WAKA Racing

Waka Racing Launch 2010 Campaign and Web Site

2010-04-24T02:52:00.000-07:00

Hi Family and Friends,

Waka Racing is back and better than ever. With a new web site, http://www.wakaracing.com/, and a big off-season behind us, the tension is brewing for the start of our Europe campaign.

It has not all been fun and games over the summer down under, with the team working hard on fitness and strength with a bit of sailing in between. Starting off the year with a second place at the Warren Jones youth regatta the team then sailed with Magnus Holmberg in the Omega Cup. The highlights came after, winning the NZ and World BMW Sailing Cup. A great start to the year before we embark on another 7 months in Europe.

The start for Waka Racing will be in Korea, from the 6-9th may in the Korea Match Cup Qualifier. After this we will carry on to Europe to start the 2010 campaign where we plan to participate in 12-16 Match Racing regattas and do as much other sailing as possible.

Please do check out our web site http://www.wakaracing.com/
New features include:
- Live twitter updates at events
- Capability to upload video and photos easily
- Full run down on team events, profiles, results, sponsors and supporters

A big thank you must go to Simon Dickey and James Ing at Frontend who designed and built the website for us.

BMW Cup WOrld Champions!

2010-04-06T01:43:00.001-07:00

25.03.2010

Team New Zealand defends title.

New Zealand became the first nation to successfully win back to back titles in the BMW Sailing Cup World Final when a young crew led by Phil Robertson swept to victory on their home waters in Auckland today.

In winning the prestigious amateur regatta in a field of seven nations, Robertson and his crew successfully defended the title won in Italy last year by another New Zealand crew led by Aucklander Roger Pagani.

Ralf Hussmann, General Manager of BMW Sports Marketing, said BMW was proud to have brought the fourth Sailing Cup World Final to Auckland. “This city is known around the world as the City of Sails,” he said. “We had seven passionate teams competing and the level of sailing was very high.

“Sailing represents values of teamwork, competition, challenge, environmental awareness and aesthetics, which also match BMW’s values,” he said. “We have seen these teams from all over the world come together in a great spirit of friendly and fair competition.”

Once again, conditions were testing on the final day, with an 18 knot south-westerly blowing against a strong incoming tide causing Auckland’s Waitemata Harbour to develop a challenging chop. The programme for the day involved completing the semi-finals of the match racing and then progressing directly to the finals. Team Portugal defeated Team Italy 2-0 to advance to the final, while Team New Zealand dispatched Team Malta by the same score.   This set up a best-of-five final between Team New Zealand and Team Portugal, while Teams Malta and Italy sailed a best-of-three petite final for 3rd and 4th place, which Italy won in two straight matches.   The final got off to a rocky start for Team Portugal when they collected two penalties in the pre-start, one for a port-starboard incident and one for failing to keep clear in the windward position.   "That got the nerves going a bit," admitted Portuguese skipper John Tavares. "We are still learning about the match racing rules. We made some small mistakes, but in a contest like this you pay a high price."   The Portuguese team were unable to recover and the score ticked over to 1-0 in favour of New Zealand. In the second match, New Zealand led away from the start line and extended all the way to go to match point on 2-0. In the third match, Team Portugal made it a much closer battle, keeping the action close all the way, but New Zealand crossed the line ahead to clinch the title.   After observing tradition by being thrown into the harbour, a drenched New Zealand skipper Phil Robertson was delighted with the win "This is a great one to add to our sailing CV," he said. "My crew – Garth Ellingham, Sam Bell, Logan Fraser and Brad Farrand – was really superb. “This is our first regatta of the year, so we are off to a good start. We were in boats we are used to and on our home waters, so that all helped.”   John Tavares of Portugal, speaking for his crew of Tiago Leal, Helder Basilio, André Basilio and Joáo Baganha, was gracious in defeat. " When we beat Team Italy in the semi-finals, our motivation was very high. We were manoeuvring the boat well and our helmsman, Helder Basilio, who has more match racing experience, was doing a good job. But New Zealand were too strong. They sailed really well, but we are very happy with our result."   Final standings.   Final: Team New Zealand vs Team Portugal 3-0  Petit Final: Team Italy vs Team Malta 2-0   1 Team New Zealand  2 Team Portugal  3 Team Italy  4 Team Malta  5 Team Spain  6 Team Hong Kong  7 Team Germany

Warren Jones Final Standings

2010-04-06T01:36:00.000-07:00

After a very frustrating and trying day, WAKA Racing comes off the water in 2^nd place. The semi finals were against the young and fiery David Gilmour. After two races, we both had one apiece but needed two more to win. We won the next two races, by no means easily, Gilmour giving us the challenge that we needed to go into the finals prepared. William Tiller won his races as well and so the Perth commentators were a bit disappointed on an all Kiwi Final!

This was a bit of a ‘grudge match’ as Tiller had sailed with WAKA Racing before and had taken some of our teammates with him. WAKA Racing came out firing. We were the 2009 Champions, after all.

After the first two races it was one each. The first team to win three races would be crowned the 2010 Champions. During race three, rounding the bottom pin, we were just passing Tiller when our team mate Garth, slipped overboard. Our bowman Matt Kelway, scrambled to his rescue. With one and a half team members in the water and out of action, we were unable to slip past Tiller and go for the win we were after. At the end of the race, it was Garth’s time to shine as Phil was occupied with the referees. The reporters wanted an interview. Garth handled it with professionalism.

Race four was a ‘do or die‘ race for WAKA Racing. We were trapped in the start, but managed to dip down around behind Tiller and caught him at a stand still. Skipper, Phil Robertson, while deciding to make the risky move, saw the damage bill flash before his eyes and then proceeded to carry out the ‘steel balls’ manoeuvre. Tiller copped a penalty during the race and the race was won from there!

SCORES

ROBERTSON 2

TILLER 2

It was all down to the final race. After a close start, the teams made their way up the course. Tiller held a very small lead. The top mark rounding was great teamwork by WAKA Racing, and we continued to keep a hold on Tiller. The race was far from over. Coming down to the bottom mark, our crew saw a red flag on the start boat, indicating a change of course. We weren’t far behind Tiller when we broke away to head to the RED mark, (as we had seen the flag, and we were sure of the change of course,) while Tiller rounded the yellow. Who was right? Horns started blasting as Tiller crossed the finish line. The cheering could be heard. However, there was confusion upon our boat. We HAD seen the red flag, it had come up. Therefore, we were, we felt, entitled to a rematch. We came off the water, very fiery, determined that we would have a rematch; because even the Commodore had seen the red flag go up. Surely the referees would see that it was fair to do so.

However, the referee’s weren’t in our favour and we were disqualified. A very frustrated and disappointed team of six headed to the ‘Marae’ (or out clubbing?) after prize giving for a good night’s sleep. We raced well, and worked well as a team. Workmanship on the boat was outstanding. Our hosts, Chris and Margaret Chapple, as always, have been fantastic. They are great supporters (and cooks) and we have thoroughly enjoyed staying with them this year. Congrats to Tiller and his crew for the win. And finally, a big thankyou to our families, friends and supporters back home for listening to our racing on the internet and cheering for us.

Final Placings

1 William Tiller NZL (RNZYS) 

2 Phil Robertson NZL (RNZYS) 

3 David Gilmour AUS (RFBYC) 

4 Peter Nicholas AUS (RFBYC) 

5 Tristan Brown AUS (RFBYC) 

6 Robert Gibbs AUS (RPYC) 

7 Kyle Langford AUS (CYCA)

8 Rueben Corbett NZL (RNZYS) 

9 David Chapman AUS (RSYS) 

10 Jordan Reece AUS (RSYS) 

11 Martin Boidin DEN (RDYC)

Over and out,

WAKA Racing

Phil Robertson

Garth Ellingham

James Williamson

Matt Kelway

Mike Edmonds

Taylor Holland

2nd place going into Semi's

2010-02-03T12:26:00.000-08:00

Perth, Western Australia, is the place for windsurfing and kite surfing not match racing. Another windy, windy day here that had us match racing in 30+ kts once again. ‘The Doctor’ is psychotic at the moment and we are hoping it will take a chill pill tomorrow for the semi finals.

We have qualified 1st equal, but losing on count back to Will Tiller our fellow RNZYS member after the round robin stage. We had strong winds again turning the highly technical Match Racing into survival racing. We had 6 races today, only losing one this morning in very shifty conditions. Winning most of our starts we seemed to be able to control the rest of our races comfortably. Teams conclusion of the day was the the Lamb sandwiches (lambo sambo's) were outstanding.

Tomorrow brings the semi finals where we hope to be able to progress to the finals to have a crack at defending our title.

Tune into listen to us live tomorrow on:

www.warrenjonesregatta.org.au

Thanks for the support,

WAKA Racing

Phil Robertson
Garth Ellingham
James Williamson
Mike Edmonds
Matt Kelway
Taylor Holland

Warren Jones - Day 2

2010-02-03T03:48:00.000-08:00

Reese and Boiden battling the wind. (Just to give you an idea of the weather conditions)

WAKA Racing on right

WAKA Racing on left.

Kia Ora,

Another tough day here in Perth for the team. Racing started at 10 and was called off at 2.30 due to copious amounts of breeze. The Doctor was here in the morning and proceeded to build until we were racing once again with reefed mains.

We started well putting two more wins on the board in our first two races. We had our fellow kiwi team next to race. We started well, tight to leeward and then tacked with him. The breeze was then up to 25kts and not letting off. Unfortunately we were forced left on the coarse where the right payed and we were not able to recover from there. The best part of the race though was the last downwind in 30+ kts on the edge of control. Thoroughly enjoyable for the team despite the loss. Racing was then cancelled for the day after completing 3 races.

Heads are high and we learnt a lot from the loss on where we need to improve. Looking forward to a huge day tomorrow and hope to be able to qualify on top for the semi finals.

