March 09

www.marakura.org April

Saturday 25th to Sunday 26th - All Classes Final Re-

gatta & potluck tea 1.00pm

June Sunday 14th - AGM Followed by potluck tea - 3.00pm

Were you the proud win-

ner of a trophy last sea-

son? If so it’s time to hand

it back in (nice and clean

please) so we can get it

ready for the prize giving.

The perfect time to drop it

into the club will be on

the 25th and 26th of April

during the final regatta. If

you would like to offload it

sooner then just call Iso-

bel and she will let you

know when and where

you can do that.

I have a special thanks to go to Karen and Alex Bruce who sail Double Brown for

taking so many photos at a lot of different events. I have used a number of their pic-tures in this issue and if you want to see

more of their collection which is extensive to say the least just visit

http://picasaweb.google.com/OTYS21

Do you have something you want added

to the website or maybe a report from an

event you have been to? Then let me

know and I can put it in the appropriate

place. Also if you have any gear, boats or

odds and ends you want to off load send

me an email and a photo if possible and I

can add it to the website.

Well it has certainly been a very busy

month April. There have been a number

of events on around the region and it is

good to see we have had members from

Marakura off to most of them. The

weather has been a bit up and down but

that’s just life I guess.

In this edition we have a report from

Bruce keen who travelled to Auckland to

compete in the Waikato 100 miler and a

breakdown of what went on at Easter in-

cluding the results.

Are you on dial up ?

Having issues with the attachment ?

If so go to our website for the link to a ver-

sion that is stored online. And don't forget

to let me know if you are having problems.

Easter regattaEaster regattaEaster regattaEaster regatta Well considering the way the weather was in the week leading up to Easter it was a pleasant

surprise to wake on Friday and find the sun shining down with a light breeze. An even more

pleasant surprise was watching the

number of boats turning up at the club

as the morning went along. By the

time of the briefing at 12noon there

were 52 boats registered for the week-

end. This is the biggest turn out for

Easter in a good many years.

Friday was a pretty challenging day

with the light winds teaching a few of

the junior dinghy sailors the benefits

of getting their body weight in the

right position and keeping it there.

With what wind there was coming in

from just the right direction the races

were started and finished on the line

directly in front of the club and this

provided a great vantage point for

those in the club..

2 races were completed that afternoon, and after cleanup the bar was opened and a $5 BBQ put

on for those attending. This was a part of the awesome work and planning done by Kim

Caruthers who coordinated the food for the entire weekend. Her meals were very much appreci-

ated by all the hungry sailors. So a huge thankyou has to go to Kim and her crew of volunteers.

Saturday was a different scene, with stronger winds, gusts topping around 20 knots at times.

This provided some carnage among the dinghy's at the 3rd and 4th marks, with a few not quiet

getting off the start line either. This kept the support boats busy for a period of time making up

for that nice easy day we had on Friday. Thanks to Bluff for bringing their boat up and to the

owner of Barnaby and to Alan Chainey who operated the MYC RHIB and Alan Remnant who I

saw out operating the bluff boat. It was good being out on the water and able to see Mic n Me

under full spinnaker blasting down the course at a bit over 15 knots,. As Saturday wore on the

weather settled down a bit and became more consistent and as usual by the time the races were

over things were just getting to be about right for sailing. By the end of Saturday 6 races had

been completed in total for the 2 days.

Sundays weather was very much a mix-

ture of the two previous days. With a

general easing as the day wore on. Just

two races were run in the morning giv-

ing everyone time to have lunch after-

wards and then onto prize giving. Of

course we have to say a huge Thankyou

to John Hefford for being the RO and to

Joanne for being his number one num-

ber taker. And to our principle sponsor

Southwest Helicopters who’s continued

support is highly valued.

And of course to all the sailors and sup-

port crew who turned up for the week-

end thankyou for coming and I hope to

see you all next year.

