Owner skippered Danger Zone wins the 2024 Harken Young 88 Nationals
by Mike Leyland, Young 88 Assoc 18 Mar 22:35 NZDT
2024 Young 88 Nationals - Bucklands Beach - March 16-17, 2024 © Adam Mustill
Owner skipper Harry Thurston and crew of Luke Cashmore, Sam Barnett, James Jennings, Thomas Olds, Brad Marsh, and Will Tiller, plus injured shore crew Jonny Bell, showed their talent once again last weekend to win the 2024 Harken Young 88 Nationals.
A fleet of 18 Young 88 one designs competed in the Bucklands Beach Yacht Club hosted event. Competitors in New Zealand's largest one design keelboat regatta faced varied conditions ranging from 20 to 25 knots on the first day where skill, weight and hard hiking was vital, to 0 to 10 knots on the second day.
Defending champion Thurston took out first on line and the Tanaka Cup for first owner driver. They didn't have it all their own though way having to discard a third place and count a second.
"Another top event for the Young 88 class with some great racing as always," Thurston said after the final race. "Super proud of the team to have won every major Young 88 regatta this season! Looking forward to more racing next season on the mighty Dangerzone!"
Second place was a very consistent Karyn Drummond on Flash Gordon also winning first Mixed Crew. In the 88s "Mixed" means at least two crew of a different gender.
Third on line went to Mark Tapper helming Undercover with World Match racing champion Nick Egnot-Johnson on tactics.
Lee Miller's Voodoo outsailed their number to win first on handicap.
Gary Fowler was awarded the Taylor Trophy sportsmanship award for the amazing job he has done bringing the very first Young 88 "Paddy Wagon" up to standard and back out on the race track, and also for leading the organisation of the Nationals on behalf of the Young 88 Owners Association.
The "Bent Stanchion" trophy currently resides with Vagabond and the best dressed boat and crew award went to Mark Nicholl's recently refurbished Fatal Attraction.
"Competing in a national event is next level in terms of investment in time and money," Young 88 Class President Mike Leyland remarked. "It was great to see such a strong turnout during what has become sailing's mad March, and it seems from the photos and bar room banter that a good time was had by all"
Buckland's Beach Yacht Club Commodore Richard Hosking acknowledged the great feedback from competitors and thanked the Young 88 Association for running the Nationals event with the club and presented the prizes.
Race Officer Hamish Tait was assisted by Blair Park and the usual large team of Bucklands Beach Yacht Club volunteers doing an awesome job managing courses and marks.
Special thanks to Chief Umpire John Grace assisted by Louis Mayo. The flags flew on a few occasions but after some clear messages at the briefing the fleet mostly behaved itself.
Overall Results:
| Pos | Sail No | Boat Name | Skipper | Club | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | R5 | R6 | R7 | Sers Score |
|---|
| 1 | 10888 | DANGERZONE | Harry Thurston | | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | [3] | 2 | 1 | 7 |
| 2 | 473 | FLASH GORDON | Karyn Drummond | | 3 | 3 | 2 | [6] | 1 | 4 | 5 | 18 |
| 3 | 6668 | UNDERCOVER | Mark Tapper | RNZYS | 6 | 5 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 1 | [7] | 20 |
| 4 | 6398 | SAILOR MOON | JACKO VAN DEVENTER | SSANZ | 4 | 4 | 3 | [7] | 6 | 3 | 3 | 23 |
| 5 | 4881 | WAR MACHINE | Mike Leyland | RNZYS | 2 | [10] | 5 | 3 | 4 | 9 | 2 | 25 |
| 6 | 4968 | Grey Goose | Will Cobb | | 5 | 2 | [10] | 5 | 8 | 5 | 4 | 29 |
| 7 | 5612 | VAGABOND | Greg Wilshire | | 9 | [13] | 7 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 8 | 45 |
| 8 | 188 | VOODOO | LEIGH MILLER | RAYC | 7 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 9 | 7 | [10] | 47 |
| 9 | 5746 | SWEENEY TODD | Joe Hargraves | CCYC | 12 | 8 | 11 | 4 | [19C] | 8 | 11 | 54 |
| 10 | 6150 | SPLIT DECISION | James Hall | BBYC | 10 | 9 | 6 | 11 | 5 | 13 | [14] | 54 |
| 11 | 8202 | HEARTLIGHT | SIMS ROGER | | 11 | [12] | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 12 | 65 |
| 12 | 6832 | BABE | Gavin Haslip | BBYC | 8 | 6 | [19F] | 19C | 19C | 10 | 13 | 75 |
| 13 | 4674 | PADDY WAGON | Gary Fowler | | 15 | 15 | 13 | 12 | [19F] | 15 | 9 | 79 |
| 14 | 4788 | SATELLITE | Jonny McCabe | | [19F] | 19C | 19S | 19S | 10 | 11 | 6 | 84 |
| 15 | 5664 | SMOKEY | Wayne Mackeni | | 14 | 14 | 12 | 13 | 12 | [19C] | 19C | 84 |
| 16 | 6499 | Fatal Attraction | Mark Nicholls | | 13 | 11 | [19S] | 19C | 19C | 14 | 15 | 91 |
| 17 | 5439 | Shiraee | Alan Geddes | | [19C] | 19C | 19C | 19C | 19C | 19C | 19C | 114 |
| 17 | 6180 | JAMIROQUAI | Ali Izri | RNZYS | [19C] | 19C | 19C | 19C | 19C | 19C | 19C | 114 |
Full race results can be found here.
Next up is the unique and ever awesome Mount Gay Rum 1-2-3 (handed) Series. More info here.