World of action on the water
It’s been 377 years since Abel Tasman brought his ships for a fleeting visit to the top of the south.
This week, another fleet of Dutch origin descended on the region.
Hosted by the Nelson Yacht Club, the 2019 Flying Dutchman World Championships get under way on Saturday on Tasman Bay, with crews from 10 nations contesting nine races between February 16-21.
While the world championships have been previously held in Tauranga and Napier, it was the first time a World Championship in any class had been held in Nelson.
The championship was preceded by the 2018/19 NZ Open National Championships, with many overseas entries taking the opportunity to accustom themselves to the Tasman Bay conditions.
Texas-based Australian Kim Macdonald, racing for the United States with his helmsman Lin Robson, said the local conditions had so far impressed him.
‘‘It’s unbelievable water – I hope you guys have more world champs after this – just having this phenomenal piece of water to sail on and no one else getting in your way – Sydney Harbour a couple of years ago was just terrifying.’’
The Flying Dutchman class, originating in the Netherlands in the 1950s, is a twoperson high-performance 6-metre racing dinghy.
It was the two-handed Olympic class from 1960 to 1992. New Zealand won a gold medal in the class at the 1964 games.
It’s a very technical boat to sail requiring constant and careful setting adjustments to maximise performance. Essentially overpowered in all but the lightest of breezes, adjusting for wind strength is critical for maximising speed.
Macdonald said the nature of FD class racing flew in the face of yachting’s perception as a rich man’s sport.
‘‘There’s no millionaires in this fleet . . . well, at least I’m not.
‘‘This is the formula one of the old style of sailing, if you will, with more adjustments than a lot of other boats made before it . . . the great thing with Nelson is you’ve got a lot of different breezes that you can pick from.’’
Title contenders for 2019 included 11-time world champions Szabolcs Majthenyi and Andra´s Domokos of Hungary, considered to be the outstanding team of the post Olympic FD era, Australian triple world champions Ian McCrossin and James Cook, as well as Dutch helm Enno Kramer.
The NZ contingent featured defending national champions Andrew McKee and David Hislop, along with Nelson combinations David Gibb and Nick McBride as well as Bruce Lissant-Clayton and Shaun Tee.
Nelson also provided the regatta’s youngest competitors in Waimea College duo Macgregor Jones and Luis Schneider, both 15.
For Jones, who has spent most of his six years sailing in 420 boats, the pre-worlds event provided valuable time to get used to size and speed of the new class.
‘‘It’s a huge step up – there’s certainly a lot more power – our weigh combination is a bit light but we cope.
‘‘There’s definitely a lot more ropes too, which makes it harder in a way but somewhat easier at the same time – with our spinnaker on the 420 we have to pack it and pull it out ourselves – here you pull a rope and out it goes.’’
Undaunted by the big occasion and having only sailed twice in their KZ99 FD boat, Jones said local knowledge and light winds would be useful in his quest to finish well in the coming week.
The race route in Tasman Bay will be past the tideline of Rabbit Island, beyond Fairway Beacon.
The competition uses the low point scoring system, where each boat gets a point as they cross the line, starting with the winner getting one. The boat with the lowest score after nine races wins.