Sailing: Rough and Ready captures fourth consecutive title

Richard Bearda (left), skipper Craig Satterthwaite and Matt Mitchell won the national Elliott 5.9 sailing title by eight points on Saturday. Photo/Supplied

Auckland skipper Craig Satterthwaite was quick to toast his crew's familiarity after winning the Eliott 5.9 sailing national title off Napier for the fourth time on Saturday.

"We're all getting a bit fat so these conditions weren't the best for us," Satterthwaite said referring to breezes which didn't exceed more than seven knots during the three-day, 12-race nationals which attracted 13 boats.

"Richard [Bearda] and I have been racing together since I was 15 and I've known Matt [Mitchell] since we were two so that familiarity really helps," former America's Cup and Volvo Ocean Race sailor Satterthwaite, 45, explained.

With two seconds and a third placing in Rough and Ready on Saturday Satterthwaite and co beat another Auckland skipper, Stu Clarke, and his crew of Stu Malloy and Cam Horne in Blurr, by eight points. Sam Edwards and his crew of Greg Wagstaff and Derek Scott in Brzo completed an Auckland trifecta with their third placing, one point behind Blurr.

Satterthwaite is a nephew of Greg Elliott, who designed the boat the class is named after in 1983, and while Auckland-based Elliott no longer races he still enjoys watching the regattas for the class and in particular the progress of boats he built like Blurr.

"Sailing has given me a good income and plenty of enjoyment over the years. Now that I've retired from professional racing I enjoy the fun aspect of it and the camaraderie. There are some good people in the class which is competitive," Satterthwaite said.

The last time he finished second in the Elliott 5.9 nationals was when Napier last hosted the nationals in 2014.

He will be back to attempt a fifth consecutive national title when Kawau Boating Club hosts next year's nationals.

The Gavin Earle-skippered Bloodline, which had Mike Fenwick and Gareth Howard in the crew, did the best of the three Napier Sailing Club crews in the regatta with a ninth placing, 59 points behind Rough and Ready. They recorded two ninths, an 11th and a discarded 12th placing on Saturday.

"We didn't get things right. We have to re-check our rigging and go back to our original settings so we get better starts and more speed before our next regatta in four weeks," Howard explained.

The David Plowman-skippered Shock Treatment, which had his father Trevor Plowman and Vincent Bussiere on board, finished 12th and the Tony Clifford-skippered Magpie with a crew of Duncan Gourley and Mark Sheldrake finished 13th. Work commitment prevented Magpie from racing on the first day of the nationals.

Brzo won the first two races on Saturday and the Carey Shelley-skippered Ice Breaker with a crew of Holly Hamlin and Todd Martin won the last two. Ice Breaker finished fifth on the overall standings 26 points behind Rough and Ready.