News 2005-2006 Season

420 world championships

Report from Team Berry.
(August 2006) The Worlds are over and we have done really well. Team Worser Bay all performed well with Benn and Rowan just awesome in the qualifying series making Gold easily. They sailed well in the finals but after the first day the breeze died to moderate and the boys speed edge died with it. Their performance was very commendable.
Phil and Rob got better and better as the days went on and are probably ready to start now as they had a new type of boat to set up and get used to.
Emma and Sarah were flying the whole regatta and were really unlucky not to make Gold after an OSC after finishing 6th and a DNF when Sarah lost the boat on a capsize at the last mark when laying 5th and had to be plucked out of the sea by the rescue boat.
They sailed brilliantly in the finals winning two of the races to finish 3rd in theSsilver so they have two big cups and the trophy for being the youngest team at the Worlds.
One thing all the team have learnt is that at this level it is not good enough just to be a good sailer as everyone here is but you must learn how to be consistent and how to put a contest together and stay clean. Well we are off to Portugal tomorrow for the Europeans and are using the boat Rob and Phil have just used. The weather is predicted to be in the mid 30s all next week in Tavira so all our sailing gear has gone into the container with our new boat.

View the Dominion Post College Sport article
25 July 2006

wbbc sailors overseas

(July 2006) Cushla Hume-Merry and Sarah and Emma Berry were part of the New Zealand Youth Team at the ISAF Youth Championships in Weymouth England which finished last week. The regatta was plagued by light and fickle winds which meant only nine races out of twelve were completed. Cushla as the NZ representative in the girls Laser Radial Class finished 17th out of 42 entrants with Sarah and Emma the NZ Representatives in the 420 class finishing 22nd out of 24.
Cushla has now moved on to Los Angeles for the World Laser Radial Championship where Josh Junior is also competing. Results from the first day should now be available at www.laserinternational.org/WRad06/index.htm. Entirely different conditions for the 420s, going by the note received from Phil Williams "bit of work to do to get up to speed at the moment. Tried out the new sails yesterday but not going that well. Losing height. Will fit new centre board today and get more practice steering over these huge waves. One board is OK going straight into the 3-4m+ swells the sideways ones are very difficult. You may remember the New Plymouth Nats or NI races in sunnies a few years ago with those conditions". A number of the Sunburst sailors do indeed remember, as will those Starling sailors who competed at the Nationals at New Plymouth this year.
Other Wellington sailors in the Canary islands with Phil and Rob Bryant are Rowan Swanson and Ben Hanns, Sarah and Emma Berry, and Muritai sailors Leah Monchur and Nichola Trudgen. Results from the first day for this contest should also be available by now.
The NZ website www.nz420group.net.nz is expected to have a link for results.
In the European OK Dinghy Championships Greg Wilcox was a likely winner until, sadly, he missed the the last day of racing to return to New Zealand following the death of his father.

st john's rotary scholarship

(June 2006) Awarded to Josh Junior. Following in the footsteps of Aaron Hume-Merry who won the scholarship last year, Josh Junior has been awarded the CORK scholarship for 2006 supported by the St John's Rotary Trust. Josh will travel to compete at the CORK (Canadian Olympic Regatta, Kingston) in Canada this August.
The Yachting NZ website says "The intention of the scholarship is to provide one of New Zealand's promising youth sailors with exposure to international competition. Junior, from Worser Bay Boating Club in Wellington, will sail in both the Youthfest and the Open competition which takes place consecutively at the week long regatta."
Congratulations Josh and good sailing.

prizegiving

(June 2006) With superb catering by the House Committee throughout the evening and Nigel Lloyd (MC) and Dean Stanley (multi media operator) deftly guiding proceedings the large turn out of members present enjoyed one of the best ever prizegiving evenings.
All our club champions, Adam Middleton, Stacey Swanson, Kristin de Lisle, Nigel Lloyd, Rob Woodward, Phil Williams, and Shaun Sheldrake are to be commended for the quality of the brief presentation they were asked to gave on their particular class. Taken together this built up a wonderful picture of the length and breadth of club sailing in the last year.

