Issue date
Plenty of breeze was forecast for the NZ Rigging 60, Race 1 of the Safety at Sea Triple series run by SSANZ on Saturday 9 July. 113 out of the 127 boats entered in the series started in a south-easterly, and were looking forward to the prospect of some decent rides around the Hauraki Gulf. The approximately 60nm course for the long haul boats took them up round Rakino Island, Shag Island, Gannet Rock, Shearers Rock buoy and then through to the finish off Orakei wharf, while the Shorthaul boats
A committee boat bias for the start line resulted in some interesting starting tactics for the 6 different starts, with the multi-hulls the tamest and the Young 88s and Farr 1020s showing their competitive class form as usual. The more cautious boats started with reefs which didn’t pay off as the breeze never built to the forecasted levels. The braver competitors running full mains, #2 headsails and then masthead gear were rewarded with some great runs from Shag Island to Gannet Rock and onto Shearers in the 20 – 25 knot breeze, resulting in some close racing.
Racing a special course for the conditions, the first multi-hull home was Slime (Tennant Bladerunner 44) in just over four and a half hours, which gave them handicap honours as well. The first of the short haul boats finished in 5 hours (Kailani, Hanse 400). In the long haul divisions Sun Fast 3600 Racing had a stellar race finishing 30 minutes ahead of the next boat, taking both line and handicap wins in Division 2. The bigger boats sailed well in Longhaul Division 1 with Equilibrium (Marten 55) first across the line nearly an hour ahead of the next boat (Crusader 35, Elliott 35ss) and Fiction (Elliott Tourer 1350) was the handicap winner.
Melting Pot (Elliott 9) got the better of the Ross boats and the SR26s in the sports boat division, sailing to second on line behind The Entertainer (Ross 930) to clean up on handicap. In the close battle of the Young 88s Sailor Moon was first across the line after 7 hours and handicap honours went to Crowded House just over 2 minutes ahead of Mindbender. Hard Labour won line in the Farr 1020 division which was only good enough for 3rd on handicap behind Strathspey and Gambier. For the full results across all divisions, photos and video check out www.ssanz.co.nz, and the series continues with the Evolution Sails 100 on August 6.
