NZ Dominates the Javelin South Pacific's

Article by Hamish Hey

Two things dominated the 2001 South Pacific Javelin Champs - the Wellington Weather which lived up to its reputation and the New Zealand Javelin Skiff Team. Defending champions of back-to-back South Pacific Javelin Championships, Australians' Peter Layton and Duncan Russell sailing "The Other Woman" were left in the wake of an impressive showing by the New Zealand contingent taking the top three places and eight of the top ten in a twenty three boat fleet. The win by Alex Vallings and Hamish Hey in "Freckle Deckle" gave New Zealand its 11th win to Australia's five in the bi-annual events' 32 year history.

The windy weather, which was over 60 knots at times severely, disrupted the sailing program with five days of racing being lost. Shorter back to back races including up to four a day, put pressure on the crews and severely tested equipment in the tough conditions with broken rudders being a theme of the contest. Racing was tight and placing's mixed as the shifty and gusty conditions meant a lead was seldom safe and provided many passing lanes to windward and downhill

Two time runners up to Layton and Duncan, Phil McNeil and Matthew Smith in "No Name Required" made an impressive start to the regatta with two wins in a dying 12 knot Southerly overhauling the large lead of Don Barn and Stu McLaulan in "Clamp Products" in race one. Defending National Champs Vallings and Hey, overcame a bad first beat when they and three other boats were heading to the wrong top mark and back in 20th place at the first mark, showed impressive boat speed to recover to a 3rd place in race one. McNeil and Smith overhauled Australian light weather flyers "Unzipped" sailed by Warren Smith and Brett Williams as the breeze died to a drifter with the race being shortened before the final leg. "Bungholio" sailed by Rob Fordyce and Grant McDuff drifted home in 3rd place. The unlucky ones were Tim Willets and Dean Coleman in "Hot Gossip" who were quite literally spat out the back door on the last beat as they dropped from 3rd to 13th.

For Races 3 and 4 the breeze swung to the north-west and freshened with puffs up to 20 knots with large holes and shifts. Vallings and Hey showed they were serious about improving on the morning's performances clearing out from the fleet to win race 3 by over five minutes. Australians, Layton and Duncan passed Barn and McLaulan on the final downwind leg to the finish 2nd to stay in touch with the leaders. "Freckle Deckle" showed the fleet a clean pair of heels again in race 4, but had to watch McNeil and Smith early in the race until they capsized rounding the bottom mark on the final lap. However, the swim didn't cost them too much and they recovered to finish 2nd from Willets and Coleman.

The following morning the breeze was back to the south with a moderate sea in 15-20 knots. Vallings and Hey, who have shown all season that these conditions are to their liking, cleared out on the fleet with two comfortable wins to take the lead overall in the regatta and displayed their excellent boat handling. The battle behind them was fierce with "Hot Gossip", "No Name Required" and "The Other Woman" mixing it up with some excellent racing. The Australian finishing second in race 5 and was ahead of two kiwis in Race 6 before a spectacular nose dive in a gybe at the bottom mark sent them for a swim allowing "No Name Required" and "Hot Gossip" to get through for 2nd and 3rd.

After yet another day lost to too much wind and a late start because of no wind the fleet hit the water in another shifty northerly. The conditions were such that no lead at the top was safe and boats from 10 places back would be in the hunt at the bottom mark. Geoff Wilding and Craig Gilberd sailing "Thirty Something" finally hit their straps and followed "No Name Required" across the finish ahead of "Freckle Deckle" in 3rd place in race 7. "Thirty Something" managed the same place in race 8 whilst "Freckle Deckle" and "No Name Required" swapped 1st for 3rd.

After lunch the breeze freshened. Class veteran Bob Vernon and crew Arnd Wolvertang sailing "Blunderbuss" worked the right hand side of the course and opened up a sizeable lead. Behind them "Freckle Deckle" and "No Name Required" were sailing their own match race in the shifty conditions to decide the title. Covering was difficult, often costing the leading boat dearly in order to stay between their competitor and the next the mark and the number of tacks cost these two against the rest of the fleet. "Freckle Deckle" lead "No Name Required" around the final mark and tore away in good puff with a very low angle. Timing their gybes to perfection they piped "Blunderbuss" at the finish with "No Name Required" home in 3rd.

On the final day "Freckle Deckle" carried a four point lead with better drops up their sleeve and only needing another good placing to wrap up the series. In another match race within a race "No Name Required" were in touch but had an unlucky final downhill to finish 7th in race10. Despite a swim at the bottom mark in gybe drop on the last lap "Freckle Deckle" came home in 4th place to win the series with a race to spare.

Race 10 also doubled as the Kingham Trophy (having been postponed from earlier in the series). "Hot Gossip" was the first Kiwi Boat home behind Australians' Layton and Russell who cleared out with an impressive win. It was a sweet moment for Hot Gossip crew Dean Coleman who last won the Kingham Trophy in 1983 with Graham Duncalf in Stanley Bay Steamer.

