2005 National Championship

New class rules, regarding crew weight ,opened up opportunities for more crews to sail single handed. Leading the new wave of single handed sailors was Mark Winters sailing his trusty Weapon , Clint Rennie sailing Bartman and Grant Archer sailing One 1 Five.

The conditions were going to be light with long periods on the water. New to the Class were Nigel and Roanna Keane sailing Zeehan.
Race One started after a delay of an hour with Clint Rennie sailing Bartman, Colin Brocas in Icy Red, Steve Tennent in Wood is Good and Roger Hall sailing Peppermint Planet trading places to be the first group together at the top mark. Nothing changed much on the reaching legs but at the start of the second beat horrible things started to happen. Brocas sailed into neverland and dragged some others with him while Hall, Tennant and several others only metres away lifted off in more pressure and ran away up the beat. Mark Winters after a slow first leg improved to finally finish third just behind Tennent with Hall getting the gun.

We all went a shore for a lunch break and then came out to more positive wind and sea conditions later in the afternoon. Murray Gallagher our Officer of the Day set good courses and challenging start lines. Both afternoon races saw different leaders at the top mark first time. In the first afternoon race Steve Newcombe came flying in from the left hand side of the course to lead down the first reach. Hall, Rennie, Brocas and Winters soon roped him in on the reaches with Hall getting away by the wing mark to carry on and win . The racing was tight behind with places changing all the time. Brocas finally finishing second, Winters third and Newcombe fourth

Race three of the series was similar to race two but with Clint Rennie showing Bartman still had the goods to lead at the top mark. Again Hall passed by on the reaches to sail away and win again. The battle for the other podium places was tight with Rennie finishing second Brocas third and Winters fourth

The Sunday dawned fine and still with racing delayed the all important AGM was held with many positive thoughts conveyed on how to grow the class. The First Fibreglass boat was finished and sailing and the goal was to get more on the water in the upcoming year.
There will also be a new Auckland Champs held during the summer at Clarks Beach Yacht Club alternating with Maraetai Sailing Club on an annual basis with the Nationals held outside the power base clubs

The wind finally filled in 4-8 knots and racing got under away. All three races run and racing was tight. With Hall dominating at the front of the fleet, much interest was turned to the battles from second to fifth. Brocas and Winters continued their 10 year battle with Brocas finally gaining the upper hand and finishing second over all for the second year in a row by a mere point from Mark Winters. Clint Rennie sailed well enough to secure fourth with Tennant in 5th overall.
It was good to see more new faces in the fleet this year and the class looks secure for the future.

Final Places
1st Hall Peppermint Planet
2nd Brocas/Gray Icy Red
3rd Winters Weapon