For those unable to be there the premier awards were as follows:
Stephen Taylor Memorial Rudder (most improved and helpful junior)- Jackson MacFarlane
Captain Holm Trophy (most improved and helpful junior in the sailing school): William Eastman
Commodores Cup (most valuable contribution to the club)-
Craig Taylor for his work in keeping the rescue boats running, efforts in promptly attending to many of the things around the club that required fixing, deciding to turn up at the club get the barbeque going and provide hamburgers after Wednesday night sailing. The list could go on.
Lambton Harbour Trophy (efforts to the club)- The general committee for their work together as a team to ensure that all activities involved in running the club were carried out in a timely and effective throughout the year, and also the considerable work put in towards the further development of the club over the longer term.
Kerry Leydon Memorial Trophy (greatest racing achievement)- Cushla Hume-Merry who finished 1st female in the Laser Radial Youth Worlds held in Brazil.
Full list of prizes.

national 420 trials

(May 2006) The 2006 selection trials were held at Plimmerton Boating Club 4 - 8 May. Thirty one 420's attended this selection regatta. Four top Wellington 420's made the World Team which included Ben Hanns & Rowan Swanson who were the top performing Wellington boat finishing 5th overall; Emma & Sarah Berry, making it a double success for this young team, Leah Moncheur and Nichola Trudgen, and Phil Williams and Robbie Bryant. A great result and well done all.
Check results at
www.420sailing.org.nz/results

hebtro trophy 2006

Worser Bay at its best! A spectacular keelboat race, junior sailing demonstration, the funniest commentary in sailing's history and as promised, an auction that set new heights in bidding - taking the total raised to $15,000.
Thanks to all those involved, and also to our celebrity guest Martin Tasker. His passion for the sport of sailing was evident throughout his speech, and the enthusiastic way he took on skippering his way (almost) around the track of the Sunburst races. We'll be watching for your commentaries from Valencia - and saying to ourselves "We saw you in that woman's wetsuit!"
Let's hear a huge Nigel Lloyd cheer for our Sponsors for 2006.

DB Breweries
Eastern Suburbs Sports Trust
Aluminium Extrusion Co
Amstore
Assignment
Cathrine Lloyd & Associates
Dockside Restaurant
Greenwood Roche Chisnall
Harrison Grierson
Inside
Inspire Group
Novak & Middleton Architects
Meridian Insurance
OEM Print Solutions
St Laurence Ltd
Stagecoach
TSE Group
Walker Builders
Waterford Security
Williams & Adams
Noise Control Services

12' skiff nationals

(April 2006) It was close but no cigar for Shaun Sheldrake and Craig Anderson in www.skiff.org.nz who on a countback were relegated to 2nd place in the skiff nationals at Worser Bay April 22 - 24. Nevertheless a great effort guys and congratulations.

ynz announces national team - go girls!

Three WBBC sailors have been selected in the NZL Yachting Trust Youth Team for 2006. ushla Hume-MerryC in the Laser Radial, and Sarah and Emma Berry in the Girls 420 classes. The ten member team will travel to Weymouth, England to compete at the ISAF World Youth Championships in mid July.
Full list of team members on
YNZ website.
Results www.navalpoint.co.nz
Well done and good luck gals!

sunburst nationals at mercury bay

(April 2006) Five Worser Bay boats (plus two from Muritai and one from Kapiti) made the long trek to the Coromandel. Congratulations to Brett Linton who advances his tally to three times National Champion and to runner-up Greg Wright (previous National Champion 2004 and 2005). In this contest Brett and Alice Linton traded 1st and 2nd placings with Greg and Finn Wright but Greg's 4th placing in one race (shortened as the wind died) and an OCS the next race left Brett de-rigging whilst the last race was sailed and extra beach time for Alice. The other three Worser Bay boats spent a good deal of their time getting in each other's way.

2006 optimist nationals

(April 2006) Six sailors from Worser Bay travelled to Torbay Sailing Club (Auckland) for the Toyota New Zealand Optimist Nationals over Easter. Conditions varied from 5 to 15 knots and flat to lumpy seas over the five days of racing. The first race on Friday ended up abandoned after the wind died away to nothing. Racing finally got underway Friday afternoon but winds remained light for the two races sailed.
Saturday, Sunday and Monday saw the winds vary between 10 and 15 knots and generally out of the North East. Four races were sailed each day. This left one race to be sailed Tuesday morning to complete the 15 race series.
There were 180 sailors in the Open Fleet with another 60 odd sailors in the Green fleet. It was a great regatta, well organised and probably best remembered for the Z flag.!
Overall our sailors did well; though I am sure they will all reflect on the 'what if.'
Shelley Pearson was Worser Bay's best performer finishing 25th overall and was fourth female sailor in the whole regatta.
Adam Middleton finished 28th overall and had seven top 10 placings, unfortunately offset by two Z flag penalties.
Josh Porebski finished 30th overall and also had some good top 10 placings, enjoying the days with more breeze.
James de Lisle finished 74th overall and 6th in the under 12 age group, starting slowly but finishing with some good results. James was the only WBBC sailor who did not receive a Z flag penalty.
Stacey Swanson finished 79th overall and didn't shine to her true potential in this regatta.
William McVeagh finished 141st overall, had two OCS penalties and a Z flag penalty as well as the race committee losing his results!
All in all I think everyone (sailors and parents) enjoyed the regatta. Certainly the sailors represented WBBC well both on and off the water. The icing on the cake was WBBC walking away with the two major spot prizes at the final prize giving. Stacey won the $100.00 Sail One voucher and Adam won the new Norths sail!
Results and photos.