"No Name Required" made sure of second overall with a win in the final race with "Thirty Something" 2nd and "Hot Gossip" 3rd. Australian's, Layton and Russell finished 12th which handed 3rd place to a "Hot Gossip" who in their return season to Javelin class have shown an excellent improvement in form during the season.

The Vallings designed C-Tech rigs that dominated last years Sanders Cup and National Champs are still ahead in the development of carbon fiber rigs. A number of boats this season carry rigs built by Tim Willets, which are proving competitive especially in the light to moderate conditions. There are three distinct Willets rigs with conventional and oval sections as well as the wing shaped section on Hot Gossip. However, in any breeze from 12knots up the C-Tech rig based on the rig developments in 12ft skiffs appears to give Freckle Deckle an edge. Freckle Deckle also carries C-Tech foils, which proved valuable in the fresh conditions as unlike many in the rest of the fleet their rudder never stalled out. The full wardrobe of Fyfe Sails was another part of the package. Of note was the significant speed advantage that new Fyfe gennakers seem to give the Kiwis despite the significantly flatter hull sections used by the Australians.

Final Placings South Pacifics (Top 10):
1st (NZ) Freckle Deckle (16pts), 2nd (NZ) No Name Required (19pts), 3rd (NZ) Hot Gossip (31pts), 4th (AUS) The Other Woman (32pts), 5th (NZ) Thirty Something (51pts), 6th (NZ) Clamp Products (51pts), 7th (NZ) Blunderbuss (57pts), 8th (NZ) Bungholio (65pts), 9th Dry Reach (73pts), 10th (AUS) Unzipped (81pts).

Click here for all South Pacifics results.

Sanders Cup

With the strong winds playing havoc with the tight racing schedule for the Sanders Cup only five of the seven scheduled races were able to be sailed. After two days of waiting the fleet representing eight provinces finally hit the water for a midday window of opportunity before the breeze built again. Vallings and Hey sailing for Auckland finished the day with two wins, with McNeil and Smith (Northland) in second. These were the only two boats to finish the second race with the final downwind leg sailed in over 30 knots. Both boats capsizing in the final gybe for the finish and finishing in a hairy two sail reach for the finish.

The strong winds prevented any further races being sailed during the lay days of the South Pacific's. Following an agreement by all the competitors early on the last day of competition races 10 and 11 of the South Pacific's doubled as Sanders Cup races 3 and 4 with an extra race sailed by the Sanders fleet after completion of the South Pacifics' to get the minimum five races away.

Wilding and Gilberd (North Harbour) won race 3, closely followed by Auckland with Northland third. Northland won race 4 with North Harbour picking up a good puff on the final downhill to sneak in for second ahead of Auckland.

The final race was a cliffhanger with Northland and Auckland again match racing for a title. After a wind shift at the start, Auckland found themselves on the wrong side of the course and elected to hit the Petone beach side of the course in the shift northerly with Nelson Bays. Both boats look doomed but the breeze filled in on the right towards the top mark and the two boats were lifted with more breeze. Northland, North Harbour and Wellington who had worked the middle and were also in good position. Northland rounded the top mark first with Nelson Bays second and Auckland third. Auckland put in a quick gybe to get to leeward of the fleet and picked a lower angle to come back and cover. This gave them a narrow lead over Northland at the bottom mark, which was lost again in a shift at the bottom of the final beat. Auckland regained the lead near the top of the beat with a left hand shift that gave them a handy lead. However, with the breeze freshening all the time the fat lady was far from warming her vocals. Hit by a 30 knot puff in the gennaker hoist, Auckland broached and capsized, trying frantically to right the boat with the gennaker still hoisted as Northland rounded the mark and took the lead. Regrouping quickly, Auckland were away again and stormed down onto Northland's hip. The drag race in 30knots was a spectacular sight. Vallings' eyed a good gybe angle for the pin end of the line and Auckland made their move, meanwhile Northland sailed on for another 400-500 meters. The early gybe looked like a great move with Auckland opening up a good lead. However the breeze lifted both boats forcing Auckland to gybe twice for the boat end of the finish line and lifting them out of the pressure. Northland raced for the pin, the lay now comfortable rather than the earlier struggle. The gun and with it the Sanders Cup (on count back) went to Northland by a mere half a meter. The result was certainly the closest finish in a Sanders Cup contest for quite some time. The Wellington crew of Martin Eathorne and Richard Greenfield sailing "Dry Reach" came home third ahead of North Harbour but it wasn't enough to lift their placing overall.

Final Placings Sanders Cup:
1st Northland (9pts), 2nd Auckland (9pts), 3rd North Harbour (18pts), 4th Wellington (28pts), 5th Nelson Bays (28pts), 6th Bay of Plenty (29pts), 7th Taranaki (35pts), 8th East Coast (40pts).

Click here for all Sanders Cup results.