Young Kiwis win match racing

The Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron's youth development team won back the Coca Cola Cup, considered the unofficial world championship of youth match racing. The regatta, hosted by the RNZYS, was plagued by strong winds, which caused the cancellation of two days of racing in the youth series.
The RNZYS team of Cameron Appleton, David Endean and Zach Hurst came up against teams from England (defending champions the Royal Yachting Association), the United States (Newport Harbour and St Francis yacht clubs, California), Japan (Fukuoka and Kanagawa yacht clubs), Australia (Cruising Yacht Club of Australia and Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club), and for the first time, Denmark (Aahus and Royal Danish yacht clubs).
The RNZYS crew were unbeaten in their nine races, with the RYA, CYC and Aahus teams also qualifying for the semifinals. The squadron team chose to sail the Danes in the semis, downing them 2-0, with the RYA team of Leo Dixon, Ian Williams and Clive Cokayne chalking up the same score over the Australians.
The British team put up a hard fight in the finals, giving the squadron team their first loss of the series in the first race. The Kiwis went on to win the deciding two races.
In the sail-off for third and fourth, the CYC crew beat Aahus 2-1.

Dalton signs with European sponsor

Grant Dalton, who skippered a New Zealand boat to victory in the maxi division of the 1993-94 Whitbread Round the World race, will sail under the flag of Monaco in the 1996-97 event. Dalton has joined forces with Italian Guido Maisto to skipper an entry backed by clothing manufacturer Merit Cup, under the burgee of the Yacht Club de Monaco.
But despite the foreign flag, the entry will be largely Kiwi-driven, with the syndicates' two Whitbread 60s currently under construction at Marten Marine in Auckland. Eight of the race yacht's 11 crew will also be New Zealanders. Dalton has so far signed up Mike Quilter, Kevin Shoebridge, Brad Jackson and Mike Sanderson from his New Zealand Endeavour campaign; Ian Stewart, who broke his leg during the last race aboard Tokio; and Whitbread first-timer Jeremy Lomas. One more New Zealand crewman is yet to be named.
The two foreign crew are Paolo Bassani, who sailed with Maisto aboard Brooksfield in the last race, and Monagasque Herve Cunningham. Other New Zealanders involved in the campaign are shore boss Chris Cooney and cook Cole Sheehan. For this campaign Sheehan will be shore-based, preparing meals which can be reheated at sea during the race.
Dalton confirmed at a press conference in Monaco on December 12 that two almost identical yachts have been under construction at Marten Marine since September. A team of 70 boatbuilders are working to a 17-week deadline on the two Bruce Farr-designed yachts, which will be launched at the end of February. By mid-December, deck and hull plugs were complete, one deck was laminated, and work was beginning on laminating the hulls and the second deck.
"The designs are similar, but not identical," Dalton says. "There are very subtle differences in the hull design ­ differences so subtle that even a trained eye could not tell the hulls apart." Wind tunnel tests on sail design are also underway.
The boats will spend around three months trialling in Auckland before the race yacht is selected and shipped to England in time for the Fastnet race. The yachts will make several voyages into the South Pacific during the work-up period, and Dalton hopes to be able to visit Monaco before the race start in September.
Dalton hopes New Zealanders will be able to adopt the campaign as their own. No other New Zealand flagged boats are competing in the race: Chris Dickson, who skippered Tokio in 1993-94, is sailing with Dennis ConnerŐs Toshiba syndicate, and Ross Field of Yamaha has yet to confirm his plans. Nine other Whitbread 60s are currently being built around the world, with seven designed by Farr.

Kiwis in early for cup

New Zealand was the first overseas nation to lodge a challenge with the Royal Ocean Racing Club for the 1997 Champagne Mumm Admiral's Cup. For 1997 the RORC has announced that each team shall consist of a Mumm 36, an ILC40 and an IMS racer of around 14m (46ft).
The Kiwi team, of mostly chartered boats, will be Numbers, a new Jim Taylor-designed 14m yacht currently under construction at the Goetz yard in the eastern United States, ILC 40 Mean Machine, and a new Mumm 36, Georgia Express. Numbers is owned by Canadian John Risley, while Mean Machine is owned by Peter de Ridder of the Netherlands. Georgia Express is owned by Auckland QC Jim Farmer, and is being built by Cooksons. Numbers will be helmed by Russell Coutts, with Tom Dodson skippering Mean Machine, and David Barnes and Tom Schnackenburg in the afterguard of Georgia Express.
The team will sail under the burgee of the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron.

Record-breaking Coastal Classic

The 1996 Coastal Classic, New Zealand's largest yacht race, was a classic in more ways than one, with record entry numbers and record times set in every division. There was also a record number of collions and even more near-misses at the start, as 240 yachts in two starts manoeuvred for their position on the line, set from Devonport to a buoy off Orakei.
Pink 12m catamaran Split Enz shattered her own overall line honours record, set on the "dream run" of 1993, of eight hours, 48 minutes, 31 seconds, scooting home in seven hours, 20 minutes, 51 seconds. She unexpectedly beat Alistair Russell's Afterburner, which ran aground when doubling back to the start line, and could never close the gap. She finished 22 minutes astern of Split Enz, which also took line honours in 1985, 1990, 1993 and 1994.
The first multihull, Primo, shaved two hours off the record for division one, finishing in nine hours, 22 minutes, 34 seconds, ahead of Hydroflow, Antaeus and M1, all of which finished within the old record.
The smaller boats had a wild ride as well, with first division four boat Signcorp Extreme finishing just an hour after Sattelite Spy and almost half an hour ahead of Mumm 30.
Despite the blustery easterlies, there were relatively few withdrawls. Some yachts pulled out with injured or sick crew and minor damage; the only serious loss was the mast on 12m catamaran Taranui.

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