Nick Rogers' British crew leads after one day's racing. Image copyright Christine Hansen.
by Christine Hansen
The 2011 New Zealand 470 Nationals are being held at Takapuna Beach, in Auckland. Fifteen boats have entered, three of which have female crews including the 2010 World Silver medallists, Jo Aleh and Olivia Powrie. Also in the fleet are three young Australian crews, a former Olympic medal winner for GBR, Nick Rogers, and former 470 World Champion Simon Cooke, sailing with Carl Evans who competed at the 2008 Olympics. Other strong contenders for top positions in the men's fleet are members of the NZ Sailing team Paul Snow-Hansen and Jason Saunders who placed 15th at the 2010 Worlds, and Geoff Woolley (three times past winner of the NZ Nationals) with Dan Willcox.
Action at the 470 Nationals off Takapuna. Image copyright Christine Hansen.
Action at the 470 Nationals off Takapuna. Image copyright Christine Hansen.
Following a day of very strong southerly winds when racing was cancelled, Day 2 of the regatta began with patchy south westerlies, an overcast sky and flat water. Auckland show-cased it's changeable weather - racing beginning in light winds of around 10 knots, building in strength during the day to gusts of around 20 knots at times. Conditions within each race varied a great deal, patches of light wind amongst shifty, strong gusty wind. The sea state developed a short chop as the wind strength increased, and although the sun burnt off the hazy cloud, it came and went throughout the day.
Action at the 470 Nationals off Takapuna. Image copyright Christine Hansen.
Action at the 470 Nationals off Takapuna. Image copyright Christine Hansen.
30+ degree shifts resulted in interesting racing and as a consequence of patchy conditions, line honours for the 5 races sailed were spread amongst the fleet. Race one went to Paul Snow-Hansen and Jason Saunders, race two to Mark Overington and Ben Goodwin, race three to Geoff Woolley and Dan Willcox, race four to Snow-Hansen and Saunders, and after a very tight finish between the top three positioned boats, Nick Rogers and crew from GBR took the final bullet for the day.
Action at the 470 Nationals off Takapuna. Image copyright Christine Hansen.
Action at the 470 Nationals off Takapuna. Image copyright Christine Hansen.
At the end of Day 2, Nick Rogers and crew are in first place, Jo Aleh and Olivia Powrie are in second place and Paul Snow-Hansen and Jason Saunders are in third place. Full results will hopefully be posted on Takapuna Boating Club's website tomorrow. On Day 3, the final day of racing, another four races are scheduled, the weather forecast is for westerlies which will bring another challenging set of conditions.
Action at the 470 Nationals off Takapuna. Image copyright Christine Hansen.
New Zealand 470 Nationals
