The winning MHYC team: Helena Dreja, David Wiltshire, Kylie Twible, Danielle Brown, Denise Kirkbank, Tracy Richardson, Andrew Slocombe, Sandy Farquharsen, Geoff Charters, Rob Corran, Kim Darling, Scott Denton, Marcus Parnwell, Brendan Smid
Two teams of committed Adams 10 sailors flew down to Melbourne to compete in the annual Waitangi Cup challenge over the weekend 24 - 25 October 26.
The Waitangi Cup for Adams 10's has been running since its revival in 2000 between our club and the combined Victorian clubs on Port Phillip Bay. The regatta consists of teams competing on Adams 10's provided by the owners of the host clubs, with boats allocated on a random draw basis. The venue alternates between Sydney and Port Phillip on an annual basis. The Cup has been fiercely competitive over the last 26 years with honours evenly split between MHYC and the Victorians.
Melbourne provided its usual best summer weather for the regatta. Saturday was overcast/raining with light to moderate Southerlies and relatively mild Port Phillip chop. Sunday produced the best of Melbourne weather - 15 to 20 knot Southerlies with driving rain all day and a 1 meter short-pitched Port Phillip chop that made sailing very "interesting"!
By the end of the day there were many cold and miserable drowned rats standing on the dockside celebrating or commiserating...
This year the two MHYC teams dominated the 6-race series.
The No Friends team, skippered by Geoff Charters, took the regatta best score of 1, 1, 2, 1 on day one, followed by a 1. 3 on day 2 for a total of 9 points.
The Artemis team, skippered by Tracy Richardson scored 3, 3, 3, 2, on day one, followed by 3, 2 on day two for a total of 16 points.
The Executive Decision team, skippered by Will Shears were very competitive and came in with 2, 2, 1, 3 on day one and 2, 1 on day 2 to finish second on 11 points for the individual boat score.
The Praxis team, skippered by Thom Mackey had a couple of tough days at the office with 6 fourth places for 24 points.
The MHYC combined score of 25 comprehensively beat the Victorian combined score of 35 points.
After a delightful meal and prizegiving at the Royal Melbourne Yacht Squadron the tired MHYC team departed Melbourne Sunday evening, delighted with their win and the Cup secured for the second consecutive year.
Our appreciation and thanks go to the Melbourne volunteers for putting on great racetracks in trying conditions, RMYC for their hospitality, Jose, Monica, Thom and Will for making their boats available for us to race on and particularly Jose Marco for organising the regatta from the Melbourne end.
We look forward to hosting the Melbournians next year at MHYC for some more great competition!
