Race 1 - SW 20 gusting 20 knots The fresh South Westerly breeze saw both Taranaki and Bay of Plenty retire with broken rudders. Counties/Manukau also retired with rudder stock issues. Auckland retired to Mission Bay beach for running repairs. Of the 3 boats still racing, North Harbour lead out of the start, and was closely chased by Northland and East Coast. Final result, North Harbour, Northland, East Coast. Race 2 - 15 - 20 Knots, Shifty SW Wind Only 3 boats were hanging around for the 2nd race, until Auckland returned from Mission Bay to boost the fleet. Eastcoast led the entire race with Northland chasing hard followed by North Harbour in 3rd. At the top mark rounding Northland capsized letting North Harbour into 2nd. On the run to the finish, North Harbour split gybes with East Coast and picked a very hot angle into the finish line aiming for the closer boat end, East coast soaking low into the pin end  had to gybe to try win the race but capsized in the gybe and ended up 4th. North Harbor crossed the line in 1st 15 ft from the committee boat at 20+ knots. Race 3 - 15 - 25 knot SW Taranaki and BOP were by now already on the North Shore with angle grinders repairing their rudders, Counties/Manukau managed a Yacht Club repair and got the fleet back to 5 boats. Very close racing between Northland and East Coast, with North Harbour trying to get back into it, eventually overtaking East Coast on the downwind leg. Unfortunately, North Harbour kept going assuming they were heading for a downwind finish, and overlayed the bottom mark leaving Northland to win the race from a fast East Coast and North Harbour. Race 4 - 15 - 20 Knot, SW Early start at 04:30 am for Taranaki and BOP building rudders, but with  a few heaters both boats got back on the weather for the start of the 4th race. The fleet was close at the end of the 1st leg, with a big bunch flying into the bottom mark after the downhill. East Coast had a 6 boat length lead at the top mark for the 2nd time until they took the wrong gybe to let the downhill speed machine of Northland into 1st for the finish. North Harbour finished 2nd, East Coast 3rd, Taranaki 4th, with Auckland passing Bay of Plenty on the run to the finish to get 5th. Race 5 - 15 - 20 knot SW The Sanders Cup was all tied up at this stage between Northland and North Harbour. Northland took and early lead, and was never threatened through the race. East Coast held 2nd until the last leg, when North Harbour split gybes and came into the finish very hot and fast passing Eastcoast to finish 5 seconds ahead, with Taranaki in 4th. Race 6 - 15 - 25 knot SW Northland won the start and blasted out to a good lead from a bunched up fleet. North Harbour worked back into 2nd place after passing East Coast on the wind with good speed in the fresher breezes to close back the gap to be almost up with Northland at the top mark. Northland's downwind speed gave them a 100m lead at the bottom mark again, North Harbour closed back up at the top mark to round 1 boat length behind. Knowing they could not pass Northland downwind, North Harbour gybed off in search of a magic puff. They found a great gust and were in a semi controlled ball of spray hoping the rudder would cavitate and end it all, and probably got into 1st for a few minutes until the gust died, and Northland picked a good line to finish 20 seconds ahead and win the Sanders Cup. This is the 5th Sanders Cup win for skipper Phil McNeill, and 4th for Crew Matthew Smith. North Harbour's Rob Fordyce finished 2nd for the 3rd time, with crew Craig Gilberd a previous 3 time winner of the Sanders Cup. East Coasts Ross and Colin Shanks finished 3rd, the best result for this province in Sanders Cup History. Sailwave Scoring Software 1.92 www.sailwave.com