The BMW Regatta was held in Auckland from Friday 23 to Sunday 25 March. GEORGIA ONE, sailing in Division A with a bunch of 40s and 50s, finished a creditable 2nd on General Handicap and 3rd in IRC, which doubled as the National IRC Championships. She has finished either first, second or third in the Nationals for all but one of the last 5 National events.
Both General Handicap and IRC were won by ICE BREAKER, a brand new Ker 40. Our congratulations go to them. Their boat was superb and they sailed well. GEORGIA ONE led the fleet at the end of the first day in both Division A and IRC in light winds. On the second day, the breeze kicked in and the lighter ICE BREAKER quickly came into her own and we struggled to hold on to her. The third day was a real toughie with strong winds that made a multi-hull turtle completely and most other boats struggling to hold their kites in shape. Shortly before the first race for the day a splice in our main halyard failed which meant we had to sit the race out while a new halyard was installed. In the second race, we suffered the ignominy of a Chinese gybe – our first ever. Others around us suffered comparable embarrassment, much of which was recorded on video.
GEORGIA ONE is a magnificent boat. Built in 1995 and winner of the Kenwood Cup the following year and other international regattas subsequently and then re-designed on her return to New Zealand 6 years ago for IRC, she remains at times unbeatable in light to medium conditions. But in a strong wind, a modern light wide sterned boat able to get up and plane is always a handful. And so it proved to be with ICE BREAKER. However, a pleasing feature of the result was that we did still beat RIKKI, the latest 42 from Reichel Pugh and owned and sailed by Ray Hasler.
Thanks to the crew – George Hendy, Jackie Hendy, Emma Hendy, Keryn McMaster, Sabra Davies, Bryan Davies, Tomo Terakawa, Leo Farmer, Nick Street, Trent Cunningham and James Wallace (the last two thankfully lent to us by POWER PLAY who did not race) and Chris Funnell.