News 2007 - 2008 Season

world champions at university match racing champs

CHRIS, MATT, JOSH & CARL - GOLD MEDALISTS

(July 2008) After five days of racing in Gdansk, Poland, New Zealand has taken out both the gold and silver medals at the 2008 FISU World University Match Racing Championships.
Josh Junior, Matthew Steven, Chris Jones and Carl Syman sailing for the Royal Port Nicholson Yacht Club, ran out convincing winners in the finals over their country mates from the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron.
Rounding out the medallists was the team from the United States of America.
Finals day was a difficult one for the race committee. After attempting to start the racing inside the harbour a decision to abandon the first flight was made when a 90 degree wind shift came down the course. Racing was shifted outside the harbour but this was not the end of the race committee’s work. After the first flight the wind swung a further 180 degrees forcing yet another course change.
After what had been a very tight regatta Junior and team were surprisingly dominant in the finals. They found a distinct boat speed edge over Corbett’s team which meant they won the final comfortably 3-0.


"WE WERE STOKED..."

'We were stoked to take out the finals against our old sparring partners from Auckland' said Josh Junior at the prize giving ceremony, 'it has been a very tight regatta and we are very proud to have come out with a win for Wellington'.
Junior and team were sailing under the banner of Royal Port Nicholson Yacht Club and were representing both Victoria and Massey Universities. Corbett and team were sailing for the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron and were representing Auckland University. The World University Match Racing Championships are held every two years. They will be sailed next in Greece in 2010.
Report from Yachting New Zealand 'Briefings'

annual club prizegiving

(June 2008) The clubrooms were packed with our junior and senior sailors and families. Results from the club's handicap and championship series are of course already on the website but there were other awards announced on the night:
Most improved & Helpful Junior: Stephen Taylor Memorial Rudder - Sarah Novak
Juniors Most Starts: Stan Bacon Trophy - Jamie Middelton & Sarah Novak
Most improved & helpful junior in Sailing School: Captain Holm Trophy - Thomas Milburn
Most valuable contribution to the club: Commodores Cup - Paul de Lisle
Efforts to the club: Lambton Harbour Trophy - Nicole Macfarlane
Champion of Champions: Christophersen Family Trophy - Shelley Pearson
Junior & Youth Best Performance: John Wilcox Trophy - Josh Junior
Greatest Racing Achievement: Kerry Leydon Memorial Trophy - Karl Purdie
Special thanks for efforts to the club: Adam Middleton (Instructing and Coaching Learn to Sail and Green Fleet).

12' skiff nationals

Congratulations to Steve Hogg and Roger Barnes who finished 3rd in "Romulus" in the 12' Skiff Nationals held in Auckland early last month.

ok rankings

New Zealand continues to be one of the strongholds of the OK Dinghy Class with 3 New Zealand sailors in the top 5 of the world rankings - Greg Wilcox 4th and Karl Purdie 5th - and 8 NZ sailors in the top 20.
In the New Zealand rankings Worser Bay sailors are at the top with Karl Purdie 1st and Steve McDowell 2nd. okdinghy.co.nz/results/
results.php

champion of champions

(April 2008) Congratulations to Shelley Pearson who proved best at mastering the rather tricky conditions in a closely fought contest to emerge Champion of Champions.
Contending with a dying northerly and then a wait for the southerly to gradually fill in meant it was only just possible to get the minimum six races in.
Results:
1st Shelley Pearson, 13pts
2nd Josh Junior, 16pts
3rd Brett Linton, 16pts
4th Finn Wright, 24pts
5th Jamie Middelton, 25pts
6th Simon Novak, 25pts

hebtro trophy 2008

EMIRATES TEAM NEW ZEALAND'S KEVIN SHOEBRIDGE
HELPS RAISE FUNDS FOR JUNIOR SAILING.

(April 2008) The Worser Bay Boating Club held its annual Keelers for Kids fundraising day on Sunday 13 April. A glorious day greeted celebrity guest Kevin Shoebridge, sailing and operations manager for Emirates Team New Zealand, as he arrived at WBBC by launch from Wellington city.
The main event of the day is the race for the Hebtro Trophy which is now in its 17th year. The format has not changed and each year around 20 keelboats from the Royal Port Nicholson Yacht Club come out to race in the waters off Worser Bay.
A sponsor is allocated to each boat, as well as one or more junior sailors to represent what the event is all about. A Mark Foy start tries to take some account of the variability in keelboats but the 25 minute head start by classic yacht Stormy, in a 0-2 knot breeze, was never going to suffice – rounding three of the course marks was her best effort!
A light southerly eventually filled in making for some great racing. After an hour and a half’s racing, the Paul Hastings Real Estate sponsored boat was first over the line, followed by Villa Melina, and Novak and Middleton Architects.
Some creative race management ensured that Kevin Shoebridge also won – adding yet another famous sailing name to the Hebtro Trophy which already carries the names of sailors such as Barbara Kendall, Chris Dickson, Joey Allen, Craig Monk and Russell Coutts.
The kids loved it, buzzing on their new sailing experience - with some wondering why the boats didn’t capsize like their Optis, and others impressed by the enormous colourful spinnakers. The Hebtro Trophy race was followed by a sailing display by our newest learn to sail group – while the rest of us indulged in a BBQ lunch. That was followed by a crazy prize giving, a hugely informative talk by Kevin, and an auction which included a Team NZ signed T Shirt and a Weta Workshop chess game.
And finally at the end of the day, Kevin joined in a fleet race Calcutta in the Port Nicholson Yachting Trust youth scheme Elliott 6m yachts.
The club wishes to thank all the sponsors and supporters and especially Kevin Shoebridge for giving up his weekend in support of grassroots, junior sailing.

Other sponsors
Audi, New World, Dick Smith Electronics, Ballentynes, Liquorland Miramar, Subway Kilbirnie, Unichem Pharmacy Miramar, Seatoun Bookshop, Noel Leeming Rongotai, Kilbirnie Pharmacy, Shell, Liquor King, Seasoned and Dressed, Sophisticuts, Placemakers Evans Bay, Rebel Sport, Baycourt Pharmacy, Whitcoulls, Wellington Airport, Spy Valley Winery, Totel, IceBreaker, The Clothes Hangar (Wgtn Airport), Mitre 10.

2008 toyota optimist nationals

(March 2008) A team of eleven sailors from WBBC travelled to Lyttelton for the 2008 Toyota Optimist Nationals. Jamie Middleton obtained the best result (46th overall) for WBBC Open fleet, and Finn Wright for the Green fleet (19th).
The Open fleet sailed 15 races over 5 days with the weather for the most part giving ideal sailing conditions. Our sailors did well to hang in there for the 5 days. There were nearly 180 open fleet sailors and, organised into 2 separate “flights” the start lines boasted 90 boats.
Getting a good start was absolutely critical – starting in the second row or worse meant being 10-12 boat lengths behind the front line within minutes of the race starting. Tide was also significant factor.
There were a significant number of top international sailors at the regatta and two Noumean sailors took out the top two placings overall.
Watch this space for news of the 2009 venue!!!

Open fleet results
Green fleet results

sunburst north islands

(March 2008) Congratulations to Brett & Penny Linton, winners of the Sunburst North Island Champs 2008.

420 north island regatta

Congratulations to Josh Porebski with Matthew Vincent who placed 3rd in this regatta.

queen victoria day

WBBC JUNIORS SHOW THEIR SAILING SKILLS

Children trying out Optimists on the Lagoon and the display of other yachts from EBYMBC and WBBC added to the buzz and spectacle of a very popular day on Wellington's waterfront.
A big thank you to those who helped transport boats around, fielded enquiries from the public, and assisted or coached those that had a go in the Optimists.

Photos

february round-up

Leander Trophy
Held on Lyttleton Harbour on 2 - 6 February, Jason Parkin and Melanie Hargreaves finished 9th.
www.rclass.org/leander/2008/

Zephyr Nationals
At Manly Sailing Club on February 2 -5 against a bevy of other past and present National Champions, general hotshots, and class stalwarts, Jamie McDowell placed 36th (49 competitors) in his first serious outing in the class.
www.hyc.org.nz/zephyr/

Muritai Junior Regatta
Optimist Open
James De Lisle 1st
Jamie Middleton 2nd
Ted Taylor 3rd

Optimist Green
Finn Wright 1st

Hardy Cup Under 25 Match Racing Regatta
Josh Junior, Matthew Steven and Chris Jones, sailing for RPNYC, finished 5th in this regatta held in Sydney 10 - 14 February.
They were in contention for the semi-finals at the end of Stage 2 with the 3rd, 4th and 5th teams on equal points and each team having beaten one of the other two. It was then necessary to go back to the Stage 1 points, where Josh's team unfortunately had seven wins against the eight wins recorded for both Adam Minoprio and Laury Jury, to achieve a tie-break.
www.rsys.com.au/sailing/HardyCup2008.php

Sail Auckland Regatta
Laser Full Rig
Josh Junior 1st
Matthew Steven 2nd
Chris Jones 5th out of a field of 12 that included 5 sailors from overseas (mainly European) countries.

Laser Radial Men
The Radial Men's division attracted a fleet of 45 in the lead up to the Laser Radial Worlds in Auckland next month.
Rowan Swanson 16th
Josh Porebski 17th
Jackson MacFarlane 27th

laser north islands

In the Radials (45 boats) Edmund Tam (1st Apprentice Master) came in fourth, Rowan Swanson (Open) 11th and Bruce Jones (1st Master) 26th.
In the full rigs (50 boats), Mike Hood (2nd Apprentice Master) finished 12th, and Matthew Steven (3rd youth) 14th - including a bullet in Race 2.
Full results >>

laser nationals 2008

(February 2008) Two days of heavy winds, two days of light winds, one day of medium airs, plus the usual tricky conditions Taupo is known for, and after twelve races the Laser Nationals are over.
Congratulations to Josh Junior who finished 3rd overall in the Open Division - a wonderful achievement to secure a podium finish against some of New Zealand's top Laser sailors in what is only Josh's first year out of the youth ranks.
It was a notable performance by Josh who was on the heels of eventual winner Rod Dawson until towards the end of the regatta when both in different races incurred a disqualification and then in race 11 both were OCS. After taking these two results as their discards Rod Dawson was still able to hold his lead but for Josh, a 13th from race 2 then had to come back in to his overall score leaving him five points shy of 2nd placegetter Matt Blakey in the final results.

Other results for those sailing as WBBC were:
Open
Matthew Steven 13th
Chris Jones 20th
Carl Syman 23rd

Masters
Mike Hood 14th
Dean Stanley 19th

Radials
Josh Porebski 14th
Rowan Swanson 16th
Edmund Tam 18th
Ben Hanns 22nd
Jackson MacFarlane 32nd

The "young guns" are all fairly new, or very new, to Laser Radial sailing and it was great to see them all make the gold fleet and to place where they did. Full results at www.nzsailing.net/latest-results-xidc38121.html

Wellington Anniversary Regatta

2008 ANNIVERSARY WINNERS

(January 2008) 74 boats contested the regatta over 8 races in good sailing conditions on both Saturday and Sunday. The size of the fleet was boosted by participation from all the Wellington area dinghy clubs (and two contestants from Mt Pleasant Yacht Club in Christchurch as well) and through the range of classes sailed. These included Lasers (with the largest numbers at 14 full rig and 14 radials), through to Optimists (6 Green Fleet and 6 open), Sunbursts and Paper Tigers (9 apiece), Starlings, Z Class, Hobie 16, Fireballs (2 of), to a Farr 3.7 and a Windsurfer.
Worser Bay sailors secured three WYA class championships.

Optimist Open
Jamie Middleton 1st
William Eastman 2nd
Ken Tildesley 3rd

Optimist Green
Finn Wright 3rd

Starling
Alice Pearson 1st
Adam Middleton 2nd
William McVeagh 3rd

Laser
Josh Junior 1st
Matthew Steven 2nd

Laser Radial
Rowan Swanson 3rd

Sunburst
Alistair Campbell and John Kliffen in "Green Boat" 5th

Well done to all who participated.
Full results are at www.sailhbc.org.nz/pages/home.html

