Jollyboat Nationals 2014 : 7-9 March 2014, Manly SC
Ian Baker from Torbay SC won the2014 National Championship (overall and singlehanded) and Rob and Daniel Neeley from French Bay Yacht Club won the two handed title. Fergus Thomson from French Bay Yacht Club took out the handicap trophy with Team Torbay winning back the Mermaid. Thanks to Manly SC, Kid Admore from YNZ, the weather gods, and all our sponsors for a superb regatta.
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Big Manly certainly lived up to its reputation as being a superb venue for yacht racing. I think everyone will agree that the weather was like we get in a real summer and the racing closer than ever. Terrific to see some new faces and boats helping to make up a fleet of 29. Thanks to Todd we have plenty of photos and there will have a link posted on the web for you to check them out.
The predominately light breezes looked like they were going to play into the smaller crews hands however Ian Baker spoilt their party and put together an amazingly consistent regatta to come out on top. Congratulations also to Rob and Daniel Neely who took out the double handed division by 34 points and finished a very credible 6th overall. Fergus Thomson received a well-deserved handicap trophy with a considerable jump in performance over the Auckland Champs. That late night tweaking is starting to pay off. Just goes to show that the Jollyboat can be fast with a broad range of crew weights and ages.
As for the Munted Mermaid, well she gets to travel around a bit these days. Torbay took the title of top team by storm and have pledged to give the trophy a makeover, she really does need some decent attire.
And just to make a point you don’t need to have the latest piece of kit or high tech gadgetry to do well. Ian’s boat is J80 so is no spring chicken and Robs beautiful new boat is completely stock standard in every aspect including wooden foils as used by the majority of the fleet. In fact both these boats although separated in age by a fair number of years are set up very similar and conventionally.
A huge thank you to the volunteers who made the racing run so smooth. Kim Admore as always did an outstanding job. In my view he is the best YNZ have and we are very lucky that he seems to like running regattas for us. Phil and Sean and his team from the Manly Sailing Club were great hosts despite having the unenviable task of trying to organise the Optimist Nationals while at the same time look after both the Jolly and 3.7’crew demands.
To our sponsors who always manage to come up with a wealth of prizes, thank you and everything you contribute is very much appreciated. This year we had Lubricants NZ (Lube Marine), Kiwi Yachting, Gloss Boats, North Sails and Odyssey Wines who gave us some pretty cool stuff to hand out.
Thanks again Matt Hall-Smith for designing and organising the T-Shirts, dark grey disguises spilt rum very well.
The AGM brought several new initiatives to the fore as well as 4 new ministers. Long serving and stalwart of the class Steve Tennent resigned from the cabinet after what must be close to 10 years of service and will be sorely missed. However he has not got away that easily as we have created a new role for him; ‘Minister of Ancient Culture and Artefacts’ due to his collection of relics (including the original Jollyboat), press clippings and all manner of Jollyboat paraphernalia that must never be lost.
Finally a profound quote from Paul Elvstrøm that Kim Admore is fond of. Something we should all keep in mind whenever we compete.
“You have not won if by winning you have lost the respect of your competitors”
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Full Results