Sailing: Parua Bay perfect host for champs

PACKED: Parua Bay is packed with Starling yachts, which included 29 female entrants of the 73 total.

Parua Bay has lived up to its reputation as a great sailing venue after the Whangarei Cruising Club-hosted North Island Starling Sailing Championships finished; now it is ready to host the Starling Nationals in April.

With conditions sunny and wind strength fluctuating between 8 and 15 knots at the weekend, sailors who visited from as far south as Timaru, were treated to a fine day's racing on the water.

The two-day event proved popular with the ladies, attracting 29 female entrants of the 73 participants.

Overall winners were Libby Porter, from Kohimarama Yacht Club, who took out the overall regatta title. Tam Mitchell, also from Kohimarama, was second overall with Jeremy Mitchell from Murrays Bay third.

There were some extremely close tussles and on the first day especially as there were a lot of penalties incurred as sailors juggled for position, often to their detriment.

The on-water judges were kept busy as they monitored the the races.

Commodore of the Whangarei Cruising Club, Noel Douglas, thanked all the club members who gave so generously of their time to help out. There are tasks such as helping to launch the 73 yachts, monitoring the on-water activities, recording the starts and finishes as well as catering for the wellbeing of the participants, on shore and on the water.

The Whangarei Cruising Club expect double the number of entrants for the nationals from April 24-28.