Fri, Jan 14, 2022 1:27 PM

New Year sailing regatta ends in fireworks

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Peter Jones

The often-unpredictable Queen Charlotte Sound winds served up conditions designed to suit everyone over the course of the Waikawa Boating Club’s annual New Year Regatta last weekend.

The Giesen New Year Regatta started in light breezes on Saturday, then ended with explosive winds on Sunday.

This range of winds gave every boat ample opportunity to put themselves forward as a contender for a win in the regatta, the largest keeler sailing regatta staged in Marlborough.

David Grigg, Sailing Rear Commodore, said, “The spread of wind conditions across the two days of racing couldn’t have been planned any better. The light winds for race one built in race two until we had fireworks with strong winds for the final races on Sunday.”

Friday night opened with the Ray White invitational race which served as an excellent warm up to the main event of the weekend.

Thirty-three boats competed in the regatta with 180 crew members from throughout New Zealand. Sixty percent of the crew and several boats were from Marlborough with the balance coming from Northland, Auckland, Tauranga, Wellington, Tasman and Canterbury.

Club Commodore, Steve Dawson was delighted to see the event go ahead under pandemic conditions that are seeing many events cancelled.

“The club put into action systems, checks and procedures which ensured that all competitors, staff and suppliers were fully vaccinated and that the entire event remained that way.”

The event brought in some much needed visitors to Picton and while several stayed on their boats, most chose to stay in commercial accommodation. There was also considerable spend on food and beverage, all of which came from local Marlborough suppliers.

As is the case with any event, they don’t happen without volunteers and there were 29 willing Waikawa Boating Club members available for the weekend, filling positions on and off the water.

Summer racing is now underway with the Boom Town Summer Twilight series and the next race in the Versatile Offshore Series on 22 January. Anyone wanting to join a crew, particularly for the summer series should get in contact with the Waikawa Boating Club.

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