BREEZE Magazine Nov - Dec 2020

BREEZE Issue No. 232 • November – December 2020

Official Publication of the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron

2 Breeze Magazine

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4 Breeze Magazine

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CONTENTS

Cover: Co-skippers Bianca Cook and Darryl Wislang guide NZ Ocean Racing off the startline in the PIC Coastal Classic– Photo by Ivor Wilkins EDITORIAL Please address all editorial correspondence to the Editor, Ivor Wilkins ivorw@xtra.co.nz Phone 09 425 7791 ADVERTISING inklink@xtra.co.nz Phone 09 378-1222.

DISCLAIMER The views and opinions expressed in this magazine are purely those of the authors and are not necessarily the official view of the RNZYS, nor of the publishers.

PERMISSION Reproduction rights in part or in full of the contents of this publication must be applied for from the Editor.

DEADLINES For Jan – Feb 2021 Issue Editorial - 27 November Advertising booking - 27 November Advertising material due - 4 December Magazine posted - 11 December Layout and Typesetting by Ocean Press Ltd Printed by Soar Printing Registered as a magazine at the GPO, Wellington. ISSN 0113-7360

From the Commodore .........................................................................................................................................................5 From the CEO ...........................................................................................................................................................................6 Cruising Report ........................................................................................................................................................................8 Sailing Office Report ........................................................................................................................................................... 12 RNZYS Events ........................................................................................................................................................................14 Tony Skelton: Westhaven Guardian ............................................................................................................................16 Windy work-out for NZ Match Race Champs ..................................................................................................18 Historic RNZYS Opening Day goes off with a bang ......................................................................................20 Fast forward to Fjord ..........................................................................................................................................................22 Reduce, Re-use, Recycle: RNZYS commits to sustainable policy ............................................................. 28 America’s Cup Calendar ................................................................................................................................................... 31 Phoney war ends as Cup yachts at last take flight: Xmas Cup preview .............................................. 35 Kiwi sailing community mourns the loss of David Barnes ............................................................................ 37 Foil Wiz likes going back to basics .............................................................................................................................. 38 Skincare and coffee ..............................................................................................................................................................41 Cooking up a storm ............................................................................................................................................................42 Women’s tales from the top ..........................................................................................................................................44 Delwyn Erceg: in demand and in command .........................................................................................................46 Coastal Classic: Slow ride north ..................................................................................................................................48 Performance Programme Report ............................................................................................................................... 54 Mastercard Youth Training Programme Report.....................................................................................................55 Classic Yacht Association Journal ..................................................................................................................................56 Marine Scene.............................................................................................................................................................................58 Directory Ads............................................................................................................................................................................60 FLAG OFFICERS Commodore Aaron Young 021 747 470 Vice Commodore Andrew Aitken 027 579 4194 Rear Commodore Gillian Williams 021 540 896 BREEZE MAGAZINE Editor Ivor Wilkins 09 425 7791

ivorw@xtra.co.nz Assistant Editor Debra Douglas 0211 856 846

chaucer@xtra.co.nz Advertising Debbie Whiting 09 378 1222

inklink@xtra.co.nz

MANAGEMENT TEAM Chief Executive Officer Hayden Porter 09 360 6805 Membership Director Kim Bond 09 360 6804 Youth Coaching Reuben Corbett 09 360 6811 Sailing Director Laurie Jury 09 360 6809 Events Manager Catriona Stanton 09 360 6834 Quarterdeck Restaurant Reservations

09 360 6820 RNZYS Office Box 46-182, Herne Bay, Auckland 1147

09 360 6800

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6 Breeze Magazine

GRATEFULLY ACKNOWLEDGES THE SUPPORT OF MAJOR PARTNERS

SUPPORTERS

MASTERCARD YOUTH TRAINING PROGRAMME SPONSORS

RNZYS PERFORMANCE PROGRAMME SPONSORS

CORPORATE MEMBERS

Accor Hotels

CBRE

Francis Travel Marketing

Propspeed

Air New Zealand

Check Point

Franklin Smith

Samsung New Zealand

Antipodes

Clean Corp

Furuno/ENL

Southern Spars

Argosy Property Limited

Crimson Education

GOfuel

Suncorp New Zealand

Argus Fire Protection

Compass Communications

Hikvision

Teak Construction

Asahi Beverages

Crombie Lockwood

Integrated Marine Group

Thos Holdsworth & Sons

B&G

Datacom

JC McCall Plumbing

VMG Clothing

Bank of New Zealand

Edu Experts

Martelli McKegg

Vodafone

Barfoot & Thompson

36 Degrees Brokers

Mercy Ascot

Westpac

Bellingham Wallace

Ecology New Zealand

Milford Asset Management You Travel Mairangi Bay

BEP Marine Ltd

Emirates

Negociants

Catalano Shipping Services

Ezi Car Rentals

Ports of Auckland

Breeze Magazine 7

FROM THE COMMODORE Well, the first month or so as Commodore has flown by, seemingly only a few days since I began my tenure following the AGM on September 17th.

What a busy month, with arguably the best Opening Day celebrations the club has ever seen. Thanks to all those members, corporate supporters and guests who came along and experienced a great day on and off the water.

The summer sailing season has started with racing on almost every day of the week for the club and the Members’ Bar becoming noticeably busier. The club has also successfully run the Theland NZ National Keelboat Championship and the Yachting Developments NZ Match Racing Championship on consecutive weeks.

The America’s Cup and 150th summer is now less than two months away and you can feel the excitement building. We held an official opening evening for the AC36 Course Marshall Training Programme; it was great to see the camaraderie amongst 150 volunteers.

The group is being put through their training and practising real life on-the-water scenarios with the approved RNZYS and Maritime NZ course.

Our 2021 events continue to build momentum with a test sail of the Harbour Bridge to Bean Rock dinghy race. Although this is led by the RNZYS, we are thankful

for the help of Yachting NZ, and many clubs and associations around Auckland. Bring out your dinghies and mark your diaries now for February 28th 2021, for our version of ‘round the bays on the water’.

We also have a solid fleet of superyachts building for our Mastercard Superyacht Regatta in February 2021. I am sure this will be a spectacular sight as we plan to try to finish the fleet off the club, weather and conditions permitting.

The America’s Cup itself is just about here, with all challenger teams unveiling their new boats. As we know though, the development and innovation will not stop, but probably ramp up further. With the Christmas Cup in December, we will all learn more when we see these AC75s race in anger for the first time. Our representative team, Emirates Team NZ, is certainly excited and looking forward to this event. The club has also extended guest membership to the visiting America’s Cup challenger teams from the Royal Yacht Squadron (UK), New York Yacht Club (USA) and Circolo Della Vela Sicilia (Italy), so please make our reciprocal club members welcome.

It has been great to be back to normal in terms of our Food & Beverage operation, now that the number restrictions on gatherings have eased. Thanks in part to member donations, our building renovations around the Members’ Bar, men’s showers and new AV systems are almost complete for the summer. This will enable more members to enjoy the best view in Auckland from our own club.

As a General Committee, we have met and reviewed our strategic plan. Whilst our vision of being the “leading local and international yacht club by providing exceptional on and off water experiences” hasn’t changed, we have adjusted the focus slightly. We must ensure that to achieve this long-term ambition, we need to

do the small, daily things right each and every time. We will also focus more on technology and ensuring we can clearly measure success.

I am also very happy to announce Garry Scarborough as Chairman of the House.

Garry will chair the House and Membership Committee. Andrew Aitken as Vice Commodore will chair Sailing; Gillian Williams as Rear Commodore will chair Finance and Risk; I will continue to chair Major Events and Projects. All sub committees or project groups will report to one of these four main committees, so any suggestions or comments can be managed accurately.

We have a great team, including all the staff, who are trying their very best to ensure we achieve our goals and every member is proud to be a member of the RNZYS. Thanks to everyone for your support and I look forward to catching up soon.

Aaron Young, Commodore

Thinking of selling your boat?

As a result of a big sales year, we continually require new listings. Our sales team has a great record of success and is standing by to provide professional and attentive service in marketing your vessel.

Wayne (09) 376 6331 • 0274 502 654 • www.lauriecollins.co.nz

8 Breeze Magazine

FROM THE CEO

Time does not sit still and neither do we. A huge amount has happened since the last issue of Breeze and with the return to a Level One situation again, we have hit full speed quickly with the club buzzing with on and off water events and hospitality. This kicked off with an outstanding Opening Day, so thank you to the large number of people who turned out to watch the cannon fire and enjoy the vast array of entertainment throughout the day.

As we gear up for the rest of what summer has to offer this also means we are now employing more staff, particularly in Food & Beverage operations, which is a great sign things are heading in the right direction again.

The Members’ Bar deck project has now been all but completed and the scaffolding finally removed. This will allow members to use this space all year round in any weather conditions. It was not a simple task and big thanks must go to Cooper Hopman for project managing this build and also to General Committee members Garry Scarborough and Peter Boardman, as well as member Chris Hume, who dealt with the engineering, design and contracting elements. We have a great asset for you to enjoy with this new addition because of their hard work.

The eastern entrance has new doors and fresh tiling in the Ballroom area, while the inside entrance space will be completed soon to give this arrival space a clean makeover.

The men’s shower and changing area has

also been completed and really enhances the use of this space pre- and post-sailing.

Reception has had new retail shelving and storage installed to increase the capacity we now require there.

Overall, the place is looking great with a few more things to come over coming months for members to benefit from, so thank you for your patience through any inconvenience while these projects have been completed.

One of the things still to happen before Christmas is the total cover of the Dinghy Locker deck space. Long time overseas member Markus Müller-Feist has kindly donated some amazing high-tech umbrellas, which have their own gutter system.These will again increase the usable space for members, rain or shine. They have teamed up with Doyle Sails to be able to also provide some great member discounts on these products. Check out their website www. mdt-tex.com to see what to expect.

Some other new member benefits and discounts include welcoming Samsung to our family of corporate members. Through our own unique code for members, you are now able to get 30-50% off their products! You will also notice some great new Samsung TV’s in the Dinghy Locker Bar that will enhance your viewing of the Cup racing due to start in December.

We have also negotiated an exclusive price and benefits for members to enjoy on-water hospitality during the America’s Cup through the Experience Group, who are operating the official VIP boats. Members will receive a 5% discount plus some ETNZ gear from us when booking. Head to the Member Offers page on the website to register and get shopping and saving.

We also welcome the America’s Cup challenger teams and their families to the RNZYS while they are in New Zealand. It has

been great to see a number of these stars using the club’s reciprocal agreements while they are in town, which all adds to the exciting Cup fever period we are now entering.

On the water, we have seen some great sailing and a number of national events held with record numbers entering. The Sailing Office has done a great job catching up on this schedule with some of the events originally due to run in March this year. The standard has been very high with a large number of our sailors, who are usually overseas at this time, still here and able to join the action.

With club racing now underway again every night of the week and some new yachts joining the fleet, we expect this high standard to continue throughout the summer.

As mentioned in previous editions, we have a large number of major events scheduled outside of just the America’s Cup action for you to enjoy this summer. One of the first is the New Year’s Eve race to Kawau. On New Year’s Day, we will host the annual Kawau Boating Club regatta, followed by a prize giving and picnic style BBQ party on the lawn at Lidgard House. The DJ will be entertaining you while you enjoy the start of 2021. So make sure you enter this fun, family-friendly event.

We even have a few superyachts planning to join the party.

Membership continues to grow at a steady pace and the outlook is feeling really good as we now approach the warmer temperatures of summer. So enjoy what is on offer for you as we continue to strive to be the ‘Leading Local and International Yacht Club’ in our 150th year.

