Sailing: Sailors start the year off with a win

Phil McNeill of Kerikeri and Craig Gilberd of Whangarei racing Phlipnhel to line honours.

A pair of Northland sailors have got their new year off to a blazing start by claiming boasting rights in a long-standing transtasman sailing challenge held in Western Australia.

Representing the Waitangi-based Bay of Islands Yacht Club, Phil McNeill of Kerikeri and Craig Gilberd of Whangarei won the Air New Zealand Javelin South Pacific Interdominion Championship, which was contested in the seas off Perth from December 28 to January 4.

With this year's event contested by a fleet of 28 competitors, McNeill's partner Helen noted the competition was tough with world champions and Olympians in the ranks. However, the Kiwi duo "showed them how it was done", going on to win six of the nine races in Phlipnhel, a boat designed by McNeil.

McNeill is the first person to ever win the title a third time in the 48-year history of the cup while it is the second time for Gilberd as a crew on the winning team.

Helen noted Phlipnhel was a radical departure from the traditional javelin design but proved itself fast and safe as the event ran the full gamut of local weather conditions.

"Needless to say the Australians are planning to copy the design, and there are already plans afoot to build several new boats in Australia to McNeill's design. Nothing like sticking it to the Aussies on their home turf," she concluded of the achievement.

- The javelin is a lightweight single-trapeze, 14ft two-handed skiff raced throughout New Zealand and Australia. An unusually large and powerful yet efficient sail allows it to exceed speeds of 25 knots which makes for exciting racing. The javelin was designed in New Zealand by John Spencer in 1961.