Issue date
The Young 88 fleet is once again proving its popularity as an all purpose racing and cruising boat with a record number of entries for last Sunday’s Bruce Elliott Memorial Single Handed Championship, hosted by the Royal Akarana Yacht Club.
15 boats took part in the two race series, and the overall crown was taken by Damon Jolliffe on Sonic. Damon sailed to a very consistent second place finish in both of the races, and won overall by just one point, as the next two finished with five points each.
Nick Bastow on Medium dry and Jeffrey Hooper on Raging Hormones both finished with a fourth and a first place finish in alternate races.
Overall Top Five (on line):
1st – Damon Jolliffe- Sonic
2nd – Nick Bastow- Medium Dry
3rd- Jeffrey Hooper- Raging Hormones
4th- Jacko Van Deventer- Sailor Moon
5th- Chris Binning- Heaven ‘n’ Hell
Leigh Miller on Voodoo was the overall winner on Handicap, and was closely followed by a three way tie for second place with Jacko Van Deventer, Damon Jolliffe, and James Gliddon.
Last year’s overall champion, Nathan Williams on Slipstream III was not back to defend his title, as he was off in his other boat getting third place at the first of the 2012 Elliott 5.9 Traveller Series. Nathan lent his boat to Bruce Elliott’s son, Brett Elliott, who finished 10th.
Other entrants included the usual Y88 suspects plus well known sailors returning to have a crack at them like yacht designer Greg Elliott – Bruce’s Brother and Brett’s Uncle. Greg built some of the first Y88s in the early 80’s before branching out into his own highly successful design business and is now one of New Zealand’s most prolific yacht designers.
Short handed sailing is becoming increasingly popular as evidenced by the growing numbers of boats participating in one, two and three handed events. The Young 88 is ideally suited to this type of sailing with all control lines leading aft, primary winches adjacent to the helm and the option of a non overlapping headsail.
More information on the Young 88’s can be found online on their website.
Photos and more online 'like' the Young88 Facebook page