Thanks for all your support,

WAKA Boys ( + girl )

(Photo's from top: Reese and Boiden battling the wind, WAKA Racing on right, WAKA Racing on left)

Great First Day

2010-02-01T16:43:00.000-08:00

Hello Supporters and Friends,

Day 1 was a hard one here in Perth. The Doctor was in with vengeance early on in the day and it didn’t let off. Starting the day with full sails we ended up with reefed mains and no2 jibs whilst it was blowing 25-30kts. Exciting stuff for the team and some hairy situations but we managed to come out on top in all.

A clean sweep today for us putting 6 wins on the board. It wasn’t all plain sailing as we came from behind in one, due to exceptional crew work, and slogged it out in a few others. A fantastic day for the team but more is to come as we iron out the creases to hit full form.

Racing starts in 2 and a half hours, so you can listen to a Live broadcast at www.warrenjonesregatta.org.au

Thanks for all your support,

WAKA Boys ( + girl )

Warren Jones Youth Regatta

2010-02-01T02:53:00.000-08:00

Hello and Happy New Year!

Waka Racing is refreshed and rejuvenated after a good New Years break. It hardly seems like a year since we were here in the beautiful city of Perth. We are here to defend our 2009 Warren Jones Youth regatta title.

Arriving yesterday we took a few trips to the airport to pick up the crew, dropped a couple of Kg’s from the heat each and then slipped into the Perth Marae for a fantastic nights sleep. The ‘Fremantle Doctor’ seemed to be on Steroids when we arrived as it blew 30-40 kts until midnight last night.

Today was practice day, a more typical Perth day. 32 degrees, the Easterly morning breeze dying around midday then pumping in at 20+ kts this afternoon from the SW. We had a smooth training session this morning and are confident going into the start of the regatta tomorrow.

Event website is
www.wayf.org.au where you will find links to Live commentary and all other media.

WAKA Racing

Monsoon Cup LIVE!

2009-12-01T21:53:00.000-08:00

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Click here to download and install it.

Victory for WAKA Racing!

2009-11-18T23:18:00.000-08:00

Coming through the round robin with a 10-0 score record was a real confidence booster for us heading into the final day of racing. Unfortunately, our talented tactician and mainsheet guy Garth Ellingham was hit with heat stroke and we had to make a quick decision to forfeit one of our races. In hindsight, it probably wasn’t the best decision - we hadn’t had a loss on our record to date, however we were already guaranteed top spot heading into the Semis.

Semi finals with Garth still man down we brought in a new mainsheet, Peter Gilmour’s eighteen year old son David. Our chosen opponent Martin Kaye (Team Hong Kong) fought hard especially in the last race, but we managed to get a few penalties on him and after crossing the finish line in 3 straight wins, we prepared ourselves for the finals!

Results for the Semis:

Flight 1: Robertson/Kaye: Robertson by 44 sec

Flight 2: Robertson/Kaye: Robertson by 1m 23 sec

Flight 3: Kaye/Robertson: Robertson by 30 sec

Teams through to the finals:

Michael Dunstan (SLAM Match Racing Team)

Phil Robertson (WAKA Racing)

FINALS

Pressure was on and it was these moments that would make or break our dream of winning the Asian Match Racing Championships and entry to the prestigious Monsoon Cup. The pressure was on, with Garth recovered and back on board, team confidence was high, but the battle between SLAM Match Racing and WAKA Racing wasn’t to be taken for granted. After three intense races and some awesome sailing with Waka Racing dealing all the penalties, looking for every opportunity to take the lead, and keeping tight cover on SLAM Match Racing, New Zealand Team WAKA Racing were announced CHAMPIONS OF THE 2009 ASIAN MATCH RACING CHAMPIONSHIPS! We are thrilled to tell you that we will be heading in a few weeks to compete in the 2009 Monsoon Cup!

‘You made it look easy, but it certainly wasn’t.’- Peter Gilmour

WAKA Racing – Skipper Phil Robertson, Tactician Garth Ellingham, Trimmer James Williamson, Pitman Samuel ( Muscle Man)Archer Bell and Bowman Adam Martin would like to say a huge thank you to their sponsors, supporters for making it possible for us to come to this event.

Final Standings for the Asian Match Racing Championships 2009

Interview with Phil Robertson and Michael Dunstan

COMING NEXT FOR WAKA RACING…

The WAKA Boys will be joining crew members from New Zealand's Black Match Racing Team in a Ker 32 for the Raja Muda Regatta. We are racing from Terenganu to Penang to Langkawi with some fleet racing in between.

RAJA MUDA REGATTA so far…

Race One – 5th Place – Sailed in Torrential rain for 8 hours.

Race Two – 1st Place – An awesome result for us as we are racing against boats that are much faster than ours. We sailed around a rain cloud and all the other teams had to go through. Right in the middle of the cloud the wind dropped to nothing, and ‘Ku Ku Ker Chu’ ended up crossing the finish line 2 hours ahead of the next team.

UPCOMING AND CURRENT RACING

Raja Muda Regatta (finishes 21 Nov)

Sunseeker Australia Cup 26-29th November

Monsoon Cup 1- 6 Dec

Asian Match Racing Championships - WAKA Undefeated

2009-11-15T12:00:00.000-08:00

'WAKA Racing leads after first round robin of the Asian Match Racing Championships 2009. Kuala Terengganu, Malaysia. Photo: Gareth Cooke/Subzero Images'

Hi Guys,

‘Its hot, Its humid and its sticky’. Terengganu has given us everything we expected, except for no rain. The food is to die for but taxi drivers don’t like it when five all pile into there little Protons. Along with all the greatness Malaysia has to offer the sailing has been outstanding. We still remain undefeated after completing 10 races and guaranteed the top qualifying spot. Despite our good run so far we have a big task at hand tomorrow to pull this win off with some very tough racing ahead.

We started today well taking two early victories before a short break and rest from the intense heat. Coming back out onto the water for a long afternoon spell we picked our game up and sailed a lot better. Our best races of the day were from the two Malaysian teams Hazim and Mansor. Against Hazim he picked the first shift well out of the unfavoured side to gain the first cross. After a few tacks and close manoeuvres we managed to get a spinnaker hoist inside him and take the lead around the bottom. From here we extended and took a comfortable lead. With an early lead to us against Mansor he sailed well to stay close behind. He picked a couple of great shifts up the second beat to be up our tail pipe around the top mark for the last time. We then held this fraction of a lead to cross the finish line one length ahead.

A fantastic day for the Waka’s which we are stoked with. Another great feed and good night sleep is required to be on top of our game tomorrow. We plan to up the intensity a little and take everyone as if they are the best in the world.

Click here http://bit.ly/nlrMC if you would like to see some exciting footage of the racing on Day 3 of the Championships. Check out the latest footage aswell as results and press releases for this event at http://www.monsooncup.com.my

Waka Racing would like to thank Ian from Tax Management NZ for helping the team get up here to compete, along with Stefan of Widex, Pacific Sports Community Trust, Ross Munro of Line 7, RNZYS, Simon from Frontend Design and the WAKA racing supporters club for all their help and generosity.

Cheers

Waka Racing

11th in Gold Cup

2009-10-12T08:24:00.000-07:00

Hi Guys

Lighter breezes were a welcome change on the 4th day of the Gold Cup as we set out for the repechage stage. The competition was no easier than we had previously imagined so the task at hand was not a simple one. Six teams, one round robin with the top two progressing through to the quarter finals.

We started off against Torvar Mirsky where we were deemed over the line at the start, forcing us to re start and fight from behind. A few freak puffs in light conditions gave us the lead again at the top mark but not as much momentum, giving him the opportunity to roll us. He regained the lead and we didn’t get a sniff in as he dominated the race from there.
We then won our race against 5th ranked Damian Iehl after sealing a good start and the early lead. We didn’t let this one slip away, capitalising on our early advantage by extending our lead in the second lap. Next up was local man and Gold Cup veteran Blythe Walker. Down speed off the line we had a fight on our hands. We made little gains up the first beat rounding the mark 1 length behind. Downwind he maintained the small lead until the second beat where we managed to gain the right hand side and starboard advantage. We held him off at the top and rounded the mark, after a big luff by a boat length. We made a small error by letting him gybe first and then the waves we hit after didn’t help. A very close finish was inevitable but another error on our behalf didn’t help the cause and he crossed the line ahead by half a boat length. Disappointing for sure but an area highlighted for us as something to work on. The last race was against Dave Perry another match racing veteran. A great start towards the favoured side sealed the race for us and we extended our lead throughout. Unfortunately only two wins in this round didn’t quite get us through to the next, knocking us out of the competition in a solid 11th place out of 24.

Waka rolling downwind to the finish ahead of Peter Gilmour

This draws our tour to an end for Waka Racing. We were satisfied with the result but a little gutted with missing out on the top 8. Waka sailed well this regatta, being the first time in Bermuda and in boats that were difficult to manoeuvre. We adapted really well to the old, slow and unorthodox characteristics of the IOD’s and managed some really good wins against tough competition.

The team is now looking forward to heading back to the comfort of home. After 6 months of travelling and sailing we are excited about getting back to Mum’s meals and a good bed! Thank You for all your support over the trip and we will send a full summary report when we get back.

We would also like to thank Stefan of Widex, Pacific Sports Community Trust, Ian of Tax Management NZ, Ross Munro of Line 7, RNZYS, Simon from Frontend Design and the WAKA racing supporters club for all their help and generosity.

Cheers,

Waka Boys,

Phil Robertson
Garth Ellingham
James Williamson
Sam Bell

Eyes on the Prize

2009-10-08T17:24:00.000-07:00

Supporters and Friends,

Competition here is fierce and the format is ruthless. With 3 groups of 8 we needed to qualify in the top 4 in to go through to the next stage. The top two spots in each group automatically qualify for the quarter finals and the next two move to a repechage round to fight for the remaining two spots in the top 8. We drew a very hard group, Peter Gilmour, Jonny Berntsen and Mathieu Richard have all won the regatta in the past, with Blythe Walker and Mattias Rahm also making the semi finals at in the competition a couple of years ago.