wbbc harbour race

(December 2007) Congratulations to Aaron Gardner and Rebecca Stevenson in "Aries" (Sunburst 1737) who successfully inched around Steeple Rock light, with the rest of the fleet who found themselves parked up for a while, to sniff out what remaining wind there was and to go on and win the Bellamore Cup for Monos and Sunburst.
Second place went to Joe Porebski in "Spitfire" (OK Dinghy). The Skiffs managed to just keep going in the same light breeze and congratulations to Jason Parkin and Melanie Hargreaves were adjudged winners of the Skelly Trophy (Harbour Race - Open) based on handicap adjustment, with Steve Hogg's "Romulus" second.
Fourteen other boats managed to finish, of which five were within thirty minutes of the winner, with the last home just over an hour behind. The remainder, and majority of, the fleet, (being in the main even further behind) elected to retire rather than try and make the mark north of Sunken Rock to then be faced by the incoming tide in the beat back to the finishing time at the club.

november and december round-up

Sir Peter Blake Regatta, Torbay
A great result for Shelley Pearson finishing 5th out of 77 in the Starling fleet, with Stacey Swanson also finishing well, 6th out of 27 boats in P Class, and Rowan Swanson 16th out of 30 in the Laser Radials. www.torbaysailingclub.org.nz

OK Dinghy Regatta, Napier
Steve McDowell finished 1st and Karl Purdie 3rd in the latest of the OK Dinghy Regatta series.

Flying Dutchman North Island Champs, Napier
A. McKee and Matt Bismark sailed in usual style - one point off perfect this time - to win the FD North Island Champs.

Harken Cup Youth Match Racing Regatta ,Sydney
WBBC sailors, Josh Junior, Matthew Steven, Chris Jones and Adam Middleton sailing as RPNYC achieved a podium finish with a 3rd in the Harken Cup Youth Match Racing Regatta. Twelve teams competed in the regatta which by the time of the semi-finals had turned in to an all Kiwi affair.

funding for optimist coaching

(November 2007) The New Zealand Community Trust has recently approved a grant to fund coaching for the Optimist sailors during 2007. Adam Emerali will coach the sailors each Tuesday after school and will travel to nominated regattas with the team throughout the season.

worser bay regatta

(November 2007) Fairly testing conditions from the outset saw one race held before the prudent decision to abandon the start of the second race when the wind speed at that point climbed over the 30 knots..
The only exception was the starlings who had started a little earlier and were able to complete a shortened second race.
Winner of the Worser Bay Cup for Starlings (where two races were completed to constitute a series) was Chris Staub.
First race winners in other classes were-:
Optimist James de Lisle
P Class Stacey Swanson
Sunburst Nigel Lloyd and Karen Stevens
Mono Steve McDowell
Open Phil Williams and Glen Syman.

Full race results

Thank you to all who helped on the day, from the kitchen to the rescue boat personnel and the committee boat.
And a big thank you to our sponsors:
Barton Marine
Meridian Insurance Brokers
Momentum
The Supper Club
Williams and Adams

We will be organisining an event later in the season that will feature acknowledgement of our sponsors and incorporate a suitable prizegiving.

sportperson of the year award

(October 2007) Josh Junior has won the 2007 Sportsperson of the Year at the College Sport Wellington Awards.
View photo

Other WBBC sailors who were nominated are:
Stacey Swanson (Wellington East), Matthew Steven (Rongotai College), Tim Coltman (Scots College), Ben Hanns (Wellington College), Josh Porebski (Wellington College).

stacey wins p class north island champs

(October 2007) Stacey Swanson stormed up the fleet to win the P Class North Island Champs held at Torbay over Labour weekend.
High winds reduced the races to four, and the fleet to the most hardy. Well done Stacey!
The Starling North Islands were held at the same venue.
Results for both fleets >>

labour weekend regatta

(October 2007) Josh Junior finished 5th in the Laser Selection trials sailed at Takapuna over Labour weekend. Matthew Steven finished 13th.
At this stage New Zealand has been allocated three places for the Laser Worlds and for Josh it is a matter of waiting to see how many additional places are re-allocated to New Zealand from other countries who do not take up their full allocation.
In the OK Dinghy section of the same regatta Paul Rhodes, Karl Purdie and Steve McDowell took 2nd, 3rd and 4th places respectively - "OK But Not Perfect" as the DomPost headlined it.
Full results >>  