Part of the fleet involved in a general recallPart of the fleet involved in a general recallPart of the fleet involved in a general recallPart of the fleet involved in a general recall

Waiheke AdventuresWaiheke AdventuresWaiheke AdventuresWaiheke Adventures

Waiheke Island challenge race.

The start finish line was in the Tamaki strait out from the hosting club Maraetai Yacht Club.

Keith Hollick and myself were on board Hydrous, a joker 820 owned by Nigel Lancaster. Nigel

keeps his boat on the trailer in a compound at kawakawa bay and launches at the sheltered

ramp which is enclosed by a man made rock breakwater.

The conditions are hot and sunny with a 5knot SE breeze. There were two trailer yacht racing

divisions a non spinnaker division. The variety of yachts ranged from a Noelex 22, there were 5

joker 6.7s and 2 joker 820s, rose 780s, Elliot’s ,Shaw sport boats and them racy looking keelers

to the important Beneteau’s, Hannes, and Ellans plus a couple of multi hulls.

Progress was reasonable through Ruth passage, but from there to thumb point and round to

pine harbour the wind was very light and inconsistent, as a result the race was shortened and

the finish line was moved to pine tree point. Prize giving was back at the Maraetai yacht club

which is an excellent facility is overlooking the water with upstairs restaurant and bar.

The next four days was spent cruising around Waiheke island our first anchorage was at north

harbour in Ruth passage where there are two nice beaches separated by a small rocky out crop

with a mix of trees and pasture

right down to the beach. The next

day we had a brilliant sail in a 18

knot breeze across the Hauraki

gulf to Corromandel which is about

20 miles. Anchored in the very

popular Te Kouma harbour, there

were four other boats anchored

there but Nigel says in the main

holiday season it fills up with hun-

dreds of boats. We went ashore and

walked up the walking track to trig

station look out, where you can see

into Corromandel harbour and

right up the Coromandel peninsula

and down to the firth of thanes.

The mussel farms and oyster farms

are everywhere and very noticeable

from this vantage point.

The following day we motored into Coromandel harbour at low tide, so had to anchor 200mtres

out from the river mouth and take the dinghy up the river to the township. This is a very shal-

low and narrow channel and we ran aground several times. Once up through the mangroves we

found a boat yard with a 40ft launch on the slipway and several other boats moored among the

mangroves. We brought the hydra in later on at high tide to pick up some supplies and the

channel was much easier to navigate. We anchored in Deep Cove for the night which is an island

at the entrance to Coromandel harbour.

Next morning we motored North West past several small islands and bays all with mussel farms

in them. We had lunch at elephant bay at Happy Jack Island. We had to motor about half way

back to Coromandel until eventually the wind picked up. We anchored with about 20 other boats

that night. On Thursday we motored up to half-moon bay to buy some flares. While having

lunch we watched a continuous flow of power boats launching and retrieving at the ramp. Mo-

toring back down the channel we had to keep clear of the ferries which travel surprisingly fast.

We sailed back to kawakawa bay and then on to Maraetai yacht club for a meal and briefing for

the Waikato 100 miler on Friday night.

Te Kouma HarbourTe Kouma HarbourTe Kouma HarbourTe Kouma Harbour

Saturday

Our division start time was 10.15am, we were competing in the 65 mile course. The division one

category were to sail an 85 mile course and division 3 a 35 mile course. A lack of wind delayed

the start by one hour, but eventually we were away in very light winds heading towards Auck-

land. It took us 8hrs to get the 15 miles to Rangitoto Island. The wind was from behind us for

most of the way so this helped keep the whole fleet bunched together. It was interesting sailing

in amongst the variety of trailer yachts and keelers. It wasn’t so much fun though when a keeler

would come up from behind with their huge spinnakers and gennakers and creates a large wind

shadow, especially when we were struggling to keep out kite full. It takes a long time to recover

from that happening.