Our solid day yesterday set a great foundation to work off today. We had two wins on the board and knew we needed at least two more to move through. We made quick work of this by taking down Charlie Enright and Don Wilson in our first two races putting us in a good spot on the points board. We then had a slightly disappointing race against Walker, coming off the line behind and with a penalty, the team did a fantastic job catching up. We set up a trap to get rid of our penalty but unfortunately copped another in the process and couldn't come back from there.

With 4 wins, 3 losses on the board we finished 4th in our group and moved through to the next stage ahead of Peter Gilmour and Mattias Rahm. A great achievment for the team to beat them both considering it is our first time competing here in these difficult boats.

The repechage round started with one race for us this afternoon which was unfortunately a loss. We got pinned out in the start and couldn't quite gain enough ground to attack Bjorn Hansen who crossed the line first. Four tough races to go tomorrow which we are all amped for and have our eyes set on making the quarter finals.

Thanks for all you support and encouragement.

From the 'Island of Love',

The Waka's

Phil Robertson
Garth Ellingham
James Williamson
Sam Bell

Bermuda Gold Cup Day 2

2009-10-08T04:33:00.000-07:00

Hi all,
After no racing for us yesterday (due to lack of wind) we finally got onto the water racing today. We had four races against the top four ranked skippers in our pool. The conditions were a puffy strong breeze that made the International One Designs (IOD) quite a handful, with two of the races being sailed with no kites.
First race was against Mattias Rahm where we got a solid windward start with gauge that enabled us to lead around the top mark. Fortunately for us when he turned around the mark his boom clipped the top mark and the umpires gave him a penalty. Then at the bottom with him right behind us he was judged to have hit us from behind and was given another penalty. The final straw came when he didn't do this second penalty immediately and was given the "black flag". First win on the board.
Second race was against the defending champion from last year Johnie Berntsson. We dominated the first part of the pre-start forcing a penalty on him in the dial up but then got ourselves into trouble allowing Johnie to pin us and get us slow to convincingly win the start. We fought hard all race to minimise the gap so he couldn't do his penalty turn but he sailed well and managed to do it and win the race.
Third race was against legend Peter Gilmour whom we had a close race against at the Danish Open. After a tough pre-start in the big breeze Peter came off the line with a windward start and nearly rolled us. We did a nice move luffing him to stop this and forced him to tack off. We then picked a couple of nice shifts to get back to bow to bow with him and when he lee-bowed us we pounced. Managing to partially roll him and take height. Now we had him locked and led around the top mark. With kites back in action the downwinds proved to be ver hairy but the team held its nerve and managed to pull off a close victory that we were very happy about.
The final race against Mathieu Richard proved to be a bit of a disappointment as we had him pinned above the line for most of the pre-start but a boat handling cock up allowed him to break free. Also putting us in a bad situation that we infringed in giving ourselves an soft penalty. We tried hard all race to get rid of the penalty but Mathieu sailed well keeping clean.
Overall the team is pretty happy with the day. If you told us at the beginning of the day we would have two victories against the top four we would definately had taken it. However we know we could have done better. Tomorrow we have three races to finish off our pool with another windy day forcasted. The boys are all keen and ready to go with three wins a must!
Thanks to all our sponsors and supporters for all the encouragement.
Cheers
The WAKA Boys
Phil Robertson
Garth Ellingham
James Williamson
Sam Bell
-- WAKA RACING
email: wakaracing@gmail.com
web site: www.wakaracing.blogspot.com

Bermuda Gold Cup

2009-10-05T17:22:00.000-07:00

Hi Guys,

Weeks have past since we last wrote and we have just about completed our tour for the year. We finished the Danish Open 2 weeks ago and are now embarking on the last competition of our tour here on the beautiful island of Bermuda. We are competing in the very very prestigious Bermuda Gold Cup which has been running for over 60 years and we are looking forward to the start of the event in the International One Designs (IOD). We landed here this morning in class, arriving on a private jet belonging to Don Wilson, founder of the Chicago Match Race Centre. We spent the weekend on Lake Michigan doing some much needed training against him in similar boats called Shields. Getting used to the characteristics of the old boats was the goal with the intentions of being able to jump into the IOD's come race day, and be up to speed.

The funny format of 24 teams split into 3 groups throws a spanner in the works for the team. We have a fairly tough group but are confident we can make a top 4 spot to proceed to the next round. Having raced most of the guys, we know we are strong opposition and look forward to knocking down some more big names in the Match Racing world. This event is also the second to last regatta for the World Tour this year and our 3rd one we have competed in. We are really excited about getting under way and stuck into some fantastic racing. Thanks for all your support and letters of encouragement, it all goes a long way and we are very grateful to have you all behind us.

If you would like to follow the racing live or a little closer than our half assed reports you can go to the event website at: www.bermudagoldcup.com/, or www.worldmatchracingtour.com for all the media and links.

Cheers,

WAKA Boys

Phil Robertson
Garth Ellingham
James Williamson
Sam Bell

Danish Open

2009-09-20T03:08:00.001-07:00

Hi Supporters,

Last week we finished up in Denmark with a solid 10th place finish at a World Match Racing Tour Event. We had a fantastic last day gaining 3 wins and 3 losses, putting us on a total of 4wins and 7 losses for the event. However, the 3 we lost on this day were no give a ways. Taking them all down to the wire, losing one of them by only half a boat length, we were proud of how well we sailed. We identified that a lack of experience caused these 3 losses due to minor mistakes and slight eras in high pressure situations. However, we are satisfied with how our performance improved as the regatta progressed, taking down some top names in the process. Beating the current world number 1, tour leader and fellow kiwi Adam Minoprio was a high light as it shows what we can do and how much we have improved. Small steps will now take us to the top of the game as we have set a great platform for us to build off.

The next event for Waka racing is the very prestigious Gold Cup in Bermuda which is also a World Tour event in two weeks time. We are going to Chicago first to do some training against the founder of the Chicago Match Race Centre, Don Wilson, to get used to the odd ways of an International One Design. These will be very foreign boats to us as we have never raced anything quite as old. A great challenge that we are looking forward to tackling.

We must thank you all for your encouragement, kind words and humour as it all helps and we love receiving them!

New ISAF Ranking

2009-09-18T02:39:00.000-07:00

Yesterday ISAF released the latest World Match Racing Rankings with us jumping up to our best ever place of 24th. When we left New Zealand at the start of our tour we set a goal of achieving top 25 by the end of the year. To have achieved this already, the team is really proud of themselves and shows that all the hard work is paying off.

We would like to thank everyone for all help and support it really makes a difference!

Cheers,

The WAKA Boys

Phil Robertson

Garth Ellingham

Sam Bell

James Williamson

2nd Best...

2009-09-06T13:39:00.000-07:00

Hi Guys,

Have just come off the water and are enjoying prize-giving.
Will just post a quick report.
In the semis today we beat Jury 2-1 in a close shifty series. This put us in the finals against olympic gold medalist Anna Tunnicliffe.
In a shortened series we unfortunately lost the final and deciding race after an error in thr pre-start being over the line early. Going down 2-1 and finishing second.

The team is pretty gutted but once again sailed well all regatta and we are looking forward to the World Tour Event in Denmark starting on the 10th of September.

Full report will come soon.

cheers,

WAKA Boys.

Day 3 Detroit Match

2009-09-05T15:14:00.000-07:00

Hi guys

Day two started for us with the Quarter Finals. We were deemed to race the mighty Dave Perry who beat us in the semis at the Knickerbocker Cup. We started the first race real well by putting a double penalty on him in the pre start and lead, with a comfortable margin, for the whole race. Race two didn’t go as well or too plan. We controlled the start of the pre start and then hit some big waves, losing our speed with 1 minute to go and he hooked us forcing us to the horribly unfavoured right hand side.

Race 3, the decider, winner goes through. We lead in to the line with 1 minute 30 to go. We got ourselves into a spot of bother, fighting tide, tight on pin lay and did our best to hold our position. Dave was to windward with gauge but closed it up. With 10seconds to go we were clearly not laying the pin but with time ticking over Dave thankfully tacked off letting us follow, making the pin and winning the left hand side of the course. We proceeded to claim the left and held a 4 length lead though out the race to win.

Semi finals were next against fellow Kiwi team, Laurie Jury. We only had one race due to the day getting old and managed to scrape in a victory to lead the series 1-0. We will be back tomorrow for the final day to try and finish off the semis and take then see if we can pull out our A game and take the competition.

Cheers WAKA Boys

Detroit Match, day 2

2009-09-04T14:44:00.000-07:00

Day two started under postponement due to a lack of breeze but soon got under way in about 6kts of breeze. We started the day against Anna Tunnicliffe, leading her off the line towards the left. After working up the wall out of tide she managed to just gain the early lead by a boat length. By the top mark she had extended to two lengths but we reeled her in downwind but not enough to pass by the bottom mark. We sailed the next beat superbly but made a small error at the top where we under laid by half a length and she ran away with he win.

We finished the round off in the late afternoon with 2 more wins( one black flagging the British Nick Cherry in the pre start) and one loss to Swinton.

The team is sailing well and keeping it chilled. The pre starts are generally the most important part of this regatta as you have to be getting out of the current first. We have been winning most starts and sailing smart upwind and learning from the couple of mistakes we have made. Another good day and we should probably qualify 2nd or 3rd so happy with the result so far. Quarter Finals tomorrow so a good sleep for the boys is on the cards!

Event web site for results and media: www.byc.com/Detroitcup

Results:

Skipper Wins

K. Swinton 7
C. Van Tol 3
P.Robertson 8
N. Cherry 3
D. Perry 6
T. Canfield 7
L. Jury 7
R. Corbett 4
S. Barkow 3
N. Hollerbach 8
A. Hollerbach 2
A. Tunnicliffe 8

Detroit Match,day 1

2009-09-03T15:37:00.000-07:00

The Detroit Match Race cup is set on a river with 2 knots of current and Canada in the background. The start of today was delayed with lack of breeze but it filled in and 12 flights later it was 6pm.

Tackling the strong current we had a good day, winning 6 races and losing 1. Our loss came against Taylor Canfield of the American Virgin Islands when he infringed in the pre start and won the pin. We sailed a brilliant race to stay so close to him but not quite enough as he got his penalty in by an inch on the finish line.

We're looking forward to tomorrow and ready for another big day!

Event web site: www.byc.com/Detroitcup/

RESULTS

K. Swinton 3-2
C. Van Tol 2-5
P.Robertson 6-1
N. Cherry 0-5
D. Perry 4-1
T. Canfield 5-2
L. Jury 2-3
R. Corbett 4-3
S. Barkow 2-5
N. Hollerbach 3-2
A. Hollerbach 0-5
A. Tunnicliffe 5-2

Cheers Waka Boys!

3rd in knickerbocker Cup

2009-09-03T09:26:00.000-07:00

The Knickerbocker Cup is set on the Long Island Sound, Manhasset Bay, New York. We started the regatta ranked in 3rd position and after winning the Chicago Match Cup were in good spirits. Conditions are usually light and tricky so we knew what to expect. Our goal was to progress through to each stage and always be in a position to make the finals and have a shot at the title.
Out of the 4 days racing we had rain and light winds for two of them and sun and no wind for the other two. Day 1 saw very little breeze with the Race Committee only managing to complete 6 flights and us only racing 1 of them. We were fortunate enough to put a point on the board and get ready for day two.

With rain all day and a decent breeze day two was going to be a big day for the team and a chance to stamp our mark on the regatta and we did just that. We completed 7 races on this day, winning 5 of them and only losing to fellow Kiwi Reuben Corbett and American and past winner Chris Van Tol. We were very happy with the day and how we tackled the tough conditions and put us in a good spot on the leader board.

Day 3 saw more rain and more light winds. With 3 races to complete we were already guaranteed a place in the quarter finals but wanted to finish the round in a top spot. We only managed to win 1 of our 3 remaining races, losing to Swinton (AUS) and also the Swede, Fornander. This putting us in 3rd position after the round robin which we were happy with. The afternoon brought a nice 6-8knt breeze giving the RC the chance to start the quarter finals. The format was a round robin between the top 6 teams. We sailed this round very well, winning the first 3 races and only losing to Corbett in the last race of the day. We came off the line on his hip and tacked off to the right. We picked up the first big 30degree wind shift with pressure and looked a long way ahead. He continued to the left hand side and picked up one just as big. He then just crossed us at the top mark and held his lead for the remainder of the race.

With the last day brining yet again little breeze and overcast conditions we had 1 race to complete the quarter final stage. With top ranked Keith Swinton to race we knew it was a must win to secure a top 2 spot in this stage. We managed to pin him out in the start and control the race from there. This was no easy task as the breeze was shifting something chronic but we managed to hold him off and take the point. The breeze died to nothing and race was postponed till 2.30. With the semi finals and finals to complete the breeze was shifting between about 60degrees with big puffs and lulls. We were deemed to race Dave Perry (USA) the winner of the Cup in ’88 and ’92. Race one we came off the line to leeward and he go the first cross. In the tricky conditions he sailed well to hold his lead and win the race by two lengths.
Race 2 we had a stunning start. Coming off the line ahead we gained to about a 4 boat length lead. A big shift to the left at the top mark bought Dave back into the game and he managed to just round ahead. We then set up well downwind to make another pass and take the lead round the bottom mark. Upwind again he managed to break right and pick up another shift and round the top 2 lengths ahead. He held his lead this time downwind to take the semi final 2-0. Disappointing for the boys but conditions were very shifty and hard to see making it hard to stay in front. Full credit to Dave as he did sail extremely well in the shifty breeze.

We now had to sail off for 3rd and 4th against Keith Swinton. Race 1 we split tacked to the right but copped a penalty in the pre start. We had a 4 length lead but couldn’t find a place to fit the penalty in and we got another in the process of us trying to trap him. Race 2 and 3 saw us dominate the starts and come of the line splitting to the favoured right and winning both races by a comfortable margin to take 3rd spot.

As a team we felt we put in a very solid effort by always putting ourselves in a spot to race in the final stages. We were very happy with our boat speed and tactics but just couldn’t nail the big shifts in the semi finals to move through to the final.

We would like to thank Stefan of Widex, Pacific Sports Community Trust, Ian of Tax Management NZ, Line 7, RNZYS, Simon from Frontend Design and the WAKA racing supporters club for all their help and generosity.

FINAL RESULTS
Reuben Corbett (NZ)
Dave Perry (USA)
Phil Robertson (NZ)
Keith Swinton (AUS)
Rick Fornander (SWE)
Anna Tunnicliffe (USA)
Sally Barkow (USA)
Taylor Canfield (ISV)
Laurie Jury (NZ)
Chris Van Tol (USA)
Juan Grimaldi (ARG)
Jakub Pawluk (POL)

Knickerbocker Cup

2009-08-29T15:52:00.000-07:00

Hi,

3 days have been in the Knickerbocker Cup. We going well, finishing the round robin in 3rd place in light,fickle and tricky conditions. Today they started the second stage quarter finals which is a round robin with the top 6. We have won 3 and lost 1 so far and will progress through to the Semi Final tomorrow.

We have the boats going well and are happy with how we have been sailing. We are looking forward to tomorrow and hope to progress thought to the finals and have a crack at the trophy.

Cheers for the support and if you want to follow the results closer or checkout some photos the event site is http://www.manhassetbayyc.org/.

Waka Boys

Chicago Final Day + Photos

2009-08-25T19:37:00.000-07:00

The finals series didn’t start the way we intended them to. We were put on the back foot losing the first two matches in a first to 3 semi final against Norbjerg(DEN). We made little errors in these two races that put us behind enough to not be able catch back up. It was now do or die. We had to win 3 in a row to have a chance of racing for the championship. The third race went a little better, putting a penalty on him in the pre start and managing to get another on him at the top mark. Gaining a good lead we controlled from here. The 4th and 5th races were a lot smoother. We seemed to have found our form, nailing our time on distance to the start line and pre start manoeuvres to be able to take the two victories and move through to the final. A well fought battle by the team in high pressure situations and a well deserved spot in the Finals.

Keith Swinton our trans-tasman rival was to be our opponent. He had been sailing well all regatta and had demolished his semi final opponent Gremaldi (ARG) 3-0. We knew we were equally as good and could take this one out, so a quick motivational speech from Sam and we were into it. The wind had dropped right off now and the chop was just as big as previous days. The race committee had shortened the final to the first to win 2 due to the dying wind so we came out firing.

Race 1 we entered from starboard and lead back at to the pin end. With our time on distance spot on we won the favoured pin end forcing him to tack off to the boat. By the top mark we had tacked on him several times and had a 5 length lead. We defended this lead upwind by not giving him an inch and carried on to win the 1st race.

By the second race the wind had dropped even more down to around 4kts. With the course skewed towards the right we wanted him to be to the left of us. We started to windward and tacked off to the right hand side of the course. With tacking angles around 110 degrees we didn’t look to hot but tacking back at him for the first cross no one looked hot. We were practically pointing at each other on opposite tacks. We lee bowed him, forcing him left to the short side. A few more tacks and lee bows and we were on the port hand lay line with him tight to windward of us. We saw this as not a very strong position in the light winds approaching the top mark so we luffed him and sat head to wind until both boats had stopped . In a now strong position we bore away when he was stuck head to wind. Our timing to do this was impeccable as we gained about a 10 boat length advantage rounding the top mark. We lost a little on the downwind in some of the toughest conditions we had sailed in but maintained our lead upwind. Rounding the mark for the second time we had a comfortable lead and covered him on the downwind. He caught up a lot but we managed to hold our lead and win by two boat lengths. Score 2-0 and the first Chicago Match Race regatta going to Waka Racing.

A brilliant result that we are thrilled with. Coming from some very disappointing regattas in the middle of the year we have stepped up our professionalism on and off the water. We have all worked hard on our fitness in the last 6 weeks and have really come together as a team a lot more. The team is growing immensely and we are really starting to work well together. We are now off to New York to compete in the Knickerbocker Cup which starts in two days time and hope to back up our last performance with one equally as good. We would like to thank Stefan of Widex, Pacific Sports Community Trust, Ian of Tax Management NZ, Line 7, RNZYS, Simon from Frontend Design and the WAKA racing supporters club for all their help and generosity.

Chicago Day 2

2009-08-22T19:05:00.000-07:00

Hi Guys,

Just a brief report as we are all off to bed.
Today we had a good day finishing the round robin equal top of the table but 2nd on count back to Keith Swinton. This meant we moved through to the quarter finals and had to race Takumi Nakamura. We sailed relly well beating him 3-1 to move through to the semi-finals tomorrow. We feel really good and are looking forward to tomorrow.

Cheers

Waka Boys

Chicago Match Cup, Day 1

2009-08-21T17:44:00.000-07:00

Hi Supporters and friends,

Day 1 of the Chicago Match cup was a good one for Waka Racing. We started the day positively with a win against Dave Perry (USA), followed by victories against Canfield (USA) and one of the other two Kiwi teams, Laurie Jury. The breeze was straight off the Chicago waterfront making it awfully Shifty and puffs ranging from 5-20 kts. Much like a Southerly off the Westhaven wall. We sailed really well in the shifty and tricky conditions to take the victories in our first 3 races.

Our next opponent was Keith Swinton (AUS). We always have extremely exciting races against Keith and this one didn’t disappoint. We started well, tight in the leeward position to soon push him out right. The breeze then shifted right giving him the early advantage. We sailed well to stay in touch, taking two big shifts at the top to close it up and gain the right hand side. We came in on starboard lay and had a good piece of him. He proceeded to try and cross and we avoided him, clipping his back corner. This was what we thought was a clear cut penalty on him but it came our way?? The rest of the race was much the same with him slightly ahead. We gained once again and passed him right at the top. We had a great mark rounding to set him up to windward of us. He then threw a gybe at us and clipped us with his boom in the process. The penalty went on him so both slates were clear. Sailing to the finish line we were just behind him and with another big crash on the finish line and a broach from both boats he took the victory by half a boat length. We felt we sailed a great race again, to come from behind with a penalty and have a good crack at the victory.

The rest of the day was cracking. We had two more races and won them both against Nakamura(JPN) and the other Kiwi team Ruben Corbett. All in all we are very happy with the start of the regatta, sailing superbly to the conditions, changing gears in the puffs and taking the shifts like they were ours. We plan to carry this form through to tomorrow and keep the intensity and hunger up.

Cheers for the great support.

WAKA Racing

Back to Business

2009-08-18T14:29:00.000-07:00

Hi Guys,

Thought it was about time you all deserved to hear from us and we do apologise for the lack of reports. The reason for this is that we haven’t been Match Racing since Slovenia back in June but we have kept up our sailing along with a bit of touring. We all parted ways after Slovenia to see the sites of Europe. Phil and Garth took a trip to Hungry again to do the famous ‘Blue Ribbon’ round the lake race in a Melges 24. After 16 hours and 100 miles on the board we finished in a solid 20th position out of 600. It was a sight to see off the start line(which was 5.2ks long) with 600 colourful spinnakers behind you. A month later the team meet up again in Hamble, UK to compete in the ever so popular Cowes Sailing Week. We competed in the hotly contested J109 fleet sailing some outstanding races in the challenging waters. Finishing in 8th place we were happy but would have been 5th if it wasn’t for the DNS in the last race for starting incorrectly. We have now just spent the last 9 days in Portorose, Slovenia launching a new RC44 and doing the much needed work involved to get it race ready. Hopefully all going to plan we will be able to compete in the Regatta back there in 6 weeks time.

This brings us to now. Flying to the USA tomorrow morning to continue with the Match Racing programme with 3 grade 2 regattas back to back. We have set our sights high with a big hunger to perform above ourselves. These will also be a great warm up for the boys before our second World Tour event in Denmark from the 8th-13th September. We will continue to send reports on the regattas but if you would like to follow the racing closer we will give regular updates on our site http://www.wakaracing.blogspot.com/.

Thanks again for all the support.

Waka Racing

Heart Break in Slovenia

2009-06-29T10:50:00.000-07:00

Hey all,

This was a regatta we wanted to and knew we could perform at as we really like the bigger boats and know our crew work is sharp.Sailing the fully carbon fibre 'One Design Match' , 37ft long yachts. We started the regatta well with 2 wins on day one and one loss, which came against top ranked Ian Ainsle in 3-5 knots of breeze. We wanted the pin at the start, forcing him to tack off. With the daygetting late and the sea breeze had dying, he picked up a right hand shift right when he needed it. He crossed by two lengths and then sailed well to stay ahead.
Day two was much the same, very light again. This seems to be a very common trend in Europe!! We raced Keith Swinton our Aussie mate first. He won the start but we sailed well to keep it close. At the bottom mark he got a technical penalty which was handy for the boys. We stayed right on his tail upwind and did so round the top mark. He did a very good job of slowing up and managed to trap us, luffing us and getting the penalty off us. He then sailed off to win. Winning our next two races we then lost to Italian Simmone Ferresse. We got the leeward start but he managed to hold us to the lay line. He lead round the top and bottom mark but we were still close enough to attack. Sailing upwind we seemed to be a lot slower than him. We changed a few things but couldn’t work it out. We might have picked up a bit of weed but we were not sure and he just sailed away to an easy victory. This was disappointing as we know we can beat him more often than not. With one race to go we put our opponent away comfortably to end day two with a 5-3 win loss ratio.
Day 3 of racing we had one race to go in the round robin. It was a must win for us to have a chance of getting in the semis. The race was against Jacopo Pasinni from Italy. We have raced against him in 3 regattas now and are fairly even. We had a very rough penalty go against us in the pre start when it was a clear cut penalty on him. However we came off the line better than him and had a small lead at the top mark. We then got another penalty sprung on us for having our bow sprit out in the two length circle. ( only 100mm as it didn’t fully retract when we dropped the genaker before the start) We did the one penalty turn immediately and then hoisted the kite. Putting pressure on him downwind we managed to gain buoy room at the bottom mark but he didn’t give it and got dealt an immediate penalty. This didn’t wipe our one off but it put him behind. Upwind we managed to sailed him far out to the right hand side of the course and did our turn behind him. This put us right on his tail at the top and with a clean slate. After all this he then hoisted his kite to early causing it to trawl in the water and we managed to sail around him while he had issues. What a race, just mayhem.
With 6 wins and 3 losses on the board we had a very good chance of making the semis. There were still four flights to go and Jure Orel (SLO) had to win them all against the top 4 ranked guys. As we watched him top one, two and then the third, he had to lose the last race for us to get in. He hadn’t been sailing well the first two days and we couldn’t believe it came down to this. If he won the race he top qualified, if he lost he finished 6th overall. That’s how close the points were. We watched him jam yet another start and then sail away for a comfortable win which ripped our undies. Yet another huge disappointment for the team, missing out on count back to finish 5th.
We had a really good de brief today and discussed all the things we need to improve on individually and as a team. We identified that we had been sailing really well and not much has to change there but our preparation off the water needs improvement. We feel a much more professional approach and better organisation in the team is needed to be able to take those one or two more wins needed to crack into the finals. Finishing 5th this is not the result we were after and a hard one to swollow.
We now have 7 weeks off where there are no more match racing regattas. We are trying to find some other sailing to do so if you know of anyone or anything let us know. We have all gone in different directins at the moment but are going to try and sail in Cowes week together. Our next competition is in the USA for three grade 2 regattas at the end of august. We are hoping to come back bigger, better and with alot more hunger!!

We would like to thank Stefan of Widex, Pacific Sports Community Trust, Ian of Tax Management NZ, Line 7, RNZYS, Simon from Frontend Design and the WAKA racing supporters club for all their help and generosity.
Thanks Guys,

Waka Racing

New Country Different Event

2009-06-25T12:37:00.000-07:00

After arriving in the colourful city of Koper, Slovenia on Tuesdayevening. We had high hopes after last week competing with the best inthe world in Portugal. We were hoping to carry the intensity throughto this week

We were joined on the boat today by our local bowman Tosh, for thefirst time. Conditions on the first day were lite with seven knots ofbreeze.
The first race we had local Bojan Rajar. The start was non eventfuland we won the favoured left and extended to have a handy lead at thefirst mark carrying on to win our first race.The second race was against world ranked number 13 and local legend Jure Orel. This was much the same as the first race, managing to winthe favoured left hand side and the race.
The third race against world number 10 Ian Ainslie on the other handwas a different story with the breeze dropping to less than 5 knots.We forced him to tack off and he struggled to lay the committee boat.Therefore we had won the start and the left but with the winddropping it was starting to shift right and Ian ended up in a goodposition. When we tacked he crossed us and rounded the top mark justahead. There was a change of coarse at the bottom mark and we cameback to keep it close but couldn’t manage to get ahead.
All in all we were happy with the day but are looking forward to racing tomorrow.

Portugal Match Cup

2009-06-20T10:01:00.001-07:00

Portugal Match Cup.Gaining a late entry and with less than a weeks notice the team had to shimmy their way from Russia to Portugal to compete in this years 4th World Match Racing Tour event. We were stoked with the entry and had to jump at the opportunity and experience of racing at a world tour event. We flew in the morning of practice day and then had 2 hours to get used to the Swedish Match 40 boats and also a new bowman from Portugal, Rubrio Basilio, who very quickly gained the name 'Rangi' as we struggled to pronounce his real name. The weather here was a nice change from Russia. Sailing with strong tides again and up to 35 degrees we had no problem adapting. With the breeze generally light in the morning, dying by midday for a couple of hours and a sea breeze building in the afternoon. We had this most days making the racing days very long with early starts and late finishes.

Race 1 was a tough one. Coming off the line on his tail we tacked off and he followed. He then lifted inside and seemed to have a tad more speed than us, extending to a big lead by the top mark. We couldn't recover from there and took our first loss to Hansen (SWE)With around 7 knots race two started against Richard (FRA). We won the leeward position off the line but he managed to hold his guage to the layline and he lee bow tacked to take a 1 boat length lead at the top mark. He then sailed away a little downwind and held his lead for the rest of the race. We were happy with our speed in this race and knew we could build from it.Race 3 was against Presti in the afternoon. We gained a penalty in the dial up but managed to win the start. We tacked on some good shifts up the beat gaining a nice lead. We then lost a little on the downwind and again some more on the next upwind. Presti set up well to stop us completing a turn upwind and we tried to sail away and do it on the finish line but failed as we didn't have a big enough lead. A disappointment for the team but a big boost also!Race 4 against current World Champion Ian Williams. We were fired up for this one after the close loss to Presti. We won the start again and had a good upwind to hold a 2 boatlegnth lead. He gybed first and caught up but we managed to overlap him above and hold him out past the bottom mark. A big scramble by the team to get the kite down and jib up resulted in us coming out alot better having a 3 length lead at the bottom mark. We then sailed the beat superbly to extend our lead and win the race comfortably. The team was stoked with this win and a big boost for the confidence.We then raced local Alvaro Marino who knocked us out of the Open de Espana in April. We really wanted this win on the board. We controlled well in the pre start and managed to push him over the line and give him a penalty on the gun. We held a confortable lead during the race to take our second point.A great day for the team as these boats are known to be hard to get used to and get going fast but we seemed to adjust well and were happy with our speed.