champion of champions

(April 2006) This was held on 8th April, with the various class champions sailing the club Sunbursts in a five race series on a short course in front of the clubhouse. Every one of the six skippers, particularly the younger ones who were fairly unfamiliar with two handed sailing, showed true championship material in handling the difficult conditions when gusts out of the North West at around 30 knots were coming down with ever increasing frequency. Congratulations to Phil Williams (420/skiff champion) who emerged as champion of champions. Karl Purdie (OK Dinghy) was close behind, and Nigel Lloyd (Sunburst) 3rd. They were followed by Kristin deLisle (Starling), Stacey Swanson ( P Class), and Adam Middleton (Optimist).
Despite the conditions the seniors did not have it all their own way with Kristin scoring a 2nd in Race 1 and Stacey a 3rd in Race 2.
A big thank you to our crew members - when every boat had at least one capsize - Dave Tildsely, Andrew Paterson, Rob Bryant, Josh Porebski, William McVeagh and Shelley Pearson; and to the enthusiastic body of supporters that came along to watch.

laser nationals

(February 2006) In the open section, congratulations to Josh Junior who had a win in Race 3 and finished 10th overall (3rd youth), Aaron Hume-Merry 11th (4th youth) Mike Terry 21st and Matthew Stevens, 27th overall (11th youth). In the Radials Cushla Hume-Merry finished 12 th (1st women's youth) and Hayley Hume-Merry 21st and 4th women's youth. Rob Woodward really leapt in to contention towards the end of the contest, moving up the leaderboard to finish 4th in the Masters Division with Richard Middleton, also in the Masters, 25th.
Full results at www.nzlaser.org

toshiba 2006 ok world champs

Greg Wilcox retains his Bronze medal postion from 2005, was first in two races of the ten race series, and is officially listed as 1st Veteran. Karl Purdie finished in 5th place, Steve McDowell 10th, Mark Bismark 20th, and Joe Porebski 21st out of 77 competitors from around the world. Website for results: www.okworlds2006.
sydney.net

ynz national youth squad announced

(February 2006) 8 sailors from the Wellington region have just been selected to the YNZ National Youth Squad for 2006. They are: Laser - Aaron Hume-Merry, Laser Radial - Cushla Hume-Merry, Hobie 16 - Seth Price & Ethan Price, 420 Girls - Sarah Berry & Emma Berry, 420 Girls - Leah Moncheur & Nicola Trudgen. More information at YNZ website.

Sunburst North Island Regatta

(24 February 2006) Congratulations to Greg and (son) Finn Wright in Embers who were first in this regatta at Lake Taupo. Brett and (daughter) Alice Linton in Rhythmandswing finished a close second. Other WBBC placings were Vagrant (Nigel Lloyd and Karen Stevens) 7th, Decibel (Louise Daley and Sophie Lloyd) 12th, Good Times (Maurice and Greg Scott) 13th, Just Magic (John Beaglehole and Steve Nightingale) 14th, and Chinook (Andrew Paterson and Matthew from PBC) 16th.

starling nationals

(January 2006) This contest at New Plymouth finished last Saturday. The Wellington region was well represented with 22 boats out of a fleet of 140 boats. In 5m swells and some heavy winds it was a great effort by all 11 Worser Bay boats to finish almost every race sailed. Top 3 finishers for Worser Bay were Ben Hanns (27th overall), Chris Jones (32nd) and Rowan Swanson (34th); and to all eleven Worser Bay boats well done. If you can successfully navigate your way through www.sail-world.com there is a good write-up of the contest backed up by a picture - that really is a worth a thousand words - of the seas that were encountered.
Report from Kristin de Lisle here.

tanner & tauranga cup results

(January 2006) Footage on TV One News suggests that the conditions were pretty demanding for both these contests. In the Tanner Cup, Jono Hanns representing Wellington competed well to finish 5th, with Sarah Berry(representing Taranaki) next in 6th place and Stacey Swanson (Manawatu) 10th.
In the Tauranga Cup - reduced to 7 races by the weather - Wellington and Worser Bay turned in a great result with Jono Hanns 10th, Sarah Berry 11th, Josh Porebski 15th, Tim Coltman (Muritai) 16th, Emma Berry 23rd, Stacey Swanson 26th, Jackson MacFarlane 32nd and Shelley Pearson 46th.
Full results at www.npyc.org.nz.

cushla is laser radial youth world champion!