Hayden Porter, CEO

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Breeze Magazine 9

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10 Breeze Magazine

Cruising and Motor Yacht Series

‘Best Kept Secret of the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron’ Supported by CLUB MARINE INSURANCE Covid-19 Level 2.5 conditions imposed challenging conditions for Squadron members and their guests attending the 2020 Cruising Dinner in the Quarterdeck Restaurant, as we had to remember social distancing (2m) and the need to remain seated. The service from our enthusiastic Events/F&B staff was very appreciated as we navigated the new “normal”.

Past Commodore Steve Mair was a captivating speaker with plenty of humorous yarns of his Mediterranean adventure with Anna and their daughter Lola (9 years). They were cruising in company with Anna’s brother, Daniel, his wife Anna and their three kids, Pippa, Julia and Ben. Steve and Anna chose to buy a Hanse 575 (57ft) fitted out with most home comforts (they swapped out the dishwasher for a washing machine) in Turkey as there was no VAT and the people were reputed to be trustworthy.

Interestingly, the best item on board was

C

M

Y

CM

MY

CY

CMY

K

voted as the Thermomix, although Steve wasn’t sure of that!

However, a lot of time was also spent at the cute local seaside restaurants, which always provided fab seafood meals despite the Med being apparently bereft of sea life in the crystalclear turquoise waters. Shopping was mostly ashore, but some provisioning can be done on a large “floating supermarket”.

When living aboard for an extended time there are always maintenance and repair chores to be done, although fortunately the language barrier was solved by Google Translate . . . or was it? The injector repair cost was rather inflated compared to the final job in New Zealand later. Top tip: modern electric toilets are not designed to be repaired – just replace if there’s a problem!

Most of us are familiar with Mediterranean mooring especially due to the depth around Turkey, but the swim ashore with the mooring lines on arrival was no hardship. Entertaining

Past Commodore Steve Mair with Anna and Lola.

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Breeze Magazine 11

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12 Breeze Magazine As concerned sailors, the Kiwi group decided to do a beach clean, resulting in plenty of human discards to graphically illustrate how desperately the ocean needs better treatment.

The decision to ship the yacht home was easy when the cost was compared with setting up for ocean-going safety requirements. In Covid hindsight, it was a “great call”, or they could’ve been stuck without a passage home like many other cruisers at the moment.

Keep an eye out for Waimarie over the summer, cruising locally and she’ll be proudly flying Steve’s RNZYS Past Commodore’s flag.

• Remember to diarise our RNZYS Sesquicentennial Cruising Rally dates as follows: 2020 – Nov 21st, Dec 12th 2021 – Cruise in Company to Great Barrier Rally from Kawau Jan 3rd 2021 – Feb 20th, March 20th, April 17th

Easter Rally, April 2nd - 4th Steve Mair with the alarming results of their Mediterranean beach clean-up. and interesting to watch late-comers squeeze into a perceived space only to drop their anchors on top of the early birds. Weather forecasting is challenging with conditions changing quickly and the Med’s reputation for “all or nothing” regarding wind strength. However, continuous cloudless blue-sky days were plentiful.

Clearly the most fun part was having family and friends along to share the experiences and memories. Watching tourists trying to take the “perfect” Insta shot and pushing through the crowds was a frequentlyenjoyed sport.

All RNZYS boats (power and sail) are welcome, but please register as an entry via Topyacht for catering purposes.

How fantastic to be part of celebrating our history and creating memorable stories for the future!

Sheryl Lanigan Contacts for Cruising: Mike Malcolm 0274 746 790, Bird on the Wing Sheryl Lanigan 021 136 0087, Share Delight

Breeze Magazine 13

14 Breeze Magazine

From the Sailing Office It may be only spring, but it is really starting to feel like summer. Racing at the RNZYS is back in full swing with sprint and harbour racing most weeknights and regattas most weekends.

It is great to see some new race boats coming into New Zealand, such as Commodore Aaron Young’s Melges 40, with three more Melges 40s joining her in coming weeks. The 40 foot race boats have set up their own division 40R, which should have some fantastic racing over the summer.

The RNZYS Course Marshal Training Programme is also in full swing, making up for lost time after the delays due to the Covid lockdowns. This is an extensive training programme to ensure the 150 marshals are comfortable and suitably trained for their critical role during the America’s Cup. You may see a number of these marshals around the club and the fleet of red AC Protectors parked outside the RNZYS (pictured below).

The City Of Sails Auckland Regatta is on the 26th to the 28th March 2021. This is shaping up to be a great event with new divisions including NEW passage divisions for spinnaker & nonspinnaker, (for our harbour racers, and some strong support from class associations and the 40R fleet).

Racing will be over three days, Friday to Sunday for 40R, MRX and E7’s; for the other

divisions, racing is just Saturday and Sunday, with some great prizes and parties organised.

Get your entries in now for this fantastic event to be in to win some great monthly prizes.

The RNZYS has recently completed the Theland NZ Open Keelboat National Championships and the Yachting Development Ltd NZ Match Racing National Championships.

Both events were a huge success, stacked with talented sailors and run by some slick race management teams, led by Colin Lucas and Brian Trubovich respectively.

I was crewing for Sam Meech and the Theland Team in the Theland NZ Open Keelboat Nationals, and we were lucky enough to come away with a win in what was some seriously tight racing. Sam went on to crew for Graeme Sutherland in the YDL NZ Match Racing Nationals, who picked up the win over defending champion Nick Egnot-Johnson in very breezy conditions.

With the summer coming up, safety is always a priority. The RNZYS is focused on life jackets and communication this year as the two important safety aspects. Please be aware that it is in our Race Management policies to fly the Y flag requiring everyone to be wearing life Jackets in over 22knots. We have implemented this a number of times over the winter and will be looking to do so more often in the summer.

A couple of other safety aspects and changes to know about this season are: • Mandatory for all crew to be wearing a life jacket in the night race to Kawau, but there is no longer a need to carry a life raft on board.

• VHF call in for the Night Race to Kawau is now just before the finish – there is no call in at Tiri Tiri Matangi.

• Te Kouma Race is now a race to Te Kouma and back to Westhaven, with some options for a shorter course if lighter conditions.

• All emergencies to be communicated over VHF Channel 16. All boats must be dual monitoring both the race channel (17 or 77 as per the NOR) and channel 16 (VHF radios have a dual watch function – it’s really important to be using that) We are looking forward to November where we have four National Championships to run: the MRX Masters, Coast Etchells, Harken Y88’s, and the Barfoot and Thompson Women’s Keelboat National Championship.

On top of that we are also running a mixed 50-50 Regatta, the RNZYS Corporate Regatta and our first of the 36 Degrees Brokers Commodores Cup Series – Round Rangitoto Race.

Best of luck for a great summer of racing.

Laurie Jury Sailing Director

Breeze Magazine 15

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16 Breeze Magazine

RNZYS SOCIAL & SAILING EVENTS

be part of something special...sail with us...socialise with us

UPCOMING EVENTS 10:00am Tuesday 3rd November

NOVEMBER 2020 Sunday

1

Auckland Womens 50:50 Regatta .....................................................................................

Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday

2 3 4 5

Stewart 34 Championships 1.............................................................................................

Barfoot & Thompson Ladies Summer Series 3 & Etchells Sprints 3 ......................... ..................................................................................................................................................

North Sails Young 88 Sprints 2 ..........................................................................................

RNZYS Corporate Regatta................................................................................................

Havana Club Spring Series Rum Race 5 ..........................................................................

Coast NZ Etchells National Championships .................................................................

MRX Masters National Championships ..........................................................................

Coast NZ Etchells National Championships .................................................................

MRX Masters National Championships ..........................................................................

Ladies Coffee Morning We have a wonderful variety of speakers lined up. Members price $10 for coffee/morning tea and a great opportunity to listen to our presenters and socialise with your fellow Squadron ladies. Guests price $12.50. Ticket includes a raffle ticket.

Friday Saturday

6 7

Sunday

8

6:30pm Thursday 12th November Thursday 26th November

Quiz Nights Have a fun quizical challenge evening with colleagues, crew, family or friends! Entry is free and you can have a maximum of 8 players in your team. To enter, simply email your team name to: adelves@rnzys.org.nz

Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday

9 10 11 12 13 14 15

..................................................................................................................................................

Etchells Sprints 4 ..................................................................................................................

Club Marine Insurance Wednesday Series 3 ..................................................................

Elliott 7 Sprints 3 ..................................................................................................................

Havana Club Spring Series Rum Race 6 ..........................................................................

36 Degrees Brokers Commodore’s Cup - Round Rangitoto Race (WTS)............. ..................................................................................................................................................

12pm Thursday 12th November

RNZYS Golf Day Get your entry in for this year’s Squadron Golf Day at Gulf Harbour Country Club. Open to all Squadron Members and their guests, the day includes 18 holes in stableford format with on course competitions, refreshments, lunch, plenty of prizes and more. Event information + registration via our website

Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday

16 17 18 19 20 21

Sunday

22

Stewart 34 Championships 2.............................................................................................

Barfoot & Thompson Ladies Summer Series 4 & Etchells Sprints 5 ......................... ..................................................................................................................................................

North Sails Young 88 Sprints 3 ..........................................................................................

Havana Club Spring Series Rum Race 7 ..........................................................................

Club Marine Insurance Cruising Rally 2 ..........................................................................

HARKEN Young 88 Nationals & North Sails Owner Champs ..................................

HARKEN Young 88 Nationals & North Sails Owner Champs ..................................

Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday

23 24 25 26 27 28 29

..................................................................................................................................................

Etchells Sprints 6 ..................................................................................................................

Club Marine Insurance Wednesday Series 4 ..................................................................

Elliott 7 Sprints 4 ..................................................................................................................

Havana Club Spring Series Rum Race 8 & MOVEMBER Party ..................................

Barfoot & Thompson NZ Womens Keelboat Nationals..............................................

Barfoot & Thompson NZ Womens Keelboat Nationals..............................................

Monday

30

Stewart 34 Championships 3.............................................................................................

12pm Friday 13th November

11:30am Monday 30th November

11:30am Tuesday 1st December

2pm Sunday 6th December

4:00pm Saturday 12th December

Lunch and Conversation with Karen Walker Join special guests Karen Walker and Aaron Young as they explore Karen’s exciting collaboration with the RNZYS. The RNZYS x Karen Walker range will also be available to view and purchase on the day. This event will be a sellout so please book your tickets today Senior Christmas Lunch Our annual Senior Christmas Lunch is always a must attend for our Senior Members. A great chance to catch up with everyone before the Christmas break to tell stories and reflect on a great year. Book via the members portal Ladies Christmas Lunch Enjoy a fabulous Christmas Lunch with your fellow friends and Squadron ladies. A great opportunity to see them all before heading off for the holidays. Book via your Members portal today Kids Christmas Party Bring your kids or grandkids along for our Kids Christmas Party. Lots of fun with a variety of entertainment and a visit from Santa. $15 per child and a wrapped & labelled pressie to be dropped off prior Sundowner Island Race & Beach Party Join us for our Annual Sundowner Island Race and Beach party which incorporates the third race of the Club Marine Insurance Cruising Series and includes a beach party with BBQ & Drinks on the beach at Motuihe. Non racers (launches, fizz boats or jet skis) just meet at the Island.

DECEMBER 2020 Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday

1 2 3 4 5 6

Barfoot & Thompson Ladies Summer Series 5 & Etchells Sprints 7 ......................... ..................................................................................................................................................

North Sails Young 88 Sprints 4 ..........................................................................................

Havana Club Spring Series Rum Race 9 ..........................................................................

Squadron Fishing Day .......................................................................................................... ..................................................................................................................................................

Monday

7

Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday

8 9 10 11 12

Sunday

13

Mastercard National Youth Training Week 1 Starts ......................................................

Stewart 34 Championships 4.............................................................................................