Day two and again not much wind in the morning but with the see breeze building to 20knots in the late afternoon, it made racing exciting. This turned out to be a long day as we were 1st up at 10am and then last flight around 8.30pm. We sailed well again, winning only 1 race. It was a tad dissapointiong as we pushed alot of the top guys. Our races against world number 1 Sebastion Col and Peter Gilmour we managed to win the start and get the first cross. Against Col we lead at the top and had another big scramble at the bottom to come out ahead but gaining a red flag penalty for a port starboard insident during the drop. We couldn't then get back into the race from there. Aginst Gilmore he lead by a small margin at the top and held his small lead throughout. We won our match aginst Ian Anslie (RSA) in about 20kts of breeze. We lead upwind and then he passed us at the bottom mark. A penalty on him for taking too much room at the bottom mark helped and during the drop his jib sheets got tangled and we passed. Extending our lead up wind, we held on in the very puffy conditions. Our last race of the day was against Russian Abuzov. The breeze died to less than 10kts and with this came shifty conditions. We lost the start due to the other match rounding a temporary bottom mark on the start line at the same time as our start gun. We were affected greatly but caught right back up. We had at least two chances to take the lead but failed to capitalise both times losing by a small margin in the end. We were dissapointed with this loss as it was one we should've, would've and could've won.

Day 3 we had two races to go. One againt felow kiwi Minoprio and the other against Mirsky (AUS). Against Minoprio we won the start and had guage to windward. We held our lead up wind but made a mistake in a big dial down at the top mark and fell behind but rounded on his tail. We were then taken past the bottom mark to put pressure on our drop yet again and came out ok. We rounded behind and started to attack with a tacking duel. We fell a little behind but when he put his jib through his spreader it gave us the split we were after. We caught up and he lee bowed us at the top. He then luffed for a good amount of time so we didn't get buoy room and unfortunatly we lost our bow onto port and he sailed away to take the victory.Our last race was against Mirsky of Austrlia. We won the start yet again in about 15kts of breeze and held him off upwind. He tried to roll us downwind but we held him out till the bottom mark. We then made the mistake of gybing too early as we thought he had broken the overlap and he snuck inside us to gain bouy room at the bottom mark. He then extended to win the race. The media summed it all up in their report on the World Tour website "While finishing in 9th place and therefore not advancing to the next stage, its noteworthy to mention the extraordinary efforts put in by Phil Robertson (NZL) and his WAKA Racing team. In his matches against two other young Down Under talents, fellow Kiwi Minoprio and Aussie Mirsky, Robertson was extremely tough, taking both to their limits amidst heated pre-start and mark-rounding action. He and his team got beaten for not having quite that extra polish the others have in having spent the last two years in Tour competition, but his performance today certainly makes him one to watch for the future".
We are very happy with our perfomance in our first Tour event and feel we have earned some respect, which was our goal for the event. It is just having the experience and knowledge of what to do in pressure situations that we lacked and know this will all come with more events and practice. We are now looking forward to our next event in Slovenia, a grade 2 in brand new fully carbon 'One Design Match' boats. We are definately hoping we can perform well and put all the experience of the last two weeks together to gain a great result. Competion here will be tough but we know we can down the top guys.
We would like to thank Stefan of Widex, Pacific Sports Community Trust, Ian of Tax Management NZ, Line 7, RNZYS, Simon from Frontend Design and the WAKA racing supporters club for all their help and generosity

5th in Grade1 Russia

2009-06-14T03:47:00.000-07:00

Hi all,

We arrived in wonderful Russia on Monday night to a cold 12 degrees and rain. It stayed this way for the next 2 days not making the first impressions good ones. We trained in the ‘wedge’ shaped boats on Tuesday and found them extremely strange and with a lot of drag. This adding to the cold, wet, light and very strong current Russia had to offer! Despite all of this we were pumped and ready for our second grade 1 event.

Day one started with rain and no wind and ended exactly the same. We then had to attend a fantastic opening ceremony…..40 girls doing a fashion parade in wedding dresses, funny dressed dancers strutting there stuff followed by two parties with plenty of vodka. Russia….

Day two, much the same as day one. It did clear up eventually followed by a light breeze so racing got underway. We started well beating Russian Eugeniy Neugodnikov who we picked as being one of the toughest. We then carried this form on to top 2 others in a row. With our 4th race of the day and our final we had a blinding pre start. We came off the line against Andrew Arbuzov with a double penalty on him. He tried to fit one in but we placed ourselves in his way, giving him another. We had a good lead with him still having to complete another penalty. He snuck this in on the second beat when he was still behind without us noticing. This proved to be devastating as we let him cross the line first as we were still in a controlling and safe position if he had the penalty. He won the race. Our score 3wins 1 loss.

The sun came out and bought the heat on day 3, about 25degrees. But once again light breeze. We only managed to do 3 races this day. The wind was from the opposite direction today making the up wind beats into tide. We capitalised on this by using our knowledge of beating into tide up the wall outside the Squadron so many times. Losing the start in one race which we lost we then won the other two. Score 5-2

On the 4th day we waited once again for the wind to fill in. The original format was for the top 6 to proceed, which is where we set our goal at, but the race committee cut it to the top 4 due to lack of time. With 4 races left we knew we had to fire to get into the semi’s. Race 1 we lost the start and fought hard to climb back into the race. We sailed superbly to get within a boat length at the top mark for the second time. Sailing with the current downwind gave us little time to attack and we just failed to roll him on the gybe, losing by two lengths. Race 2 went well, winning the start we extended our lead throughout the race. Race 3 we didn’t win the favoured pin end, and looking at statistics I’d say no one lost a race the whole regatta who got to the out of tide obstruction line first. Once again we fought real hard against Danish Peter Wibroe and had our chances but couldn’t quite capitalise to take the lead. With 6 wins on the board we knew we wouldn’t make the top 4 if it stayed. The last race was against top ranked Damien Iehl. We came off the line ahead but conceded a penalty. We held a little lead for the first beat and rounded the bottom mark ahead. He rounded the mark behind but then lifted closing into 1 boat length. We then we forced to double tack and he did also. He completed his tack first onto starboard and we then got another penalty. Doing one straight away we lost a lot of ground and he held his lead to the finish.

This put us on 6 wins 5 losses which we knew was going to be tough to make the top 4. We then had 3 painful matches to watch to see if it would go our way. It did for a few minutes and then it went horribly wrong as we watched someone run aground who we needed to win. We can’t blame the fact that others didn’t win who should have as we could have easily won a couple more.

After just missing out on semis we raced today for 5th and 6th. With the organising committee making it a one race decider we had to be on our game. This race was against Rui Boia from Portugal. We set up nicely in the pre start to lead back to the line. Forcing him to be late on the line we controlled the up wind. We had a handy lead at the top but turning into the current cut it in half. We then controlled the rest of the race to win and take 5th overall.
This is a fantastic result as being the 11th ranked team we set our goal at making the top 6. We achieved this but unluckily the light conditions didn't allow the organisers to get the whole regatta format in of having a top 6 round robin before the semi finals. We were a tad gutted with this but we defiantly had our chances of making the top four. We had a fantastic race with Damien Ihel and are now sailing at the top level we have been striving for. We just need to fine tune all our skills, strategies and tactics to be able to top the big guys and start getting those vital points that bite us in the ass when it counts.

A fantastic regatta for the team and we are thrilled with how we sailed and our result. We are now looking forward to the World Tour event next week in Portugal, with the plan of taking what we learnt with us to tackle the best in the world.

We would like to thank Stefan of Widex, Pacific Sports Community Trust, Ian of Tax Management NZ, Line 7, RNZYS, Simon from Frontend Design and the WAKA racing supporters club for all their help and generosity.

WAKA Racing

Another Close miss....

2009-06-13T08:49:00.000-07:00

Today started with no wind (big surprise!) and a long delay. Finally at about 12 o’clock a nice breeze came in alowing us to get out of the steaming hot marquee and actually go do some racing. Due to loss of time the race committee advised us that instead of going to a top six round robin after the first round robin was completed they would instead only take the top four. This was going to make things very tight to make the top four.

We had four races in row and knew we had to win a couple of them make the finals series. First up we had Jacako Pasinni. We lost the start but fought very hard to stay in touch. After two long one track beats we managed to make some small gains and round the top mark one legnth behind. With a short, down tide run to the finish we were unable to roll him and lost by two legnths.
Our next opponent was Manu Weiller of Spain. We won the start and sailed two superb beats to take the victory and a much needed point.
Race 3 was aginst Peter Wibroe from Denmark. He had been sailing well all regatta so we knew it was a tough race. The start was tough with the current making the lay line very high.Unable to win the favoured pin end we made the task ahead very difficult. We then fought very hard once again and managed to climb back into him by using our good knowledge of sailing in current. We had a good bottom mark rounding and turned up inside him. With the obstuction drawing near we tacked first back out into the tide. We then tried to tack back underneath him but stopped as we were going to clip him and came out in his dirty air. This made it harder and he sailed well to keep his lead and win the race.
Our last race was against top ranked Damien Iehl. With the start gun going we were both over but made sure we came off the line better. By doing this we conceded a penalty but were happy with the lead. We managed to get the first cross and get in out of the current. We then extended our lead but took a couple of unlucky knocks at the top and he gained a little. We rounded the bottom mark well but lost guage due to the tide. He then Rounded on our hip 5 legnths behind but lifted. We tacked back to cross by a legnth but he was then out of phase and out of tide. We came back and he dipped,we tacked at the same time as him but didn’t complete onto port in time and got another penalty. Taking the penalty immediately put us well behind and impossible to come back. It was a dissapointing loss but the lesson was learnt.

This put us on 6 wins 5 losses which we knew was going to be tough to make the top 4.We then had 3 painful matches to watch to see if it would go our way. It did for a few minutes and then it went horribly wrong as we watched someone run aground who we needed to win. We can’t blame the fact that others didn’t win who should have as we could have easily won a couple more. We are sailing at a much higher level now and just need to fine tune our skills and strategies to be able to win the races we should have won.

We now have to sail off for 5 and 6th place tomorrow morning so the boys will be pumped and ready to defend our position!!!

WAKA Racing

Great News!!

