"People need to realise there is a boat that is possible to sail from young to old and still be competitive. It's not like a Moth which you just can't do when you get older, or a kite board that involves good mobility.
"This boat can be raced hard by people that are just switched on, and for that I think what an incredible class – there aren't many classes you can say that for."
After clinching three straight second placings in the trio of races on day one, Sharp was hoping to push ahead and close the gap between himself and first-placed Ian Sutherland.
Sutherland won all three of the opening day's races and that trend continued through races four and five as he set the pace.
Sharp made sure he maintained second placing going into the last day of racing, finishing right behind Sutherland twice.
The boat Sharp sails, No Name, isn't a new ride by any stretch of the imagination and the model is rarely seen on the race track.
"It's an antique – it's one of the prototypes when they first designed the class and made them. Roger [Kitchen] made this one for his son as a trial, and that's the one I sail," he said.
"I love the fact that it's old. I love the fact that it was built when they started. It is No 6– they made six of them in Roger's garage, and this is one of the ones that came out of there. There are still a couple of them around, but not on the race track."
The Bay of Islands regatta is acting as a warm-up for the Weta class national competition in Whitianga.
Sharp said the programme is looking a bit fuller than recent years.
"So this year we've got Bay Week and then we've got Whitianga as our nationals. Next year our aim is to have four regattas spread around the country with one on a lake.
"We've got a number of members down in the South Island, so we need to go to them instead of asking them to come to us all the time."
