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P Class: Tense battle for Tauranga Cup at Plimmerton

by Richard Gladwell, Sail-World.com/nz 12 Jan 2023 01:11 NZDT
William Mason (P10) and Oli Stone (P3) - P Class - Tauranga Cup - January 2023 - Plimmerton BC © Zhik

Oli Stone (Kohimaramara YC) won the Tauranga Cup, or NZ P Class Championship, after a tense contest between three competitors.

In contrast to the Tanner Cup for Interprovincial/Port competition, the Tauranga Cup was decided in strong winds on the final day, with Cook Strait living up to its fearsome reputation.

Going into the final day of the 2023 Zhik Tauranga Cup three competitors, Oli Stone, Will Mason and Blake McKinnon, were separated by just four points, with two races to be sailed at Plimmerton Boating Club.

Kohimaramara Yacht Club's Oli Stone who won the Zhik sponsored Tanner Cup, earlier in the week, continued with the run of form he found mid-way through that regatta, never placing worse than third in the eight races sailed against a 39 boat fleet.

His main competition came from current Auckland Champion, Will Mason (Wakatere BC) and Blake McKinnon (Murrays Bay SC and Buckland's Beach YC). The points were so tight that the title would be decided on the water, in the final racing..

Strong winds were forecast for the final day, as had occurred on the penultimate day, and forced an initial delay in racing.

Will Mason started Race 8 the way he intended to finish, rounding the first mark in the lead, but his tiller broke again, as it did before the start of Race 7, putting the title out of his reach.

That left Blake McKinnon and Oli Stone to battle for the title, with McKinnon scoring his third race win in the trophy series, while Will Leech (Charteris Bay YC) turning in his best race of the series to finish second with Stone in third place, and had sufficient points in hand to assure him of the Tauranga Cup, by just one point.

Oli Stone added the Tauranga Cup win to his win by 4.0pts over William Mason earlier in the week, in the Tanner Cup for Interprovincial/Port competition - giving Oli Stone a prestigious double-championship win.

The key to Stone's win lay in his consistency, dropping two third places as his discards in the points score. He placed in the top three in all eight races. In fact, going back to the earlier Tanner Cup, and the final four races in that series, Stone did not place outside the top three in 12 races sailed in a variety of conditions from the zephyrs of the final race in the Tanner Cup to the fresh to frightening conditions of the final race in the Tauranga Cup.

McKinnon was also consistent, but less so, scoring three 4th placings, dropping two of those for his Nett Points from the series. Both Stone and Mckinnon scored three wins apiece, but in the what-if stakes, Had Stone finished 4th in the Final race he would still have won the event after the application of a tie break, putting the pressure on Mckinnon to get three boats between him and Stone to be assured of the outright win.

Similarly if Mason had not had a repeat breakage, and retained his lead in the final race, and Stone been pushed back to 4th, then both would have finished on 10pts, but again Stone would have won the tiebreak - which had to be taken down to which sailor had the most third places.

The point behind that exercise is to underline how close the racing was on the leaderboard, and on the water. In the end Stone's consistency and ability to hang in under pressure, won his second P class title for 2023.

It also shows how much pressure the three sailors were under, which win or lose, can only benefit their future racing careers. One race between Mason and McKinnon had the two finish just a metre apart, with Mason taking the win, Mckinnon second, and Stone a very close third.

As it transpired under the double discard allowed after Race 8, Mason was able to discard both his alphabet places, and finished the day as he started on 14pts overall, 3pts shy of Mckinnon and 4pts behind Stone. Nathan Sopher (Murrays Bay, Queen Charlotte and Charteris Bay) finished 4th overall on 22 pts, 8pts behind Mason. Will Leech (Charteris Bay YC) was 10pts behind Soper in 5th overall.

Bella Jenkins (Kohimarama YC) was 10th overall in the Open fleet, and first female sailor, winning the Naomi James Trophy. She placed 12th in the Open fleet in the Tanner Cup and was also first female in that 17 entry event. Both male and female champions were double winners of both titles.

39 sailors competed - 29 male and 10 female. The P Class celebrates its centennial next year.

For full results sailwave.com/results/ZhikTaurangaCup2023.htm

Video commentary:

The video from Race 6 indicates the close, high pressure racing between the three lead boats.

Clip 1: Bottom mark going to finish leg. Blake McKinnon rounds with a big lead. William Mason and Oli Stone are still running into bottom mark. Mason is able to lay the mark, rounds and heads off after McKinnon. Stone gets caught on the edge of a squall, decides discretion is the better part of valour and opts to "granny around" instead of gybing. As Mason rounds Mckinnon capsizes upwind in tack in a squall. Stone executes a nice tack and rounding and gets back into his work looking to catch time on the two ahead. Then Mason lose control in a squall and rounds up. From there it’s all onto the finish (second clip). Mason wins by 1 metre over McKinnon with Stone 1 boatlength astern .

Clip 2: Coming into the finish, William Mason is closest to the finish boat, Blake McKinnon is to leeward and closest to the camera. Oli Stone is just astern waiting to bounce on any opportunity offered. Mason won the race by a metre from McKinnon With the persistent Stone a length or so in third.

Results and standings from the 2023 Zhik Tauranga Cup at Plimmerton Boating Club – 39 entries

Female:

  • 1st (and 10th overall): Bella Jenkins (Kohimarama Yacht Club) (14) 12 6 13 11 6 (25) 8 – 56 points - received the Naomi James Trophy
  • 2nd (and 15th overall): Lucy Luxford (Charteris Bay Yacht Club) (17) 17 13 16 9 (UFD) 10 14 – 76 points – received the Harken Cup
  • 3rd (and 31st overall): Kate Howse (Kohimarama Yacht Club) 18 (26) 18 23 23 20 20 (DNF) 16 – 122 points

Male and overall:

  • 1st: Oli Stone (Kohimarama Yacht Club) 1 1 (3) 1 2 (3) 2 3 – 10 points – Received the Tauranga Cup.
  • 2nd: Blake McKinnon (Murrays Bay Sailing Club/Bucklands Beach Yacht Club) (4) 2 (4) 4 1 2 1 – 11 points – Received the Memorial Cup.
  • 3rd: William Mason (Wakatere Boating Club) 2 5 1 2 3 1 (DNS) (DNF) – 14 points – received the Carter Cup.

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