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RACE TO VAVAU


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RACE TO VAVAU

The Kerikeri Cruising Club is organising a race from Kerikeri to Vavau planned for 2016 to celebrate the 80th birthday of the club.

The proposed race will depart Kerikeri late in May and covers a distance of 1180 miles to a new off-shore race destination.

Assistance has been approved from the Tongan Government Tourism Authority and the Vavau Yacht Club as well as several local businesses in Vavau.

The Chairman of the Vavau Race Committee Mark Beauchamp has been working on the proposed race for 12 months and says that all that is required now is to go through the formalities with Yachting New Zealand. This will be the third time Kerikeri Cruising club has run an off-shore race to alternative destinations, the first two being to Port Vila. Beauchamp hopes that the new destination will help revitalise off-shore racing in New Zealand.     

 

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A cruising fleet doing it in legs? A stop halfway would be nice.

Done ........... we will anchor a barge half way stocked with cold beer  and various delights ............ next request  :idea:

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Talked about it with the management and decided we are cruisers not racers. Will keep a watching brief to see if they do anything to accommodate a cruising fleet

You looked very gracefull as you sailed around Nine Pin Last week ........... sometimes I just hate  working out there............ 

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Most races have cruising divisions David - and if you get a good reach, not many boats (most will be smaller) will cover that distance faster than BP anyway - provided you leave the sails up ! :-)

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Don't laugh, we met a 37 fter that had taken 30 days to do a 1000 mile passage. When we asked what had gone wrong they said nothing, they liked to take the sails down around 4 pm and have a prayer or two, then dinner and bed and would decide whether or not to put the sails back up the next morning.

Each to their own I guess,they seemed happy enough.

 

To me the difference between racing sand cruising isn't speed (yes my boat can go fast), it's deciding when to depart and sailing efficiently without breaking the boat or the crew. Racers can't do either (and win).

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Done ........... we will anchor a barge half way stocked with cold beer  and various delights ............ next request  :idea:

Well, I should have said 2/3rds the way, I've been there twice and its so nice I wouldn't even contemplate doing the trip without stopping there.

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We are waiting for confirmation from YNZ regarding a date. 2016 is the Keri Clubs 80th year so we are hoping for that to be approved.

It is very likely that we will include a cruising division as we would like to include as many boats as we can.

All I can say at the moment is that the local tourist industry up there are offering some attractive deals for us to enjoy.

 

As soon as we get confirmation from YNZ I will let you know more.

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OK, we have a date. It will be in May of 2017. We chose this date to avoid clashing with the 2016  Akarana Fiji race.

The Kerikeri - Vava'u Race will be the only New Zealand off-shore race that year.

May provides a better weather system for the race and the return trip home.

There will be a cruising division.

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