2024 NZL 3.7 Class National Championship: Up the Farrs!
The Bay of Islands Yacht Club put on a spectacular contest, March 15-17 2024. The water was warm but the weather was pretty challenging on the first two days with a lot of a capsizes, breakages and withdrawls; wind was fresh to frightening. The final day saw very light winds suiting the lighter sailors, so everybody had fun. The class had 30 sailors on the water so that was just fantastic. The class has developed a great vibe, reflected in growing numbers. There were 7 women competing, 5 of the sailors under 21, 12 in open, 2 veterans 45+, 7 Grand Veteran 55+, 3 Great Grand Veterans 65+. There were two families with young babies and 6 families sailing with at least two entries, the Swinney's had three yachts racing. The youngest sailor was 15 and the most experienced has just had a hernia operation and he is 72. Paul Moriarty was a very happy and deserving winner, but was held to close account by Derek Snow who had the speed plus a couple of dud results. As always, there was very little between the top boats. A few yachts didn't make it to the far north, so there is certainly a prospect of 35 yachts next year. Can of the Contest was won by Donald King at the end of a very long second day. He made a high speed arrival into the ramp which wasn't that easy even at slow speeds, no permanent harm done. Tim Nasey took the Potty but not for any bad reason (as is normal) but for a pragmatic repair after ripping off his whole transom. Andrea Hawtin was awarded the John Kennett Cup, sailing in her first regatta, finishing every race and showing huge tenacity and a fast learning curve. Katie de Lange was the first woman, rejoining the class after an extended period living and working overseas, and now with a family too. Up The Farrs (as everyone has been saying all year).
Placings: Paul Moriarty, First Overall, Farr Cup Derek Snow, Second Overall, Veteran Trophy, First Great Grand Veteran 65+, Grand Prix Trophy Joe Batchelor, Third Overall Lincoln Fraser, 4th Overall, First Veteran 45+ Mike Jones, 7th Overall, First Grand Veteran 55+ Eamon Withers, 8th Overall, First on Handicap, First Under 21 Katie de Lange, 16th Overall, First Woman Andrea Hawtin, 22nd Overall, John Kennett Cup
A thousand thank-yous to Robyn Parker, BoIyc for the photographs.
footnote info: This year there were no entries in the radial sail division suiting sailors 50kg+. The radial sail is 400mm short on the hoist but still uses the standard mast and roach. Similarly, many of the full size sails have facility to be slab reefed 400mm. In hindsight, it was windier than forecast and the radial would have suited some of the sailors operating in survival mode. The 3.7 full rigs suit sailors 65kg+ and are a similar proposition to the radial ILCA except with a trapeze, resulting in more fun and speed. Further bonuses are a self draining cockpit and a sail + hull (50kg) which doesn't have to be continually replaced in order to remain competitive. Some very notable Elite/Olympic sailors have used the 3.7 Class for training to sharpen up their skills.
Donald King's Report
3.7 Nationals 2024. Bay Of Islands
“It ain’t over until the fat lady sings” That quote attributed to Dan Cook a writer from the San Antonio Times about 1967. After day two and six boisterous races at the 20024 nationals the Fat Lady appeared ready to step forth. Derek Snow had three wins, and a couple of seconds. After dropping an 8th place he was on 7 points. Well clear of the Taranaki boys Paul Moriarty and Joe Batchelor who were tied for second on 15 points each. At that point Paul Moriarty thought the win was out of reach. He commented that his objective was to beat brother in law Joe. How things were to change. The 3.7 nationals were held in conjunction with our regular partners the J14 fleet and for the first time the Cherubs. 3.7 fleet had 30 entries including seven lady skippers. The J14 had 22 boats with 13 Cherubs. The BOIYC volunteers were kept busy on and off the course. Especially as there were a few broken boats requiring a tow on each of the first two days. Day one was 15-20 knots, gusting 25. Boisterous and challenging. Lots of shifts and inexplicable light patches. My abiding memory of race one was youngest sailor in the fleet, (83kg?) Jackson Grimmer in #188 absolutely smoking to windward on leg one. Jackson reckoned he only dipped Derek Snow at the top mark so he knew where to go next! I came round the top mark about 7th pretty happy and took off across the wiring reach in lumpy conditions. Halfway down dropped in the tide losing several places. Very typical. Notable mention to Sylvana Nieto in #191. I think one ahead of me at the top mark. Alas a couple capsizes later saw her down the fleet. But great early pace. Eventually the usual suspects came through. Derek Snow in #88 got the race win followed by Paul Moriarty in #111 and Joe Batchelor in #77. Already several breakages and a few retirements. Race 2 was a similar story. Derek hit the front early after a good start and was never headed. Picking up the win for 2 from 2. Fellow Wakatere skipper Lincoln Fraser in wing-masted #374 came through strongly for second from the very consistent Joe Batchelor in 3rd. In spite of the shifty conditions the Race Officer stayed with the original start line position for all races. There was pin end bias which caused a bit of a bunch up at that end. Race three day one, a few more opted to head back to the club house. Leaving 22 boats on the start. My recollection is that Derek got a nice start and rapidly opened up quite a big lead. He was part way up the second beat when the RO opted to shift the top mark well to the left. I assume they hadn’t spotted Derek way up the leg out to the right. The chief beneficiary of the mark move was James Winton in #172 who had a taken a flier out to the left. He was going well and accepted the new mark location with relish. Recording a notable race win. Derek was far enough up the course to reach across to the mark and ended up second with Thomas Fewtrell in #288 rounding out the podium. Notably the Taranaki duo were hanging in there 5th and 6th. There was opportunity to protest the race committee but Derek took a philosophical approach. Hey, 2nd is not bad! Que Sera, Sera. Long slog back to the beach and plenty tired bodies. Sausage sandwiches and a cold beer soon put the bruises in the back-ground. Top three, Derek 4 points, Joe on 11 and Paul Moriarty on 12. Allan Swinney and Mike Langley both broke rudders. Carbotech guys dealt with Allans and inserted a very nice looking new carbon blade in a re-worked stock. Mike’s repair was a bit more old school. He retrieved the wooden stock he had donated to my Christchurch boat rebuilding project and got it fitted with a bit of cutting and drilling. Looked a bit incongruous and would have some unintended consequence later in the regatta.
Day two. Same, same. 15-20 kn North Easterley. Gusts to 30 knots. 28 boats finished race four, 20 finished race five, 17 race six. The light weight sailors were not liking it and even a few well experienced skippers called it quits before the end of race six. Mike Jones, myself and I think Emily Batchelor carried reefs for all or part of day two. Lincoln Fraser was going well. Backing up his form from day one. 2nd in race five with a well deserved win in race 6. Paul Moriarty picked up his first (and only) win in race 5. A bit of a bunch up at the pin end had Derek over early. He took a while to circle back and restart and could only get back up to 8th by the finish. To my mind this shows that the speed differential among the leading skippers and boats is pretty even. Day two was also notable for the emergence of Allan Paine and Gavin Auld in the front pack. Gavin’s boat, #333 is sporting a Gavin Auld self-built Kilwell carbon mast. Not so tapered as the C-Tech sections. He was really showing some form. Scoring 4th,7th, 4th for day 2. Allan Paine for I now not reason had DNC on race 1 but thereafter was very consistent. Scoring 6,5,5 on day two. Eamon Withers in fibreglass #123 also had a good day. 12th first up followed by 4th and 6th. A couple years ago I always rated my chances to have Eamon (and Jackson) in my rear view mirror. Nowadays I am mostly seeing their transoms. Youthful energy coupled with plenty of talent is hard for me to beat! Notable mention also to Andrea Hawtin in #363 and Katie de Lange back in the fleet in #381. Both lightweights posting solid finishes. Maybe in anticipation of forecast lighter winds day 3. End day two with worst place drop. (Five counting races) Derek 7 points Joe and Paul Moriarty 15 Lincoln 21 Allan Paine 28 Gavin Auld 31 My clearest memory of day two was a (maybe?) 30 kn extended squall chasing me down the first reach. I was in control, hanging on but lost it on the gybe. Turning turtle. Got upright only for a similar squall to blow me over partly down the run. Again, a long beat back to the club house after race 6. There were a few more breakages including Mike Sanderson in his Cherub pulling the forestay out and breaking a very nice carbon mast. Rescue boats were busy and plenty R&M on shore. Check out Tim Nasey jury rigged rudder. H4 pine, bit of fascia board and heaps of glue. All good! Day three arrived with the forecast light south easterly. Plenty sighs of relief and bright smiles from the lightweight crews. 