2008 Auckland Jollyboat Championship, Waiheke

The 2008 Jollyboat Auckland Championships were held on Waiheke Island in November, supported again by Sealink. More photos on Picasa here

Saturday saw newcomer to the fleet Mark Orams sailing comfortably to place Hotshot inside the top 5 having arrived on the island Pirate fashion by tall ship. Light winds dominated Saturday's racing but the last race proved a lot of fun when a South Westerly kicked in negating the sea breeze and provided planing conditions.

Gordon and family held a bash on the Saturday night, great food and a chance to spy on Gordon's boatworks where a Mirror dinghy was being modified with the usual Dyer go fast bolt ons.

Sunday saw a return of the light, but thanks to carefully laid courses the racing was close and passing lanes were hard to find. Harry and Paul were observed perfecting a new round the mast roll tacking technique which proved a winner, keeping the crew out of the way of strings and the centreboard case.

Kim Ardmore from YNZ ran the racing brilliantly. It's great to have a race officer who was happy to comment on form, sail trim and technique. As a result Sunday's starts were a click up on Saturday with everyone lifting their game, thanks Kim.

Victory was claimed by the locals in both divisions showing superior skill and tactics all round and once again giving the rest of the fleet something to aim for. Gordon took out the single handed and overall trophy, whilst Paul and Harry took a well deserved win in the two handed. Fair comment to say that the Jollyboat powerbase has moved to the People's Republic of Waiheke, yep they got the team trophy as well.

Thanks are extended to the excellent organising committee and talent provided by Rod Glendinning, Jeff Harnish, Geoff and Glenys Muir, Wendy Zed, and Peter Robertson at all at WBC. The class also wishes to thank Sealink for their continued support.

A special thank you to Lesley Stone for her outstanding work on the water with the camera which has provided the class with an update to our photo library and refreshed the website for 2009. All of Lesley's photos are now on Picasa here

Jollyboat	Sail #	Skipper	Crew	Overall	2 Handed
Plan B	107	Gordon Dyer		1
Bartman	91	Steve Tenant		2
Meri	46	Alex Stone		3
Roger	89	Paul MacIntosh	Harry	4	1
Snorter	88	Matt Hall-Smith	Bridgette	5	2
Dry Reach	105	Fergus Thompson	Megan	6	3
HotShot	113	Mark Orams	Daniel	7	4
Bussiness Time	79	Grant Crawford		8
Ehoa	151	Steve Newcombe		9
Storm	150	Stu Farquahar		10
Outa Control	82	Berin Smith		11
Dredge	127	Jim Molloy		12

 

 

2008 Sealink Jollyboat National Championship

The 2008 Jollyboat Nationals were held at Waiheke Island this year. Weather for the weekend was forecast to be pretty ugly and proved to be the case on Saturday as a low pressure system passed over the country delivering a big northerly breeze and large swells into the bay at Oneroa.

A course was laid by race officer Roger Hall and those that ventured out to test the conditions were rewarded with some seriously quick rides on the increasing swells which were by that time beginning to break.

The downside was that only two of the brave managed to escape back to the beach and the rest put on a capsizing exhibition for those left ashore. With the breeze building further Graham Fleury lost the rig from the Planet after a perfectly executed 'flip and bounce' manoeuvre, a club rescue boat followed suit and was swamped going through the surf, and to the relief of many racing was abandoned for the day.

Not too flash on Saturday

Armchair critics on the beach rated some of the gusts around the 35 knot mark. Small children were seen being blown into trees. Roger, obviously measuring wind from the relative shelter of the foot of a trough put it a more like 25 with 'a bit of a swell'.

Everyone then retreated to reassemble for the AGM and due election of officers. Gordon Dyer was elected unopposed to the position of Fleet Captain. Little did he know that this was the beginning of what was to be his big weekend. Paul Mac put on a very hospitable open home in the evening, kids suitably occupied on the Mac Mac whilst the grown ups drank and talked themselves hoarse.

Class 'Style Ambassador' Alex, at the briefing

Sunday dawned like we were on a completely different planet from the day before. The swell still remained but the wind swang round to the West and a total of 18 Jollyboats made it to the start, including Graham who'd rebuilt the mast in between drinks on Saturday afternoon. This fleet was up on the previous two Jollyboat Nationals, with visiting crews promising to come back and openly jealous of the stunning sailing venue the Waiheke crews enjoy. 

The series was completed with back to back races on a box course laid outside Oneroa Bay. Racing was close with battles going on at all levels in the fleet. Overall the series was won in convincing style by Gordon Dyer, who pipped Mark Winters and Alex Stone for victory. Steve Newcombe also showed top form but an OCS in the last race put paid to a medal placing.

It was Gordon’s first ever national title win and he was duly dunked on return to the beach by his fellow Waihikians. Sorry, we didn't get a picture.

In the two handed division Paul and Harry MacIntosh took the title from Steve and Ryan Tennent followed by Matt and Hamish Hall-Smith. All in all a whitewash for the locals and it is fantastic to see the new Waihikian fleet move to top the tables in such a short space of time.

Oneroa really has so much going for it as a dinghy sailing venue. The sailing conditions are superb and you could not imagine a more Kiwi venue ashore, rigging up under the Pohutakawa trees to the sound of tuis and wood pigeon. Geoff Muir, Commodore of the WBC is optimisitic about the future… “we hope to be able to provide some facilities in the future, the club has applied to Auckland City for a lease on some foreshore land at the western end of Oneroa, to build a multi-function Dinghy Sailing Centre. This should really be no surprise, given that a lot of people live on the island to be close to such activities. The establishment of the Jollyboat class with the WBC and the initiation of a Junior Sailing Programme last season and its subsequent rapid expansion, combined with the activities of the Waiheke High Schools Seasports Academy, identify we have a strong need for this facility and am optimistic that ACC will recognize this.”

The fleet will be returning to Waiheke again in November for the Auckland Championships. The class wishes to thank to all at WBC for the magnificent organisational effort, our capable OOD Roger Hall for his time and patience in running things on the water, to all the sponsors of the event, the incredibly tasty lasagne, and to Lesley, Ewa and Andrew for the photos.

Good times !

Results

Race by race, points table click here.

Single Handed and overall

1st	Gordon Dyer	J107	Plan B	Waiheke
2nd	Mark Winters	J118	Weapon	Maraitai
3rd	Alex Stone	J46	Meri	Waiheke

Two handed

1st	Paul and Harry MacIntosh	J89	Roger	Waiheke
2nd	Steve and Ryan Tennent	J91	Bartman	Maraetai
3rd	Matt and Hamish Hall-Smith	J88	Snorter	French Bay

Teams Trophy

Finally, after Fergus cracked the last one on the floor of the boathouse, the class has an official Team Trophy. We're not sure which Waihikian nymph was the model for this little item, but as the biggest trophy in the class in more ways than one, it's going to keenly fought over in the coming years.

1st	Waiheke Boating Club
2nd	Maraetai Sailing Club
3rd	French Bay Yacht Club

2008 National Champion and Plan B in the groove to windward