BMW Auckland Regatta: Final Score

And the winners are.....




Jostling at the start - BMW Auckland Regatta 2010. Image copyright Ivor Wilkins/RNZYS.

by Ivor Wilkins

THE final day of the BMW Auckland Regatta saw some tight battles around a picturesque Hauraki Gulf course Sunday as the front-runners battled to confirm their positions while those still in contention sought to unseat them.

In two divisions, the outcome was already sealed and the leaders knew they had done enough in the first two days of racing to ensure they could not be dislodged. These were Higher Ground (Brian Trubovich) in B Division and Azure (Phil Douglas) in C Division.

With their places secure, they may have opted to stay ashore to relax and celebrate their victories. But they went out anyway and were rewarded with a champagne day of racing in perfect conditions.

In the face of tsunami warnings following the devastating earthquake in Chile, the start of racing was delayed for an hour, but in the event there was no further impact on the competition.

While the winners in Divisions B and C were already known, some extremely tight battles had to be settled in the final race in other divisions. In Division A, it was all on between Power Play (Ian McBurney) and BMW Yachtsport (Mark Brown), with just 3pts between them.

The two raced literally within touching distance for long periods of Sunday’s race, but in the end Power Play did enough to ensure overall victory.


Taeping. Image copyright Ivor Wilkins/RNZYS.

The tightest battle was in the Open Multihull Division, where the top three boats, Taeping (Dave Andrews), Exodus (Matthew Flynn) and Timberwolf (Tim Willetts) were all tied up on 13pts each, with Taeping clinching the overall win after the last race.

A similar situation existed in Division E, where Gladiator (Jeremy Scott) and Tiaoga Iti (Craig Anderson) were tied on 13 pts each, with Candela (James Duke) just half a point further back. Tiaoga Iti came through in the end to top their leaderboard.

After the completion of the nine-race schedule, the top three places in the various divisions are as follows (based on provisional results in PHRF for Divisions A-E and General Handicap for the multihulls and Line Honours for the Young 88s):


Young 88 fleet. Image copyright Ivor Wilkins/RNZYS.

A Div: Power Play (Ian McBurney), Bullrush (Ant Robinson), BMW Yachtsport (Mark Brown)

B Div: Higher Ground (Brian Trubovich), Pacific Sundance (Bernard Hide), Notorious (Christiaan Arns)

C Div: Azure (Phil Douglas), First By Farr (Andrew Reid), Max Headroom (Phil Yuil/Ross Ardern)

D Div: Cool Change (Gary Kirkland-Smith), Cadibarra 6 (Stephen Davies), Grunty Chicken (Grant McKinnon)

E Div: Tiago Iti (Craig Anderson), Candela (James Duke), Gladiator (Jeremy Scott)
Open multihull: Taeping (Dave Andrews), Timberwolf (Tim Willetts, Exodus (Matthew Flynn)

8.5m multihull: Lucifer (Laurie Jury), Creepy Crawler (Ryan Taylor), Attitude (Shane Bellingham)

Y88: Dangerzone (Grant Turnbull), Slipstream (Phil Robertson/Don Greenaway), Panama Jack (Stefan Goldwater).

Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron