Leander 25/1/2002

Supercup Sprint Series

The sponsors, Lampton Harbour Management, were rewarded with some spectacular and at times chaotic, sprint racing right off the waterfront by Te Papa. Five short races were had in demanding gusty condidtions. There was much carnage at the start, the top mark, the bottom mark, the finish as well as in between. Some sailors need to be reminded of port-starboard rules after a few incidents caused some damage in the fleet. Smit Millar came into a crowded top mark on the port layline, the first everyone knew of it was when Smit Millar's prod appeared through Subwoofer's jib. Bertha didn't get away with a port-startboard crossing at speed downwind. Subwoofer had trouble dropping their kite at the bottom mark until they realised it was wrapped around Liquid's crew. The worst however was on a crowded startline, when Smit Millar took on a stationary bunch of boats while on port, t-boning Bertha at speed and badly damaging Bertha's X-frames.

Exact results are lost on the back of an envelope somewhere, but final results stand as: Chemical Weapon 1st. Dimension Polyant 2nd. Meridian Energy 3rd. Defending champions Liquid came in 4th.

Prizes

The Leander was over and as is traditional, prizes were given out at the prizegiving. The boat Design Source picks up another title in its new reincarnation, the steerer Steve Macintosh his 8th title and the crew Kenny Fyfe only his 6th. For the 7th year in a row the contest winners also won the invitation race. Steve Mac also picks up the Masters cup. Defending champions Alex Vallings and Andy Meikeljohn on Smit Millar come in second and win the Bank of NSW Trophy. Dimension Polyant wins the Handicap trophy and 92 MoreFM the Doug Harrison Memorial Trophy for the best boat over 5 years old. Ashton Smith gets the youth trophy for a fine 4th place on Chemical Weapon. For the first time since 1995, the Pinkney Trophy, for the battle between squadrons, leaves Auckland and won by Canterbury. The other inter-squadron trophy, the Lion drinking trophy was retained by Canterbury after Auckland and Wellington defaulted in the face of overwhelming opposition.