Racing keenly contested in champs

PRETTY AS A PICTURE: Yachts frame a cargo ship with Young Nicks Head in the background during Gisborne Yacht Club’s Poverty Bay championships on Saturday. Picture by Paul Rickard

YACHTING

GISBORNE Yacht Club’s Poverty Bay championships produced evenly contested racing in the Bay over the weekend.

Saturday’s racing was postponed after one race as a southerly squall came through, with results that included a broken boom and rudder damage.

Before a halt was called, competitors dealt with some fast sailing conditions in building swell.

At prizegiving, younger sailors in their O’pen Bic skiffs and the young crews in the Phase 2 fleet were acknowledged for the way they coped with the conditions.

Sunday’s sailing was in challenging lighter conditions that spread the results evenly in both the Laser and O’pen Bic classes.

Local twins Jake and Lucy Millar both had three firsts and two seconds, leaving them tied on points in their O’pen Bic skiffs. In the countback, it came down to who won the last race, and Jake was awarded the title.

Laser sailors Richard Stannard and Peter Millar were also tied on points and there, too, the countback came down to who won the last race. It was Millar.

In the Phase 2 class, Ross Shanks with young son James on Saturday and partner Emma on Sunday triumphed over his father Colin, who sailed with youngster Oliver Pheasant on Saturday and Nicole Stannard on Sunday.

The rated trailer yacht division was won again by sole Wairoa entry Checkpoint (Adrian Mayhead, Jill Metz-Mayhead and Alex Mayhead) from local entry Space Runner (John Clarke, Andy Woolfield and Glenn Watt) and Khadu, sailed alone on Sunday by Tony Geard.

The club welcomed on board newcomers Alan Pheasant and Gwenda Harvey, who arrived at the cub for learn-to-sail sessions for eldest son Oliver a week or so earlier and revealed they had race management experience. They were instantly offered race officer jobs for the event.

Credit also goes to Robyn Jones for taking charge of onshore duties, including child-minding.

The event was sponsored by Gisborne Financial Services Ltd.

Results —

O’pen Bic: Jake Millar, Lucy Millar equal 1. Jake Millar won title on countback.

Phase 2: Ross Shanks 1, Colin Shanks 2.

Laser: Peter Millar, Richard Stannard, equal 1. Millar won title on countback.

Trailer yachts: Adrian Mayhead 1, John Clarke 2, Tony Geard 3.

The learn-to-sail session scheduled for this weekend is postponed to allow club volunteers Peter, Jake and Lucy Millar and John Wells to help as retrievers for the Five-Buck-a-Duck fundraising race that starts at midday on Saturday from the Peel Street Bridge on the Taruheru River.