Last Sunday morning saw an early completion or deferral of Mother’s Day duties as the competitors and volunteers made their way out to Northern Leading light for the three harbour races in the Young 88 single handed regatta.

Cris Brodie sailing the borrowed Vagabond gave everyone a lesson with a clean sweep of bullets, Jon Henderson on the borrowed Dilemma was second on line and first on corrected time and Craig Haslip sailing his own (and bro Gavin’s) boat Babe was third.

Shorthanded sailing is gaining popularity around the world with Covid-19 and the proposed two handed mixed Olympic event accelerating the trend.

The Mount Gay Rum 1-2-3 series is a totally unique regatta combining a single handed, two handed and three handed (with spinnakers) event over three Sundays at the start of winter. The Young 88 is the perfect boat for this, big enough to require some real skill shorthanded but manageable enough for mixed crew to be competitive.

The best story running up to the event was Jon Henderson crowd sourcing advice on social media re how to get Dilemma's disobedient diesel running. Plan A failed requiring some next level baling twine and no. 8 wire thinking. Jon is an American and quite clever :) .... however he decided wisely to channel some Kiwi ingenuity to rig up a detachable outboard mount that involved big bits of timber and a pallet!

The boats arrived from the East and West sides of the harbour for the 1100 start. The skies cleared then the wind dropped. Luckily an 88 with only one on board is quite a slippery thing in light airs and the call was made to get on with it rather than postpone.

The tactical call in the first race was where the breeze would fill first and how to pick up the positive tidal eddies that happen in the area East of Bean Rock.

Race two had to be abandoned after a late change to the rounding direction of the first mark saw a couple of boats unfairly disadvantaged.

The breeze built for race three and Craig Haslip determined that hiking was required. Not sure how he helmed and trimmed while facing outboard, but it makes for a great photo.

Overall a good fun day out with Stephen Bettesworth on Split Decision saying something about “fun” and “clothes on” and Jon describing the day as full on.

Thanks to Bucklands Beach Yacht Club and volunteers, Race Officer – Ross Hebner and able assistants, Jeremy Scott, Gavin Haslip and Mike Leyland on the safety boat.  Next up the 2 handed regatta.

For more photos click here info on the 1-2-3 Regatta and Young 88’s refer to the event page on the class web site https://www.young88.org.nz/events/83654/