Issue date
At the suggestion of sailors and their families, Sailability Wellington held its first of many Annual Regattas from Lowry bay Yacht Club on the weekend of 2nd and 3rd of April. All racing was in Hansa 303 yachts.
© Brian Harmer
The prospect of horrendous weather for the capital didn’t deter either the sailors or the 30 volunteers who organised and ran the event. The rain cleared just in time for the start of the first race of the Ability Trophy for sailors with an intellectual disability, who each had a ‘companion crew’. Conditions were light and fluky, but Natasha Williams quickly showed the results of many months of solo sailing practice with two firsts.
The Hansa 303 singles and doubles class was raced in ideal conditions in the harbour and Darrell Smith soon showed that he was going to be impossible to beat, although Michael Jones and Alexander O’Connor were not too far behind.
In the 303 doubles, Genevieve McLachlan & Sarah Dunkley were beaten into third place in the first race by Malichi Taylor & Kelvin Smith. However, Gen and Sarah came back with four wins to take out the competition.
© Brian Harmer
Sunday’s sailing was in strong winds and racing retreated to sheltered waters. Despite that, there were still a few times when sailors were surprised by the gusts and yachts were ‘on their ears’!
This regatta was held as an ‘in house’ one for Sailability Wellington members only. Possibly, it will be open to other Sailability Clubs and groups in future years. As Sailability Wellington Chairman, Warren Rankin said, “This event has enabled us to develop a format which can be run with relative ease”. “The Sailor’s enjoyed it, the volunteers were dedicated to making it a success and it has the support of family members and the local clubs that are part of Sailability Wellington”.
Results in the pdf below.