(20 December 2005) Cushla Hume Merry has won the female title in Brazil sailing in the Laser Radial Youth World Championships. This follows her successful build up in the Laser Radial Worlds where she finished 23rd in the silver fleet of 38.
Read Cushla's report >>
Results >>

Other Wellington youth sailors that have competed in overseas regattas recently are Josh Junior, Matt Steven, Edward Rosenberg and Chris Jones who competed in the Harken International Youth Match Racing champs and finished 10th out of the eleven teams.
Results >>

sir peter blake regatta

A big number of WBBC sailors trekked to Auckland for this huge regatta.
Opti - 82 boats
James DeLisle, 62
P Class - 64 boats
Sarah Berry, 11
Tim Coltman, 12
Stacey Swanson, 15
Josh Porebski, 28
Jackson McFarlane, 41
Starlings - 73 boats
Rowan Swanson, 17
Emma Berry, 36
Hayley Hume Mary, 47
Kristen DeLisle,59
Lasers - 14 boats
Josh Junior, 8
Matthew Steven, 10

Starling Match Racing trials

(1 December 2005) Last weekend Rowan Swanson was a deserving winner of the WYA starling match racing trials. Seventeen entries were received for the regatta meaning that some fifty matches had to be sailed to find a champ. The fleet was split into two groups of six and one group of five for the first stage of the regatta. Each group sailed a round robin to identify the six sailors for the second stage of the regatta. Rowan Swanson, Josh Junior, Matt Steven, Emma Berry, Chris Jones and Carl Syman then sailed a further round robin to identify the two finalists. Matt Steven and Rowan then sailed a final which Rowan took out with two straight wins. Well done Rowan and good luck for the interprovincial champs in New Plymouth. Full report and results here.

worser bay hurricane classic

(5 November 2005) The Worser Bay Hurricane Classic was the third regatta in the OK Dinghy Summer series and it would be fair to say that the wind lived up to its reputation! Or as one of the competitors put it, "it just blew steaming monkey nuts". Saturday saw the wind come from the north and Sunday from the south. Competitors were assured by the locals that this was an "easing breeze," however in Wellington double-speak the phrase "easing breeze" really means that the wind will eventually ease off, but not until it has increased to such a level that the aero-dynamics of the OK rig completely break down, several boats are broken and the whole fleet is battered and worn and sitting in the clubhouse having a few beers.
Only then will the wind "ease" having itself a well earned rest to prepare itself for more "easing" on the next day!

Three hardy sailors from Wakatere in Auckland joined four sailors from Napier and seven locals on the start line for the first race in an "easing" 35 knot northerly. Karl Purdie showed good skill leading around the whole course, steadfastly refusing to capsize on the high speed down wind legs, with Adrian Mannering from Napier some way back in second place. Only 7 boats ventured out for the second race of the day in a still "easing" 35 knot breeze. Greg Wilcox launched just 4 minutes before the start after a late decision to hit the water, and after possibly playing some head games with the other sailors watching the carnage from the safety of the club. The race itself was a battle between local Steve McDowell and Wakatere sailor Mark Perrow. Places kept changing until Perrow capsized at the last gybe, handing the race to McDowell. Worser Bay veteran Joe Porebski came home in second.
After an evening of fireworks and beer, Sunday morning actually looked quite good. But sure enough the wind was doing some more "easing" by the time the fleet got to the start line. Karl Purdie again showed a clean pair of heels in the first race, chased by McDowell. By race two the wind was over 30 knots again. The off wind sailing in the flatter water of the southerly was just fantastic. Unfortunately, 30 knot self tacking wind shifts at the top of the beat caused a few headaches. McDowell won this race after passing the leaders down the run and holding on to the finish with Purdie second. With Purdie and McDowell counting a DNS and DNF respectively, the race for overall honours was between Perrow and Wilcox. Wilcox and Porebski swam at the wing mark and pulled out of the race. Perrow then only had to finish to win overall, achieving his best result of the regatta as he did so; a second place behind triple race winner Purdie, who could only wonder if he should had sailed race two.
So Perrow won after consistently finishing every race, being only one of three sailors to do so; the others being Grant Pedersen and Darren Hunt.