winter champs

(September 2007) The Hall & Parsons Winter Champs week held at Murrays Bay Sailing Club was a resounding success with record numbers attending, including a good number from WBBC.
Full results >>

matthew steven awarded cork scholarship

MATTHEW STEVEN IN THE LASER CLASS

Matthew Steven recently won a Rotary scholarship to compete in the ISAF Grade 1 CORK (Canadian Olympic-training Regatta) and Youthfest regattas in Kingston, Canada from 16 to 22 August this year.
The scholarship is given annually to an up-and-coming New Zealand youth sailor and will give Matthew an opportunity to compete at an international level.
Matthew has been given some extra assistance by the Eastern Suburbs Sports Trust, which has generously contributed to entry fees and boat hire for the regattas.

Regatta website

josh junior wins silver at youth worlds

JOSH WITH HIS SILVER MEDAL

(July 2007) Josh Junior earned silver success in the single-handed Laser class at the recent ISAF Youth Worlds in Canada.
The New Zealand team finished inside the top ten across the board in all seven classes contested at the event, earning them 3rd placing in the Volvo Trophy for overall team performance behind Australia and Denmark.
Tim Coltman and Ben Goodwin placed 6th in the Hobie catamaran class.
Sarah and Emma Berry in the girls 29er finished 9th overall.
It was the best result for a New Zealand team at this event in five years.
Youth Worlds regatta website
Photos and reports at Josh's On Tour website

2007 OK Dinghy World Championships - Leba, Poland

(August 2007, by Karl Purdie)
Finally, some 3 months after container loading, early morning gym sessions, and freezing winter training days in borrowed boats, (thanks Matty & Matt) Steve, Varnia (Steve's partner), Gouch, Tors (my wife) and I boarded the first of our 4 plane trips to Poland. Once through immigration, Gouch and I, in the tradition of the many who had gone before us, headed straight for the numerous duty free stores and every free (and trust me there were many) alcohol sample tasting in sight.
Afterwards, feeling considerably more relaxed and leaving various shop assistants with fervent promises of buying their elixirs on the way back (yeah right), we settled in for our first 11-hour flight. Some 36 hours and at least several airport bars later, we landed in sunny, warm Gdansk at 12.30pm local time.
For a city of some few million people, they strangely had an airport only slightly larger than Nelson. However, this was to be only the first of our surprises as 30 minutes later, Gouch, Tors and I were left alone at the baggage carousel waiting in vain for our bags which we were later to find had been left in Bangkok. Mysteriously, Steve's bags had arrived. I guess that's what happens when you don't buy what you taste - the Duty Free gods had struck back!
The second of our surprises was that our much promised Polish ride from Gdansk to Leba never materialized. DAREK!!!! Not to worry. The four of us hired a taxi for the final 112km journey to Leba.
Now surprise number 3 made itself apparent in the form of narrow, pot-holed roads (with no passing lanes) which the Poles euphemistically termed 'highways'. However, the Poles have a universal solution for this. Where only 2 lanes exist they create up to 4, with cars passing each other within millimeters of the centreline, forcing the inside cars in their lane onto the dirt verge.
Talking later to Matty and Andre, (noted Australian OK sailor) who had been bestowed with the doubtful pleasure of traveling with Darek, we were to find out we had got off lightly.. at least we hadn't been in a car towing a trailer load of OK dinghies passing 15 cars and trucks around a blind corner and over the brow of a hill! Nevertheless this was, at the time, cold comfort to Gouch who, sitting in the front seat, had a grandstand view of our drivers passing antics.
About 2 hours later we found ourselves deposited on a huge white Baltic Sea sandy beach populated by just about every Pole and German in creation with a view of several OKs training on the horizon. We were to later discover that on a sunny day up to 20,000 people make their way to this beach.
Leba's population in summer soars from about 8,000 to 80,000. Having payed our taxi driver the sum of 300 zlotys (about NZ$150), we spent the next hour finding the marina and checking in to our hotel. The remainder of the day was spent buying some fresh clothes and catching up with the rest of the team who had recently returned from a successful Warnemunde regatta.
The next few days were spent preparing for the Worlds through various training days and competing in the Pre-Worlds contest, the Mayor's Cup. Over this period we discovered the launching facilities were unusual, to say the least, and that the time spent negotiating the 400m length of forest-enclosed canal to the open sea was strongly dependent on the level/direction of current flowing through it and number of tourist/pleasure craft roaring up and down.
Tors and I one day watched a couple of Germans try for 40 minutes to get out before giving up and drifting back into the marina. The breeze, a tantalizing 100m ahead of them at the canal entrance, was blowing at about 15 knots.
Sailing conditions were also slightly unusual with the wind direction being very steady with predictable oscillations. A premium was hence placed on getting good starts and having good boat speed. The water was also very brackish and waves kicked up quickly into short steep seas as the wind rose above about 15 knots. Water freshness was due to the 377,000 square km expanse effectively being a drainage basin for Sweden, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Germany and Denmark. Average sea depth was 55m.
From Team Kiwi's perspective, the Mayors Cup went well with 6 New Zealanders finishing in the top 10. A WBBC highlight was the last race where, going into the final leg, Turtle was leading from Gouch, Steve, Matty and myself. Unfortunately, I got greedy and let the side down, dropping to 6th at the finish, so we only finished 1, 2, 3, 4. But nevertheless, as Matty said, "it was a hell of a long way to go for some club racing!"
Another highlight was the Mayor's Cup prize giving and the arrival of the Leba womens' marching team dressed in thigh-high leather boots, frilly black underwear and short red skirts. but then, who was looking?

