The Spring Regatta starts at Algies Bay - Thursday 9th October - Saturday 11th October.  NOR 

Commentary click here

Draw click here

Results click here

The NZTRA Annual General Meeting will be held at the Sandspit Yacht Club at Algies Bay on Friday October 10 at 7:30pm.  Notice and Agenda here.

 

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Australia v New New Zealand, Aligies Bay, Sunday 5th (Practice Day) - Wednesday 8th October.  NOR

 

Whos Doing What - click here

 

Draw for the 6 rounds - click here

 

Results - click here

For full Open Nationals information, go to the menu item Events, Open Nationals 2008 above.

In the end, 10 teams managed to take part  - St Kents, Macleans (2 teams), Mahurangi ( 2 Teams), Whangarei (2 teams), Kerkeri (2 teams), Waikato.

It was billed as a training regatta and lots was gained from the weekend. Teams sailed well, but all exposed a few areas to work on before the nationals.

 

The weather, limited some of the pure teams racing tactics on the Saturday and killed it on Sunday where the call was made not to go out.

pics 

 

In December 2007 32 of New Zealands top Optimist class sailors came to the Sandspit Yacht Club at Algies Bay for a teams racing clinic which was held over three days from the 21^st December. The sailors all stayed at Mahurangi College at the Marae. The weather held and we had almost perfect teams racing conditions even though it was an onshore northeasterly. The sailors were split into 8 teams of 4 with a coach assigned to each team. The teams were formed on the basis of their placings in regattas over the past year and they worked out pretty well.

We had a great coaching team with huge experience under the guidance of Graeme Sutherland and Laurie Jury. The format allowed for coaching in the morning and racing in the afternoon with points on days 2 and 3 going towards a series. This provided the sailors with a competitive goal and it was actively pursued. One sailor lost his voice after returning home. Me Thinks he protest too much!! . The format was designed to provide the sailors with all the team racing manouvers and associated rules, train for the moves then put them into action on the water. The clinic was held to improve the knowledge and skills of sailors who now have to compete in teams racing at all the major international regattas.

 

To find out who is who at the various schools involved in teams racing [details]

 

NZL Take home Bronze
 
After an ambitious attempt to hold quarter, semi's and finals on the last day of the teams racing worlds in a almost vacant breeze, the sailing for the last day had to be called off and the results were taken from the end of serries 1 and 4 days of racing.
 
Although the previous round had been called short, results were found (after 3 hours of redress hearings) which awarded USA1 with the gold medal, GBR2 silver and NZL Bronze.
 
The Team progressed and developed over the course of the event and will be bringing back to New Zealand not just a medal but also the more valuable experiences and relationships gained from competing at this level.
 
The Team would once again like to thank all its supporters, family and friends.
 
NZL1

 

Video NZL1 v GBR1 (NZ in red) 

test video 1  

Day 2 - filed by Laurie 

New Zealand make the gold fleet at the Teams Racing Worlds in Gandia Spain.

The New Zealand Team, NZL1, skippered by Laurie Jury, Graeme and Logan Sutherland, with Annemarie Waugh, Georgina Hill and Jamie Dawson as crew, finished 6th in the gold fleet and have progressed though to the next round. 

The top places are dominated by British and American teams who are the historically the best at Teams Racing.

Silver Panda, from USA is leading the regatta followed by GBR2 then USA2, GBR1 and GBR3 are in 3rd and fourth.

In seventh is AUS3 then IRL1. Only one team per nation can make the final four.
There are three more days of racing left the finals will be sailed on the 29th of september.

The formant is a double round robin for gold and silver fleet. Then semis and finals for the top 4 nations.

The wind has been pretty shifty between 2-15 knots, we are racing inside the breakwater, and the course has been rather challenging. At times the start line was only two boat lengths off the dock.  The first beat was only 70 meters and you cant reach a lay line on either side of the course before hitting the side of the harbor.

We are learning a lot, and have already came along way, we are losing a lot of races on the last beat, so we hope to improve this and have a crack at knocking off the American and English teams

Day 1 report from the World's - filed by Graeme Sutherland

The Teams racing worlds kicked off with a light sea breeze which filled into the marina for racing at lunch time. The course is small at times and squashed in different places to fit within the area of the harbour, the towering sea wall and shipping area make for interesting wind hurdles and the course was often patchy at best.
Our first race was against USA 2 whom had raced Ireland before us. The pin was biased and we lead off the line although missing the first shift in the right in the whole ridden course we fell to round the top mark with USA in a 1,2 which they held to the finish of the race.
After we settled into the competition we turned our starts into wins and although one or two of us were over at times it was not without an oposition boat to windward of us.
Leading back into the line was key in the light winds and we worked well as a team to win these positions.
The team was happy to end the day on 4 wins and just the 1 initial loss, beating; Ireland 3, Japan 1, Aus 2 and GBR 2. Most were won and extended from the start although we had a tight last beat with GBR 2 whom overtook our 1, 2 and almost had a 2,3,4 untill 6 came through to take 3rd taking the win with a 1,3,6.
We are looking forward to more racing tomorrow and feel we are on the right track although with a little less race practice than most which we aim to pick up over the course of the event.
 
NZLone

 

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Above is quote from YachtingNZ site - great stuff