Black Sheep Racing leave today for Australia in a last-ditch effort to qualify for the highest profile match-racing series of the year, the Monsoon Cup in Malaysia.
The team, which includes two former Kerikeri High School students, helmsman Reuben Corbett and Brad Farrand along with strategist Thomas Bentham, are ready totake a tilt at the final qualifier, the Australia Cup in Perth.
There are 10 teams entered in the event but five of them have already qualified for the Monsoon Cup, so essentially five teams are competing for just one spot.
Corbett said their year's competition has been geared towards qualifying for the Malaysian event so they are expecting a typically tense week of competition in Perth.
"It's important to us to qualify because you get a lot of coverage in the Monsoon Cup because it's shown on television all over the world - we're currently ranked 12th in the world so we'll be racing against all the guys ranked above us," he said.
The team warmed up with the New Zealand Match Racing Championships held on the Waitemata Harbour over the weekend but could only manage fourth behind eventual champion Phil Robertson, who beat Josh Junior 3-1 in the final.
William Tiller knocked Corbett and crew out in the petit final. Corbett was a little too eager to get the match back on level pegging after losing the first race, crossing the start line early and gifting Tiller third place.
Corbett wasn't too upset about the result however, keeping the bigger picture in sight.
"Our team hasn't done anything together since we last raced at the beginning of October. We were a bit rusty but it was a good hit-out for us," he said.
The Black Sheep team will be hoping to emulate the feats of two fellow Northlanders, who were in the New Zealand match-racing team that picked up the Australian title in Tasmania over the weekend.
With Algies Bay Stephanie Hazard at the helm and Whangarei's Jenna Hansen on the mainsail, the Kiwi crew, with Susannah Pyatt and Nichola Trudgen, were the form team at the regatta staged over four days on the River Derwent.
Danielle Bowater was at the helm of the second New Zealand crew competing in Tasmania - they placed sixth out of the 10 competing teams.
