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ePaper created 2014-06-11, 13:05:34 | version 1.30.01
96 comments or suggestions. Russell Green,a representative from the New ZealandYachting Federation and Chairman of the Squadron Protest and Racing RulesCommittee,askedtheStewartAssociationif theywouldliketoparticipateintheevaluation. Heobviouslyfeltthatbecause the Class regularly participated in close quarters windward/leeward racing,that they had a better than average understanding of racing rules and this would be the best New Zealand keelboat class to test out the new rules. It also didn’t hurt that of the 16 Stewart owners participating in the Championship that year, five were members of the Squadron Protest Committee. The Stewart Association unanimously accepted the request and to work with Russell Green. The remainder of the season’s Championship racing was sailed under the new experimental rules. At the end of the season, the Association submitted a carefully worded report to the New Zealand Yachting Federation, which apparently was forwarded on to the International Yacht Racing Union. During the latter half of the 1995/96 racing season, the Stewart Association was occasionally invited to sail their windward/ leeward Championship races under the organisation of the Takapuna Boating Club off the coasts of Takapuna, Milford or Castor Bay. Colin Thompson and Rob Bond ran the races in exemplary fashion. As a result of this successful relationship, the Association decided to sail the entire next year’s series with the Takapuna Boating Club. While the Takapuna Boating Club performed brilliantly in the organisation of the races, some of the owners started to become discontented with the extra time it took to sail or motor all the way from Westhaven Marina to Castor Bay and back for the day’s racing. Also, having to cross the bridge to get to the Takapuna boating club for post race socializing was not very enticing to anyone not living on the North Shore. As the season wore on,some of the lower performing boats withdrew from the series. Fourteen starters in two divisions dropped to ten by the end of the season. The Committee became quite concerned at the waning interest, especially when at the next Annual General Meeting, only four owners showed an interest in sailing in the spinnaker division for the 1997/1998 season. Based on past history, when participation numbers dropped below ten for class racing, it usually meant that the class was destined for extinction. An urgent meeting was called to discuss the situation. After some long conversations,it was decided to make the Championship Series a one-division, non-spinnaker event. This apparently did the trick as the numbers improved dramatically. The only casualty of non-spinnaker racing was one of the top performers, Rick Royden of Psyche, which was very unfortunate. With non-spinnaker racing, the upwind legs are the same, but the downwind legs, while slower and less physical than when under spinnaker, are more tactical. The number of participants steadily improved, and in the next seven seasons, an average of more than 14 boats participated. In April 2001 it was decided to create the Canon Cup Regatta, similar to the Ponsonby Cruising Club’s Lipton Cup, raced in Mullet boats, with both spinnaker and non-spinnaker divisions. This was held annually since then and attracted an average of 20 boats, with 23 starting in the 2006/2007 season. As it was the final race of each season, the Canon Cup Day became the Stewart Association’s annual Prizegiving Evening with an average attendance of 170 people. In the same year, it was decided to also sail a three day Saturday spinnaker series. This was the brainchild of Paul Stroobrant, who owned Pindaric at the time. The first race is a long harbour course, the second day is a series of windward/leewards, and the third is an intermediate length harbour course combining with the Canon Cup Race. Stroobrant provided sponsorship for the series which was named the“Kia Kaha”Series,the same name as his Clydesdale stud farm. Paul sold Pindaric shortly after starting the Kia Kaha, but John Collinson of Collinson-Forex assumed sponsorship. It’s now called the Collinson-Forex Series, and winds up the season with a series of both spinnaker and non-spinnaker division races. For the 2003/2004 season, the Class was still racing one non-spinnaker division only. With the ever-increasing demands on the time of the owners and crews, it was decided to save three hours of commute time out to the Northern Leading Light area and hold some of the races just off of Westhaven Marina, when other harbour racing schedules permitted. While it wasn’t quite the true test of sailing ability as sailing on the relatively current-free areas past Northern Leading Beacon, the participants