Once around Rangitoto light a good breeze kicked in as darkness approached so we had a good

kite run right down to Rangitoto. We sailed through a passage & past awash rock which was the

first scheduled radio report to Auckland coast guard, who were doing all the radio reports on be-

half of race control.

From there it was straight on towards thumb point. It took quite a while to get used to sail-

ing at night, but it certainly

sharpened the senses. Thumb

point was the second radio

check for the race. We found

out then that the cow island

leg had been dropped from the

race. So it a case of follow the

coast line of Waiheke Island

down to Ruth passage.

It was on this leg that Keith

and I found ourselves asking

Nigel about those nice quiet

bays with no houses we had

seen during the day. As it

seemed there was a township

with all its lights on in each

bay. Nigel assured us we were

looking at the correct bays but

all the lights were coming from

the anchor lights of the boats

moored in there.

Ruth passage proved to be very difficult to get through as the tide was running against us.

Crossing tacks with 8 other yachts was very interesting and judging distances to approaching

yachts is not as easy in the dark. After our third radio check we sailed into Tamaki strait and

headed for the start finish line 2hrs away. We finished at 5.18am in a group of Ross 780’s, 2

Beneteau’s, and 3 other keelers. We got the gun for line honours in our division. We then

dropped anchor out from Maraetai yacht club making sure we were not too close to the entrance

to the launching ramp as the pleasure boats start heading out to go fishing about that time of

day.

We grabbed a couple hours of sleep before a shower and tidy up at the yacht club and then prize

giving at 10am. It was great to catch up with old friends and meet such a variety of people. After

the prize giving we motored back to kawakawa bay where we took the Hydrous out of the water

and parked her up in the Waikato yacht squadrons compound.

My thanks to Nigel for the great time spent on hydrous and the fantastic look around the Hau-

raki Gulf which is a truly great place to go boating. Only problem would be the thousands of

other people that think the same and it can get very congested.

Bruce Keen

RangitotoRangitotoRangitotoRangitoto

Youtube Goodies

Rough Sailing

http://www.youtube.com/watch?

v=c0qbyRWSptg

Mic n Me

http://www.youtube.com/watch?

v=RSBOB6c6YwY

Easter Regatta

http://www.youtube.com/watch?

v=5dsT8bzXUGg

The next generation of trailer sailors

http://www.youtube.com/watch?

v=eWBJpSnlI8w Do you need new gear ? Then check out

what nzsailing have on offer. And re-

member that every purchase you make

benefits the club directly

Secondary Schools Sunburst Champs, Dunedin

Raymond Frew, Dunedin, April 09

Easter Results

Opti Fleet

1 Daniel Kennard Scorchin

2 Sean Dickey Maloo

3= Sam Shaw Little Bear

3= Connor Kennedy White Lightning

P Class

1 Sam Turnbull Passing Wind

2 Dalen Hattaway Grease Lightning

3 Daniel Caruthers Zest

Starling

1 Tom Norman Falcon

2 Amy Carrick Epi Blast

3 Cameron Campbell Masterpiece

Laser

1 Logan Black Shockwave

2 Doug Riley Fast Eddue

3 Tom Bell XLR8

Sunburst

1 Jesse Goodman Kikorangi

2 Emily White Setanta

3 Xaiver Fife Whero

Bluff Oyster Regatta Report

I think the picture pretty well sums it up

Easter Results

OD

1 Ken Hargreaves Intolerance

2 Gavin Shaw Gliding On

3 Ben Carrick

TY

1 Bruce Keen Ameldee

2 Gordon Ashton Elle

3 Alex Bruce Double Dark

LINE HONOURS

Opti Daniel Kennard Scorchin

P Sam Turnbull Passing Wind

Starling Amy Carrick Epi Blast

Laser Daryl Parkes Fart n Go

Sunnie Jesse Goodman Kikorangi

OD Ken Hargreaves Intolerance

TY Bryan Geary Mic n Me