2009-06-12T09:17:00.000-07:00

Hi,

Today we were informed that there was a space free for the Portugal Match Cup world tour event and we got asked to compete!! We are thrilled and really looking forward to it. Fantastic news for the team and great to get a foot in the door. Just a logistical nightmare!!

Today was also the second days racing here in the ''wounderful Russia''. With very little breeze, we had 2 wins and 1 loss. This brings our score to 5wins-2losses. We are going very well and are dealing with the light winds and strong currents well. All those days beating up the rock wall outside the Squadron are paying off and we are pulling out all the tidal relief tricks.

Four more races to finish off the round robin for us tomorrow. We will post a report tomorrow night (morning NZ time) on how the day went.

Peace

Sail of White Nights

2009-06-12T01:57:00.000-07:00

Hey guys,

We had a great first day of the grade 1, Won 4 lost 1. We were very unfortunate in the loss as he passed us on the finishing line when we thought he still had a penalty. Very dissapointing and a lesson lern't the hard way. We are just starting day 2 so we will post a report tonight and let you all know how we got on.

Cheers,

WAKA Racing

Poland Report from Russia

2009-06-09T10:29:00.000-07:00

The Boats and the sailing area. Lake Pupuke?

Hi Team,

Last week we were in Poznan, Poland for a grade 3 event. This was on a lake that reminded us a lot of the familiar Lake Pupuke. It was fairly cold, either very light or windy, similar size and surroundings. It was sailed in funny little trailer sailors, Skippy 950’s. There were 12 teams competing, 10 from Poland and 1 from Brazil. They split the round robin into 2 groups as they only had 4 boats and 2 days of racing. We went through our round robin taking out all 5 races with only one them being close where we came from behind to roll the guy just before the finish line. We then won both our quarter final and semi finals 2-0. We were very strong in the pre starts and won most of our races by coming of the starting line in a comfortable position and when required did the business with the boat handling.

The final was against one of Poland’s best, Marek Stanczyk who is ranked a few places in front of us. We knew this was going to be tough and had to be at the top of our game to beat him. Race one we lost by a wind shift up the first beat and then we won the next two. We were then up 2-1 only having to win one more to take out the regatta. He fought back well and took the next race comfortably making the last race the decider. Score 2-2. We controlled most of the pre-start before being forced to split tack off the line. We were behind by two lengths at the top mark and couldn’t quite roll him downwind. His lead stayed the same for the rest of the race with us throwing everything at him. We attacked again on the downwind but the short course got us in the end and he won by a couple of lengths.

We were a tad gutted with 2nd place as we were so close but knew we didn’t sail badly at all throughout the regatta. We were just beaten by a slightly better team in the finals who really knew how to sail the boats fast. Hopefully we can hit a higher level for this next event.

We flew out of Warsaw on Monday morning arriving in St Petersburg in the afternoon. The sailing area is very small and has a strong 3-4 knot current that runs down the course. We believe we can use this to our advantage as it is much like sailing off the Squadron. We are all pumped and ready to take on the best , hoping to come out with a top result on these very tricky waters.

Thanks to all of you for supporting and following us. We must also thank Stefan Goldwater of Widex, South Pacific Sporting Trust, Line 7, RNZYS and Simon Dickey of Frontend Design for all their help and Support!!

Close but no cigar...

2009-06-07T09:04:00.000-07:00

Hi all,

We have just come off the water from a long, hard days racing. We managed to win through to the finals undefeated. Unfortunately in the finals after being 2-1 up we lost in a close last race 3-2. A full report will follow in the next day or so as we have managed to hitch a ride from Poznan to Warsaw (normally 3 hour train ride!) tonight so we must go.

Tomorrow we fly to St Petersburg where hopefully we will have better internet access.

Cheers,

WAKA Boys

Back on the water for WAKA Racing

2009-06-06T09:36:00.000-07:00

Hi all,

Waka Racing team is back in action after a couple of weeks off. We are now in Poland competing in the Polish Match Tour, Poznan. Today was the round Robin. With 12 teams and only 4 boats they split the fleet in half to cut down on flights. We had a great day in the Skippi 6.50s winning all 5 of our round matches. We had fantastic pre starts in our first 4 races and managed to maintain a confortable lead in the very shifty lake conditions. Our last match of the day wasn't as easy, we came off the line 3 legnths behind. After a big tacking duel we came right back into him before a big wind shift at the top of the beat went his way, undoing all our hard work. Fighting hard we pulled him in again at the the top mark and had a much better hoist, setting us up to attack. We gybed ontop of him, rolled him and held a boat legnth advantage to the finish.

A great day and a positive start to the regatta. We now have quarter finals tomorrow and then they will finish the rest of the event.

link to the event website: www.polishmatch.pl

Happy Days

2009-06-01T00:20:00.001-07:00

Hey Guys,

Just an update on where the team is and what we have been doing the last couple of weeks. We have all been in different places, visiting friends and trying to keep the cost of living down. Phil has been to Switzerland for a week and then to England. James has stayed in London for most of the time, Garth in Valencia again with Mike Drummond and Sam has been to the Netherlands and is now in London.

Phil, Jimmy and Sam made a trip to Cowes for the weekend to compete on a J109 in the Vice Admirals Cup. We were stoked to be back on the water and do some more yachting and had a great time at Cowes. We finished the regatta in 3rd place but were kindly asked by 4th place to retire from the first day as the owners couldn't make it so Phil steered the boat. The owner decided to retire as he didn't want to cause and trouble in the fleet as he is new to the class. The fleets standard was very similar so the racing was always very close. A little bit more local knowledge on the tides in the Solent would have helped out tremendously as you can easily get up to 4knts of it. The weather was fantastic with blue sky and 10-15kts every day so a great first experience of Cowes.

We have all spent the end of last week desperately trying to get our visas for Russia sorted out and are hopefully going to pick them up today. We then fly out to Poland tomorrow for our next match racing event this weekend. After that we are off to Russia for the grade 1 event. This is then followed by a regatta in Poland again, then Slovenia and then hopefully back to Poland for their grade 2 regatta.

We will keep the site updated and let you all know how we get on. Bye for now.

WAKA Racing

Marseille Grade 3

2009-05-19T13:22:00.000-07:00

Bonjour,

We arrived in Marseille on Thursday night and spent a cold and windy Friday studying the boats and preparing for the 2 day regatta.Saturday morning and we got out on the water asap to get as much practice in before the start of race 1. We knew it would be tough getting used to the boats but tried to learn fast. It proved to be key as we lost a couple of close races by others pulling out little tricks for the J80s. The conditions were light in the morning then really choppy with a bit more puff (12 knots) in the afternoon. We finished the day with 4 wins and 3 losses. This could have quite easily been 6 wins but lost two close ones due to lack of time in the boats.

Day two was a big day for us. We had to win both our races to make the semis against guys ranked higher than us. Race one brought light and very shifty conditions. We had the perfect start and managed to put 6 boat lengths on him off the line. We sailed a few really good shifts and had a comfortable lead at the top mark. We maintained this lead until the last run when the shifty, light and puffy conditions made it hard for us to defend downwind. He got a nice puff from behind and caught right up at the finish but we just scrapped in about one meter ahead. A tough race but a much needed win.

Race two was much the same. Racing Michal Perris the previous winner of the event. We had a glamour start and a lead that we managed to extend to about half a leg by playing some big shifts. Approaching the bottom mark “Chef Waka” realised the supermarkets didn’t open on Sundays and the fridge was empty back at home. “Chef Waka” then thought it was a great time to try and catch a feed with the comfort of a big lead. With a big catch in the net the boys then underestimated the time it would take to haul in the catch, losing our lead but gaining a very wet spinnaker. After a big scramble our lead had gone and he extended up the next beat to a comfortable lead. Knocked out of the semis on count back to Michal we finished 5th on 5 wins. We were all a bit gutted with our effort as we knew we were defiantly good enough to progress to the next rounds of the regatta. We’re going to take the positives from it and hold onto the lessons we learnt in the boats and covering in shifty conditions.

We now have a few weeks off due to the cancellation of two planned events in Portugal and Italy. We would like to thank Steffan Goldwater of Widex, Line 7, Pacific Sports Community Trust, RNZYS, Simon Dickey of Front End Design and all members of the Waka Racing supporters club.

Tough day in Marseille

2009-05-16T13:21:00.000-07:00

Today we had a long day in boats we hadn't sailed before ending up with 4 wins and 3 losses. As there is only one round robin with the top 4 going into the semi finals we have to go out firing tomorrow. We have two more races and we must win both of them to have a chance to make the top 4. The boys are confident we can do it, so we just have to convert it onto the water!

Cheers,

The Waka Racing Boys

Boys go Trawling in Marseille!

2009-05-03T05:03:00.002-07:00

Bonjour,

We arrived in Marseille on Thursday night and spent a cold and windy Friday studying the boats and preparing for the 2 day regatta.
Saturday morning and we got out on the water asap to get as much practice in before the start of race 1. We knew it would be tough getting used to the boats but tried to learn fast. It proved to be key as we lost a couple of close races by others pulling out little tricks for the J80s. The conditions were light in the morning then really choppy with a bit more puff (12 knots) in the afternoon. We finished the day with 4 wins and 3 losses. This could have quite easily been 6 wins but lost two close ones due to lack of time in the boats.

Day two was a big day for us. We had to win both our races to make the semis against guys ranked higher than us. Race one brought light and very shifty conditions. We had the perfect start and managed to put 6 boat lengths on him off the line. We sailed a few really good shifts and had a comfortable lead at the top mark. We maintained this lead until the last run when the shifty, light and puffy conditions made it hard for us to defend downwind. He got a nice puff from behind and caught right up at the finish but we just scrapped in about one meter ahead. A tough race but a much needed win.

