rudder squaring off to make a run for the start line, and headed back to the beach.

 Afternoon Race 5

With a slightly reduced fleet, and the same bullets coming down the race course, race 5 got under way, with the wind shifts causing a lot of positional changes. Auckland, North Harbour and Northland headed left out of the start into a lighter patch of wind than Bay of Plenty and Taranaki who were looking very good out to the right. What Bay of Plenty and Taranaki had failed to notice was a lot more wind out to the left. Northland and company reached the new breeze, tacked onto port and almost laid the top mark. How quickly the tables turned! Northland rounded first, closely followed by Auckland and North Harbour. North Harbour experienced gennaker problems during the drop allowing Northland and Auckland to sail away on their own. In a reducing wind Auckland lifted out off the weather hip of Northland to lead by five or six boat lengths at the top mark. They opened up further on the run and the next beat as the wind continued to reduce in strength. Auckland achieved their 1^st win of the contest, with Northland a comfortable 2^nd. The next three places were so close none of the sailors knew who had got where. The results showed Taranaki (3^rd) had narrowly beaten Bay of Plenty (4^th), with North Harbour a very close 5^th.

Thursday, 8 April 2004 Morning

The fleet drifted to the start line, in next to no wind. On arrival, the wind switched from the westerly that we had had the last two days to a northerly, hitting us with gusts to 26 knots, and the start of some waves. This saw two early causalities with Auckland having to come in to carbon the tip of his mast back on, and Taranaki having to rebuild their rudder. To their combined relief, the rest of the fleet decided that conditions were very conducive to breaking gear and headed back in before the race committee had a chance to begin a start sequence.

On returning to shore everyone was entertained by the reluctant carbon laminators while they sat around hoping the race committee wasn’t going to send them out again. The committee headed down towards Opua to find flatter sailing conditions in hope that the last two races could be held. This they found, but unfortunately there was no way that the remaining fleet was able to get to and from the course area due to the extremely blustery conditions. So the remaining two races were not sailed.