The tenth anniversary of Bay of Islands Sailing Week drew to a close with most of the 60 crews who competed singing its praises.
Mainly fine weather and light sea breezes helped provide four stunning days of racing on the Bay, which concluded with a prizegiving at Opua Marina, withbroadcaster Peter Montgomery presenting the awards.
Crews from around the North Island attended the event, with several overseas cruising yachts also taking part. While Sailing Week organiser Lesley Haslar said she was pleased with the number of entries in the racing, the overall number was not the 90 boats hoped for. "However, 60 is still a good number considering numbers entering regattas are down worldwide because of the hard economic climate ... It was a fantastic week of racing," Haslar said. "I personally believe it was the best week yet, and it can only keep improving with the racing boats' support."
There were nine protests overall during the regatta, showing the intensity of competition across all divisions on the water, she said.
While making his presentation at Friday night's prizegiving, Montgomery said the Bay of Islands Sailing Week was special to New Zealand yachting. "Where else can you sail to a tropical island for a beach party during a race week? Where else can some of the biggest and best boats compete in the same regatta as such a variety of yachts in C, D and E Divisions, the Sports Boats, Cruising boats, Young 88, Elliott 5.9s , need I say more?" he said.
Race officer from Taipa Sailing Club Paddy Sims also complimented the event. "We've had quality and competent racing this year, none of that follow-the-leader stuff - we'll work on getting more local boats to join in next year," he said.
Organisers are already looking forward to 2013, and have extended an invitation to all Northland cruising and racing boats, to participate in next year's regatta.
For overall results from the Bay of Islands Sailing Week, see Sport detail.