Three days later, measurement completed, we found ourselves ashore while a so-called gale raged outside. This day was spent in seemingly endless successions of changing in and out of sailing gear every 2-3 hours as the race officer tried to decide whether to race or not. Finally, at 5.00pm, the pin was pulled and racing abandoned for the day. Wind strength out at sea was reportedly exceeding the allowable 28 knot mark, although to many of us, it seemed less.
Team Kiwi was itching to race, having proved some dominance in these conditions during the Mayor's Cup; it was fair to say though, that other nationalities, and particularly the Poms, were literally quaking in their seaboots at the prospect of having to go out.

Day 2 dawned with a light onshore breeze, which died to nothing and then swung all around the compass as the day progressed. Racing was finally abandoned after 8 hours on the water and everyone towed in. Standout team performance of the day went to Matty who somehow managed to grab an hour's kip in the bottom of his boat to wake up and find he was only 100m away from the still becalmed fleet.

Day 3 and the vaunted 18-24 knot Leba breeze returned making for testing conditions. As was seen in the Mayor's Cup, Nick Craig (GBR), Mark Perrow (NZL) and I had a slight speed edge for the first 2 races and opened out from the pack. At this point racing was close between the three of us with numerous lead changes and quite literally each boat rounding on the other's transom at the bottom mark for the last time. However, at each finish Perrow, enjoying the slight upwind speed edge provided by his new mast, prevailed, with Nick and I swapping 2nd and 3rd placings.
Race 3, and it would be fair to say that, as happened during the Mayor's Cup, my lack of boat fitness showed up. I finished 7th to Perrow's 2nd and Nick's 1st, to lie 3rd overall.
Other standout Kiwi performances of the day were Gouch (4, 8, 3) and Matty (7, 6, 4). Steve had a horror show losing his rig before the second race due to failure of the bottom mast bearing. This unfortunately ended his chances of a top 10 finish. Thankfully, with the aid of Matty's boatbuilding skills, a repair was effected that night which allowed Steve to continue in the regatta.

