The 2011 Jollyboat Nationals hosted by the Torbay Sailing Club, 11, 12, 13 March was a hotly contested but typically friendly and fun event.

The weather map over the weekend looked like a rugby field with a set of goal-posts parked either side of the North Island of New Zealand – in other words a massive and stable High pressure system. Despite the lack of gradient to drive breeze, the waters off Torbay provided some good testing sailing conditions and a full nine race championship regatta was completed.

This year’s nationals featured entrants from Clarks Beach, Maraetai, Waiheke, French Bay and Torbay with a number of new competitors and some new boats. Most notable were J 153 ‘Quicksilver’ and J 157 ‘The f Word’. As with most nationals, new paint jobs, new sails and some new innovations were spotted on many of the 23 Jollys competing.

Friday provided a patchy southerly that reached as high as 13-14 knots in the gusts but 6-8 knots in the lulls. Picking the right side and working the shifts well was important both upwind and downwind and in Race 1 Bill Hewitt (J 92 ‘Wood is Good’) nailed the first beat and led for most of the race before a brain explosion and navigation stuff up (in the best Jollyboat tradition) saw him sail off to the wrong mark! So, in stealth pirate mode, Matt Hall-Smith (J 88 ‘Snorter') seized the opportunity and romped off to claim victory from Bill.

Race 2 saw Mark Orams (J 113 ‘Sublime’) back himself to the top left of the first beat when all others followed the pattern of the first race and worked the right. Eventually the left breeze paid off and Sublime was able to cross the fleet and lead from top mark to finish. A solid effort from Graham Fleury (J 134 ‘Peppermint Planet’) saw him take out second.

Race 3 provided some big ‘hero to zero’ wind-shifts but ‘Sublime’ was in the groove and seemed to manage to be in the right place at the right time and nailed another gun to end day one. In the double handed event only three points separated the top crews at the end of the first day with Tom Blincoe/Joe Buckley (J 153 ‘Quicksliver’) and John and Troy Campbell (J 103 ‘Cheerio’) really firing up and battling each race right to the finish line.

Day two of the regatta saw the drama of the earthquake in Japan and subsequent tsunami warning delay racing for the morning. Eventually, after the race committee was satisfied that there was minimal risk of a tsunami, the fleet took to the water for the afternoon. Over the next three races the competition for the coveted Munted Mermaid team trophy started to heat up as Sublime dominated the overall results with three more bullets and Team Torbay started to look good to win the busty trophy! The day ended with Torbay on top of Maraetai and a rapidly convened team meeting for the MBC team put together a cunning pirate strategy for the final day of racing.

Sunday produced the best breeze of the regatta with sunshine and 10 knot easterlies seeing the Jollyboats at their best. Team Torbay were coached by regatta leader Mark Orams to ‘keep an eye on the right’. The end result was that in Race 7 the breeze shifted 15 degrees left on the first beat and Team Torbay tanked it, letting Team Maraetai back into the lead for the Munted Mermaid. The pattern continued for the remainder of the day and, in particular a big increase in pressure on the right side of the second beat of the last race saw wily old veteran Mark Winters (J 118 ‘Weapon’) take out the final race and lead Team Maraetai to a glorious victory to retain the Munted Mermaid team trophy for the third straight year.

In addition to Team Maraetai defending the honour of the Mermaid, several other important awards were made at the prizegiving:

Overall winner: Mark Orams (J 113 'Sublime') who took out the inaugural Jolly World Salad Bowl, presented by outgoing pirate leader Gordon Dyer for the overall winner of the National Championship.

Most Heinous act of Piracy Awards

1. Fergus Thomson (J 105 ‘Dry Reach’) – for missing the start by several minutes in the first race and making the come-back of the century to finish 6th across the finish line only to realize he had missed out an entire leg of the course! Worthy to note that Fergus was also late to the start of the first race of the second day of the regatta as well!

2. Steve Tennant (J 91 ‘Bartman’) – for mounting the top mark like a ram on a ewe and giving it a solid rogering. The mark has never been the same since!

3. Blair Gerrard (J 157 ‘The f Word’) – for moving rapidly back to remove yet another piece of weed from around his rudder and promptly putting his arm through his beautifully varnished aft-deck.

Honourable mention: Sean Regan (J 104 ‘Hot Shot’) – for getting into a full fluster at the top mark when a loud yell of starboard caused him to crash tack and capsize on top of the top mark in 8 knots of breeze!

Youngest boy: Samuel Charles (J 109 ‘Furaha’)

Youngest girl: Amelia Marlow (J 144 ‘Wind Warrior’)

Oldest competitor: Let’s call it a tie between Peter Marlow (J 144 ‘Wind Warrior’), Mark Winters (J 118 ‘Weapon’) and Don MacBeth (J 56 ‘No Clue’ – sorry Don but not sure if your boat has a name – a most heinous Jollyboat crime!)

Youngest combined crew: William Marlow and Roy Robinson (J 57 ‘Plumbo’).

Huge thanks to Principal Race Officer Kim Admore for another fantastic Jollyboat regatta. Thanks also to all the team at Torbay Sailing Club for all their work in staging a really enjoyable event. Thanks also to Roger Hall for amazing work in getting all the Jollyboat measurement sorted so we had a credible and fair national championship.

Finally thanks to our newly elected Jolly Prime Minister Graham Fleury and the sponsors for providing the biggest lot of Jolly pirate loot seen at a prize-giving for a long time.

Single Handed Division & Overall

Double Handed

Handicap Division

Munted Mermaid Team Trophy

Full results table here

More photos on Picasa here

This event would not have been possible without the support of the following companies. The Jollyboat Class Association and Torbay Sailing Club wish to thank our sponsors below (please click the logo to visit their respective websites).

and ADVANTAGE GARAGE DOORS

Next year's nationals are to be held on the Manukau Harbour at Clarks Beach Yacht Club ... stay tuned !