Port Ohope Yacht Club Kings Birthday Regatta
Saturday 1st and Sunday 2nd June 2024
Sponsors: Mike Pascoe, sailing.com - Burnsco Mt Maunganui - Sea Marine Whakatane - NZ Sailing
Sponsors: Mike Pascoe, sailing.com - Burnsco Mt Maunganui - Sea Marine Whakatane - NZ Sailing
Video of Kings Birthday Regatta by Ron Heydon
The King Birthday regatta 2024 was an outstanding success in all ways for the club. A big effort from the Graemes, Sally Reid organizing the dinner and all the helpers in the kitchen and other committee members. The dinner was fully booked for 60 people and is a definite highlight of the regatta which is point of difference that our regatta has over other club regattas. The clubrooms were full of happy sailors on Saturday night. Thanks also to the rescue boat drivers and race officer, Gary Smith, from Tauranga who came down to the weekend and allowed POYC sailors to compete.
As is customary in the winter at Ohope we had to wait for the wind to arrive late in the day on both Saturday and Sunday but a full 5 race series was completed which allowed for a worse race drop, always a bonus.
A total of 42 entries across Lasers, now called ILCA 6 and ILCA 7, Optis and Starling fleets. Notable this year was the entry in the junior fleets of our own Ben and Rose Morton, Samir and Nahla Kremmer and Frankie Adlam. Lake Taupo Yacht Club members were here in force with nearly half the entries from Taupo spread over all the classes. Sailors from Tauranga in the Laser and Starling fleets completed the numbers. A great turnout.
Saturday was a brilliant fine Ohope day with a 5- 8 kts SW finally kicking in around 2 pm. A quick decision by the race committee to send the boats out allowed 3 quick races to be completed with boats off the water around 4.30pm. A grand effort by the race office to get 12 starts away with limited time.
Sunday was similar with the wind arriving around 1pm from the opposite direction forecast! A brief calm spell before the wind settled in from the SSW and allowed the course to be set with a strong incoming tide that caused some sailors a few headaches with early starts. 2 races were sailed before the 3pm race start cutoff.
In the junior fleets, the experienced Taupo Opti sailors prevailed with Christopher Hancock winning and our Rose Morton 3rd overall in a P Class. Ben Morton was first in the Opti Green Fleet. Tauranga’s Thomas Linklater showed how it was done in the Starling Class with 5 straight wins.
Close racing was the name of the game in both the Laser fleets with no one sailor dominating and the contests open until the last race. POYC’s light wind guru Barry Cutfield finally prevailed over Tauranga’s Max Faulkner, who was 2nd at the ILCA 7 Nationals this year, a great result for Barry.
Another Tauranga sailor, teenager Mia Prescott, won the ILCA 6 with a very consistent performance and another Tauranga teenager, Adam Mark 2nd.
Graeme Tee.
As is customary in the winter at Ohope we had to wait for the wind to arrive late in the day on both Saturday and Sunday but a full 5 race series was completed which allowed for a worse race drop, always a bonus.
A total of 42 entries across Lasers, now called ILCA 6 and ILCA 7, Optis and Starling fleets. Notable this year was the entry in the junior fleets of our own Ben and Rose Morton, Samir and Nahla Kremmer and Frankie Adlam. Lake Taupo Yacht Club members were here in force with nearly half the entries from Taupo spread over all the classes. Sailors from Tauranga in the Laser and Starling fleets completed the numbers. A great turnout.
Saturday was a brilliant fine Ohope day with a 5- 8 kts SW finally kicking in around 2 pm. A quick decision by the race committee to send the boats out allowed 3 quick races to be completed with boats off the water around 4.30pm. A grand effort by the race office to get 12 starts away with limited time.
Sunday was similar with the wind arriving around 1pm from the opposite direction forecast! A brief calm spell before the wind settled in from the SSW and allowed the course to be set with a strong incoming tide that caused some sailors a few headaches with early starts. 2 races were sailed before the 3pm race start cutoff.
In the junior fleets, the experienced Taupo Opti sailors prevailed with Christopher Hancock winning and our Rose Morton 3rd overall in a P Class. Ben Morton was first in the Opti Green Fleet. Tauranga’s Thomas Linklater showed how it was done in the Starling Class with 5 straight wins.
Close racing was the name of the game in both the Laser fleets with no one sailor dominating and the contests open until the last race. POYC’s light wind guru Barry Cutfield finally prevailed over Tauranga’s Max Faulkner, who was 2nd at the ILCA 7 Nationals this year, a great result for Barry.
Another Tauranga sailor, teenager Mia Prescott, won the ILCA 6 with a very consistent performance and another Tauranga teenager, Adam Mark 2nd.
Graeme Tee.