Millennium Cup 2015
The Millennium Cup’s new venue in the Bay of Islands as part of Bay of Islands Sailing Week held the promise of some fantastic sailing conditions in one of the most beautiful bays in the world, we were not disappointed! The weather was perfect, the courses well planned and the sailing was some of the best we have ever had.
Race one was a frustrating race for us onboard Janice of Wyoming, after a good start we sailed into a hole and drifted at 2-3kts to get to the first mark, unfortunately the boats that started behind us had a steadier breeze (better “pressure” as the racing boys would say) and passed us. The highlight of the day was the pod of dolphins who joined us playing at the bow and in our wake for over an hour. Having lost top speed on the starboard primary winch we also had to perfect gybing the spinnaker with only one winch: a little scary on a fully powered-up superyacht. Great teamwork and skill by PVC and Chris meant we mastered it quickly.
Day 2 and race 2 was a different story, with 12-20kts of wind and a great course we had some of our best sailing ever. A highlight for the photographers and spectators was rounding the Ninepin in the middle of the TP52 fleet and with an oncoming fleet of 40 footers rounding the same mark in the opposite direction. There was potential for disaster! Fortunately we executed a perfect gybe with the big spinnaker to round the ninepin and extend our lead over Bliss and Silvertip, at the same time managing to avoid all the little racing boats also gybing around us – testament to some excellent crew work and great driving by the Captain. We held on to get 2nd place, our best result.
The final day of racing was another gorgeous sunny day with a fresh breeze from ESE meaning more upwind legs than previous days racing. While we held our own, and definitely point higher without our big reacher on, Bliss managed to pass us as we converged on the Ninepin along with Silencio. After rounding the Black Rocks mark we had to do 2 extra short tacks to avoid a fleet of 30 footers, that scuppered our chances of catching Bliss and Sassafras ahead of us. The final leg from the Roberton Island mark to the finish line off Tapeka was downwind with the big kite up, we were headed just enough to get around the point and head for the line without an extra gybe, if we had another mile on the course we might have made up a place or 2. Our 3rd place in race 3 was enough to secure us 3rd place overall in the regatta.
Many thanks to all our amazing race crew:
Helm: Chris “Flip” Wilson
Tactics: Richard “Bicky” Bicknell
Navigator: Eamon O’Connell
Main Trim: Owen “OC” Rutter/ Bob Wilson
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Upwind Trim: Peter “PVC” Vitali
Kite Trim: Chris Lynch-Blosse
Safety Officer: Simon Gundry
Bowman: Alexis Reeves
Mid Bow: Matt Hambrook
Pit: Cole “BC” Sheehan
Engineer: Karl Anderson
Foredeck: Mark “Frodo” Macduff
Martin “Irish” Hannon
Janice of Cork
Ian “Burty” Burt
Charlotte King
Ali Walker
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