Etchells Sprints 8 ..................................................................................................................

Club Marine Insurance Wednesday Series 5 .................................................................. ..................................................................................................................................................

Havana Club Spring Series Rum Race 10........................................................................

Gold Cup - Percy Jones Race (BBYC) .............................................................................

Club Marine Insurance Cruising Rally 3 ..........................................................................

Sundowner Christmas Beach Party .................................................................................

Mastercard National Youth Training Week 2 Starts ......................................................

Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday

14 15 16 17 18 19 20

..................................................................................................................................................

Barfoot & Thompson Ladies Series 6 & Etchells Sprints 9.......................................... ..................................................................................................................................................

North Sails Young 88 Sprints 5 ..........................................................................................

Havana Club Spring Series Rum Race 11 & CHRISTMAS Party ............................... .................................................................................................................................................. ..................................................................................................................................................

Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday

21 22 23 24 25 26 27

.................................................................................................................................................. .................................................................................................................................................. ..................................................................................................................................................

Christmas Eve .........................................................................................................................

Christmas Day - Christmas Day Luncbh...........................................................................

Boxing Day .............................................................................................................................. ..................................................................................................................................................

Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday

28 29 30 31

.................................................................................................................................................. .................................................................................................................................................. ..................................................................................................................................................

New Years Eve - 150th Event - Race to Kawau ...............................................................

1 2 3

New Years Day - 150th Event - New Years Day Regatta @ Kawau............................ ..................................................................................................................................................

150th Event - Cruise/Rally from Kawau to Great Barrier Island ..............................

Friday Saturday Sunday

For all enquries or for further information please contact RNZYS reception: DDI: (09) 360 6800 | Email: reception@rnzys.org.nz | www.rnzys.org.nz | 181 Westhaven Drive, Westhaven Marina, Auckland

Breeze Magazine 17

SHE’S BEAUTIFUL BUT SHALLOW

(IN THE BEST POSSIBLE WAY!) Introducing the highly agile GB54 Looks can deceive. Clearly, the GB54 carries herself with the stately beauty you’d expect from a new cruiser in the Grand Banks range.

But she has hidden assets! Beneath the waterline, she draws only 4ft. In the shallows, you’ll find she displays a comfort and maneuverability that is the envy of her class.

Come take a virtual tour and a closer look at grandbanks.com

GB54

GB60

GB85

EB44

CRUISING SPEED 25 kts RANGE 1,170 NM / 10kts

18 Breeze Magazine

Tony Skelton has worked tirelessly to preserve the rights of boaties and clubs at Westhaven.

Tony Skelton: Westhaven guardian A long association with sailing – first in his P-Class called Tom Thumb and subsequently in keelboats – has provided a solid foundation for Tony Skelton’s outstanding efforts in navigating occasionally stormy waters towards a positive relationship between the boating community and Auckland City.

Dealing with the city’s political and commercial entities has, he says, brought into play many of the skills learned in sailing, which “seldom involves a straight line to a destination,” he says. “It is not linear. It takes a lot of planning and strategy to get where you are going.”

Not to mention patience. Skelton has been involved in a long game primarily around security of tenure for the thousands of boat owners who occupy berths in Westhaven Marina and for the yacht clubs situated along its northern breakwater.

A professional background in international wool and kiwifruit marketing, followed by ownership of an IT company that required brokering a peaceful co-existence with uneasy

bedfellows Microsoft and IBM, also equipped him with considerable negotiating skills.

In 2014, under the leadership of Commodore Steve Burrett, Skelton was elected to the RNZYS General Committee and has contributed thousands of voluntary hours ever since, negotiating a passage through legislative hazards and advocating on behalf of the wider community around Westhaven.

At this year’s AGM, Vice Commodore Andrew Aitken presented Skelton with a Service Award for his work. “While there have been a number of members including Flags, Committee Members and our CEO involved, Tony has been the stalwart that has driven for the outcomes needed,” said Aitken.

“When Tony has been in the room, everyone knows he is there, and, everyone listens – not something easily achieved when dealing with public policy, and particularly complicated when dealing with a landlord who can punish you while also being a benefactor.

“Tony is extremely well respected across the wide range of planners, lobbyists,

Commissioners, Councillors, and Council Controlled Organisation (CCO) representatives he has dealt with.”

That reputation has been forged over a long period of community service, not just from a yachting standpoint, but also in his role as a founding member of the St Mary’s Bay Association, a well-resourced and motivated advocacy group, whose boundaries and interests encompass the Westhaven complex.

Skelton, who has lived in St Mary’s Bay since childhood, was chairman of the association for 35 years.

In marshalling and aligning a community of interests to safeguard the marina for future boating generations, another important step was the establishment of the Northern Reclamation Yacht Clubs Working Group, involving the four Westhaven clubs, RNZYS, Richmond Yacht Club, Victoria Cruising Club and Ponsonby Cruising Club, along with the Westhaven Marina Users’ Association.

Skelton, who has been chairman of this group for the past two years, says it is

Breeze Magazine 19 important to remember that the Westhaven Marina would never have been built without the financial support of the yacht clubs, which raised debentures from members for the facility.

However, the Harbour Board and subsequently the Port Company remained the landlord, leasing the berth licences to boat owners and the land to the yacht clubs.

In 2003, under Commodore Bill Endean, the RNZYS led a bid to purchase Westhaven, but the attempt failed when the government stepped in, bought the asset for $55-million and then transferred it to Auckland City for $43-million.

Ever since, the berth holders and yacht clubs have had to constantly guard against threats to their security as the city increasingly moved to monetise its property assets.These threats have included attempts to change the Westhaven zoning in order to significantly increase rates and rentals under CBD commercial valuations, and, even more threatening, an investigation into making the facility subject to the Public Works Act. “If that had succeeded, we could have all been kicked out with just 14 days notice,” says Skelton.

Skelton is too diplomatic to detail the battle scars he accumulated in resisting these moves, saying only that it has had its “rough” moments.

The Wynyard Quarter Development opened a brief opportunity for the yacht clubs to avoid having to renegotiate their ground rentals every five years. “Wynyard Quarter offered 100-year ground leases and we made an attempt to get the same security of tenure for Westhaven. We presented a fully-costed proposal, based on independent valuations using the Wynyard Quarter formula, but it was rejected,” says Skelton.

In 2017, Skelton stepped down from the RNZYS General Committee, but credits then Commodore Ian Cook with authorising him to continue representing the club in the ongoing negotiations. It was recognised that 2025 was looming as a kind of perfect storm, which could further endanger the Westhaven position.

Against a backdrop of planners and developers eyeing the waterfront for every opportunity to build high-value apartments and commercial developments, 2025 represents a moment of high vulnerability for the existing stakeholders.

The Crown Sea Bed Licence, which enables the marina to operate, expires in 2025, as do the last of the long-term Westhaven berth-

holder licences. Also, the Auckland Unitary Plan comes up for review, opening a danger that the empowering legislation protecting entities like yacht clubs, golf courses and other community endeavours could be amended or revoked. Skelton, however, believes that following a crucial meeting last December with the chairman and CEO of the city’s property arm, Panuku, a less adversarial and more co-operative basis has been established.

“We have established an agreement in principle to stop the belligerence of the past and work on an understanding requiring goodwill from all sides. The objective is to ultimately have the marina ownership transferred into a community trust in perpetuity, with a revenue stream not for the enrichment of clubs or individuals, but to support the sport of yachting in New Zealand.”

As Skelton steps back from his frontline role, there is still much to do, firstly to shepherd the new understanding into reality, but also to safeguard the marina and the harbour for recreational boating. This will involve advocating against issues like further port encroachment into the Waitemata, and against the walkway and cycleway proposal in its current form, but in favour of a second motor and rail tunnel crossing (made more pressing by the recent damage to the Harbour Bridge).

Increasingly, Andrew Aitken has taken up a position within the Westhaven yacht clubs group and will continue that work through the 2025 minefield as Vice Commodore and ultimately Commodore.

Skelton says the Squadron is a highly respected institution and has a responsibility to use its position for the good of the community and the boating population in general. “As the RNZYS moves to celebrate its 150th anniversary, it is vital to recognise that in one way or another we are all part of the fabric and history of the city and we must ensure we retain that heritage and identity into the future.”

Accepting that mantle, Vice Commodore Aitken told the AGM Skelton had left the RNZYS and the wider Westhaven yacht club community in a strong position. “The positive relationships that now exist and the work plan developed should help ensure Westhaven continues to grow and prosper under stewardship that more particularly supports the needs of yacht club members and marina users,” he said.

Words and Photo by Ivor Wilkins

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20 Breeze Magazine

Above: Celia Willison and her Edge Women’s Match crew hold nothing back. Below: Graeme Sutherland and his champion crew celebrate.

Windy work-out for NZ Match Race Champs Graeme Sutherland, Sam Meech, Logan Sutherland, and Micah Wilkinson prevailed in very breezy conditions to win the 2020 Yachting Developments New Zealand Match Racing Championship at the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron.

Sutherland has been trying to win this event for quite a few years, so he was very happy to finally get the monkey off his back.

“I first started doing this event when I was a young fella. We had to jump into the MRXs and learn how to play the old man’s game. Now I’m an old boy and here I am racing against the younger guys in small boats again. It’s taken me a couple times to get back into the young man’s game, but I loved it. I had a great team and it was some really great racing.”

With 16 teams taking part this year, the fleet was split into two pools of eight sailing round robins over two days before deciding the final four

semi-finalists: Reuben Corbett (RNZYS), Graeme Sutherland (Sandspit YC), Nick Egnot-Johnson (RNZYS) and Leonard Takahashi (RNZYS).

Finals day on Sunday lived up to the hype, with the 20-25 knot breeze again pounding in from the North East, allowing for some superb match racing conditions and plenty of excitement.

Through the sound and fury of the quarter and semi-finals, it came down to Sutherland, looking for his first title, up against Nick EgnotJohnson and his Knots Racing team, looking to defend his title.

The wind was now howling for the grand finale. In the first match, Sutherland managed to just stay in the lead throughout and give himself a sniff of the trophy. A sniff was all he needed.

Leading by a whisker at the first top-and-bottom marks, Sutherland then pushed on in the final two legs, leaving last year’s champion in his wake to become the last man standing after a truly fantastic four days of match racing.

“I’ve been coaching Nick and sailing with him for a couple of years now, he’s a very talented sailor and they are a very talented team. They were probably the favorite going into the final in these boats. His boat handling was the best out there all week.

“But we kept the pressure on him in the pre-start and just backed ourselves around the racetrack, didn’t give him any passing lanes, and that was it, job done.”

• Final Placings: 1st - Graeme Sutherland; 2nd - Nick Egnot-Johnson; 3rd - Reuben Corbett; 4th - Leonard Takahashi.

Words and Photos by Andrew Delves

Breeze Magazine 21

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1

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Historic RNZYS 150th Anniversary Opening Day goes off with a bang Full of sound and fury, cannon fire signified the start of the Squadron’s summer sailing season and its sesquicentennial year. Commodore and No 1 gunner Aaron Young kept up the traditional noon ceremony, assisted by Cannon Master Gerald Flynn and his “apprentice” Tom Coote.

It was a celebration day that delivered blue skies, a warm summery temperature and just a gentle breeze for the boat parade and Opening Day Mark Foy race. Throughout the day, members and families were treated to kids’ club entertainment and fishing contest, displays by sponsors and corporates, tours of the Club, a knot-tying class, a learn to sail opportunity and a Mãori blessing ceremony.

3

Pictures by Debra Douglas 1/ The big bang. Commodore Aaron Young fires the cannon to mark the season’s opening.

2/ Quick march! The Police Pipe Band drew the crowd to the Squadron.

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3/ A second or so of performance and then 1½ hours to clean. Tom Coote and Gerald Flynn dust and polish the cannon ready for its next appearance, in 2021.

4/ From left, members Ray and Bernie Nixon and Stewart Heine.

5/ Despite expert advice from Jonathan Tuohey the fish refused to bite for his three-year-old daughter Eleanor.

6/ One-year-old Sabrina Penna and father Rod made a new friend on the day.

7/ The cultural Mãori performance was a big hit with the crowd towards the end of the day’s activities. (Andrew Delves Photo).

24 Breeze Magazine

Fast forward to Fjord Words and Running Images by Ivor Wilkins Interior Images supplied For motor-boaters looking for something different, the new Fjord 44 Coupe offers clean, futuristic Scandinavian styling, a strong sense of connection with the great outdoors, performance a-plenty and quality finish and equipment throughout.

The Fjord range is primarily made up of fast, open-top or T-canopy walk-around sport boats, ranging in size from 11.5m to 16.4m and much

favoured as high-end tenders for superyachts, with standards to match.

The 13.5m coupe refines this concept with the addition of an all-glass enclosed deck-house to provide a fast getaway cruiser.

In keeping with its sporting DNA, the designers have wisely avoided cramming the space with accommodations. With a twocabin layout, this is ideal for a couple with two children, or occasional guests. Think Porsche or Ferrari rather than SUV or people-mover.

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‘weekenders’, the range has developed a niche and resonated with owners demanding luxury, performance and distinction from your typical sedan style motor yachts,” says Cameron Burch of Windcraft, who represent the Fjord brand, which is part of the Hanse group.

“For the local market, the Fjord 44 ticks a lot of boxes for those owners who. like many of us. are time poor and want to maximise time on the water via a high-speed, high-end performance cruiser that can get them from A to B quickly and in style.”

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Left: The Fjord 44 Couple displays head-turning performance and style. Above: All-around glass admits plenty of light and provides panoramic views. Right: The hull form is sleek and efficient.

Powered by twin Volvo IPS 500 380hp engines, Veloce lives up to its name with cruise speeds of 22-24 knots, topping out at 30 knots. For those with a thirst for even more performance, optional 650 engines will add 6 knots to the cruise and top speeds.

A bowthruster is an option, but the joystick control of the IPS system makes close-quarter docking and manoeuvring quite straight forward.

The athletic character of the boat is evident in the large aft boarding platform, ideal for swimming, lounging or fishing – and big enough

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26 Breeze Magazine

The master cabin is spacious and bright. to stow a tender under way. The huge list of more than 70 optional extras, includes hydraulic control that lowers the platform into the water. for swim-on, swim-off easy access.

Moving around the boat is easy, with full walk-

around side decks, protected by high bulwarks.

The anchoring system can be controlled from the foredeck, or the wheelhouse. A push of a button and the anchor arcs out from its concealed bow locker and rotates forward on

an integral bowsprit to project the anchor away from the plumb bow.

The cockpit is accessed from either side of the boarding platform and features a forwardfacing U-shape settee surrounding a cockpit table, which can lower to create a large sunbed configuration.

The entire settee unit can slide back to enlarge the cockpit seating area, or forward to maximise space for action on the boarding platform as required. Again, ticking boxes on the option list can create multiple variations and functions, like a Swiss army knife.

For sun protection, an electric bimini slides out of the cabintop to cover the cockpit.

Entry to the wheelhouse is through large glass sliding doors, with a sleek galley ranged along the port side and seating and dining arranged along the starboard side.

Up forward, the helm station features a full array of navigational and monitoring displays, with the helm position occupying the middle of three aircraft-style seats. Needless to say, visibility is panoramic.

Port and starboard doors give easy access to the side decks. Overhead, the electric sliding roof opens, as do the side windows. With all the doors, windows and sliding roof open, there is plenty of ventilation, without resorting

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Breeze Magazine 27

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28 Breeze Magazine

PRINCIPAL SPECIFICATIONS Overall length

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Hull length

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Water capacity 300 litres Electronics

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The accommodations are below the foredeck and feature a master cabin with large island bed forward. Side windows and overhead skylights provide light and fresh air

ventilation. A hanging wardrobe and under-bed drawer provide storage space, while a separate shower and head is located just aft of the main cabin.

In standard configuration, this is the only sleeping accommodation, with a separate utility, storage area further aft under the main saloon.

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this utility room into a children’s or occasional guest cabin, with two bunk beds. • Windcraft NZ will have the Fjord 44 Coupe on public display at the Auckland Outboard Boating Club on November 21-22, along with three models (330, 390 and 430) from their Sealine range of motoryachts.

Breeze Magazine 29

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30 Breeze Magazine Right: Sheryl Lanigan.

Reduce, Re-use, Recycle: RNZYS commits to sustainable policy and practices Story and picture by Debra Douglas Pay attention! You may have grown up with Reading, wRiting and aRithmetic, but there are now three new ‘R’s to remember – Reduce, Re-use and Recycle. General committee member Sheryl Lanigan is keen for members

to practice these principles and incorporate them into daily life.

Sheryl is heading the Squadron’s Sustainability Committee, a subcommittee of House & Membership and a key project for the Squadron’s 15Oth anniversary.

“The Sustainability Committee was born out of a combination of things,” said Sheryl.

“First of all member Bianca Cook, who crewed on Turn the Tide on Plastic in the 2017-18 Volvo Ocean Race, made us aware there are things we could do at the club to reduce our plastic

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Breeze Magazine 31

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32 Breeze Magazine use. For example, getting rid of drinking straws in the bar and plastic bags in the shop.

“Also, there are some very passionate young people in our Youth Training Programme who are involved with Clean Regattas, the world’s leading sustainability certification for all on-the-water, near-the-water and water-loving events. Staff, too, are enthusiastic about ways we could do things better.

“So, there was a rumbling. Then Gillian Williams, at the time Chairman of the House, suggested we should have an Environmental Sustainability Policy, because that was a happening thing in the corporate world. Gillian was tasked with drawing up a policy and bringing it to the General Committee. It was approved and as a member of that Committee, I put my hand up and agreed to keep an eye on things.”

Joining Sheryl on the Sustainability Committee are member Michele Henderson and Bianca Cook and YTP members Chester Duffett, Serena Woodall, Niall Malone and Ben Sceats. Squadron staff members, led by Commercial Manager, Liz Sellars, are also involved when their rosters allow.

Key sustainability projects include

participation in Clean Regattas as per the ‘Sailors for the Sea’ guidelines, while working with a variety of stakeholders in the Gulf on developing key messaging for members and international visitors about caring for the Gulf; investigating the possibility of installing Seabins at Westhaven; communicating sustainable practices to members, beach clean-ups; a planting and pest eradication programme at Kawau and a sustainability and environmental speaker series.

The Squadron has also partnered with ‘Live Ocean’, a charity with a focus on ocean conservation founded by Emirates Team NZ sailors, Peter Burling and Blair Tuke, and the non-profit organisation ‘Sea Cleaners’, who through sponsorship co-ordinate volunteers to remove tonnes of rubbish from our waterways.

“It’s a matter of right thinking,” said Sheryl.

“Thinking about the food and beverage supplies we take sailing, then take ashore and should take home again. To my generation, it is not something new, because we grew up with Tupperware. We took food in containers, then took them home and washed them, ready for the next use.

“We have lost the focus somewhere along

the line, because disposable plastic stuff was considered easier. We must be conscious as sailors about protecting our sea. We want the water to be clean and clear. Gone are the days when it was deemed okay to smash beer bottles over the side and toss our old oranges to the fish.

“This summer of sailing think about what you are doing. Pack it in, pack it out. Reduce, recycle, re-use . . . it’s a work in progress. We need to be mindful of reducing our rubbish, recycling when we can, and looking after the water and the beaches.

“For some of us, it is revisiting what we were taught as children. Then there is a generation who must learn new habits and lastly there is a generation who are teaching us and leading the way. We want to support them.”

There is a call out for a lead person and volunteers to join the Squadron Green Team.

Tasks to be undertaken by this group would include sustainability and recycling education, for example, speaking at sailors’ briefings about managing rubbish disposal.

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Breeze Magazine 37

American Magic’s newly-launched Patriot goes airborne before crashing back down into the sea during its maiden sail.

Phoney war ends as Cup action at last takes flight The phoney war is over.The challengers have launched their best weapons. They are locked and loaded, ready for battle. The defender is holed up in its fortress, its war machine still shrouded. But soon the covers will come off and the real America’s Cup will commence.

Up to now, there have been a few thrusts and parries, testing resolve and strength, but into this new stage hostilities are on the rise. Diplomatic niceties have given way to accusation and recrimination. In the 170-year history of this revered trophy, it was ever thus.

“We have seen this all before,” notes America’s Cup commentator Peter Lester.

“Once they actually start racing, it all tends to change and a lot of the noise falls away.”

The latest imbroglio over the two most favoured race tracks with the best public access from North Head and Bastion Point has brought relations to a new low, but there are hopes that between the teams, the Harbour Master and Ports of Auckland a sensible solution can be found.

Grant Dalton, CEO of Emirates Team New

Zealand, has vowed to “move heaven and earth” to restore the two disputed courses onto the schedule.

With the challengers all settled in their Auckland bases and training out on the Hauraki Gulf in their second-generation yachts, we are already seeing a taste of what is to come. The sight of these machines moving in reasonable proximity to each other at high speed, raising the anticipation for the spectacle of closequarters, pedal-to-the-metal racing to come.

First of the new generation boats into the

38 Breeze Magazine

water was the New York Yacht Club American Magic’s Patriot, followed by the Royal Yacht Squadron Ineos Team UK’s second Britannia, with the Challenger of Record Prada Pirelli team, representing Circolo Della Vela Sicilia club, splashing their new Luna Rossa boat shortly after.

The Americans were bold in their approach, heading out for a debut sail just hours after installing the rig. In brisk conditions, they had an early scare when the boat reared up on its foils and then plunged bow-first back into the sea.

Although their second design reveals obvious changes towards the first New Zealand and

Italian boats with their distinct centreline hull bustles, the American team might have been pleased to retain their almost scow-type bow shape as they crashed back into the water. They quickly recovered and sailed on unscathed.

The most radical design change in the challenger camp was in the British boat, which

Breeze Magazine 39 Left: The aggressive bustle underneath the hull of the Ineos Team UK boat. Right: The US hull reveals a slippery aerodynamic form and retains the scow-type bow. Below: The British and American challengers are neighbours across the water from the New Zealand base, with the Italian Prada Pirelli team located in the Viaduct Basin. has gone from a flat hull to an aggressive centreline bustle. They took a more measured approach to their progression, first conducting tow tests without the rig and then making their debut sail in light winds shortly after the PIC Coastal Classic fleet drifted out of Auckland on its way to the Bay of Islands.

Outwardly the Italian design looks to be a refinement of their first iteration, although skipper Max Sirena cautioned that the biggest developments lay beneath the surface in the control systems – which probably applies across all the teams.

Because of Covid-19, the first time these teams will race against each other will be the Christmas Cup on December 17-20. That will be their first real opportunity to check in and try to gauge their relative strengths and weaknesses.

“It’s actually pretty frightening to think that in December you are really going to know whether you are in with a chance. If you are not fast enough, then it’s hard to believe you

Kiwi sailing community mourns the loss of David Barnes

are going to turn around enough in the time you have,” Dean Barker said following the Patriot launch.

Much speculation surrounds the Defender’s plans for the Christmas regatta. Whether they will use their second boat, or keep their powder dry for the Match itself is the question.

“Who knows?” says Lester. “We will have to wait and see. I would say there is a greater than 50% chance that they will want to race the second boat, but it is anybody’s guess.”

“The Christmas Cup is going to be fascinating,” says Peter Montgomery, who is set to be inducted into the America’s Cup Hall of Fame this summer for his longstanding contribution to the event. “Whether we will get a real handle on the relative performance of the boats is a moot point.

“They will all be trying to learn as much as they can about the other boats, without giving anything away about their own boat. It is a cat and mouse game.”

By Ivor Wilkins

David Barnes (right) with Rick Dodson.

The New Zealand America’s Cup and Olympic community mourned the loss in October of David Barnes after a long struggle with multiple sclerosis.

Barnes won three 470 world titles with Hamish Willcox in the early 1980s and was involved in six America’s Cup campaigns between 1985 and 2003. He was skipper of Sir Michael Fay’s Big Boat challenge in the 1988 Deed of Gift Match against Dennis Conner’s Stars & Stripes catamaran, which sparked prolonged court battles in the United States.

In 1981, sailing 470s Barnes and Willcox became the first New Zealanders to win an Olympic class world title – and went on to claim two more, but missed out on Olympic selection.

“David was a very revolutionary thinker,” Willcox said. “He was always thinking outside the box and came up with new concepts no-one had thought of.

“He was always looking for an advantage and was confident enough to do it himself rather than looking to manufacturers to produce it.”

In 2013, Barnes teamed up with fellow America’s Cup veteran Rick Dodson, who also contracted MS, in a bid to compete at the 2016 Paralympics. Barnes’ failing health, however, forced him to withdraw from the campaign.

Willcox said Barnes was also a talented endurance athlete, musician and family man to his wife, Karen, and their children, Jason, Sacha and Logan. “He is a huge loss to them and to the sailing community,” Willcox said.

40 Breeze Magazine

Guillaume Verdier’s much-cherished Farr-designed 8.1m keeler in Auckland.

Foil wiz likes going back to basics Words and Photos by Ivor Wilkins Moored on the dock in front of Emirates Team New Zealand’s imposing headquarters, just behind the gleaming superyacht owned by team principal Matteo de Nora, is a modest 45-year-old 8.1m wooden yacht that reveals its light displacement by tugging at its mooring lines with a kind of restless energy.

If this little sample of New Zealand sailing heritage seems out of place against the backdrop of leading edge America’s Cup design and technology, it comes as even more of a surprise to learn that it is the pride and joy of Frenchman Guillaume Verdier, whose primary task within the design team is focused on making the new AC75s fly.

Although he shuns the accolade, Verdier’s work on foiling has gained him a reputation as one of world’s top exponents of the science with projects spanning a wide range, from the America’s Cup to the IMOCA 60 Vendee Globe solo round the world yachts, to giant Jules Verne multihulls and even commercial passenger ships.

Yet, notwithstanding his work on the rarefied challenges of creating foiling machines that flirt with speeds of 50 knots, Verdier has high admiration for Bruce Farr’s first attempt at a keelboat. “The hull lines are just perfect,” he says of his little half-tonner, which is a sistership to Titus Canby, the yacht Farr drew for his skiff crewmate Rob Blackburn nearly a half century ago.

Verdier found the yacht in a dilapidated state in Auckland, bought it

for $5000 and, with the help of some of his team-mates, has fixed it up in his spare time. “It is just a minimal fixing, enough to survive kids and family cruising and members of the team. They are all welcome to take it out with their girlfriends, or wives and families. It really belongs to us all.”

In his determination to downplay his own role in the foiling revolution, Verdier reminds us that back in the mid-1970s, right at the time Farr was embarking on his stellar career in keelboat design, commercial hydrofoil ferries were transporting passengers in Europe. “In fact,” he adds, “if you look through the patents, hydrofoils go right back to the late 19th and early 20th century.

“Before the commercial ferries, the military had huge hydrofoil boats that could move fast from one point to the other and then strike at the enemy.” Although commercial hydrofoils probably proved uneconomic after fuel costs soared – they could consume 3,500 litres in 15 minutes – the foil technology was quite well developed.

As a schoolboy at the Mathématique Supérieures, where Verdier started dreaming about boat design, the science of hydrofoils was one of the subjects.

Small sailboats were also experimenting with foiling in the 1970s and, after a programme of development stretching back to the 1980s, the large French multihull Hydroptere broke the world speed record in 2009 with a speed of 52.86 knots.

About a year later, Verdier was contracted to work with Emirates

Breeze Magazine 41 Team New Zealand for the 2013 Cup challenge. “I came into this team at an opportune moment in time and the design group, driven by Nick Holroyd, said we are going to push as hard as we can and the way to go fast is to take off.”

That led to the so-called waka project, where through the winter of 2012, the team tested foiling concepts on Lake Arapuni in the Waikato.

A breakthrough occurred quite late in the programme as they were testing an L-shape aluminium foil, which was proving very unstable – until it failed.

“It broke at the welded elbow joint,” Verdier explains, “but the horizontal piece did not detach. Instead, it folded up into a V-shape. Glenn Ashby was driving the waka and he suddenly yelled out, ‘Guys, it is really stable’. It was a eureka moment. Actually, at that time, the first foil for the AC72 was already being built, but we changed direction and worked on the V-shape concept.”

Verdier says the foiling development in the America’s Cup had a profound effect on moving the technology and understanding forward, particularly in terms of upwind and downwind stability.

In San Francisco, the last-minute breakthrough in upwind foiling by the American defender won the Cup. “We were right on the edge of that, but our set-up was more draggy and they found a trick to foil upwind.”

Which reopens the controversy over the American control system.

Verdier shrugs it off. “Their system was approved, so it was definitely legal,” he says. “The question is whether it was wrongly approved, but that is a debate which is no longer of any interest really. They played the game well.”

Following the 2017 Emirates Team New Zealand victory in Bermuda,

Guillaume Verdier’s design area takes him into a world of aerofoil shapes which generate enough lift to make monohulls, multihulls, even ships fly.

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42 Breeze Magazine

Concept plan for Auckland boatie led to AC75 foiling monohull . . . the Cup returned to New Zealand and work began immediately on the new monohull rule for the regatta which is now upon us. By coincidence, Ray Davies and Verdier had previously worked on a concept for Auckland yachtsman Howard Spencer, who was interested in a 40ft foiling monohull. Over a dinner conversation, Verdier sketched a rough outline of a yacht with a quite extreme foil and a bulb keel. “Ray said there is one object too many in the water. Get rid of the keel,” Verdier recalls.

“Right away I thought of French naval architect Martin Defline who put two canting keels on an Open 60. It was not legal under the rule, but it was very efficient. If the bulb was a foil, it would work. You would have static stability and then when you take off, the dynamic stability will be provided by the leeward foil with the windward one up in the air to provide righting moment.

“I went away and did some analysis and after less than two days, I established it would be 50% more efficient than a classic keel plus foil, which is huge.” Although that project never proceeded, Ray Davies presented it at an early meeting about the new America’s Cup rule.

The initial reaction was amused scepticism, but ETNZ CEO Grant Dalton said it should be investigated on the team’s simulator. “Everybody liked it,” Verdier recalls. “The sailors found it fun to sail. We created a simulator package and sent it to the Italian team and they liked it as well.”

While Emirates Team New Zealand has great faith in its simulator package, there was still considerable relief when the British team launched

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their 12m surrogate boat and demonstrated the concept worked.

Verdier believes early capsizes and stability issues with their surrogate boat led the British to a hull shape that emphasised stability. With the second generation boats starting to be unveiled, he is not surprised to see a convergence in the hull treatments.

As for the foils, the eternal challenge is that they have to transfer the boat from slow-speed take-off to high speed flying. “That transition is very complex.”

The rule confines the designers to the wings that attach to the foil arms, the rudder elevators and the control systems. “You can play a little bit with the trailing edge of the arm and on the wings you can choose the profile you want. You can have slotted wings or continuous wings and you can make different flaps, as long as they have a fixed rotation axis.

“All this provides quite wide areas of design exploration, but we will probably all go more or less in the same direction,” he believes.

There is also scope to vary the foil stiffness and encourage deformation of the shape under load to assist performance. “We all play this game,” he nods. Foil configurations can be T-shapes or dihedral, as long as the overall dimensions remain within a triangular box as defined in the rule.

“I call that the coat hanger,” Verdier says. “I am very frustrated,” he adds in mock exasperation. “There is so much you could do if that coat hanger was not there.

“When I move away from the Cup and work on the Jules Verne project, I have full freedom except for the rules of nature as determined by the wind and wave states. Will you still foil in 4m waves? Their only rules are about good sense, safety, survival and the ability to go non-stop around the world without losing people.”

These are matters much on his mind for this Southern summer as the Gitana group, for whom he designs, prepares their 32m foiling trimaran Edmond de Rothschild for an attempt to break the Jules Verne round the world record of 40 days 23 hours 30 minutes.

There are also two new- and 10 previous-generation yachts to his design set to compete in the gruelling Vendee Globe solo non-stop race around the world in foiling IMOCA 60 monohulls capable of speeds over 30 knots. Like the America’s Cup, this class imposes rule restrictions and he is very critical of the refusal to allow rudder elevators, which aid foiling stability.

“It is like making somebody build an aeroplane without a tail wing,” he says. “Good luck.You cannot really fly. It makes for the most uncomfortable boats on the planet. The boat and the skipper are assaulted on all sides.

“The only way to exist at sea is to lie down on a bean bag with your head towards the bow. They drive the boat lying on their backs and looking behind, that’s how crazy it has become.”

These are not just academic grumbles. Verdier cares deeply about the people competing in this race. “I worry all the time they are at sea,” he admits. “If something bad happened to them, I honestly think I would have to give up working on these projects.”

As for the notion that we will see foiling systems applied to cruising yachts, he expects there will be people who want to explore this idea.

But clearly it is not for him.

Which brings us back to the little Farr yacht moored outside. Pack the family on board, pull up the sails and head for a secluded bay. No need to worry about foil pressure differentials and super-cavitation at 50 knots. Bliss.

Breeze Magazine 43

Skincare and coffee The team at Ponsonby skin specialists, Caci, is enthusiastic about the concept that ‘happiness resides within’. And they brought their enthusiasm to a recent Ladies’ Coffee Morning, where manager Bernadette Allan and treatment co-ordinator Courtney Penny talked about treatments to improve skin tone and textures and slow down the signs of aging.

Among those hearing about being more comfortable in their skin were …

1/ Caci treatment co-ordinator Courtney Penny and Ponsonby manager Bernadette Allan.

2/ From left, Catherine Walker, Jill Draper and Lisa Brickell.

3/ Rae Collins and Sandra Regan.

4/ Helen Howley and Mary Hill.

5/ From left, Liz Rothwell, Elaine Findley, Patsy Armour and Jean Salthouse.

6/ Raffle winner Barbara O’Connor receives her bottle of bubbles from Membership Director Kim Bond (left).

Pictures by Debra Douglas

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44 Breeze Magazine

Cooking up a storm Story and pictures by Debra Douglas There’s only one way to chop onions and that’s the right way.

Members at the Squadron’s Executive Chef Jean Brito’s Table Cooking Class not only honed their chopping, slicing and dicing skills, but also went home with many creative culinary ideas for their next dinner party.

Jean’s audience was a mixed bunch. His students included those who just love cooking for and with the family and those who consider the kitchen their exclusive domain. Some had limited skills and cooked just to survive; one husband said that after the class he didn’t intend to pick up his game, but was there to make sure his wife, “didn’t miss a trick”.

Aprons were provided and volunteers were called for to help with preparation, while Jean explained the history behind the dishes and suggested professional tips to impress dinner guests.

“This cooking class was crafted purely by what I wanted to make,” said Jean. ”It was created for cooking at home, using the implements available and on the temperamental stove we all have. No complicated appliances needed. We all felt like at home among family.

“It was a great event, different from the usual cooking class. I’m all for interactive events to get to know the audience closely. Everyone likes to eat and drink, which makes it easier to enjoy. I was also impressed with the reaction and engagement of every participant in the room. They were more than happy to chat with me and ask me questions about the dishes we were preparing.

“I think we have started something good with this kind of event, so yes definitely, we will have more coming!”

Some of the budding chefs who attended: 1/ Donna Tercel and Carla Pedersen.

2/ Lesley and Mark Austin 3/ From left, Colin and Pat Carran with Kath and Steve Burrett.

4/ From left, Gerhard and Dianne Nagele with Desiree and Ross Barritt.

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Breeze Magazine 45

The cooking class menu…

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46 Breeze Magazine

Bianca Cook (left), Robin Marsh and Elise Beavis.

Women’s Tales from the Top Words by Ivor Wilkins. Photo by Debbie Whiting The progress and increasing opportunities for modern women in professional careers in sailing and the marine industry were highlighted at a well-attended Secret Women’s Business meeting at the RNZYS in early October.

The three speakers, Emirates Team New Zealand design engineer Elise Beavis, international rigger Robin Marsh, and Volvo Ocean Racer Bianca Cook, all described how they had succeeded in their career paths at the highest levels.

Although Bianca Cook and Robin Marsh both grew up in passionate sailing families, Elise Beavis, whose immediate family had no yachting involvement, took a less obvious path into the sport.

“When I was little, I had the idea that little girls do ballet, so that’s what I was doing,” she said.

However, after her mother enrolled her in a holiday sailing course at Takapuna, “I fell in love with sailing and forgot about ballet, which was good because I was pretty hopeless at It”.

After progressing from Sunbursts, to Optimists to Starlings, she competed in the Youth Olympic Games in Singapore and the Laser Radial world championships at Brisbane.

At a crossroad, she veered away from Olympic sailing ambitions – “I decided I did not have the drive to be successful at Olympic level” – and became more motivated to do well academically.

Playing to her strengths in maths and physics, she found her niche when a Google search of Engineering Science posed the question, “how

can a sail be designed to work in low-wind conditions”, as a theoretical example of what the discipline might solve. “That got me hooked.”

From the outset, she identified working at Emirates Team New Zealand as her long-term goal and concentrated on aerodynamics as her specialty. “From competitive sailing, I was aware that many sailors did engineering, but most concentrated on mechanical engineering.” She asked herself how she could acquire a different skillset that would be of interest to an America’s Cup team.

In her final year at Auckland University, her planning and perseverance paid off. Elise gained an internship at ETNZ that translated into a fulltime position in the design team, where she worked on the aerodynamic fairings and the cyclor grinding system, which gave the team a significant edge at the 2017 America’s Cup in Bermuda.

Working towards the 2021 defence, her involvement has included the initial exploration of monohull types and then helping draft the design rule, which produced the foiling AC75 class, after which her roles have expanded to include performance analysis and software coding for the highly sophisticated Velocity Prediction Programmes and the simulation packages the team relies on in its testing and development regimes.

As one of very few women riggers travelling worldwide to work on grand prix sailing projects, Canadian-born Robin Marsh describes herself as a ropesmith, or less formally as a “rope nerd”. Growing up in a sailing family, her professional career was launched when she arrived in New Zealand nearly 20 years ago in somewhat unusual circumstances.

One night at dinner, her father announced he wanted the family yacht

Breeze Magazine 47 relocated to New Zealand. Who wanted to do the delivery? Robin, then 19, and her 23-year-old sister put their hands up and off they went.

“It was quite the adventure,” she recalled. “We learned a lot. My sister and I are completely opposite. She is very booksmart and extremely impractical, whereas I am all hands-on. She went around breaking everything and I went around fixing everything.”

After a five-month passage across the Pacific, the two sisters arrived in Whangarei, where Robin stayed on for seven months, living on board, while her sister returned to Canada.

From that casual dinner-time invitation, the sisters actually ended up completing two round-trip passages between Canada and New Zealand, during which Robin’s practical skills grew into a career as a rigger, first on superyachts and then specialising in grand prix race boats.

She worked on two Volvo Ocean Races as part of the shore team, completed a Sydney Hobart race as part of a Hugo Boss team and then tried out for the all-women’s team for the 2014-15 race. “It was my dream to race around the world,” she recounted, but the discovery that she had cervical cancer meant she had to miss out.

After successful treatment, she returned to New Zealand and resumed her rigging career, working on a project with her husband, RNZYS Youth Programme graduate Brad Marsh, who was supervising the build of a race yacht.

Once the boat was completed, she and Brad joined the race crew and had a successful season racing around Europe. “Maybe that was more fun than sailing around the world with 13 other women,” she laughed. Now a mother of a two-year-old and expecting a second child, Robin continues racing locally while following her successful career based in New Zealand.

Bianca Cook did fulfil her ambition to race around the world when she was selected for the Turn the Tide on Plastics crew in the last Volvo Ocean Race. Now, her ambition is to lead a mixed-gender New Zealand campaign in the Ocean Race, successor to the Volvo event, which has had to postpone its start to 2022, because of the Covid pandemic.

Bianca and her sister Paige were steeped in sailing and boats from birth, with their parents, Ian and Blanche Cook, both passionate yachties and owners of the Yachting Developments boatyard producing high-tech composite boats.

The Cook sisters also grew up in the culture of the RNZYS, where they attended the Youth Training Programme and where Ian has just completed his two-year stint as Commodore. “Here at the Squadron and throughout my professional sailing career, I have been lucky,” she said. “I have never been told, ‘Oh, you’re a girl’ and automatically put in a certain role on a boat.”

Bianca told the group of the frustrations of having Covid-19 disrupt her Ocean Race plans. Having purchased the Turn the Tide on Plastic Volvo 65 race yacht and put it through an extensive refit at Yachting Development, she was scheduled to formally launch the boat the day New Zealand went into Level 4 lockdown.

With their plans stalled over the intervening months, the programme is now being revived. The boat at last went into the water in late September. “It was awesome dusting the old girl off. It hadn’t been sailing for two years, since the end of the last race.”

The immediate goal was to compete in the Coastal Classic. “After that, we will figure it all out,” said Bianca, in reference to the ultimate goal of raising the backing required to get to the start of the round the world race in 2022.

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48 Breeze Magazine

Patrol boat Te Kouma is Del Erceg’s second home.

Delwyn Erceg: in demand and in command Story and picture by Debra Douglas “Del will do it.” That’s a comment heard often in the Squadron’s Race Office. Del is Delwyn Erceg, the volunteer Race Officer leading the Club Marine Wednesday Night Series racing through the summer, as well as assisting at most club race series and major regattas.

This year, Del ran a successful Club Marine Winter Series race management team and according to Squadron Race Manager, Rochelle Segar: “She loves helping people, being involved in whatever capacity and steps in to assist other race management teams to fill the gaps over roles such as Committee boat driver, timekeeper and line caller.”

Del, however, just considers she is a lucky person to be involved with sailing.

“It is just a magical feeling. As soon as you hop on the water, you forget what is happening on land.”

Del learned to sail as a teenager when her parents bought her a kauri sailing dinghy.

“That got me interested in sailing and I just loved it.”

Life got busy and it wasn’t until a few years ago when she found herself on her own again that her son-in-law’s father, Brian Ward, who owns Systems Thunder, encouraged her to get out and go sailing again.

Del: “That’s where it started. I sailed on Thunder, even if it was just sitting on the back or being ballast, and also on Stuart Scott’s boats, Ballistic and Tigga. Stu mentored me and I learned a lot. I was meeting people and enjoyed the social aspect.

“I thought there must be other things to do around sailing and heard the Squadron was looking for volunteers – the rest is history. Sailing Director Laurie Jury has been very encouraging and I have learned so much from the race management crews. The more experienced always give the newbies a hand up.”

Del’s day job is as a project manager with WSP, a global engineering professional services consulting firm. She is also involved as a Trustee

of the Farmers Santa Parade, sourcing funding and recruiting fellow event volunteers.

“My interest in the parade started with my grandfather and uncle both working at Farmers in the golden olden days. Last year I sat in the Parade’s Grand Marshall car with my grandson.

It was a magic day. I am so glad it is going ahead this year.

“It is always hard to find people to commit to volunteering, but for me at the Squadron it has been life-changing. Get in touch. We are going to be so busy here during the summer and we are low on the ground with volunteers.

“And most importantly you don’t have to be a sailor to be a volunteer. You just need to have the interest.”

• If you are interested in joining Del and her team contact: Neville Collett, Race Management Volunteer Co-ordinator, Ph 021 81 4060, ncollett@xtra.co.nz, or the RNZYS Sailing Office, Ph 360 6809, to find out more.

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50 Breeze Magazine

Co-skippered by Bianca Cook and Darryl Wislang, NZ Ocean Racing scored a line and handicap double in the 2020 PIC Coastal Classic.

Coastal Classic: Slow Ride North Words and Pictures by Ivor Wilkins Proof postive that time and tide waits for nobody, the 2020 PIC Coastal Classic will go down in the record books as the year when lack of wind meant only a tiny minority actually beat the 3pm deadline to post a score on Saturday afternoon.

It was also the year when a monohull took overall line honours for the first time in 11 years. As Bianca Cook’s Volvo 65 NZ Ocean Racing limped across the line at 4am, it marked an important first victory, both on line and handicap, in her bid to lead a Kiwi entry in the 2022 Ocean Race. It came at a cost: “painful” was her description of the slow plod up the coast in little to no wind.

Others may have had less restrained descriptions in mind as they were left adrift. More than 130 were scored as DNF, as they missed the cut-off mark. Entire divisions – Div. 3, Div. 4, Div. 5, Div. 8, Solo and 8.5

mulithulls – suffered that fate, while four other divisions – Div. 2, Doublehanded, Women and Classics – recorded only a single finisher.

Across the fleet, the fortunes between the relative few who managed to post valid finish times and those who toiled away with no reward often involved hero-to-zero experiences as fickle winds cast a lottery over the results.

Much interest focused on the three new Melges 40s, which had hoped to show their pace with a blistering downwind blast. Instead, what little breeze there was, always came from ahead.

Cape Brett, the gateway to the final sprint into the Bay of Islands finish, lowered the portcullis and kept the invaders at bay.

“There was a total re-start of the race at Cape Brett,” said RNZYS Commodore Aaron Young. From dusk to dawn, his Checkmate moved no more than five miles. “About the best we can say is that we finished.

Breeze Magazine 51

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Maybe it is just 2020. It has been a year of all kinds of weird and wonderful things. The Coastal Classic was just one more.”

Past Commodore Steve Mair’s Clockwork was the first of the Melges to finish, with Checkmate 4 min behind. But, spare a thought for Sikon, the third of the breed. Sikon, jointly owned by John Cobb and Humphrey Sherratt, had its nose in front of this private race virtually all the way to Cape Brett, only to come to a complete halt and finally miss the cut.

If there was a pattern at all, it was that the boats that took the longest route, holding well offshore and particularly giving Cape Brett the widest possible berth, came off best. That certainly paid off for Carrera (Jens Bol), Mr Kite (Nathan Williams) and Titanium (Shane Bellingham), who took the handicap honours in Division 1b.

Similarly, with the big multihulls. An intriguing line up of sailing superstar veterans of Whitbread and America’s Cup races past filled two of the large catamarans, Cation and Apache. Although Erle Williams’ Apache held the lead for much of their match race north, it was Owen Rutter on Cation who slid past and kept the lead as Apache put in several tacks between Whananaki and Helena Bay to gain searoom For many of the entries, the 2020 race will not hold the fondest memories of frustration and tedium – although there was hopefully some consolation in an enjoyable downwind slide back to Auckland in glorious Labour Weekend conditions afterwards.