Race two was much the same. Racing Michal Perris the previous winner of the event. We had a glamour start and a lead that we managed to extend to about half a leg by playing some big shifts. Approaching the bottom mark “Chef Waka” realised the supermarkets didn’t open on Sundays and the fridge was empty back at home. “Chef Waka” then thought it was a great time to try and catch a feed with the comfort of a big lead. With a big catch in the net the boys then underestimated the time it would take to haul in the catch, losing our lead but gaining a very wet spinaker. After a big scramble our lead had gone and he extended up the next beat to a comfortable lead.

Knocked out of the semis on count back to Michal we finished 5th on 5 wins. We were all a bit gutted with our effort as we knew we were defiantly good enough to progress to the next rounds of the regatta. We’re going to take the positives from it and hold onto the lessons we learnt in the boats and covering in shifty conditions.

We now have a few weeks off due to the cancellation of two planned events in Portugal and Italy. We would like to thank Steffan Goldwater of Widex, Line 7, Pacific Sports Community Trust, RNZYS, Simon Dickey of Front End Design and all members of the Waka Racing supporters club.

WAKA Racing

37th in new World Rankings

2009-05-03T05:03:00.001-07:00

Bonjour,

Waka Racing team is now in Marseille, France for our next event. Arriving to find the world ranking list had been updated and we have jumped form 55th to 37th. This was due to the win in Rimini grade 3 event coupled with our victory in Perth. A huge boost for the team with this being our best ranking yet!

We have just spent the last week training in Lake Balaton, Hungary. This was against world number 10 Ian Ainslie from South Africa in Melges 24's. We found this really beneficial and learnt a huge amount as we had never match raced with asymmetrical spinnakers before. Ian helped us out on the water and we got put up in a hotel opposite the small boat park by their generous sponsor. We managed to have some really good racing and learnt valuable lessons that we can take with us to this next event as they are in similar boats, the J80's.

Unfortunately while we were up in Hungary we got emailed the news that two events we had entry too and had planned to go do had been cancelled due to financial reasons. This was really bad news as one of them was a grade 3 in Portugal and the other being the grade 2 we had gained entry to in Rimini. The result of this now means we have a two possible three week hole in our calendar after our regatta in Marseille this weekend. So at the moment we don’t know where we are going next.

Today we are going to try and get out on the water for some practice and then get ready for the start of the event tomorrow. We are all pumped for this event and are looking forward to putting the training into practice. The crew for this event is:

Skipper - Phil Robertson

Main - Garth Ellingham

Pit/Trim - Sam Bell

Bow - James Williamson

Event Website: http://www.lapelle-marseille.com/

We would all like to thank Stefan from Widex, Pacific Sports Community Trust, Line 7, RNZYS and the Waka Racing Supporters Club for all their support.

Success in Rimini

2009-05-03T05:03:00.000-07:00

The start of the regatta was a tricky one for the boys, with our 4th member Sam Bell joining us . We were forced to default the first race and rigging the boat in the pre start of our second we won 1 of 4 races that day putting us in a must win position for the rest of the round robin. The team pulled through convincingly posting 3 from 3 on the second day. The race committee pushed on and started the semis and finals.

After a slight miss calculation by the race committee, thinking we had not qualified, we corrected them and secured the 4th and final spot for the semis. This would see us up against top ranked skipper, Italian Jacopo Pasini. After loosing to him in the first round we managed to find some good form putting him away 2-0. Race one we got a penalty on him in the pre-start and lead the whole race. The second race was the same with us getting another penalty on him in the pre start. This time despite his attempt to clear the penalty in the second beat he still had the lead and a penalty. He tried numerous times to slow down and trap us on the final run but we defended well and crossed the line with him attempting his turn.

Our Finals opponent was the other Italian Simone Ferrarese. Conditions were perfect. 8kts of breeze with a consistent direction. We won the desired leeward start in the first race and burned him off for pace around the track. 1-0 in a best of three final series. The second race didn’t go so well. With a boat swap, we found a lot of water in the boat before the start and despite bailing it couldn’t find the pace we had in the 1st race and kept it close loosing by a boat length. Finding more water after the race we decided to protest and apply for another boat. We got a new boat and the start we were after. Pushing hard we let him make the mistake of being over and had a big lead off the line. We maintained this lead during the race to win and take out the regatta!!

A fantastic win as it qualifies use for the Grade 2 in the same location at the start of June. The team was happy with the win and learnt some valuable lessons throughout the competition. Now we are going to stick around here for a couple more days and then head of to Hungry for a training week against world number 12 Ian Anslie.

Good Bye for now and we will keep you all posted! Also make sure you check out our website (wakaracing.blogspot.com). We have some great photos and more to come shortly.

WAKA RACING

Rimini Victory!

2009-05-02T12:15:00.000-07:00

Today after just sneaking into the semi-finals and qualifying 4th. We had to race the top qualifier and top ranked skipper in the semi-final. After dominating in the pre-start we won 2-0 and went through to the final. The final was a close faught affair after winning the first race and losing the second, we managed to pull through and win the last race convincingly to take the regatta! This means we have gained entry into the Grade 2 event being held here in a months time. The boys are now beginning celebration so a full report will be posted tomorrow.

Cheers,

Waka Boys

In Valencia

2009-04-27T06:51:00.000-07:00

Hi all,
Here is a couple of photos from spectactular Calpe. Currently Phil, Garth, and Jimmy are staying in Valencia being put up generously by Mike Drummond and Caz Kelly. On Thursday we fly to Milan then catch a train to Rimini to catch up with the 4th member of the team, Sam Bell. Sam is already in Rimini after being part of the succesful NZ Team that won the Wolrd BMW Sailing Cup on Lake Garda. Our regatta starts on Saturday.

Open de Espana

2009-04-24T05:04:00.000-07:00

After 28hours flying and over 16 hours waiting in airports we arrived in the beautiful town of Calpe, just over an hour drive south of Valencia, for our first event on the WAKA RACING calendar, the Open de Espana
.
Day 1 was a good day. Winning 3 and losing 2 the team was happy with the result. The day started great with a close victory over top ranked skipper and world number 3 Mathieu Richard. It continued with solid victories over Damien Iehl and Eugeny Neugodnikov. Losing the last race to Bjorn Hansen was stupid as we had a comfortable lead around the bottom mark and gave it away by tacking round first towards the right.

Day 2 started against fellow kiwi Adam Minoprio. We lost the start and ended up getting bounced past the lay line on both beats, not being able to quite gain enough to attack him downwind. The second race was against an all girls team from Germany. We won the right at the start and had a handy lead which we held though out the race. Our third was against Morvan of France. Once again not pushing hard enough at the start we didn’t win the right and couldn’t get back at him.
With damage to a few boats we sat out the next race and sailed it at the end of the day. After a long break we raced the local Spanish sailor. Having a good start we sailed him to the right hand side of the course and held a small lead for the duration of the race to take a much needed win. Next we raced Lindberg (Fin), our start lacked confidence again, proving costly as we started to leeward a couple of seconds late and he was on the gun. After this silly mistake we got pushed to the left hand side of the course, making it imposable to get back into the race and the favoured right hand side. Our last race of the day was the decider. We win we make the quarter final. We got the start we wanted and forced a penalty on him. With good pace up the first beat we had a two length lead at the top mark. With pressure on us down the run a gear failure on the pole didn’t help. A quick fix meant he was able to roll us but we were still in control. The bottom mark was messy and we rounded 1st but not tidy. The Jib got rapped round the forestay making us slow and low. He passed us slowly and then the very important boom vang broke. This made it impossible to sail fast upwind. He gained enough of a lead after all this to do his penalty and race over.
A disappointing result and end to the regatta as we showed a lot of promise and some good speed. A lack of experience at top level was key as we made a couple of costly and preventable mistakes which would have qualified us 3rd for the quarter finals. The team has taken many positives out of it and some great lessons. With 9 of the 12 sailors ranked in the top 15 in the world we cant be to dissapointed with our first grade 1 event.Having Andrew Taylor on the boat was invaluable and the 3 of us have learnt a ton.

As a team we would firstly like to thank Stefan Goldwater of Widex, the Pacific Sport Community Trust, RNZYS and Line 7 for the great gear. Also to the Waka Racing Supporters Club for their much needed contribution to the team, and Simon Dickey for the great logo. Finally big thanks to Andrew Taylor for giving up his time to Sail with us.

Next stop for WAKA RACING is Valencia then onto Rimini, Italy for another qualifying regatta 2nd and 3rd of May.

1st Day, Open de Espania

2009-04-23T00:23:00.001-07:00

Day one was a great success for the team. We had 5 races today,ending with 3wins and 2 losses. The 1st was against world number 3 Mathieu Richard from France.We got a penalty on him in the dial up and managed to keep the game close enough and stopped him from wiping the penalty down wind. Race 2 against Neugodnikov (RUS) went well. We won the start and had pace on him throughout the race. Winning confortably. The next was much the same holding a nice lead for the whole race against D. Iehl (FRA). In the 4th race we lost the start which was costly as we couldn't get to the favoured side and trailed the rest of the race. Our last race of the day was a tad dissapointing as we had a comfortable lead against B. Hansen and threw it away by not covering close enough in the last beat. He got a good left hand shift and crossed us at the top mark by a good 2 legnths.

A great start to the regatta and now we have to back it up with a solid second day to try and make the top 8.

Waka Racing

NEW NAME!...NEW WEBSITE!

2009-04-15T16:17:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone we leave for europe in four days! with our first event starting on the 22nd April in Calpe, Spain. Before that however we have the hugely competitive Young 88 Nationals on the 18-19th of April.

The Crew for the Nationals:

Stefan Goldwater (Helm)

James Williamson (Trim)

Garth Ellingham (Main)

Jono Spurdle (Pit)

Andrew Cooke aka "Cookie" (Bow/Floater)

Phil Robertson (Bow/Tactician)

TBA (Floater)

Also we now have a new name that is 'WAKA Racing', therefore we have to get a new website. The new address in http://www.wakaracing.blogspot.com/ . Like the old website we will be updating our progress and uploading reports on our events on the new website. We hope you all continue to follow us with a big year planned in europe.

Cheers,
The Boys from WAKA Racing!