30 boats made the start with only Tim in #174 failing to finish all 3 races. Race 7. Bit of a bunch up at the pin end. Derek over early, restarted then clawed back to 6th. Lincoln Fraser got the race win from Paul Moriarty in 2nd , Gavin Auld 3rd then consistent Joe Batchelor 4th, Allan Paine 5th then Derek 6th. Now the gap from leader Derek to the chasing pack is getting a bit tight. Game on! Race 8. Up to race 8 I had had 6 average to poor starts and one OK. I determined to get a good one. Line was biased to pin end. I worked to the front line of boats on starboard, about halfway along the line. In clear air, a gap behind to tack into. Perfect. Gun went, tacked immediately onto port and was going great to the right. After 5 minutes there were no boats visible in front and about 4-5 boats to leeward and behind. Derek was slowly pulling away a bit to windward. I was in good company and feeling pleased. Then I saw Derek look over his shoulder preparing to tack. He let out an expletive! I glanced over my shoulder and there was the majority of the fleet who had gone left steaming into the top mark, reaching, on a solid left hand shift with plenty breeze. Disappointed was a huge understatement! According to my count Derek rounded in 23rd place with a lot of work to do to catch up. I was a couple places further back. The guy who should have won race 8 was Mike Langely. He had a 20m lead at the bottom mark with only a short beat to the finish. Unfortunately, his mainsheet managed to get completely entangled in the “new” jury rig rudder/tiller as he rounded the bottom mark. He was sliding slowly to leeward trying to get it sorted as the next four boats sailed past. Allan Paine graciously took the race win followed by, you guessed, Paul Moriarty and much improved Lucia Chagas in #382. Lincoln got 4th with Mike Langely recovering for 5th. After 8 races with one drop. Paul is now leading with 19, Derek and Lincoln are 2nd equal on 21 points with Joe a few adrift on 24. Race 9 After my bad choice to go right in race 8 I decided to go left at the pin in race 9. As did about half the fleet. Those not wanting to enter the pin end tangle, or who were slow to the start or who were smarter than me tacked on to port at the gun and went right. Those who went left sailed into an abysmal, windless hole. Those who went right picked up a nice right hand shifting breeze. Mike Jones got it first and cleared out. Then the north east sea breeze came in and the remaining 3 legs turned into a run and two tight reaches. Bit of a procession. Although I had a lovely last reach passing a few boats. Mike Jones #379 got the win, Allan Paine 2nd, followed by new national champion Paul Moriarty in 3rd. The other title contenders Derek Snow and Lincoln Fraser had gone left. Stranded in the hole. Ending up 10th and 14th respectively. I assume Joe had gone right getting up to 8th and third place overall. The fat lady had been singing her lungs out but was now finished. Derek commented later that after his sailing efforts on the final day he was going to struggle to find his way back to Auckland. Among the ladies Kate de Lange emerged top. Picking up the trophy. She completed all races with a notable 4th place race 9 for 16th overall. Emily Batchelor was next in 19th. 2 top 10 finishes marred by 3 x DNF/DNS. There were lots of spectacular wipeouts the first two days. But the only one observed close up by the committee was mine coming into the ramp end day 2. No damage, apart to ego so I got can of the contest. Tim Nasey was awarded class “pottie” for his innovative rudder repair after day one. Eamon Withers had a very good regatta. 8th overall and picking up the handicap and youth trophies. Over 65 trophy Derek Snow Veteran 45-55 Lincoln Fraser Veteran 55-65 Mike Jones First Lady Katie de Lange John Kennett cup Andrea Hawtin My unofficial awards. Unlucky sailor, Mike Langley race 8. Personality award to Tim Nasey. Tim only finished two races. Both times 30th. But indefatigable and remorselessly upbeat. He reckons he will be back in 2025 with a lighter boat. Was fantastic to have 30 boats on the start line with a wide range of ages represented. Plenty new faces and also great to see sailors from a few years ago back sailing the nationals. Social events were good with over 70 skippers and crew. BOI YC put on a well organised regatta in warm water with excellent catering. Maybe a bit of patience when setting the start line would have been nice. But everybody sails the same course so I guess fair enough.
Paul Moriarty was a deserving winner with very consistent results. Only won one race but never worse than 6th after dropping a 7th. Joe Batchelor also very consistent, deserved third overall. An 8th and 9th last two races dropped him out of contention. Lincoln, Allan Paine and Gavin Auld in the mix most races. Watch out for Eamon next series. Derek didn’t get to add to his existing five national titles. Wrong side of two shifts did him in. But that’s yacht racing. It aint over until the fat lady sings. The class is in good heart. My thanks to the committee and I’m already looking forward to the 2025 nationals.
Above opinions are my own. Taken from my position mid fleet. Not necessarily accurate nor well observed. Donald King