The next regatta is the Turangi International open to be held in two weeks time.
Results:
1st M Perrow, Wakatere
2nd K Purdie, Worser Bay
3rd S McDowell, Worser Bay
4th G Wilcox, Worser bay
5th G Pedesen, Wakatere
6th D Hunt, Napier
By Alistair Deaves

jono hanns wins p class trials

(1 November) Congratulations to Jono Hanns who won the Sam Nixon trophy and the right to represent Wellington in the Tanner Cup to be sailed at New Plymouth over the Xmas New Year period.
Jono sailed a faultless regatta recording five wins from five races meaning the sixth race in the series was not required. Also performing well in the regatta were Emma Berry 2nd, Josh Porebski 3rd, Jackson MacFarlane 4th, Shelley Pearson 5th and Matthew Clough 6th.

north island p and starling championships

(24 October) A large contingent of Wellington sailors made the trip to New Plymouth to compete in the North Island P and Starling championships. Eight sailors competed in the P class fleet which had 57 entries. This represented 14% of the fleet and four sailors from Wellington made it into the top half of the results table. 18 Wellington sailors sailed in the Starling fleet which had 103 entries. This represented 17% of the overall fleet and seven Wellington sailors made it into the top half of the Starling results table. Well done everyone.

P Class results
Jono Hanns 14th
Stacey Swanson 15th
Tim Coltman 17th
Josh Porebski 29th
Shelley Pearson 33rd
Alice Pearson 39th
Jackson MacFarlane 43rd
Luke Tremlett 52nd

Starling results
Rowan Swanson 12th
Chris Jones 32nd
Patrick McDonald 37th
Bruce Jones 39th
Sarah Berry 41st
Ben Hanns 42nd
Emma Berry 45th
Hayley Hume-Merry 54th
Niall Pearson 69th
Chris Staub 70th
Gus Pinniger 73rd
Conor Greive 78th
Michael Trudgen 84th
Carl Syman 86th
Kristin de Lisle 91st
Edward Rosenberg 92nd
Simon McVeagh 97th
Oliver Staub 103rd

ok dinghy series extravaganza

(October) This series kicked off with the Intergalactic Rotovegas OK Champs in Rotorua on October 8 & 9. The second regatta was the OK North Shore Champs held over Labour Weekend where on the second day Olympic Gold Medalist contender in the Finn Class, Daniel Slater, joined the fleet. Steve McDowell already had one bullet, from race 3 on the first day, with the honours then going Dan Slater races 5, 6, and 9, Steve McDowell race 7 and Greg Wilcox race 8. Greg Wilcox, showing the benefit of consistent placings, was the overall winner, with Steve McDowell finishing second. Having a sailor the calibre of Dan Slater swap from his usual Finn and go up against the OK boys made the event even better than usual and something it would be good to see more of with other classes/other sailors.
Other (rather imaginatively titled) events in this OK travelling extravaganza, post Worser Bay (5. 6 November) and prior to the Nationals at Wakatere, are the Turangi International Open, and, the Big Wave Classic at New Plymouth!

2005 volvo winter champs regatta

(3rd October) A team of 16 WBBC sailors competed in Auckland at this regatta. Changeable wind conditions and large swells kept the sailors thinking on the water. A very impressive rain squall on the last day ended the regatta and ensured the supporters went home wetter than the sailors! Thanks Murray's Bay for an awesome event!
Results.

opening day 2005-2006

(September 2005) What a day it was! Barely a breath of wind all day, and what there was struggled to maintain a consistent direction. Approximately 40 boats made it to the start line for this year's Mumford Holiday trophy race.

wbbc juniors selected to compete overseas

(27 May) Three Junior Race Squad sailors from Worser Bay Boating Club have been selected for national development teams to represent New Zealand in upcoming overseas regattas. Rowan Swanson (P class) was selected for a Yachting New Zealand team consisting of two P class sailors and three optimist sailors. The team travelled to Kaio in Japan in early August 2005 to compete in an international regatta. Read about Rowan's experience in the latest Worser Way. Adam Middleton and Tim Coltman have been selected by NZIODA for a New Zealand optimist development squad to compete in New Caledonia at the Noumea National Championships to be held in late October 2005. WBBC wish you well in your travels and competition.

The Worser Way
July 2006 (PDF)
January 2006 (PDF)
August 2005 (PDF)

Race Squad

Youth Scheme News
Read latest news.

OptiTech April 2006 (PDF)

season 2004-2005

Read it here.

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