T H E N E W Z E A L A N D L A N D Y A C H T I N G A S S N
in association with the
A U C K L A N D L A N D Y A C H T C L U B I N C .
p r e s e n t s
T H E N E W Z E A L A N D L A N D Y A C H T I N G A S S N
in association with the
A U C K L A N D L A N D Y A C H T C L U B I N C .
p r e s e n t s
THE NEW ZEALAND NATIONAL
CHAMPIONSHIPS 2000
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Over the weekend of November 24, 25 and 26th the Auckland Land Yacht Club staged the New Zealand National Championships at the "Muriwai Hilton", an incredible landsailing area at the upper end of the 50 kilometre long Muriwai Beach on Auckland's rugged west coast.
Weather leading up to the event in the early part of the preceding week was absolutely perfect for landsailing although the long-range weather forecast looked dim. Even on the first day of the event on Friday the weather had held out... sunny and warm with a good breeze although by Saturday the skies clouded over and, as forecasted, there were light showers. The battle for New Zealand National title honours kicked off around 2.00pm on the Friday afternoon 50 kilometres up Muriwai Beach. The black sand beach, renown for its heavy concentration of ironsands hence the dark colour, is on the west coast about 40 minutes drive nor'west of Auckland city and is the home base for the Auckland Land Yacht Club who were hosts of the NZ Nationals this year. The beach is designated as an official road or thoroughfare as is any beach in New Zealand which allows vehicle access directly from a roadway. Ninety Mile Beach is a classic example where you can be out landsailing miles from anyone and meet large tour buses driving down along the water's edge. The upper reaches of Muriwai, the area commonly known as South Head, are barren and desolate. Huge expanses of hard sand a lot lighter, in fact more golden than at the lower end of the beach, are bordered by the Tasman Sea and large dunes which stretch back a kilometre or so to the large pine plantation Woodhill Forest. The beach is particularly wide in this area and, with its remoteness is an ideal racing area for landyachts. There is no other road access to this long strip of sand other than through Rimmers Road, a minor road used for forestry access, which enters the beach across the dunes about threequarters of the way up Muriwai Beach. This entrance is exceedingly difficult to negotiate even with four-wheel drives as there is a large area of very soft sand on the beach side of the dunes. For this reason, most landsailors take the long beach drive up from the Muriwai township and especially as nearly all haul trailers laden with landyachts and equipment. At the top of Muriwai 53 kilometres up, the beach curves inland for a further two or three kilometres, the wide strip of sand following the Kaipara Harbour. The harbour mouth dissects Muriwai Beach from Baylys Beach which is directly across on the northern side of the harbour entrance and is, like Muriwai, a long driveable strip of sand. FIRST DAY'S RACING On Friday, November 24 everyone assembled before midday in the lower carpark at Muriwai, then in convoy drove up the long beach. Most pilots were staying over in the dunes at the top of the beach in an area which has become infamous as the "Muriwai Hilton". The dunes offer protection from the prevailing westerlies and although somewhat of a wilderness only visited by fishermen and 4WDs, it is an amazing place to spend a night or two. Racing got underway around 2pm in around 15 knots of wind from the sou'west, near perfect conditions. Officer of the Day Bruce Wood ensured that everyone's sailing ability was well catered for, varying the length of the race course to take advantage of the 10-12 knot sou'westerly wind which shifted more west then virtually due south towards the latter part of the day. The weather forecast had been for freshening sou'westers up to 35kmp/h by mid-afternoon but they failed to reach that strength. Each class managed five or six races before sailing was wound up for the day at 6pm by Bruce. In Class 3 and 4, with neither Phil Augustin or Richard Pilkington at the event, it remained fort Bill Nairn in Colin Palmer's former "Grey Magic" and Colin Palmer in his newer craft to fight out the winner's pickings. There to keep the two leaders honest was Roy Cunningham, Bill Hayward, the latter back in his newly-renovated yellow "Sorbalay", and Bob Mason who initially had a few problems in the old Robbie Matthew's CP design. Other contenders were Bill Nairn's son, Michael, in Bill's former "White Pointer" and Ken Teeboon. Class 5 was a one-sided affair with Ohope's Darren Laugesen in his IMAC YOTT NZ700 showing a clean pair of heels to the rest of the fleet. Colin Palmer in his NZ301, another IMAC YOTT, gave chase but in all but one race Darren was out by 200 metres or more at chequered flag drop. John O'Donnell in his "Hawk" and Michael Nairn in the former Rhys Nolan Seagull were chasing the minor money. Michael had some teething problems with a new sail which was affecting his performance. Doing best of the others was Karla Mason in the ex-Dennis Bassano Seagull with partner Geoff Hall coming to grips in a borrowed Fed 5 NZ350. SECOND DAY SAME AS THE FIRST! On Saturday with similar wind strengths a four kilometre course was used with the addition of some slalom markers midway down the track. The wind came out of the southerly quarter much of the afternoon with the fleets having to throw in some tacks downwind as they came around the wide arc of the beach. Club stalwart and Class 3'er Alan Elliott maked the trip up to get a day's sailing under his belt and, in his words, "keep the other's honest." Race positions among the Class 3 and Class 4 pilots was much the same as Day One although Ken Teeboon fell prey to gear failure and had to withdraw. In the Class 5 Darren destroyed anyone's hopes of taking home the silver when he blitzed everything thrown at him. Young Chris Augustin increased the Class 5 fleet size when he came up the beach to race for the day and he had some good individual finishes but not enough to take overall third away from John O'Donnell. CALLING IT QUITS It was decided to not stage the third and final day of the National Championships on the Sunday and all pilots came back down the beach on Saturday evening. The decision was made because of a forecasted turn in weather conditions for late Sunday afternoon coupled with a very late low tide which would have allowed only one or two races per class before having to leave the beach. As well, the c3, c4 and c5 fleet had contested more than sufficient races to declare a result. PRIZEGIVING The prizegiving was held at the Parakai Tavern in Helensville on the Sunday evening. Club president John O'Donnell has to be congratulated for organising a great evening which was well attended. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Special thanks has to go to Bruce Wood for making himself available to stage manage the racing, a job he always does well. The club really appreciates Bruce's efforts. Bill Nairn and Colin Palmer are also to be thanked for their input leading up to the event and during the race meeting with hearty appreciation to John O'Donnell for ensuring the event ran smoothly and who carried much of the overall organisation on his shoulders. One person who cannot be overlooked, and without who's input the event would not have functioned as well as it did, was young Callum O'Donnell who throughout the two days fulfilled the role of Lapscorer. Thanks and well done Callum. OFFICIAL RESULTS: |
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Class 3 yachts line up for the start... gives a great view of the wide beach and the sand dunes in the background
- Photo courtesy Darren Laugesen
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