Day 4 and the sun was out and shining again with a wind speed of about 10-15 knots for the first 2 races, building to 18-20 knots for the final race. The first race, I sailed a good first beat to round the top mark 3rd behind a Brit and the great Dane, Jorgen Lindhardtsen. At this stage things were looking interesting, with Nick back in about 6th and Perrow outside the top 10.
Unfortunately by the finish, although I won, Nick had climbed to 3rd and Perrow to 8th. The second race sailed in the lightest breeze of the contest saw new faces at the front with Nick winning from Andre, Perrow, Steve and myself. Race 3 and with my legs tiring again, I finished 5th with Nick winning again from a German and a Brit. Other WBBC placings were Gouch - 11, 19, 8; Matty - 15, 11, 13; Steve bouncing back from the day before with 9, 4, 14; and Joe - 22, 21, 20.
This day's racing effectively won the Worlds for Nick and left only a small outside chance of victory for Perrow and I. The ever-consistent Nick, who at the first top mark of day 5's race was hard on our heels, however, quickly extinguished our small chance of victory. Finishing the first triangle, Lindhardtsen was leading from myself, Perrow and Nick, with about 6 boat lengths separating 1st from 3rd. Places remained unchanged in the then 18-22 knots, until the run where Perrow moved into the lead, followed by Nick, Lindhardtsen and myself.
This was the ultimate order in which we finished. With only one race to go, the top 3 placings were secured with Nick confirmed world champion for the 3rd consecutive year.
Race 8 started in the contest's breeziest conditions with about 2m waves adding to the fun downwind. Perrow, while leading on the first reach, broke his tiller and had to retire, handing Nick another race victory. Tiredness now well and truly set in and I finished a distant 9th. This day, however, saw some epic performances from Gouch (6, 4) and Matty (12, 6) which resulted in them finishing 5th and 8th overall, respectively, and so gaining much sort-after and prestigious OKDIA International Championship ties.
Overall, I finished 3rd on countback from Perrow and first veteran.

Prize giving later that night was a great affair with every competitor called up from first to last and presented with a commemorative plaque and any other prizes they had happened to win. Every national team member was raucously cheered on by his or her teammates.
Team NZ ended up with Perrow taking out the silver medal, top 10 tie and trophies for winning races 1, 2 and 7 - myself the bronze medal, a top 10 tie, plus trophies for winning the 4th race & veterans division, and Gouch and Matty both receiving top 10 ties.
New Zealand was by far the most successful national team, with 4 boats in the top 10. To add icing to the cake, the OKDIA World Ranking Points, which have just been released, will when corrected, show WBBC has five boats in the top 10 with myself 4th, Steve 5th, Turtle 6th, Matty 7th and Gouch to be 8th.
This is an achievement which WBBC and NZ can justifiably be extremely proud of. I know of no other ISAF international class in the world that is currently being dominated to such an extent as the OK class is by our country and yacht club. These results have not come easily and have been built on the back of previous international successes obtained by Turtle, Gouch and Joe. With the 2010 Wellington Worlds now quickly looming, I believe the depth of OK sailing in NZ is such that we should now expect a NZ victory there, if not before at Warnemunde (Germany) next year or Kalmar (Sweden), the year following.
To anyone considering joining the most internationally successful class in NZ there is no better time to hop in than now. Many top boats are coming up for sale as owners seek to build new boats and the competition is beyond compare.
With a well organized national travelers series, and a fun, competitive racing environment complemented by awesome post race social activities, I ask you, why the hell would you sail an expensive, low tech craft such as the laser!? Of course, I would also like to acknowledge our team sponsors-
1) Vero for providing free marine transit insurance and PI cover for each team member.
2) Port of Napier for waiving port fees and allowing us to load/discharge our container on the dock.
3) Burnard International & Hamburg Sud for providing essentially free shipping to and from Leba.
On a personal level a very special thank you to my shore boss and sports psychologist - my wife, Tors. Without her support and help I would not have achieved the success I did.

I have finally been asked to share any tips which I believed help me in Poland and may be of benefit to others. These are short and sweet:-
1) Identify the competition you want to do well in, about a year out. Focus all your energies to that event using all other regattas as a gradual build-up. Research the weather, too, and make sure your sailing style and rig are suited to the expected conditions.
2) In big boat fleets in the last 30 seconds, never go slower than the boats around you and make damn sure you sheet on, first for the gun before any of them. advice from my brother-in-law.
3) If you accomplish 1 and 2 you'll break clear of the pack. Then, make sure you stay in clear wind lanes to the top mark
4) Take one race at a time and don't think too much.. advice from my wife and mum. How could I have done better? The answer is simple - I SHOULD HAVE BEEN FITTER. This, in the end, was the one big difference between Nick and I.
Karl Purdie

Full results and photos at regatta website

season 2006-2007

Read it here.

season 2005-2006

Read it here.

season 2004-2005

Read it here.

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