![]() “Bay Week will actually be the first time we’ve all lined up on the same start line so it’ll be pretty exciting on Wednesday,” Young said. And in the already-competitive and evenly-matched B Division top of the podium will be anyone’s to win. One thing is for sure, though, racing between these four nearly identical boats will be close. So they are good sailors in their own right.”Įven though the class rule isn’t finalised, Young is hopeful the other owners will stick to the stipulations in their ‘gentleman’s agreement’ for CRC Bay of Islands Sailing Week. She hasn’t quite made the Olympics yet but I’m sure she will. For example, one of my crew is Megan Thomson, who was selected for the America’s Cup youth team, and Olivia Mackay. “And that’s not to make the numbers up at all," Young said. He and the other owners are working on setting up a Melges 40 class association in New Zealand, with stipulations including an owner-driver rule and a requirement to have a minimum of two female crew on board as well. That was the driving force behind the idea.” You get good people sailing them and you’ve got to get better yourself. “I personally felt that the quality of club racing wasn’t really advancing, and the fleet was ageing. “That was a big goal for me personally, especially as commodore of the Squadron," he said. But their loss is New Zealand’s gain, and Young is hopeful the increased competition among the 40-footers, and within the Melges 40 fleet itself, will help raise the level of New Zealand club sailing. It didn’t really work out in Europe, as the same crews were in demand for both fleets, often at the same time. The Melges 40 class was developed as a grand prix alternative to the 52 footers, offering the same calibre of sailing but reducing the costs, crew requirements and general logistics of mounting a campaign. “It was going to be fine sailing one on my own, but to be able to convince other people to join the party was really neat, because now we’ve got four nearly identical boats.” Soon after, John Cobb bought Sikon, and finally Howard Spencer’s new Menace was packed up and on its way. “I put the word out and word travels pretty fast in the sailing world.” “From there, literally within a week of me buying mine, I managed to convince Steve Mair to buy another one, which is Clockwork,” Young said. Just 72 hours later and the new Checkmate was on its way to New Zealand. Then his brother, who works for Southern Spars in Europe, called him to see if he’d be interested in a Melges 40. The commodore of the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron said he was thinking about getting back into a race boat in about a year, when he figured he’d have the time. This week's CRC Bay of Islands Sailing Week will be the first time all four recently-arrived Melges 40s will line up on the same start line and everyone is a little bit excited about it. ![]()
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