1/ Harri Wren, working the bow aboard Garry Scarborough’s Wedgetail; 2/ Past Commodore Steve Mair and his Clockwork crew lining up for the Auckland start; 3/ Commodore Aaron Young at the helm of his Melges 40, Checkmate; 4/ A lone fisherman about to have his solitude shattered by a cavalcade of Coastal Classic racers.

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Some of New Zealand’s most experienced superstars joined battle in this year’s PIC Coastal Classic Race . . .

1/ Whitbread veteran Owen “O.C” Rutter at the helm of catamaran Cation, with Mark Hauser (blue top) and Godfrey Cray (background).

2/ Mutliple America’s Cup campaigner, Murray Jones in his familiar role of searching for breeze.

3/ Whitbread and J-Class campaigner Erle Williams helming his catamaran Apache, with Craig Satterthwait talking tactics.

4/ Legendary bowman, Joey Allen, occupying familiar territory up forward on Apache.

5/ After multiple circumnavigations, top navigator Mike Quilter knows the way back to his home in the Bay of Islands.

6/ America’s Cup veteran Carl Whiting at the helm of Emotional Rescue.

7/ Bear with us, we are still trying to identify these obvious rockstars.

Breeze Magazine 53

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54 Breeze Magazine

Negative Interest Rates in New Zealand Market expectations for the Official Cash Rate (OCR) to go negative next year are increasing. The Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) has suggested that this is a real possibility if further monetary policy support is required. Negative rates should provide scope for lower borrowing and saving rates, but the extent of this and its impact remain uncertain.

On cutting the OCR to 0.25% in March, the RBNZ declared it would keep the OCR at this level until March 2021. Subsequently, as the crisis deteriorated, further monetary policy support was needed.

Rather than breaching this commitment, the RBNZ instead pulled other policy levers, most notably quantitative easing via its Large Scale Asset Purchase (LSAP) programme.

These decisions may have been due to required support for the government bond market, given the huge increase in government bond issuance. It also transpired that that the New Zealand banking system was not operationally prepared for negative wholesale interest rates.

Looking ahead, while further increases to the LSAP programme are possible, the RBNZ has indicated that if further monetary policy support is required, it could lower the OCR further, including considering a negative OCR. Indeed, the RBNZ has required NZ banks to be operationally prepared for negative wholesale rates by the end of this year. Interest rate markets are therefore now pricing in a high probability of a negative OCR. How would a negative OCR impact banks?

The OCR is the conventional monetary policy tool the RBNZ uses to influence interest rates in New Zealand. A lower OCR lowers short term wholesale money market interest rates. The RBNZ does not, however, directly impact retail interest rates as these are ultimately set by the retail banks for their clients. That said, the RBNZ has stated their belief that a negative OCR should not mean negative retail rates. This is supported by the experience offshore, where some countries have experienced an extended period of negative central bank rates.

These circumstances are a problem for retail banks. In a gross simplification, retail banks will have to pay an interest rate of zero or above on client cash balances, but will receive a negative interest rate when these are deposited at wholesale rates, or with the RBNZ. That would reduce bank profitability by reducing their interest margin. This is the nexus of the argument against the efficacy of negative interest rates as when banks are earning less, their profitability suffers and they will be less likely to extend credit to the economy. Advocates of negative interest rates, such as the European Central Bank, claim the counterfactual would have been worse.

To mitigate the negative impact on banks, the RBNZ is proposing that a negative OCR would be accompanied by some form of funding for lending, at a rate likely just higher than the OCR. The form of this or similar mitigating programmes are still to be determined. There are

multiple offshore examples, but in short, the objective will be to mitigate the impact of a negative OCR on bank profitability.

What does this mean for retail interest rates?

A negative OCR should translate to lower retail interest rates. The move lower may not be uniform, and some retail interest rates may have limited scope to change. We summarise these into four broad categories: • On call retail bank accounts that attract the OCR or an interest rate close to zero already would likely only fall to an interest rate of zero if the OCR went negative.

• Retail term deposit rates have been falling concurrent with a falling OCR, but in general over recent years carded retail term deposit rates have been significantly above the OCR (see chart below). This is due to banks competing for domestic deposits, cognisant that regulation (even if currently more relaxed) requires a proportion of their lending to be deposit funded. Nonetheless, with a lower OCR, these rates will also fall but likely retain a small positive interest rate.

• Retail lending rates (mortgages, but also unsecured lending) should fall, but as the aggregate interest cost for banks will not fall in line with the OCR (for the reasons outlined above), they are likely to fall less than the fall in the OCR. Moreover, banks still need to earn a margin above their cost of funding for the risk they take for lending to households and corporates – per the chart below, the current difference between the OCR and a two-year fixed rate is approximately 3.5 percentage points.

• Interest rates on corporate and government bonds may fall further as investors hunt for positive returns.

While the OCR has fallen 0.75 ppts in the year to August, the twoyear fixed mortgage has fallen 0.80 ppts and six month deposit rates 1.5 ppts. Should the OCR go negative, we see scope for retail borrowing and deposit interest rates to fall, but as noted by the RBNZ, “don’t expect your mortgage or your deposit rates to go negative”.

Disclaimer: This article is intended to provide general information only. It does not take into account your investment needs or personal circumstances. It is not intended to be viewed as investment or financial advice. Should you require financial advice you should always speak to an Authorised Financial Adviser. If you would like to speak to a Milford Adviser please contact us on 0800 662 347.

Breeze Magazine 55

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56 Breeze Magazine

FOILING FAMILY ANDREW AITKEN ANDY ANDERSON BEACON MARINE COLIN & PATRICA CARRAN COLOURWORX ROY DICKSON DODSON JAPANESE PARTSWORLD DOYLE SAILS GRAEME EDWARDS GERALD FLYNN MATTHEW FLYNN GALBRAITH FAMILY DON GRAYSON HARKEN NZ PHILLIP HART HOPMAN FAMILY ICEFIRE LTD KZN RACE FURLERS LIGHTHOUSE MARINE EQUIPMENT LUCAS FAMILY MIKE MAHONEY STEVE MAIR MCKEOGH FAMILY MULCAHY ENGINEERING DAVID NATHAN NEW WORLD BIRKENHEAD PAGANI PORK CHOP RACING ANDREW REID SAVINGS WORKS JOHN & KATHRYN SINCLAIR SOUTHERN SPARS/ RIGPRO WASHTECH WESTHAVEN ROTARY WINDOWMAKERS HUGH L WRIGHT YACHTING DEVELOPMENTS ZHIK

SUPPORTERS

Close startline action in the Theland NZ Open National Keelboat Champs – Andrew Delves Photo All of our RNZYS Performance Programme teams have been in action over the past few weeks at two national championship events hosted by the RNZYS, as well as various club racing series getting back up and running for the new summer season.

The first was the Theland NZ Open National Keelboat Championship, sailed in the MRX fleet between Northern Leading Buoy and Rangitoto Island. Four PP teams were in action, skippered by Niall Malone, Nick Egnot-Johnson, Jordan Stevenson, and Megan Thomson. The event was sailed in perfect conditions with some incredibly tight racing.

Our PP teams don’t do a lot of MRX fleet racing, but they all sailed extremely well against some seasoned competition. Jordan Stevenson and his Vento Racing team finished the best of the bunch in 4th, followed by 2019 champion Nick Egnot-Johnson (Knots Racing) in 6th.

Malone finished in 10th, with Megan Thomson’s 2.0 racing team in 12th.

The following week, it was time for our teams to switch back into match racing mode, as the RNZYS hosted theYachting Developments NZ Match Racing Championship. It was four days of full-on breeze, which provided epic conditions to send it in the Elliott 7’s.

Again the defending champion, Nick EgnotJohnson and his Knots Racing team made it through to the final after defeating past PP

sailor Leonard Takahashi 2-1 in the semifinal. However eventual champion Graeme Sutherland was too much for him in the final, winning 2-0 and leaving Knots Racing in the runners-up position (still a great result with 16 teams competing).

Jordan Stevenson (Vento Racing) finished 5th and Niall Malone (Royal Irish Match Racing) finished 7th, after both were knocked out at the quarterfinal stage. Our two all-girl teams, Celia Willison (Edge Women’s Match) and Megan Thomson (2.0 Racing), lost out in the Super Sixteen stage and finished 12th and 13th respectively.

With the RNZYS summer club racing season now underway, we have several of our PP sailors scattered across various members’ yachts across multiple club racing series. Big boat sailing is a great addition for these young sailors to further hone their sailing skills and it gives them the opportunity to learn from some experienced club racers. Megan Thomson and the 2.0 Racing girls had a great start to the Barfoot & Thompson Ladies Series, finishing 2nd in the opening night harbour race.

With plenty of club racing and major regattas coming up in the next few months, our PP sailors will be on the water as much as they can, and there is sure to be much more success to report on in the next edition of Breeze.

Andrew Delves

Breeze Magazine 57

MAJOR SPONSOR

MASTERCARD YOUTH TRAINING PROGRAMME SUPPORTERS YTP sailors have been busy sailing in club regattas recently. We have had crews competing in the weekly Havana Club Rum Races, Club Marine Insurance Wednesday Series, Barfoot & Thompson Ladies Racing, Elliott 7 Sprints, NZ Match Race Qualifiers, NZ Women’s Match Race Nationals, Yachting Developments NZ Match Racing Championship, the Theland NZ Keelboat National Championship and we sent a team away to compete in the Mud House Women’s Regatta in Waikawa.

Jonathon Weston is one of the top helms of the Mastercard Youth Training Programme and proved his worth by going through the entire NZ Match Racing Nationals Qualifiers regatta unbeaten. He did, however, import some graduates as crew in the form of Josh Wijohn, Taylor Balogh and Connor Mashlan.

Robbie McCutcheon finished in 2nd place with his team of Chester Duffett, Jack Frewin, Sam Street and Oakley Marsh showing real growth from last years’ performance.

The Mastercard Youth Training Programme entered two teams into the NZ Women’s Match Racing Championship with Holly McNeill, Bella Boyd, Frey Caisley, Kelly Main and Alice Noyer claiming 5th place and Maeve White, Mackenzie Alderson, Josi Andres, Lily Barrett and Georgina Lowry finishing 7th. This was the strongest turn-out we have had for this regatta in a long time. We would normally have a number of international teams who couldn’t take part this year for obvious reasons.

Robbie McCutcheon stepped up from the dinghy-like Elliott 7s to take on the country’s best in the Theland NZ Keelboat Championship sailed in the MRX fleet. Against a top notch fleet, Robbie and his team placed 8th amongst the fourteen strong fleet.

Our first Mastercard Youth Training Programme team to compete in an overseas event – across the Cook Strait counts at the moment! – was Holly McNeill, Bella Boyd, Frey Caisley and Georgina Lowry, who competed in the Mud House Waikawa regatta. This is an event where sailors from across the country

can turn up, sail on members’ boats and have a fun weekend racing without the hassle of having to travel with boats.

The girls had a blast and thoroughly enjoyed their time down south, finishing in 10th place.

A big shout out to Ian and Nick Gardiner who let the team sail their boat in the event.

The Yachting Developments NZ Match Racing Championship was the largest match racing event we have ever run with 16 teams. With massive breeze all event, it put everyone to the test including umpires and race management. Max McLachlan and Robbie McCutcheon led two Mastercard Youth Training Programme teams with Max finishing in 15th place and Robbie finishing in a very credible 5th place.

I managed to get out and race myself with previous YTP Coach Guy Pilkington and two graduates, Harry Thurston and Tom Bentham. It was an absolute blast and great to experience racing again!

We have our fingers crossed that Bianca Cook will take us out on her Ocean going vessel so all Mastercard Youth Training Programme sailors can get a feel for what it is like being on and sailing these modern ocean going yachts.

Here’s hoping for a big breeze day too! There is plenty happening in the youth scene and plenty more to look forward to.

Reuben Corbett

Robbie McCutcheon takes a mid-race dip. – Andrew Delves Photo.

BOAT SPONSORS

www.classicyacht.org.nz

ISSN 1175-804X

Issue 132 – December 2020

Right: Chad Thompson (lleft) receives his Life Membership award from Hamish Ross, Patron of the CYA.

Chad Thompson honoured with CYA Life Membership Chad was one of the original four founders of the CYA in 1995 and has remained closely involved for the last 25 years in helping to promote and preserve New Zealand’s classic yacht heritage.

Before the CYA was established there was little focus on New Zealand’s quite remarkable yachting heritage that our forefathers bequeathed us and most were falling victim to neglect, decay and worse still to backyard butchering.

Chad’s great enthusiasm for classic yachting was impossible to ignore. He quickly became essential to the Association’s establishment and has remained steadfast to its objectives and never far from the centre of its life and vitality.

He has promoted New Zealand’s Classic Yacht scene overseas, resulting in international recognition of New Zealand’s yachting treasures in publications such as Classic Yacht and Wooden Boat, to make New Zealand part of the international revival of classic yachting as a recognised and active sailing class.

Without Chad’s energy and boundless enthusiasm, the Association would have achieved little of what it has managed to do and it is far richer for his sustained contribution over the past 25 years.

Many of our special treasures would have been lost. He has been associated at various times with not only Prize but also Little Jim, Thelma, and Ariki to name a

few of our fleet. This is what it is about – saving one yacht at a time. We now have an enviable world-class classic fleet.

It was my absolute honour and pleasure to present, on behalf of the Classic Yacht Association of New Zealand, a Life Membership to Chad Thompson, a scion of a family whose name has helped build every Westhaven yacht club and to which Chad has added new lustre.

This Life Membership does

not mark the end of Chad’s classic yachting career, but to quote Winston Churchill when he was about Chad’s age: “Now this is not the end.

It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.”

That is the CYA story as well as Chad’s. He joins Harold Kidd, Joyce Talbot and Robert Brooke as a Life Member.

Hamish Ross, Patron CYA of New Zealand

Korara’s ‘quick tickle up’ slows down . . .

By Anatole Perry Classic yacht Korara, with a hull of kauri and cabin sides and interior of solid teak, was built in 1962 by Ron Gurr and Snow Waters to a modified Mary Islay design by John E Powell. The Mary Islay was designed for sport fishing purposes in the unforgiving English Channel and needed to be capable of maintaining her cruising speed in inclement weather, hence the steadying sail.

Unfortunately, there do not appear to be any early photos of Korara. If anyone has any old pictures, we would be very interested to see them.

We brought Korara down from Whangaroa in a storm in late 2017. She was in tidy original condition, but needed a repaint and a few minor adjustments.

In 2019, after a trip overseas, first to Antarctica, where my wife Jennifer ran the marathon, and then to South America to warm up again, I decided to pull Korara out of the water for a ‘quick tickle up’. Yeah right!

A couple of small leaks in the deck led to a repaint and varnish. As I stripped back, a few bits of rot were found (mainly in areas where poor earlier repairs had been done when she reverted from a modified twin mast setup back to her original single mast). Next came the decision to glass the decks – more stripping, back to the beautiful kauri.

Some rust spotting suggested it would be worth removing the side chain plates. That, in turn, required taking out the fuel tanks for access. It was then

found the tanks and U-bolt fittings needed replacement.

In addition, some cracked ribs were found behind the fuel tanks. The ribs were repaired, new chainplates made, and new fuel tanks fabricated in a new design to fit the space.

Because I’d stripped the outside teakwork, I was obliged to carry on into the wheelhouse, so it matched.

This turned into quite a timeconsuming job, but it does now look marvellous!

But there was still more to do. Insurance required the existing gas setup and stove to be abandoned. I installed a Force 10 stove, along with a cunning new gas locker that tidies the gas bottle away and meets compliance requirements.

The hull was in fairly good shape, but we decided to

also tidy up and respray the topsides and remove the rig to facilitate rewiring.

Unfortunately, just a matter of weeks before Korara was due to be re-floated, she was burgled. This was a crushing blow; after six months of work she was unusable and our Christmas holiday plans scuttled.

Many crucial and irreplaceable parts and fittings were stolen, including all my tools. The thieves even pulled the steps up and ripped out the bilge pump and float switch. She had been completely cleaned out.

It has been quite a journey since, and finally Korara is nearing completion again and I’ve rediscovered my passion for her.

Watch out for her in a bay somewhere this Christmas – she will definitely be out!

CLASSIC YACHT ASSOCIATION CONTACTS – GENERAL ENQUIRIES: Joyce Talbot, admin@classicyacht.org.nz CLUB CAPTAIN YACHTS: Andy Ball, yachtcaptain@classicyacht.org.nz

60 Breeze Magazine

Marine Scene Scen e Latest

information

on

Products

and

Ser vices

ATTEST diversify to serve boats of all sizes

Chris Lynch-Blosse (left) and John Cunningham.

Groupe Beneteau anticipates 2021 award season Despite the many hurdles of 2020, Groupe Beneteau are thrilled to have outrun the obstacles and deliver this year a string of exciting new models.

Both the Beneteau Oceanis 40.1 and Excess 11 Catamaran will compete for the title of best ‘Family Cruiser’ at the prestigious European Yacht of the Year Awards 2021.

The Beneteau Oceanis 40.1 is favoured for its incredible interior volume and performance

ability, while the Excess 11 is features a huge interior for it’s size, great performance and distinctive twin helms stations.

The first Oceanis 40.1 is set to hit New Zealand shores in 2021 and is sure to be a hit with Kiwi yachties. Standby for the European Yacht of the year results at next year’s Boot Düsseldorf. www.36degrees.nz.

L&B Spearheading a greener approach to boaties’ waste treatment on board Lusty & Blundell is encouraging boaties to understand their impact on the environment and minimise it, especially about the rules relating to the discharge of untreated sewage.

To provide clarity, L&B approached regional councils in the country’s most popular boating areas: the Hauraki Gulf; Coromandel and the Bay of Plenty; the Bay of Islands and the Marlborough Sounds.

“We were hoping that they would have some basic charts showing the no-discharge

areas in their regions, combined with a list of the key rules,” says L&B’s Grant Matthew.

“Unfortunately, they didn’t.”

With summer fast approaching and the start of the America’s Cup regatta just a couple of months away, the company decided they would do it themselves.

The result is an easy to understand graphic, which is available to download from the L&B website (www.lusty-blundell.co.nz) and from key stockists around the country.

Marine electrical specialists ATTEST has broadened its offering to suit boats of all sizes.

Having traditionally specialised in superyachts, pleasure boats of any size are now able to benefit from the same advanced technologies and experience that ATTEST has developed to serve the luxury market.

A proudly Kiwi-owned company founded

by Chris Lynch-Blosse and John Cunningham, ATTEST has more than 40 years of combined experience including many years at superyacht builder, ALLOY YACHTS. “We want to spread the message that we are very much open for local business and willing and able to work on any project, whether big or small.” says, Lynch-Blosse.

Services offered by ATTEST include shore power installations, refits & repair, batteries and complete electrical installations. ATTEST also support top of the line products such as FURUNO electronics and MAGNUS Marine Power Equipment.

ATTEST has a reputation for delivering exceptional electrical systems and solutions thanks to its history of working on the world’s most complex boats.

“Transparency and a commitment to excellence lies at the core of all we do,” says Lynch-Blosse. “We are looking forward to working with more local boaties and showing them just why ATTEST is the gold standard for marine electrical.” attest.co.nz

Breeze Magazine 61

Fairline Yachts chooses Propspeed foul release coating for all its Volvo IPS Drive units

Nemesis is B&G’s premium sailing data solution

B&G® is excited to announce the launch of Nemesis, a new generation of intelligent sailing data display offering unparalleled visibility, with complete customisation or easy to use preset multi-function templates and automatic dashboards based on the point of sail.

Whether racing or cruising, Nemesis offers sailors the power to see the sailing data they trust when and how they want to see it, no matter what the conditions, providing an intuitive link between their instrument network and the real world.

A bright IPS SolarMax™ HD touch screen, with super-wide viewing angles provides the ability to view with polarised sunglasses from anywhere on-board. With adjustable data

sizes, palettes and backlighting, Nemesis offers optimal viewing in all conditions, whether on the mast or in the cockpit.

The all-in-one customisable display can be mounted in either portrait or landscape and the easy to use drag & drop editor provides a wide choice of graphical gauges, SailSteer™, tank levels, digital data, IP camera views, histograms and images.

Nemesis is B&G’s premium sailing data display solution and is available in 9 and 12 screen sizes.

Nemesis will be available from December 2020, with an NZD RRP of $6249 for the 9” and $9089 for the 12”. www.bandg.com.

Cameron Burch joins Windcraft NZ as Sales Manager for NZ Windcraft NZ are pleased to announce the appointment of Cameron Burch as Sales Manager for their NZ operation.

Cameron ‘saw the light’ in 2004 when, after crewing aboard a beautiful Hoek designed sloop during a circumnavigation, decided that combining his love for ocean sailing and adventures with his profession was the only way forward.

Initially cutting his teeth in marine electronics and composites, Cam’s career has also involved marine engines and new boat sales & marketing.

Fast forward to 2021 and he’s delighted to have joined Windcraft: “I’ve long admired Windcraft as an established, professional

operation and, as custodians of some of the top sail and motor yacht brands available. I’m excited to be back in the yacht and launch sector and look forward to working with our existing owners as well as welcoming new customers to the family!”

Windcraft are the NZ agents for Hanse, Moody, Dehler & Solaris yachts, Sealine & Fjord motor yachts and the Privilège range of sail and power cats.

Phone (09) 413 9465

Auckland, New Zealand – Propspeed, leading innovator of underwater foul-release coatings, announced it has partnered with Fairline Yachts to be the standard coating for all Volvo IPS drive system vessels in the Fairline product range, which includes the 45- and 50-foot Targa and all Squadron models.

“Fairlines are designed to exude sophistication and exceptional quality in every detail while providing superior on-the-water experience,” said Chris Baird, CEO, Propspeed.

“The addition of Propspeed’s award-winning foul-release coating to each vessel’s IPS drive system ensures that a Fairline boat owner can count on exceptional and lasting performance and the peace of mind that comes from knowing their investment is protected from corrosion and unwanted marine growth.”

“After an exhaustive search we have supreme confidence in the reliability and durability of Propspeed and feel that it is the best option to protect the Volvo IPS system,” said Martyn Hicks, technical services director, Fairline Yachts.

Propspeed’s ultra-slick topcoat is specially formulated to prevent marine growth from bonding to metal surfaces below the waterline.

It is proven to increase boat efficiency, reduce drag, save fuel and maintenance costs. www.propspeed.com

62 Breeze Magazine

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Breeze Magazine 63

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64 Breeze Magazine

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Breeze Magazine 65

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66 Breeze Magazine

150th Anniversary Medallion | $95* After 150 years of illustrious history dating from 1871, we deserve a medal. The medallion reflects the huge technological leap in yacht design and our progress over 100 years towards the pinnacle of international sailing, with the AC75 foiling monohull on one side. On the other side, Rainbow A7 one of the most recognisable in our classic fleet, representing some of New Zealand’s finest design and boat building traditions. Presented in a gift box, each signed

by Commodore Aaron Young.

Available now instore or online www.rnzys.org.nz * Members Price

Breeze Magazine 67

2 0 2 1

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68 Breeze Magazine

PROUD TO BE ON BOARD.