Two contrasting yachts flying flag for New Zealand

Press, 26 December 1984, Page 26

Two contrasting yachts flying flag for New Zealand

NZPA staff correspondent Sydney When the giant fleet storms out through the heads today on the fortieth Sydney-Hobart classic, it will include the two faces of New Zealand yachting. At the head of the 157boat fleet or nearby will be the new multi-million dollar silver-hulled maxi, Lion New Zealand — known for the purposes of this adver-tising-free race simply as New Zealand. She is skippered by Peter Blake and crewed by 24 sailors who, while they receive no pay so cannot be called professionals, must be now as close to a group of full-timers as it is possible to get. The month-and-a-half-old yacht is the state of the art in ocean racers - she is a specialist design from the drawing board of Ron Holland and is the product of the experience of both the premier designer and Blake’s round-the-world expertise.

Somewhere in the middle of the Admiral’s Cuppers and One-tonners should be Larrikin, the white-hulled Wellington sloop unburdened by any problems with advertising and big sponsorships, and crewed by Wellington electronics company director, Neville Jordan, and five week-end sailors. The four-year-old 11.6 m yacht is a stock model from the board of another New Zealand designer, Bruce Farr, and was built to cruise as well as race. Whereas Lion New Zealand is one of two favourites for line honours — and handicap too if the weather is heavy enough — the only people who realistically expect Larrikin to figure in the over-all placings are her crew. “We didn’t come here just for the hell of it,” said Terry Bach, the senior crew member on Larrikin. For Blake, this will be his fifth Sydney-Hobart and he plans to emulate the feat of

his last command, Ceramco New Zealand, in taking line and handicap honours. He also wants the trifecta — the race record as well. The latest forecast could produce tailor-made conditions for a fast time — a strong following wind on the first day, swinging around to come up from the south, making the yachts battle all the way down the coast, before it swings around again as they hit Bass Strait. Blake does not put too much faith in such forecasts: “They haven’t been right so far so why should they be right now? “The Sydney-Hobart is an itsy-bitsy race as far as the conditions are concerned. The boat in the lead could be getting totally different weather to what the boats 100 miles behind are getting. “You can turn into Storm Bay 50 miles from the finish and the wind can change again.”

Blake sees his competition coming from any of the other maxis, and declined to single out Condor as the one to beat. “All of them have their good points. Some like The Office are designed to go especially well downwind and we can’t match her in that,” he said. “Our boat is designed to be good in all conditions and not to have any weak points. “If we have to sail into the wind then it will suit us very well.” There was a mixture of indignation and pride in the fact that the 11.6 m Larrikin had been given the same handicap rating as boats up to 14m. “We’ll just have to work harder because we’ve got less handicap time,” said Bach — in the absence of skipper Jordan, who was away on business — the only member of the crew to have completed a Hobart race. “You could sav we were

surprised. We got the rating because of our big mainsail and spinnaker. “We are best at sailing down-wind and, if the weather develops according to the forecast, then we’ll do well in the early stages at least.” The big boat, like Ceramco four years ago, is sailing under the name New Zealand because Blake decided to take no chances with the opposition. “They’ve changed the rules,” he said. “In the past any protest had to be in an hour after the briefing on Christmas Eve, but now it can come in at any time, even during or at the end of the race. “I’m not taking any chances, so I’ve covered the whole lot — logo and all. “No one from the organisers specifically asked me to do it, they just asked me if I was aware of rule 26 regarding sponsorship. I knew the rules and I always intended to comply with them.”