Yachting: Fair winds for fun on the water

Spectators on top of Mount Victoria , Devonport, watch the Anniversay Day regatta. Picture / Martin Sykes

The cannon booms out and a naval officer spills orange juice down her white uniform in fright. On board the frigate Te Kaha, Dame Silvia Cartwright has set off the big gun to get the Auckland Anniversary Regatta's division one keelers race going.

And in the spirit of fighting for Queen and country, Dame Silvia asks, "Did I get them?"

In perfect sailing conditions and under sunny skies, the 165th anniversary regatta was sailed with crowds of people taking up vantage points along Auckland's coastline.

Auckland Anniversary Regatta committee chairman Eric Henry said the 10- to 15-knot southeasterlies made for a perfect day for about 500 entrants across Auckland's harbours.

There was plenty of action in the centreboard racing and some retro charm in the wooden M-Class division, with most of the boats over 80 years old.

In the big contest of the day, the division one keelers on the Waitemata, Peppermint Planet took top honours, followed by Mahia and Bavarian Wave.

The Optimist Class race was won by David Wilcox, the P-Class by Sam Marshall and the Starling Class by Mike Snow-Hansen.

But the Anniversary Regatta is as much about show and tell as it is about racing.

After the thrill of the start in a flurry of cracking sails, grand old dames such as Soren Larsen, the Breeze, Ted Ashby and the Spirit of New Zealand emphasise this is a historic regatta, and the oldest sporting event in New Zealand.

Chris Dickson is spotted out en famille looking very much the man about town in his replica Hacker Craft - a wooden speedboat of early-20th-century American design.

On the media boat - a Navy rigid inflatable skippered by Mark, a gunner on Te Kaha - Chris Collins has proved worth his weight in gold.

A long-serving Royal NZ Yacht Squadron member and a race manager, he can name every yacht, its owner and its ancestry, just by looking at its wake.

Although the day was a success, it had some obstacles to overcome when the starting fleet for the regatta was depleted after bad weather left three-quarters of the top keelers stranded in Tutukaka Marina or Kawau Island.

Mr Henry said boats across the divisions had travelled to last week's Bay of Islands Sailing Week. Strong easterly winds and rough water along Northland's coast meant some could not make it back to Auckland in time for the regatta.

Especially hard hit were the division one keelers. Ten had entered but the race started with far fewer, including Mahia, which came third last year.

Boatmaker Mick Cookson could not race his new High Five because the winds had trapped it in Opua.

The weather also took a toll on the Classic Yachts fleet and Tony Blake had to break his date with the tradition of skippering Waitangi, the oldest yacht in the regatta at 109 years. Tricky weather in the Mahurangi broke its mast in two, so it was left berthed at the Viaduct.