Issue date
Wellington offered up some 'signature' conditions over the three days of the Zephyr national championships and they proved to the local's liking with Greg Wright claiming overall honours.
The winning form of Greg Wright.
Wright revelled in the moderate to strong winds to win five of the nine races, which left him 15 points ahead of Kelcey Gager (Manly Sailing Club). Tim Snedden (Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron) was another point back in third overall.
Defending champion Phil Williams (Worser Bay) won the 65-69 year old category, Emma Berry (Titahi Bay Boating Club) was top female, Dean Stanley (Worser Bay) was handicap winner and Craig Moss (Murrays Bay) took out the heavyweight division.
As many as 72 boats contested the nationals, the third-largest fleet in the history of the 62-year-old class, with entrants from as far afield as Australia, Whangarei and Christchurch.
The Zephyr is a 3.4m-long single-handed dinghy sailing boat designed by New Zealander Des Townson. It might be one of the oldest boats in New Zealand but it's also one of the fastest growing single-handed dinghies and more than 70 of the 300-strong national fleet are expected to contest the 2019 national championships being held at the Tauranga Yacht & Boat Club in February 2019.
To meet the demand, new fibreglass-hulled Zephyrs are now available from the Zephyr Association and the regions of Christchurch, Wellington, Tauranga, Hamilton, Waiuku, Auckland and Whangarei are seeing both young and old sailors join the competitive racing and great socialising renowned in this classic yacht class.
Results and standings afer the Zephyr national championships at Worser Bay Boating Club recently:
1st Greg Wright (WBBC 50-59 male) 1 7 1 1 1 (12) 1 2 11 - 25 points
2nd: Kelcey Gager (MSC 40-49 male) 2 (10) 3 7 4 8 4 4 8 - 40 pts
3rd Tim Snedden (RNZYS 60-64 male) (74 DNF) 9 2 2 12 7 2 3 4 - 41 pts
4th: Mark Thomas (TYPBC 50-59 male) 3 1 (41) 8 6 9 5 6 17 - 55 pts
5th: Rowan Adolph (MBSC 40-49 male) (74 DNF) 14 8 3 5 18 3 1 9 - 61 pts
6th: Guy Taylor-Smith (WBBC 50-59 male) 4 2 20 24 2 (41) 6 13 5 - 76 pts
7th: Phil Williams (WBBC/EBYBC 65-69 male) 8 3 14 (26) 3 20 7 9 14 - 78 pts
8th: Brett Linton (WBBC 40-49 male) (37) 4 16 14 23 1 11 8 2 - 79 pts
9th: Greg Salthouse (WBC 40-49 male) (24) 12 4 9 7 17 12 12 10 - 83 pts
10th: Ben Cowley (QCYC 40-49 male) 7 19 10 10 16 2 8 (24) 13 - 85 pts
Full results can be found here.
