Sunburst Auckland Champs - Andrew and Cam Brown have tight win

by Nigel Price on 20 Apr 2016 The 2016 Auckland Sunburst Champs were sailed at Pt Chev over the weekend of 16th and 17th of April.

This was a scheduled 6 race series, with 5 to count and 1 drop. As is usual, Sea Scout and Young Mariner groups were invited along, and we had a good turn out from them with a fleet of 30 boats in total coming, some of them on one of the days only, but it meant a 28 boat fleet starting each day.

There was the usual close competition at the front of the fleet with Andrew & Cam Brown of Wakatere Boating Club successfully defending their narrowly won title from last season. A rudder breakage and resulting DNF in Race 3 meant they had to make the other five races count.

They had four wins and a second placing for a total of 6 points. Close behind, Andy and Liam Richards were pushing hard, and they had placings of 1 win and 4 seconds for 9 points. In third place overall, Nick & Flinn Olson had placings of 1 win, a second and three third placings for 12 points.

Wakatere club fleet stalwarts Bruce Yarnton and Kevin Whitehead were back on the water with their respective boats after a few months off from injury and placed fourth and fifth overall, with Don Oliver & James Robinson in sixth being the first Pt Chev boat.

Scott & Jack Beavis fronted on Sunday only and got race placings of third, sixth and fourth, confirming that they are well in the hunt at the sharp end of the fleet.

The top Sea Scout boat was #1399 sailed by Bender & Cody of Waiheke Sea Scouts.

The Top Young Mariner boat was #575 sailed by Zoe Malmanche & Nadia Schiever of the Tauranga Young Mariners.
The Smale Cup for first on handicap was won by Jemma Walden & Serena Woodall of Beachhaven Sea Scouts, and Andrew & Cam Brown won the Gower Cup for first on Line. Trophy and certificate presentations were done by Sunburst Association Life Members Mike Petricevich, who also ran the results computer, and Janet Watkins who was Race Officer for the regatta. It is nice to see them still involved with the class.

Pt Chev Club members and Sunburst sailors Ian Dobson and Don Oliver put together a great Auckland Championship regatta again, and it is good to see the Young Mariners and Sea Scouts turning out in volume with their sunbursts. Many of them had improved considerably on the Sunday which is good to see. On Saturday, Andrew Brown ran a demonstration of how to rig and tune boats before the first race aimed at the Sea Scout and Young Mariner fleets. He has done this at each Sunburst Nationals over the last few seasons and the set ups he recommends does a lot to get the mid fleet boats closer to the frontrunners. The weather was drizzly each day during the rigging phase onshore before going out, but lifted once boats were out on the water.

Next season the Sunburst Nationals will be hosted by the Auckland Fleet at the Wakatere Boating Club. Waitangi Weekend 2017 is the tentative date for this regatta. It is very likely that the next Auckland Champs will be hosted by the Pt Chev club again, probably in March.