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ePaper created 2014-06-11, 13:05:34 | version 1.30.01
95 In May of 1988, the Stewart Association approached the Squadron with a package offer of a $1.5 million Westpac letter of credit, which was to be used to build twelve Stewart “Sprints,” a highly modified Stewart 34 designed specifically for match racing. The offer was ignored,and the Squadron instead opted for a fleet of modified Farr 1020’s,called MRX’s to use for future match racing series. The Auckland yacht racing community tended to agree with Citizen Watch’s theory that the Stewarts were out to pasture, waiting to die. The Stewart owners felt like they had been tossed overboard and left for dead by their fellow sailors. But the ever resourceful Stewart Association took stock, let go of the past and began planning for the future. While the loss of the Match Racing Series was a terrible disappointment, in some ways it was also a great relief. Boats that were used in the Match Racing Series had been fully optimized for racing, and were thus less suitable for cruising. The boats that were not used in the match racing, were more suitable for cruising, but not as competitive for racing. As a result, many of these owners had given up racing in the Championship Series. In 1989/90, only twelve boats regularly raced, but fortunately the quality of the racing remained high. Non-racing owners were enticed back into racing with the addition of a non-spinnaker division. Eight more boats were starters in the Championship Series. The Stewart owners preferred three shorter races within the Waitemata Harbour to the long 30-milers held by the Squadron. The Squadron didn’t wish to accommodate this, so the Stewart Association began running their own races, a day of three windward/leewards of three laps each,in the harbour area near the Northern Leading Light. Owners enjoyed having numerous races in one day,like they did in the Match Racing Series days. The crews enjoyed shorter legs,as opposed to hours as“rail meat” on long windward beats. More crew work meant that skills improved faster. More Stewarts showed up to race. None of this would have been possible without the hard work of a dedicated Race Committee. Eric Sugden of Patrician had to organise a committee boat, chase boats and crew. Jan and Derek Divers of Pelagian had to find and manage a full flag ship committee and then Jan performed the duties of Officer of the Day. All of the necessary gear to run yacht races had to be purchasedandstored. Itwasahugetask,butthethreeof themperformeditsuperbly. FormanyyearsJanDiverswasSecretary/ Treasurer. She gave up the office of Secretary, but stayed on as Treasurer. She remained on the Committee and continued to contact non-racing owners to get them out racing. It was no doubt a frustrating job,with a low success ratio. Nonetheless,it was through the efforts of Jan and others like her that the Stewart Class was able to reinvent itself and flourish once again. After three years of running their own races, the Stewart Association was approached by Peter Hay, the Commodore of the Squadron. At the Stewart Association’s Annual General Meeting in 1995, they asked if they could run the Stewart’s Championship Racing,promising to handle it efficiently and run it at least as well as it had been run by Eric,Jan and Derek. To take the strain off these three,the Association agreed and the Squadron started running the Championship Series with the first race being held on 5 November 1995. To support the Squadron in their efforts,the Stewart Association offered two or three of its people and on one occasion, John Beck offered the use of his launch as the committee boat. In spite of this,every race day ended up as a total comedy of errors. The racing became a farce and the owners and crews became disgruntled. The Stewart Chairman Bill Falconer requested a meeting with the Squadron Race Committee in order to sort things out. It just so happened that Bill Falconer was the first Stewart Association Chairman who was not a member of the Squadron. The meeting took place on 11 December, 1995. Despite having many reasons to query the performance, or lack of, of the Squadron’s race management team, he was met with what he described as a“torrid”reception. In a special meeting held just a few days later, the Stewart racing owners decided unanimously to cancel the arrangement with the Squadron and return to running their own races. It is interesting to note that a majority of those voting were financial members of the Squadron, and eight were on various Squadron committees. These gentlemen are to be applauded for making their decision based upon what was best for the Stewart racing undoubtedly at the expense of their own yacht club. The team from the Stewart Association ran the remaining races for the season without any further problems. In the same year the InternationalYacht Racing Union was in the process of re-evaluating and updating world wide yacht racing rules. Draft copies of the new rules were sent to reputable clubs worldwide, for them to“test drive” and report back with any