| AUCKLAND, NEW ZEALAND-(3-2-2003) The period between the completion of the Louis Vuitton Cup final and the start of the America’s Cup Match is being filled with a veritable feast of yachting events – catering to vessels new and old, great and small.
Every day, the Challenger, Alinghi and the Defender, Team New Zealand, go out for intense practise sessions on the Hauraki Gulf as they work towards their date with destiny beginning on March 15.
For those wanting to watch, or participate in yachting events in between, there is plenty on offer.
Currently running just outside the AmericanExpressViaductHarbour are the ISAF 2003 Team Racing World Championships. Fourteen teams representing eight nations from around the globe are competing in the event.
All crews race in identical International 420 two-person centreboard dinghies, battling it out on a spectator-friendly racecourse, set on the edge of the ViaductHarbour.
In team racing, each team competes with three two-person boats and sails off against another team in a fleet race scenario to score points. The regatta begins with a round-robin phase followed by a series of sail-offs to determine the winning nation.
New Zealand are the defending champions, having won two successive world titles, the first in Ireland in 1999 and the second in the Czech Republic in 2001.
New Zealand’s leading Laser sailor Andrew Murdoch is joining forces with his brother, Hamish, and sister, Rebecca, in an attempt to retain the World Team Racing champions trophy on home waters.
The regatta began on January 31 and continues through to February 7.
Next on the sailing calendar is the International Classic Yacht regatta, which is a premier event catering for competition between vintage and classic keelboats.
This is the second such event held in Auckland, following the success of the inaugural regatta which was held between the Louis Vuitton Cup and the America’s Cup in 2000.
Hosted by the Cup defenders, the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron, the regatta provides for four days of racing, starting with a 30-mile passage race to KawauIsland on Thursday, 6 February.
The fleet will overnight at KawauIsland and then compete in two short-course races on Friday, with a passage race returning to Auckland on Saturday. The regatta winds up with a short course race on Auckland’s WaitemataHarbour on Sunday.
Regatta secretary Joyce Talbot said 85 classic yachts in five divisions were taking part. The oldest yacht is the local Logan designed gaff cutter, the Jessie Logan, designed in 1879 and launched in 1880. Jessie Logan is 12.34m long overall and 7.6m on the waterline.
Yachts designed and built by the Logan family and their fierce rivals, the Charles Bailey father and son dynasty, helped create the foundations of New Zealand’s yachting heritage and its export industry.
“There are seven pre-1900 yachts taking part in the event,” says Talbot.
The biggest is the William Fife designed gaff cutter, Moonbeam. Built in 1914, Moonbeam is 33.75m overall and 20m on the waterline.
Also taking part in the event are 15 classic launches, which will compete in a log rally and will also act as escort to some of the smaller yachts on the passage races.
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